A radiophotoluminescent glass rod detector (GRD) system has recently become commercially available. We investigate the dosimetric properties of the GRD regarding the reproducibility of signal, dose linearity and energy dependence. The reproducibility of five measurements for 50 GRDs is presented by an average of one standard deviation of each GRD and it is ${pm}1.2%$. It is found to be linear in response to doses of $^{60}Co$ beam in the range 0.5 to 50 Gy with a coefficient of linearity of 0.9998. The energy dependence of the GRD is determined by comparing the dose obtained using cylindrical chamber to that by using the GRD. The GRD response for each beam is normalized to the response for a $^{60}Co$ beam. The responses for 6 and 15 MV x-ray beams are within ${pm}1.5%$ (1SD). The energy response of GRD for high-energy photon is almost the same as the energy dependence of LiF:Mg:Ti (TLD-100)and shows little energy dependence unlike p-type silicon diode detector. The GRDs have advantages over other detectors such diode detector, and TLD: linearity, reproducibility and energy dependency. It has been verified to be an effective device for small field dosimetry for stereotactic radiosurgery.