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Table 30. Female postdoctoral appointees in science, engineering, and health in all institutions, by field: 1979–2016

Year All science, engineering, and health Science and engineering Health
Total Science Engineering Total Clinical medicinea Other health
1979 3,340 2,524 2,474 50 816 717 99
1980 3,543 2,680 2,615 65 863 760 103
1981 4,080 2,954 2,872 82 1,126 1,014 112
1982 4,371 3,244 3,160 84 1,127 975 152
1983 4,793 3,460 3,371 89 1,333 1,171 162
1984 5,041 3,617 3,533 84 1,424 1,257 167
1985 5,414 3,953 3,852 101 1,461 1,275 186
1986 5,980 4,356 4,224 132 1,624 1,413 211
1987 6,383 4,673 4,524 149 1,710 1,459 251
1988 6,802 4,914 4,742 172 1,888 1,609 279
1989 7,372 5,311 5,133 178 2,061 1,773 288
1990 7,993 5,633 5,427 206 2,360 2,069 291
1991 8,459 5,951 5,713 238 2,508 2,205 303
1992 9,297 6,429 6,178 251 2,868 2,554 314
1993 9,941 6,777 6,495 282 3,164 2,772 392
1994 10,906 7,297 6,963 334 3,609 3,155 454
1995 10,902 7,498 7,177 321 3,404 2,949 455
1996 11,266 7,622 7,307 315 3,644 3,194 450
1997 11,975 7,894 7,548 346 4,081 3,553 528
1998 12,837 8,326 7,943 383 4,511 3,962 549
1999 12,969 8,708 8,239 469 4,261 3,730 531
2000 13,509 8,928 8,455 473 4,581 3,978 603
2001 14,001 9,255 8,769 486 4,746 4,146 600
2002 15,184 10,130 9,527 603 5,054 4,414 640
2003 16,036 10,784 10,181 603 5,252 4,517 735
2004 16,373 10,985 10,281 704 5,388 4,618 770
2005 17,040 11,229 10,499 730 5,811 5,054 757
2006 17,583 11,526 10,703 823 6,057 5,255 802
2007oldb 17,852 11,482 10,647 835 6,370 5,502 868
2007newb 17,898 11,592 10,749 843 6,306 5,370 936
2008 20,221 13,084 11,981 1,103 7,137 6,195 942
2009 21,818 14,157 12,772 1,385 7,661 6,561 1,100
2010c,d 24,570 15,789 14,299 1,490 8,781 7,590 1,191
2011d 24,472 15,807 14,308 1,499 8,665 7,594 1,071
2012 24,685 15,665 14,076 1,589 9,020 7,760 1,260
2013 24,357 15,537 13,949 1,588 8,820 7,533 1,287
2014olde 24,627 15,556 13,914 1,642 9,071 7,740 1,331
2014newe 25,102 16,005 14,363 1,642 9,097 7,759 1,338
2015 25,295 16,325 14,628 1,697 8,970 7,644 1,326
2016 25,594 16,438 14,716 1,722 9,156 7,787 1,369
a Clinical medicine includes postdoctoral (postdoc) appointees in anesthesiology; cardiology; endocrinology; gastroenterology; hematology; neurology; obstetrics and gynecology; oncology and cancer research; ophthalmology; otorhinolaryngology; pediatrics; preventive medicine and community health; psychiatry; pulmonary disease; radiology; surgery; and clinical medicine, not elsewhere classified.
b In 2007, eligible fields were reclassified, newly eligible fields were added, and the survey was redesigned to improve coverage and coding of eligible units. "2007new" presents data as collected in 2007; "2007old" shows data as they would have been collected in prior years. See appendix A in https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10307/ for more detail.
c In 2010, the postdoc section of the survey was expanded, and significant effort was made to ensure that appropriate personnel were providing postdoc data (see appendix A for more information). Thus, it is unclear how much of the increases in 2010 and later years over 2009 and prior years are from growth in postdoc appointments and how much are from improved data collection. More information on the changes to the postdoc data collection is available at https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf13334/.
d Postdoc data from 2010 and 2011 were reimputed following the 2012 data collection; these data supersede those contained in previous reports.
e In 2014, the survey frame was updated following a comprehensive frame evaluation study. The study identified potentially eligible but not previously surveyed academic institutions in the United States with master's- or doctorate-granting programs in science, engineering, or health. A total of 151 newly eligible institutions were added, and two private for-profit institutions offering mostly practitioner-based graduate degrees were determined to be ineligible.
NOTE: "Field" refers to the field of the unit that reports postdocs to the Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering.