Survey Overview (2024 Survey Cycle)

Purpose. The Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) collects data on the number and characteristics of individuals receiving research doctoral degrees from U.S. academic institutions.

Data collection authority. The information collected by the SED is solicited under the authority of the National Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended, and the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010. The Office of Management and Budget control number is 3145-0019, expiration date 31 May 2026. The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) has reviewed this product for unauthorized disclosure of confidential information and approved its release (NCSES-DRN25-038).

Survey contractor. RTI International.

Survey sponsors. The SED is sponsored by NCSES within the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and by three other federal agencies: the National Institutes of Health, Department of Education, and National Endowment for the Humanities.

Key Survey Information

Frequency. Annual.

Initial survey year. Academic year 1958.

Reference period. Academic year 2024 (1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024).

Response unit. Individuals.

Sample or census. Census.

Population size. 58,131.

Sample size. Not applicable.

Survey Design

Target population. The population for the 2024 SED consists of all individuals receiving a research doctorate from a U.S. academic institution in the 12-month period beginning 1 July 2023 and ending 30 June 2024. A research doctorate is a doctoral degree that (1) requires completion of an original intellectual contribution in the form of a dissertation or an equivalent culminating project (e.g., musical composition) and (2) is not primarily intended as a degree for the practice of a profession.

The SED recognized 13 distinct types of research doctorates in 2024 (table A-1). Recipients of professional doctoral degrees, such as MD, DDS, DVM, JD, DPharm, DMin, and PsyD, are not included in the SED.

The doctor of philosophy (PhD) constitutes the vast majority of research doctoral degrees. Of the 58,131 new research doctorates granted in 2024, 98.5% were PhDs (table A-1). The next most frequently occurring type of research doctorate was the doctor of education (EdD), which accounted for 0.9% of the total in 2024. No other type of doctoral degree accounted for more than 0.3% of the new research doctorates in 2024.

Sampling frame. The SED is a census of all recipients of U.S. research doctoral degrees. The frame of doctorate recipients is created by first identifying all institutions that confer research doctorates and then identifying all individuals receiving a research doctorate from those institutions in the 12-month period ending 30 June 2024. The list of institutions is based principally on the institutions in the prior survey cycle augmented by any new institutions on the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and other higher education resource databases. The list of doctorate recipients is created from administrative sources such as commencement lists from the institutions and commercial databases of doctorate dissertations. For 2024, 469 research doctorate-granting institutions were identified; however, 9 of these institutions reported 0 graduates, thus there were 460 institutions in the SED universe that conferred research doctorates. Of the institutions that conferred research doctorates, 16 institutions refused to provide lists of graduates. For all but one of the 16 refusing institutions, the survey contractor was able to construct graduate lists using secondary data sources. Thus, the SED frame consisted of 58,131 persons in 459 of the 460 institutions that conferred research doctorates in 2024.

Sample design. The SED is a census.

Data Collection and Processing Methods

Data collection. SED collects data using two modes: self-administered Web survey and computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI).

The self-administered Web survey is the primary mode of SED completion. When students apply for graduation, institutional coordinators at the universities give students the link to the survey registration website. Students who sign up at the survey registration website receive PIN and password information via e-mail, as well as the URL of the SED Web survey. The proportion of SED completions using the Web has increased steadily since it was introduced in 2001, and it reached 99.0% in 2024.

Nonrespondents are contacted by e-mail, mail, and text message to complete the Web survey. If the series of follow-up e-mails, mailings, and text messages is unsuccessful, the survey contractor attempts to reach nonrespondents to complete an abbreviated survey by CATI. Approximately 1.0% of SED completions were from CATI in 2024. At the end of the data collection phase, institutional coordinators were contacted to obtain information on a small number of critical SED data items for nonrespondents from their institution.

A small but growing number of research doctoral degrees awarded were part of joint doctoral programs (i.e., a research doctorate recipient studied at more than one institution in pursuit of the doctoral degree). In these instances, the survey contractor relies on information provided by the institutions to appropriately attribute the doctorate to one of the doctorate-granting institutions.

The survey collects complete college education history data. To code U.S. postsecondary degree-granting institutions, the IPEDS institution codes are used. To code the degree-granting institutions of respondents from foreign countries, survey staff maintain a database of foreign institutions, updating it annually to include new entries for foreign institutions reported by SED respondents. About one-third of 2024 U.S. research doctorate recipients received undergraduate degrees from foreign institutions.

Mode. In 2024, 99.0% of survey responses were obtained via the Web survey and 1.0% via CATI.

Response rate. Of the 58,131 individuals who received a research doctorate in 2024, 91.5% completed the survey (table A-2). Additional information on response rate is below, under “Nonresponse  error.”

Data editing. Approved automated edits are applied to the SED, a number of which pertain to the education history section.

Imputation. Limited imputation was performed to support derivation of the following variables in producing the 2024 SED Doctorate Records File (DRF). This processing was applied when month data for calculating measures involving age and time was not reported. The missing month values described below were either randomly or logically imputed.

• Age at doctorate. Months (of birth and doctorate award) were included in the calculation of median age whenever available. If birth month was missing, the month value was randomly imputed.
• Time to degree from bachelor’s completion. Months (of bachelor’s completion and doctorate award) were included in the calculation of total time to degree. If month of bachelor’s completion was missing, the month value was logically imputed to the modal value for doctorate recipients who provided month of bachelor’s completion.
• Time to degree from graduate school entry. Months (of graduate school entry and doctorate award) were included in the calculation of graduate school time to degree. If month of graduate school entry was missing, the month value was logically imputed to the modal value for doctorate recipients who provided month of graduate entry.
• Time to degree from doctoral program entry. Doctoral program entry is based on master’s degree program entry if the master’s degree was at the doctoral institution in the same field of study or if it was a prerequisite to the doctorate; otherwise, it is based on doctoral program entry. Months were included in the calculation of doctoral program time to degree. If the month of entry used in the calculation (master’s degree program entry or doctoral program entry) was not reported, the entry month was logically imputed to the modal value for all cases that did report the entry month in the academic year the case was added to the doctoral records file (typically the academic year matching the graduation date of the case).

Weighting. Survey data were not weighted.

Variance estimation. The SED is a census of all recipients of U.S. research doctoral degree with no sampling variability.

Disclosure protection. To protect against the disclosure of confidential information provided by SED respondents, data values based on counts of respondents that fall below a predetermined threshold are suppressed in the data tables. Secondary or complementary suppressions are applied as needed to prevent reconstruction of the data values from primary suppressions. Beginning in 2021, the detailed fields in the data tables are based on the aggregation of SED Classified Instructional Program (CIP) fields. All suppressed values in the data tables are replaced with “D.”

Survey Quality Measures

Sampling error. Not applicable because the SED is a census.

Coverage error. Due to the availability of comprehensive lists of doctorate-granting institutions, coverage error of institutions is minimal. Because the graduate schools identify degree recipients at the time of doctorate completion, coverage error for individual doctorate recipients is also minimal. Comparisons of the institutions with research doctorate recipients covered by the SED that also report to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Completions Survey, collected by the National Center for Education Statistics, confirm that there is minimal coverage error.

Institutions that begin to confer research doctorates are invited to join the SED. If a university that confers research doctorates does not wish to participate in the SED, slight undercounts may result. Graduation lists provided by institutions serve as the primary frame to determine eligible doctorate recipients. In 2024, 16 doctorate-granting universities declined to fully enumerate their doctorate recipients for academic year 2024. Information on the graduates for all but one of these institutions was found from other sources, such as ProQuest. Differences in counts of research doctorate recipients between SED and IPEDS are minimal.

Nonresponse error.

• Unit nonresponse. Of the 58,131 individuals who received a research doctorate in 2024, 91.5% completed the survey (table A-2). Skeletal records for nonrespondents appear on the data file and contain a limited number of SED critical data items (doctoral institution, year of doctorate, field of doctorate, type of doctorate, and, if available, baccalaureate institution, master’s degree institution, and sex) that are constructed for nonrespondents from administrative records of the university, such as commencement programs, graduation lists, and other public records.

Unit nonresponse was concentrated in a small number of institutions: 5 of the 459 doctorate-granting institutions accounted for about 20% of the total nonrespondents; with an additional 15 institutions accounting for another 30% of the total nonrespondents. Thus, about half of survey nonrespondents were from 20 institutions.

• Item nonresponse. Due to data collected as part of nonrespondent skeletal records, item missing rates for the five key SED variables—sex, citizenship, country of citizenship, race and ethnicity, and location after graduation—were lower than the unit nonresponse rate and ranged from 0.0% for sex to 7.9% for location after graduation in 2024. Table A-3 shows item response rates for all research doctorate recipients from 2018–24 for all variables used in the data tables (see clarifying notes in the table).

Measurement error. The primary source of measurement error in the SED is attributable to incomplete or updated information provided by respondents or degree-granting institutions and to educational history provided by respondents.

Data on doctorate recipients for previous years are updated with data received from institutions and respondents after the close of data collection for a given year. Updates and corrections to graduation dates can also change the overall counts for prior years. The published tables reflect these changes and thus may not match previously published data.

For field of degree, some respondents do not self-code their field of degree and instead provide a text string that must be manually coded by the survey contractor. For nonrespondents, institutions provide the CIP code or a text string of the doctorate field. Similarly, some aspects of the educational history timeline—including the field of study or institution for earned associate’s, bachelor’s, or master’s degrees—require manual coding. When manual coding is required, a pair of trained reviewers independently code each text entry, and any discrepancies between the two coders are resolved by a third, more expert reviewer. All manual coding is subject to a final review by NCSES. Generally, the percentage of responses in these data requiring manual coding is low. In 2024, 0.3% of doctorate fields of study reported by respondents were manually coded, as well as 0.7% of associate’s degree fields, 0.3% of bachelor’s degree fields, and 0.4% of master’s degree fields.

Data Comparability

Changes in survey coverage and population. For the 2024 cycle, two institutions were added and two institutions were removed from the SED universe.

Changes in questionnaire. The following changes were made to the questionnaire in 2024:

New questions.

None.

Changed question response options.

Several question response options were modified based on an evaluation of minor wording changes conducted in the 2023 SED. Based on the results of the collected 2023 data, the following revised wording was adopted for the 2024 SED because it produced lower item nonresponse rates than alternative versions that were tested.

Due to these changes, the data in these variables prior to 2024 may not be comparable to 2024 and subsequent years.

Changes in reporting procedures or classification.

• Carnegie classification. Since 2023, the 2021 Carnegie Classifications of the doctoral institutions have been used in the data tables.
• Field of study. Beginning in 2021, field of study and doctorate dissertation field data were collected using a modified version of the 2020 Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes maintained by the National Center of Education Statistics. All data are now reported using the new SED-CIP taxonomy (table A-4). The SED-CIP modifications are as follows:
• Over 50 degree fields collected in SED prior to 2021 but not in the 2020 CIP were added. These SED-CIP codes are noted in table A-5 and table A-6 with a letter suffix other than “a.”
• An additional 37 SED-CIP codes were added in 2022 from an emerging doctorate field review based on doctorate field data collected in prior years. These 37 codes had not been incorporated in 2021 due to timing.
• CIP fields not eligible for IPEDS reporting and selected other codes were excluded: 28 (Military science, leadership, and operational art); 32 (Basic skills and development/remedial education); 33 (Citizenship activities); 34 (Health-related knowledge and skills); 35 (Interpersonal and social skills); 36 (Leisure and recreational activities);37 (Personal awareness and self-improvements); and 53 (High school/secondary diplomas and certificates).
• CIP series codes that are primarily used to report associates degrees to IPEDS were limited in the SED to associate’s degree fields only, including 12 (Culinary, entertainment, and personal services), 46 (Construction trade), 47 (Mechanic and repair technology/ technicians), and 48 (Precision production).
• The conversion of the CIP 60 (Health professions residency/fellowship) and 61 (Medical residency/fellowship) series codes to SED-CIP 70 and 71 series codes, respectively, to capture the research fields for doctorate dissertation fields only.

The SED-CIP code list includes over 1,650 fields for the field of study reporting, compared to 334 field codes collected prior to 2021. The SED-CIP codes are aggregated into 309 detailed fields, 68 major fields, and 16 broad fields, which are used for reporting in the data tables (table A-4). In 2024, minor revisions were made to the detailed field taxonomy to improve data utility. Specifically, 4 new detailed fields were added, one was renamed, and one was removed due to low counts (table A-4 and table A-5).

This SED-CIP taxonomy includes multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary sciences and multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary studies to capture and track emerging fields and is aligned to the NCSES Taxonomy of Disciplines for comparison with other NCSES surveys. The complete SED-CIP list with corresponding detailed, major, and broad fields is in table A-5. All single-year data tables (table 3-1 through table 9-18) use the new SED-CIP taxonomy.

To facilitate the trend data comparison with prior years, the historical field taxonomy and the trend field taxonomy were created in 2021 and 2023, respectively, for multiyear data tables with data earlier than 2021 (table 1-1 through table 2-8). The trend field taxonomy first used in the 2023 data tables replaced the historical field taxonomy initially introduced in 2021 to align more closely where possible with the new broad and major fields based on the SED-CIP codes (table A-7). In total, the trend field taxonomy aggregates fields into 14 trend broad fields and 62 trend major fields as compared with 8 broad and 35 major fields in the historical field taxonomy.

The trend field taxonomy, although based on the new SED-CIP codes, uses a different aggregation of SED-CIP codes (see table A-6) than the current field taxonomy used in single-year data tables (see table A-5). Therefore, the field-level counts of doctorates for 2021 and subsequent years in the multiyear trend data tables do not match those in the single-year data tables.

As an example, the historical field taxonomy previously reported “mathematics and computer sciences” as a single broad field. In the trend field taxonomy, “computer and information sciences” and “mathematics and statistics” are separately reported as two broad fields, with 2 major fields delineated under computer and information sciences and 4 major fields under mathematics and statistics. In the trend field taxonomy, detailed field “veterinary sciences,” previously reported under major field “health sciences,” is reported under major field “agricultural sciences” to better align with the new field taxonomy.

This results in generally comparable trend broad and major fields with some limitations. For example, it is not known how respondents who reported the new SED-CIP field of “electrical engineering and computer science” in the current survey would have chosen their field under the historical SED-FOS list that included two separate fields “electrical engineering” and “computer science.” For more information, see the working paper Survey of Earned Doctorates Field of Study Taxonomy Changes in 2021 and Impact on Trend Data.

The trend broad and major fields are available from 1958 to the present. The alignment of the historical fine field codes to the new trend broad and major fields is shown in table A-6. A comparison of the historical, trend, and new field taxonomies is shown in table A-7.

• Salary. Median salary is calculated from exact salary values when provided by the respondent. Salary imputation was dropped as of 2015 due to the increase in exact salary response rate. From 2011 to 2014, if a respondent selected a salary range instead of providing an exact salary value, exact salary values were imputed for median salary calculation purposes by applying hot-deck imputation based on salary range and other relevant respondent characteristics. Prior to 2011, median salary was calculated directly from the salary range values via interpolation methods, and exact salary values were not used in the calculation of median salary. Only salary data from doctorate recipients reporting definite commitments for employment or for a postdoc position in the United States are included in median salary calculations.
• Functional limitations (previously “disability”). Beginning in 2012, the functional limitations items assess both the presence and severity of functional limitations in each of several domains, which do not precisely overlap with the domains in prior surveys.
• Debt. Since 2001, respondents have been asked to indicate the amount of education-related debt they owe, with separate response categories for graduate and undergraduate education. To estimate overall debt, the midpoint of the chosen range for undergraduate and for graduate debt was selected and summed to yield a total debt amount. Where median debt levels are presented in this report (i.e., table 4-4 and table 4-5), the individual values for debt are assigned as the midpoint of the chosen range for graduate and undergraduate debt. Doctorate recipients who chose the lowest debt category (no debt) were assigned a value of $0 for the computation of median debt levels. Doctorate recipients who chose the uppermost category available prior to 2019 ($90,001 or more) were assigned a value of $95,000 for the computation of median debt levels. In 2019, additional response options were added at the upper range for graduate debt with the highest being $160,001 or more. Doctorate recipients who choose this uppermost category are assigned a value of $165,000 for the computation of median debt levels. All valid responses, including “no debt,” are included in the computation of all median debt data in the data tables.
• Citizenship. The citizenship status variable is used to identify the appropriate citizenship category of respondents, including the citizenship category of respondents who did not respond to the citizenship status survey item. The code framework for the citizenship status variable is outlined below.

Respondents who indicated a U.S. birthplace, regardless of what they reported for citizenship status, were assigned code 0.

In 1999, code 4 (non-U.S., visa status unknown) was introduced, and data were back-coded through 1997. Respondents who designated a non-U.S. country for the country of citizenship item but did not respond to the citizenship status item were assigned code 4 for citizenship status. From 1997 to 2003, foreign-born respondents who did not indicate their country of citizenship or citizenship status were assigned to code 4 if three out of four geographic variables—place of birth, place of high school, place of college entry, and postgraduation location—were non-U.S. locations. Beginning with the 2004 SED, the variable “place of baccalaureate institution” replaced “place of college entry” in the assignment of a citizenship code for respondents who did not indicate citizenship status.

For tabulations in this report, code 4 was combined with code 3—that is, counts of doctorate recipients in the temporary visa holder category include non-U.S. citizens with unknown visa status. This is consistent with coding procedures in previous data collections. However, the existence of code 4 allows the microdata user to exclude cases for which visa status is unknown. Prospective data users should note, however, that the number of cases in the code 4 group is not sufficient to warrant analysis as a separate citizenship category.

Non-U.S. citizens who did not report a country of citizenship but reported the same non-U.S. country for three out of four geographic variables—place of birth, place of high school, place of baccalaureate institution, and postgraduation location—were assigned that reported country as their country of citizenship.

• Median computation. Since 1994, medians have been computed as outlined below. When months are included, they are converted to the number of days corresponding to the first day of the month. In 2017, the method for accounting for leap days changed to reflect the actual number of leap days during the time period specified, rather than the prior method of adding 0.25 days to each year.
• Median age. Months (of birth and doctorate award) are included in the calculation of median age whenever available. Beginning in 2015, if birth month is missing, the month value is randomly imputed. Prior to 2015, the missing month value was assigned to the month the doctorate was received.
• Time to degree from bachelor’s completion. Months are included in the calculation of total time to degree. If months are missing, month values are assigned to the modal value for doctorate recipients who provide month of bachelor's completion and converted to the number of days corresponding to that month.
• Time to degree from graduate school entry. Months are included in the calculation of graduate school time to degree. If months are missing in the calculation of graduate school time to degree, month values are assigned to the modal value for doctorate recipients who provided month of graduate entry. Reports published before 2004 reported a different time-to-degree measure: registered time to degree. Comparisons of graduate school time-to-degree data with pre-2004 registered time-to-degree data should be interpreted cautiously. For an explanation of registered time to degree, see the technical notes of any Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities published before 2004.
• Time to degree from doctoral program entry. This variable was first included in 2015. Doctoral program entry is based on master’s degree program entry if the master’s degree was at the doctoral institution in the same field of study or if it was a prerequisite to the doctorate; otherwise, it is based on doctoral program entry. Months are included in the calculation of doctoral program time to degree. If the month of entry used in the calculation (master’s degree program entry or doctoral program entry) was not reported, the entry month is assigned to the modal value for all cases that did report the entry month in the academic year the case was added to the doctoral records file (typically the academic year matching the graduation date of the case).

Definitions

• Basic annual salary. Annual salary expected to be earned from the doctorate recipient's principal job in the next year after receiving the doctorate, not including bonuses or additional compensation for summertime teaching or research.
• Carnegie classification (institution categories). In this report, four types of doctorate-granting institutions identified in the figures and tabulations are defined according to the Carnegie classification scheme as updated in 2021: doctoral very high research, doctoral high research, doctoral/professional universities, and other universities (comprised of all other classifications). Institutions are classified according to their aggregate and per-capita levels of research activity, using indicators of research and development expenditures, staffing (including postdoctoral appointees and other nonfaculty research staff with doctorates), and doctoral conferrals in science and engineering and other fields.
• Definite plans to stay in the United States. A respondent is coded as having definite plans to stay in the United States if the reported postgraduation location was in the United States and the reported postgraduation plans for employment or postdoc were coded “definite.”
• Definite postgraduation plans. The status of postgraduation plans is coded using the values from item B2 of the survey questionnaire, which indicate whether the doctorate recipient’s postgraduation plans for employment or a postdoc position were definite at the time the survey was completed.
• Ever attended community college. A respondent is coded as having attended community college if the respondent reported earning an associate’s degree or credit from a community college.
• Field of study. The SED collects data on over 1,600 fields of study which are grouped into 309 detailed fields, 68 major fields, and 16 broad fields. See table A-5 for a full listing of the SED-CIP codes and their alignment to the detailed, major, and broad fields of study in 2024. See table A-6 for the SED-CIP to trend field crosswalk. See table A-7 for a comparison of the taxonomies.

Doctorate recipients report their fields of study and doctorate dissertation. Their choices may differ from departmental names. Field groupings may differ from those in other reports published by federal sponsors of the SED. The “general” field categories (e.g., “chemistry, general”) include individuals who either received the doctorate in the general subject area or who did not indicate a particular specialty field. The “nec” or not elsewhere classified field categories (e.g., “chemistry nec”) include individuals whose specified doctoral discipline either did not fit into aggregation within major fields or who reported the “other” CIP code (i.e., “chemistry, other”) (table A-4).

• Median age at doctorate. One-half of the respondents received the doctorate at or before this age. A recipient’s age is obtained by subtracting the month and year of birth from the month and year of doctorate.
• Percentage with master’s. This variable is the percentage of doctorate recipients in a field who received a master’s degree in any field before earning the doctorate.
• Research doctorate. A research doctoral degree is oriented toward preparing students to make original intellectual contributions in a field of study and is not primarily intended for the practice of a profession. Research doctorates require the completion of a dissertation or equivalent project.
• Time to doctorate. The time it takes to complete a doctoral degree is measured in three ways: (1) the time elapsed from completion of the baccalaureate to completion of the doctorate (total time to degree), (2) the time elapsed from the start of any graduate school program to completion of the doctorate (graduate school time to degree), and (3) the time elapsed from the start of the doctoral program. Time-to-doctorate measures herein are reported as medians. In 2017, the method for accounting for leap days changed to reflect the actual number of leap days during the time period specified, rather than the prior method of adding 0.25 days to each year.
• Total time to degree. This variable is the total elapsed time between the baccalaureate and the doctorate, including time not enrolled in school. It can be computed only for individuals whose baccalaureate year is known. Baccalaureate year is often obtained from commencement programs or doctorate institutions when not reported by the recipient.
• Graduate school time to degree. This variable is the elapsed time from the initiation of graduate study, in any program or capacity at any university, and the award of the doctorate. This variable can be computed only for individuals who provided the year they started graduate school. If an individual did not respond to this question, which asks for the month and year of first entry into any graduate school, then values for graduate school month and year of entry are obtained from the earliest non-missing date available from a series of items associated with a graduate school entry. Months are included in the computation.
• Doctoral program time to degree. This variable is either (1) the elapsed time from the most recent master’s degree program entry, if the master’s degree was awarded at the doctoral institution and was in the same field as the doctorate or if the master’s degree was a prerequisite to the doctoral program until doctorate completion; otherwise, it is (2) the elapsed time from the doctoral program entry until doctorate completion. This variable is only computed for academic year 2015 and later doctorates.
• U.S. regions of employment. This variable is used to classify the location of U.S. employment after award of the doctorate.