| Formation | April 2003 (2003-04) |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-profit organization |
| Legal status | Active |
| Purpose | Support for the R Project and innovations in statistical computing |
| Headquarters | Vienna, Austria |
| Coordinates | 48°13′57″N 16°21′26″E / 48.2325°N 16.3571°E / 48.2325; 16.3571 |
President | Simon Urbanek |
Key people | |
| Affiliations | R Core Team |
| Website | www.r-project.org/foundation/ |
| Remarks | Founded by members of the R Development Core Team |
The R Foundation for Statistical Computing is a non-profit organization based in Vienna, Austria, that provides legal and financial support for the R Project.[1] Established in April 2003, it serves as the primary body for holding the intellectual property of the R software environment and for coordinating its global community.[2]
Purpose and activities
The Foundation was created to provide a stable, long-term framework for the development of R, a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. Its primary goals include safeguarding the project's independence and ensuring the software remains available under open-source licenses.[3]
The Foundation's core activities include:
- Intellectual property management: holding and administering the copyright for the R software and documentation, typically under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
- Community coordination: organizing the annual useR! conference, the premier international gathering for R users and developers.[4]
- Scientific communication: publishing The R Journal, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal that features research on the development and application of R software.[5]
- Financial stewardship: receiving and managing donations and membership fees from individuals and corporate sponsors to fund development tasks and infrastructure.
History
The R language was first developed by Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman at the University of Auckland in the early 1990s. As the user base grew globally, the R Development Core Team was formed in 1997 to maintain the source code.[6]
In 2003, the Core Team members established the R Foundation as a formal legal entity in Austria to provide a centralized point of contact for commercial entities and to manage the project's growing financial needs.[4]
Governance
The Foundation is governed by a board of directors, which has historically consisted of members of the R Core Team. As of 2025, the board includes notable statisticians such as Peter Dalgaard, Kurt Hornik, and Martyn Plummer.[2]
In 2015, the R Foundation became a founding member of the R Consortium, a separate project under the Linux Foundation designed to provide a mechanism for corporate entities to support the R ecosystem through funding for infrastructure and technical projects.[4]
See also
References
- ^ "The R Foundation". The R Project for Statistical Computing. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
- ^ a b "Board and Auditors". The R Project for Statistical Computing. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
- ^ "R: What is R?". The R Project for Statistical Computing. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
- ^ a b c Smith, David (2020-07-27). "The History of R (updated for 2020)". R-bloggers. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
- ^ Dimitrov, Mitko A. (2020-02-15). "R software: unfriendly but probably the best". Croatian Medical Journal. 61 (1): 66–68. doi:10.3325/cmj.2020.61.66. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
- ^ Ihaka, Ross (1998). "R : Past and Future History" (PDF). Department of Statistics, The University of Auckland. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
External links
- Official website
