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UNESCO Science Report series

A brief history

The UNESCO Science Report was launched in 1993 under the name of World Science Report. Since then, UNESCO has published seven reports in the series.  

The series monitors the evolution of the support system for science, technology and innovation worldwide over time. Key emerging trends are identified and placed within their socio-economic and political context. Each report begins with an overview of global trends.  

The UNESCO Science Report comprises the contributions of an independent team of experts, each writing about the country or region from which they hail. Authors endeavour to make use of the most recent data available – many of which are provided by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.   

Published in June 2021, the seventh report in the series arrives at a crucial juncture, as countries are now one-third of the way to the 2030 deadline for achieving their Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It reveals that countries of all income levels share a common agenda for transitioning to digital and ‘green’ economies. 

A brief history

The UNESCO Science Report series was interrupted in 2000 by the decision  of UNESCO’s Executive Board (AR, CH, FR, SP, RU) to re-examine UNESCO’s policy governing world reports. The Board subsequently decided to launch a series of world reports on cross-cutting themes related to UNESCO’s work. This gave rise to two reports, the UNESCO World Report: Towards Knowledge Societies (2005, AR, CH, FR, SP) and the UNESCO World Report on Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue (2009, CH, FR, SP). 

In order to avoid a gap in the data series, the editor of the World Science Report invited the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and consultant Peter Tindemans to prepare a statistical report in 2003, entitled Global Investment in R&D Today

The World Science Report series was revived in 2004. In order to avoid confusion with UNESCO's new series of thematic world reports, the monitoring report was renamed the UNESCO Science Report. 

All the reports in the series may be consulted online (see below) and purchased in various languages. 

UNESCO Science Report 2021

This seventh report in the series was released in English in June 2021. The full report may be ordered in English from UNESCO Publishing. 

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UNESCO Science Report 2015

The sixth report in the series may be downloaded (pdf) in Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Russian.

You may also order a copy in English or French. The executive summary is available in English, French,  Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Português,Deutsch  and Catalan.

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UNESCO Science Report 2010

This fifth report in the series is freely accessible online in English and Chinese and may be purchased from UNESCO Publishing in English.  The executive summary is available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Portuguese, Russian  and Spanish.

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UNESCO Science Report 2005

This fourth report in the series is freely accessible online in English and French and may also be purchased from UNESCO Publishing in English and French

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World Science Report 1998

This third report in the series is freely accessible online in English and Chinese and may also be purchased from UNESCO Publishing in English, French and Spanish

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World Science Report 1996

This second report in the series is freely accessible online in English and French and may also be purchased from UNESCO Publishing in English, French and Spanish

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World Science Report 1993

This first report in the series is freely accessible online in Arabic, Chinese and English

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