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Table 1-9b. Postdoctoral appointees in science broad fields: 1979–2017

Year Total Agricultural sciencesa Biological and biomedical sciencesa Communicationa,b Computer and information sciences Family and consumer sciences and human sciencesa,b Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences Mathematics and statistics Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studiesa,c Natural resources and conservationa Neurobiology and neurosciencea,c Physical sciencesa Psychologyd Social sciencesa
1979 12,519 228 6,866 ne 38 ne 315 162 ne NA NA 4,056 454 400
1980 13,042 259 7,083 ne 43 ne 312 162 ne NA NA 4,279 475 429
1981 13,731 292 7,678 ne 35 ne 346 113 ne NA NA 4,477 471 319
1982 13,698 302 7,713 ne 47 ne 340 194 ne NA NA 4,298 520 284
1983 14,562 318 8,337 ne 80 ne 420 170 ne NA NA 4,458 437 342
1984 14,979 384 8,683 ne 59 ne 493 203 ne NA NA 4,408 423 326
1985 15,576 374 9,128 ne 70 ne 379 226 ne NA NA 4,539 510 350
1986 16,512 421 9,692 ne 75 ne 420 201 ne NA NA 4,860 521 322
1987 17,369 453 10,353 ne 103 ne 424 229 ne NA NA 4,968 460 379
1988 18,024 476 10,653 ne 96 ne 496 284 ne NA NA 5,201 498 320
1989 18,978 522 11,425 ne 84 ne 453 225 ne NA NA 5,366 536 367
1990 19,853 536 11,909 ne 71 ne 594 249 ne NA NA 5,592 464 438
1991 20,595 580 12,455 ne 120 ne 625 206 ne NA NA 5,722 508 379
1992 21,514 640 13,158 ne 145 ne 692 201 ne NA NA 5,792 525 361
1993 22,219 720 13,778 ne 164 ne 765 224 ne NA NA 5,669 521 378
1994 23,181 729 14,379 ne 185 ne 824 239 ne NA NA 5,884 551 390
1995 23,512 724 14,659 ne 213 ne 845 262 ne NA NA 5,851 582 376
1996 23,892 699 14,890 ne 250 ne 861 326 ne NA NA 5,828 594 444
1997 24,293 724 15,082 ne 322 ne 942 308 ne NA NA 5,968 586 361
1998 25,023 695 15,761 ne 374 ne 902 279 ne NA NA 6,004 617 391
1999 25,784 750 16,097 ne 334 ne 925 351 ne NA NA 6,157 716 454
2000 26,911 822 16,734 ne 344 ne 1,155 385 ne NA NA 6,270 730 471
2001 27,044 833 17,032 ne 336 ne 1,049 353 ne NA NA 6,223 809 409
2002 28,371 963 17,640 ne 356 ne 1,129 395 ne NA NA 6,619 815 454
2003 29,856 1,054 18,625 ne 355 ne 1,182 449 ne NA NA 6,829 960 402
2004 30,116 959 18,716 ne 384 ne 1,263 468 ne NA NA 7,059 902 365
2005 30,290 1,007 18,747 ne 406 ne 1,364 500 ne NA NA 7,011 884 371
2006 30,245 927 18,807 ne 467 ne 1,495 579 ne NA NA 6,703 873 394
2007oldc 30,986 948 19,218 ne 516 ne 1,322 621 ne NA NA 6,760 1,106 495
2007newc 31,281 985 19,109 30 456 8 1,250 624 244 NA 285 6,719 1,088 483
2008 32,741 1,147 19,827 32 493 19 1,339 723 348 NA 343 6,885 1,077 508
2009 34,388 1,083 20,159 38 594 22 1,424 737 459 NA 645 7,447 1,219 561
2010e,f 37,351 1,190 21,726 62 763 30 1,740 791 785 NA 838 7,583 1,132 711
2011f 37,335 1,256 21,107 67 759 52 1,774 830 704 NA 1,398 7,490 1,124 774
2012 36,738 1,290 20,086 58 760 58 1,956 902 742 NA 1,525 7,430 1,132 799
2013 36,289 1,319 19,330 76 765 90 2,032 932 891 NA 1,696 7,197 1,023 938
2014oldg 36,184 1,395 18,749 75 833 93 2,059 956 1,045 NA 1,778 7,089 1,062 1,050
2014newg 37,316 1,402 19,554 75 834 114 2,061 959 1,045 NA 1,878 7,277 1,066 1,051
2015 37,639 1,525 19,304 83 888 103 2,129 1,011 972 NA 1,957 7,358 1,130 1,179
2016 37,941 1,484 19,427 86 914 116 2,104 1,005 1,095 NA 2,071 7,269 1,177 1,193
2017olda 37,816 1,620 19,506 89 856 163 2,136 966 1,126 NA 2,109 6,946 1,072 1,227
2017newa 38,241 1,024 21,781 ne 854 ne 2,089 991 1,131 731 NA 7,211 1,082 1,347
NA = not available; these fields were collected as part of other fields in other years (see footnotes a and c). ne = not eligible; the fields collected have changed over time.
a As part of 2017 GSS redesign, the GSS taxonomy was changed to align with the NCSES Taxonomy of Disciplines (TOD), thus increasing comparability with other NCSES surveys. As a result, some eligible fields were reclassified and a small number of fields became fully or partially ineligible. Comparisons to prior years should use the 2017old estimates and should be limited to broad areas of study—detailed field comparisons are not recommended. Redesign includes the following: natural resources splitting from agricultural sciences; neurosciences being reported under biological and biomedical sciences; physical sciences adding materials sciences; social sciences no longer including public administration; and multidisciplinary no longer including nanoscience.
b The field communications and the field family and consumer sciences and human sciences were added as part of the 2007 field eligibility changes. These fields were dropped in 2017 to align the Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSS) with other National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics surveys.
c 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. The science field communication and the science field family and consumer sciences and human sciences were newly eligible in 2007; data for these two fields begin in 2007new. The science field multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies was also added to the GSS code list in 2007; some data reported in this field were reported under other fields before 2007 and are included in those fields in 2007old. neuroscience is reported as a separate field of science in 2007new; data were reported under health field neurology in 2007old and previous years. See appendix A in https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10307/ for more detail.
d Beginning in 2008, more rigorous follow-up was done with institutions regarding the exclusion of practitioner-oriented graduate degree programs in psychology. This change may affect interpretation of trends in this field. This follow-up was discontinued in 2017.
e In 2010, the postdoctoral (postdoc) and nonfaculty researcher (NFR) section of the survey was expanded and significant effort was made to ensure that appropriate personnel were providing postdoc and NFR data. Thus, it is unclear how much of the increases in 2010 and later years over 2009 and prior years are from growth in postdocs and NFRs and how much are from improved data collection. More information on the changes to the data collection is available at https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf13334/.
f Postdoc and NFR data from 2010 and 2011 were reimputed following the 2012 data collection; these data supersede those contained in previous reports.
g 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. For more information, see https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2016/nsf16314.
NOTES: "Field" refers to the field of the unit that reports postdocs to the GSS. Sum of the broad fields may not add to total because of rounding. Master's and doctoral students were not reported separately until 2017.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering.