From 2006 to 2021, the Nordic Institute for Studies of Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU) was responsible for the surveys. From 2022, the project was transferred to Statistics Norway.
In principle, the survey covers all resources applied for research, i.e. both basically funded research performed by hospital staff in connection with the treatment of patients and research funded through external application processes. The survey also provides material for national research and development statistics.
The 2023 survey was sent to 49 health trusts, of which 46 reported having performed research in 2023. Some main results are the following:
In total, the 46 health institutions reported current costs for research of NOK 5.4 billion in 2023. This includes all resource use for research recorded in the health trusts, i.e. salaries, pensions, employer's contribution, costs of goods, other direct and indirect operating costs, depreciation, etc.
Altogether, the 46 health trusts reported having carried out 3,510 research man-years in 2023. This includes man-years carried out by senior doctors, doctors and psychologists in clinical positions, researchers, postdoctoral fellows, research fellows and other hospital staff.
Thus, an average research man-year costs NOK 1.5 million in 2023.
Measured in current costs, the specialist health care services used 2.8 per cent of its total resources for all statutory tasks in 2023 for research. This is approximately the same share as in the previous survey, which applied to the year 2021.
With current costs of nearly NOK 4,3 billion and 2752 man-years the six university hospitals accounted for approximately four fifths of the research effort in the specialist health care services in Norway in 2023.
South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority (Helse Sør-Øst) is by far the largest health region in the research area, with approximately two thirds of the resources used for research in 2023. The second largest is the western region (Helse Vest) with around one fifth, while the northern (Helse Nord) and middle (Helse Midt-Norge) regions accounted for around 6 and 7 per cent, respectively.
29 of the 46 health trusts reported to have carried out research in the focus area of mental healthcare in 2021. Total current costs in this area were NOK 683 million distributed over 435 man-years, which accounted for approximately 12 per cent of total research effort in the health trusts in 2023.
13 of the 46 health trusts reported that they had carried out research within the focus area of interdisciplinary, specialized treatment of substance abusers in 2023. Here, the effort amounted to nearly NOK 100 million and 66 man-years, i.e. approximately 2 per cent of the total health trust research activity that year.