R Foundation for Statistical Computing


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. 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.

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.
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.
  • Community coordination: organizing the annual useR! conference, the premier international gathering for R users and developers.
  • Scientific communication: publishing The R Journal, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal that features research on the development and application of R software.
  • 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.
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.

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.
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.