Report

1The calculation of these proportions excluded doctorate recipients who did not report citizenship.

2The calculation of these proportions excluded respondents who did not report sex or citizenship.

3The calculation of these proportions excluded respondents who did not report sex or citizenship.

4For additional data on the race and ethnicity of doctorate recipients, see SED 2022 related detailed table 1-11. Race categories exclude Hispanic origin; Hispanic may be any race.

5In 2002, there were 16,608 S&E U.S. citizen and permanent resident doctorate recipients; in 2022, there were 26,408 S&E U.S. citizen and permanent resident doctorate recipients.

6Beginning in 2021, field of doctorate data are collected using a modified version of the 2020 Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes and reported using a new SED-specific taxonomy (table A-4). For more details of data comparability, see the 2022 “Technical Notes” and the SED 2021 Taxonomy Changes Working Paper.

7The drop in the number of doctorate recipients in the field of education between 2009 and 2011 is at least partly attributable to the reclassification of Doctor of Education (EdD) programs. For details, see “Time series data changes” in the “Data source” section.

8For details about changes in the field of education between 2009 and 2011, see “Time series data changes” in the “Data source” section.

9For additional data by citizenship status of doctorate recipients, see SED 2022 related detailed table 1-6.

10In 2022, the count of White doctorate recipients in each field is as follows: biological and biomedical sciences (4,442); engineering (2,875); psychology (2,153); social sciences (2,061); physical sciences (2,241); health sciences (1,250); mathematics and statistics (661); multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary sciences (513); computer and information sciences (473); agricultural sciences and natural resources (563); geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences (569); non-S&E fields (5,519).

11For details on non-S&E fields, see SED 2022 related detailed table 1-11.

12For additional data on the field of education, humanities and arts, and other non-S&E fields, see SED 2022 related detailed table 1-4.

13For detailed data by field, see SED 2022 related detailed table 1-5.

14For a detailed discussion on other aspects of education-related debt, see “Education-Related Debt” in National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). 2019. Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities 2018. NSF 20-301. Available at https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf20301/report.

15For more data on the primary sources of financial support of doctorate recipients by field, see figure 16 in this report and SED 2022 related detailed table 4-1.

16This statement refers to debt-holding doctorate recipients with definite non-postdoc employment commitments in the United States.

17Within non-S&E, education is the field with the longest median time to degree (12.3 years from graduate school entry to doctorate in 2022). For more data, see SED 2022 related detailed table 3-6.

18For details on the growth of the S&E workforce, see National Science Board. 2021. The STEM Labor Force of Today: Scientists, Engineers and Skilled Technical Workers. Science and Engineering Indicators 2022. NSB-2021-2. Available at https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20212.

19For data on doctorate recipients with definite postgraduation employment commitments in academia, see SED 2022 related detailed table 2-6.

20For data on doctorate recipients with definite postgraduation employment commitments industry or business, see SED 2022 related detailed table 2-6.

21Industry includes all nonacademic sectors, including self-employment, private for-profit and private nonprofit, and government.

22Special tabulation from the 2022 Survey of Earned Doctorates.

23To measure the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on new doctorate recipients’ graduate experiences and postgraduation plans, a set of questions was designed, tested, and included as a new module starting with the 2021 Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED). See the “Technical Notes” for details about slight changes in the wording of the COVID-19 module questions between 2021 and 2022.

24Doctorate recipients were allowed to provide multiple responses as to how their research was disrupted.

25Doctorate recipients were allowed to provide multiple responses as to how their postgraduation employment or education plans changed.

26NCSES, special tabulation (2023) of the 2022 SED. Doctorate recipients were allowed to provide multiple responses as to how their long-term career plans or goals changed.

27NCSES, special tabulation (2023) of the 2022 SED.

28NCSES, special tabulations (2022) of the 2022 SED.

29For details of COVID-19 pandemic impacts on doctorate recipients in 2021, see the previous edition at https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf23300/report/special-focus-covid-19-pandemic-impacts-on-doctorate-recipients.

30For detailed data on underrepresented minorities, see National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. 2023. Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2021. NSF 23-315. Alexandria, VA: National Science Foundation. Available at https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf23315/.

31For more details on the declines in education between 2009 and 2011, see SED 2022 related detailed table 1-3 and SED 2018 table 13.