@article{b9fae0760afd419c81607463356ba68b,
title = "Use of accounting concepts to study research: return on investment in XSEDE, a US cyberinfrastructure service",
abstract = "This paper uses accounting concepts—particularly the concept of Return on Investment (ROI)—to reveal the quantitative value of scientific research pertaining to a major US cyberinfrastructure project (XSEDE—the eXtreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment). XSEDE provides operational and support services for advanced information technology systems, cloud systems, and supercomputers supporting non-classified US research, with an average budget for XSEDE of US$20M+ per year over the period studied (2014–2021). To assess the financial effectiveness of these services, we calculated a proxy for ROI, and converted quantitative measures of XSEDE service delivery into financial values using costs for service from the US marketplace. We calculated two estimates of ROI: a Conservative Estimate, functioning as a lower bound and using publicly available data for a lower valuation of XSEDE services; and a Best Available Estimate, functioning as a more accurate estimate, but using some unpublished valuation data. Using the largest dataset assembled for analysis of ROI for a cyberinfrastructure project, we found a Conservative Estimate of ROI of 1.87, and a Best Available Estimate of ROI of 3.24. Through accounting methods, we show that XSEDE services offer excellent value to the US government, that the services offered uniquely by XSEDE (that is, not otherwise available for purchase) were the most valuable to the facilitation of US research activities, and that accounting-based concepts hold great value for understanding the mechanisms of scientific research generally.",
keywords = "COVID-19, Cloud computing in research, Cost efficiency, Cyberinfrastructure, HPC, Return on Investment, Supercomputing, TeraGrid, XSEDE, eScience",
author = "Stewart, {Craig A.} and Costa, {Claudia M.} and Wernert, {Julie A.} and Winona Snapp-Childs and Marques Bland and Philip Blood and Terry Campbell and Peter Couvares and Jeremy Fischer and Hancock, {David Y.} and Hart, {David L.} and Harmony Jankowski and Richard Knepper and McMullen, {Donald F.} and Susan Mehringer and Marlon Pierce and Gary Rogers and Sinkovits, {Robert S.} and John Towns",
note = "Funding Information: XSEDE staff sometimes subsidize XSEDE by putting forth effort on their own time—beyond their funding levels and beyond the NSF definition of a standard workweek. This is the personal experience of authors of this paper and a comment we have heard often from colleagues. This extra effort is often a result of interest in and dedication to the value of the scientific work that XSEDE supports. To the extent that individuals or other entities contribute effort to services that aid the operation of XSEDE without those services being funded by the NSF, that improves the US government{\textquoteright}s ROI for XSEDE. Funding Information: XSEDE—the eXtreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment—is an IT service designed to support research across all disciplines of science and engineering in the US (Towns et al., ). It is an example of what the US National Science Foundation (NSF) terms cyberinfrastructure. Similar but not identical to the European term eScience, cyberinfrastructure is defined as “computing systems, data storage systems, advanced instruments, data repositories, visualization environments, and people, all linked together by software and high performance networks to improve research productivity and enable breakthroughs not otherwise possible” (Stewart et al., ). Cyberinfrastructure includes computational resources such as supercomputers and clouds. XSEDE is among the largest and longest-running cyberinfrastructure projects ever funded by the NSF. Through two rounds of funding, the NSF has invested US$257,465,523 (National Science Foundation, , ) in XSEDE. XSEDE started on 1 July 2011 and ceased operations on 31 August 2022, making the average expenditure US$23.4M per year. (Financial figures hereafter given in US$.) Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s).",
year = "2023",
doi = "10.1007/s11192-022-04539-8",
language = "English (US)",
journal = "Scientometrics",
issn = "0138-9130",
publisher = "Springer",
}