[R] prevalence of R in publications and institutions

[Douglas Bates]

On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 6:46 AM, Travis Perry <travis.perry at furman.edu> wrote:
> Dr. Bates,
>           Our department is considering replacing existing statistical
> software packages in our curriculum with R, at my request.  To better inform
> this decision we are interested to know the prevalence of R in the published
> literature and its use across academic and research institutions.  I have so
> far been unable to find satisfactory information on the subject.   Any
> information you could provide would be much appreciated.
>
> Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
>
> best,
>
> --
> Travis Perry
> Associate Professor of Biology
> Department of Biology
> Furman University
> 3300 Poinsett Highway
> Greenville, SC 29613
>
> Senior Research Associate
> Rhodes University
> Grahamstown, South Africa
> Cell (864)-561-4240
>

Because R is an Open Source system which is freely distributed and may
be freely redistributed there is no way of keeping track of the
downloads and its use in academic and research institutions.

Searching for "R statistics" at a book site such as amazon.com or
barnesandnoble.com should produce enough hits to convince your
colleagues of an active development community.

On scholar.google.com the system itself has been cited 3782 times and
the initial paper on the system by Ihaka and Gentleman has been cited
over 6000 times.

Others on the R-help list may be able to give more information
regarding the use of R in the biological sciences.