Report

Basic annual salary. Annual salary to be earned from the doctorate recipient’s principal job in the next year, not including bonuses or additional compensation for summertime teaching or research.

Cumulative debt. The amount of debt, incurred both at the undergraduate level and the graduate level, owed by a doctorate recipient at the time the doctorate is awarded.

Definite commitment. A commitment, through a contract or other method, by doctorate recipients to accept employment or a postdoctoral study (postdoc) position in the coming year or to return to predoctoral employment.

Definite non-postdoc employment commitment. A definite commitment by doctorate recipients for employment (excludes postdocs) in the coming year.

Field. Beginning in 2021, the SED collects over 1,600 fields for reporting of field of research doctorate, using a modified version of the 2020 Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP)—compared to 334 fields collected in 2020 and previous years. The SED-CIP codes are then aggregated into 300 detailed field codes nested into 66 major fields and 16 broad fields and are used to report field of doctorate data in the detailed data tables.

To facilitate trend data comparisons, historical field data were estimated based on a crosswalk of the new 2021 SED-CIP codes to the SED field of study codes used in prior survey years. The trend data reported in this report uses 14 broad fields (excluding multidisciplinary/ interdisciplinary sciences)—10 S&E fields: agricultural sciences and natural resources; biological and biomedical sciences; computer and information sciences; engineering; geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences; health sciences; mathematics and statistics; physical sciences; psychology; social sciences; and 4 non-S&E fields: business, education, humanities and arts; and other non-S&E fields. (See “Field” under “Time series data changes” in the “Data Source” section.)

Graduate debt. The amount of debt from graduate-level education owed by a doctorate recipient at the time the doctorate is awarded.

NCSES. National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.

Non-S&E. Non-science and engineering: Non-S&E broad fields used in trend data discussions in the first four recurring report themes are based on historical fields that included business; education; humanities and arts (combined); and other non-S&E fields, such as communications. The new SED taxonomy broad fields for 2021 report the humanities and the visual and performing arts fields separately, which is reflected in the special focus section on COVID-19 impacts.

Parental educational attainment. The highest level of education attained by either parent or guardian of a doctorate recipient.

Postdoctoral (postdoc) position. A temporary position primarily for gaining additional education and training in research, usually awarded in academe, industry, government, or a nonprofit organization.

Race and ethnicity. Doctorate recipients who report Hispanic or Latino heritage, regardless of racial designation, are counted as Hispanic or Latino, and those who do not answer the Hispanic or Latino ethnicity question are counted as “ethnicity not reported.” Respondents who indicate that they are not Hispanic or Latino and indicate a single race are reported in their respective racial groups, except those indicating Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, who are included in “other race or race not reported.” (See “Ethnicity and race” under “Time series data changes” in the “Data Source” section).

Research doctorate. A doctoral degree that is oriented toward preparing students to make original intellectual contributions in a field of study and that is not primarily intended for the practice of a profession. Research doctorates require the completion of a dissertation or equivalent project. In this report, the terms “doctorate” and “doctoral degree” are used to represent any of the research doctoral degrees covered by the survey. Professional doctoral degrees, such as the MD, DDS, JD, and PsyD, are not covered by the SED.

S&E. Science and engineering: S&E broad fields used in trend data discussions are based on 10 fields that include agricultural sciences and natural resources; biological and biomedical sciences; computer and information sciences; engineering; geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences; health sciences; mathematics and statistics; physical sciences; psychology; and social sciences. The broad fields used in trend data do not include multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary sciences, which is new in the SED field of study taxonomy in 2021.

Sources of financial support. Sources of financial support are grouped into the following five categories: fellowships (includes scholarships and dissertation grants); teaching assistantships; research assistantships (includes traineeships, internships, clinical residencies, and other assistantships); own resources (includes loans, personal savings, personal earnings, and earnings or savings of spouse, partner, or family); and other (includes employer reimbursements and support from non-U.S. sources).

Time to degree. The time elapsed from the start of any graduate school program to completion of the doctoral degree.

Underrepresented minority. Groups that are underrepresented in science and engineering, relative to their numbers in the U.S. population: American Indian or Alaska Native, Black or African American, and Hispanic or Latino.^{​For detailed data on underrepresented minorities, see National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. 2021. Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2021. NSF 21-321. Alexandria, VA: National Science Foundation. Available at https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf21321/.}