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Suggested Citation:"1995 POSTDOCS." National Research Council. 1998. Doctoral Scientists and Engineers in the United States: 1995 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9524.
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1995 Postdocs

  • In 1995, 4 percent of science and engineering doctorates were on postdocs, with doctorates in biological sciences having the highest proportion (10 percent). The lowest proportion was in social sciences, less than 1 percent (see Table 27 ).

  • Predictably, doctorates earning their degrees within the last 5 years had the highest proportion on postdocs, 19 percent. This proportion dropped to 2 percent for doctorates from 6 to 10 years out, and to less than 1 percent for those more than 10 years out.

  • By field within the most recent 5-year cohort, 44 percent of biological sciences Ph.D.s and 39 percent of physics/astronomy Ph.D.s were on postdocs.

The next several comments in this section pertain to those science and engineering doctorates who were on postdocs in April 1995 (see Table 28 6 ).

  • Of those on postdocs in 1995, 85 percent were from the most recent 5-year cohort and 58 percent were less than 35 years old.

  • In 1995, those on postdocs were more likely to be Asian (27 percent) and non-U.S. citizens (29 percent) than the most recent 5-year cohort of science and engineering doctorates overall (22 percent Asian and 24 percent non-U.S. citizens). The most recent 5-year cohort is used as the comparison group because most of the 1995 postdoctoral appointees were from this cohort (see above). Approximately one-third of both the postdoctoral appointees and the most recent cohort overall were female.

  • Most postdoctoral appointees in 1995 were working in educational institutions (55 percent), followed by government (33 percent), business/industry (7 percent), and other sectors (5 percent). This distribution by sector was similar for postdoctoral appointees with doctorates in chemistry, physics/astronomy, and biological sciences. The exceptions were psychology, where 20 percent reported “other” sector, and engineering, with 12 percent in business/industry.

  • Generally, most of those on postdocs in 1995 received health benefits (84 percent) but not pension benefits (37 percent). However, the proportions receiving these benefits varied by field. Ninety percent of physics/astronomy doctorates on postdocs received health benefits and 50 percent received pension benefits. On the other hand, only 57 percent of psychology doctorates received health benefits and 18 percent received pension benefits.

   

6 Because the proportion or the number of doctorates taking postdocs was quite low for certain fields, data. for these fields are not shown separately in Table 28 or Table 29 , but are included in the total column. These fields are computer, mathematical, earth/atmospheric/marine, health, and social sciences.

Suggested Citation:"1995 POSTDOCS." National Research Council. 1998. Doctoral Scientists and Engineers in the United States: 1995 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9524.
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