Stability and longevity in the publication careers of U.S. doctorate recipients
Article [Version of Record]
Abstract(s)
Since the 1950s, the number of doctorate recipients has risen dramatically in the United
States. In this paper, we investigate whether the longevity of doctorate recipients’ publication careers has changed. This is achieved by matching 1951–2010 doctorate recipients
with rare names in astrophysics, chemistry, economics, genetics and psychology in the dissertation database ProQuest to their publications in the publication database Web of Science. Our study shows that pre-PhD publication careers have changed: the median year of
first publication has shifted from after the PhD to several years before PhD in most of the
studied fields. In contrast, post-PhD publication career spans have not changed much in
most fields. The share of doctorate recipients who have published for more than twenty
years has remained stable over time; the shares of doctorate recipients publishing for
shorter periods also remained almost unchanged. Thus, though there have been changes
in pre-PhD publication careers, post-PhD career spans remained quite stable.