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Table 1-9c. Doctorate-holding nonfaculty researchers 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 1,915 58 932 ne 44 ne 104 69 ne NA NA 464 63 181
1980 2,184 74 1,100 ne 51 ne 154 84 ne NA NA 475 103 143
1981 2,445 68 1,055 ne 57 ne 143 112 ne NA NA 632 156 222
1982 2,809 79 1,267 ne 47 ne 239 82 ne NA NA 809 150 136
1983 3,348 179 1,566 ne 61 ne 309 125 ne NA NA 759 158 191
1984 3,442 142 1,611 ne 58 ne 245 125 ne NA NA 856 221 184
1985 3,529 125 1,638 ne 78 ne 186 176 ne NA NA 967 210 149
1986 3,356 155 1,582 ne 97 ne 193 54 ne NA NA 924 216 135
1987 3,250 118 1,545 ne 123 ne 202 70 ne NA NA 848 256 88
1988 3,348 118 1,608 ne 98 ne 200 89 ne NA NA 960 174 101
1989 3,470 150 1,709 ne 68 ne 228 65 ne NA NA 991 180 79
1990 3,745 192 1,743 ne 61 ne 315 92 ne NA NA 1,006 198 138
1991 3,872 210 1,846 ne 50 ne 298 86 ne NA NA 1,007 192 183
1992 3,660 200 1,688 ne 42 ne 304 71 ne NA NA 1,071 152 132
1993 4,003 174 1,838 ne 67 ne 340 53 ne NA NA 1,225 171 135
1994 4,156 256 1,841 ne 49 ne 363 72 ne NA NA 1,244 203 128
1995 4,395 234 1,950 ne 66 ne 421 93 ne NA NA 1,381 146 104
1996 4,426 210 1,905 ne 107 ne 431 88 ne NA NA 1,291 232 162
1997 4,408 203 1,984 ne 87 ne 431 92 ne NA NA 1,208 225 178
1998 4,497 159 2,238 ne 125 ne 415 88 ne NA NA 1,083 252 137
1999 4,761 168 2,331 ne 133 ne 436 122 ne NA NA 1,157 250 164
2000 4,931 219 2,245 ne 153 ne 486 80 ne NA NA 1,271 326 151
2001 4,707 229 2,323 ne 150 ne 477 54 ne NA NA 1,081 254 139
2002 5,019 275 2,551 ne 123 ne 606 36 ne NA NA 1,089 210 129
2003 5,493 254 2,859 ne 127 ne 603 47 ne NA NA 1,245 240 118
2004 5,880 301 2,976 ne 170 ne 587 69 ne NA NA 1,374 249 154
2005 6,069 287 2,992 ne 152 ne 584 64 ne NA NA 1,576 257 157
2006 6,658 305 3,353 ne 184 ne 639 89 ne NA NA 1,615 261 212
2007oldc 6,517 256 3,257 ne 195 ne 613 108 ne NA NA 1,643 277 168
2007newc 6,526 264 3,205 4 179 8 610 108 28 NA 14 1,670 268 168
2008 8,669 458 4,514 6 228 8 751 91 219 NA 23 1,826 297 248
2009 8,698 431 4,213 9 331 31 774 160 231 NA 77 1,773 291 377
2010e,f 12,751 572 6,271 24 318 38 1,362 173 467 NA 191 2,251 467 617
2011f 13,363 581 6,224 17 326 101 1,625 174 509 NA 378 2,322 434 672
2012 13,264 567 6,249 14 349 43 1,513 209 497 NA 356 2,296 431 740
2013 13,932 550 6,527 34 459 43 1,518 224 538 NA 417 2,312 457 853
2014oldg 14,283 609 6,492 34 450 57 1,499 221 658 NA 650 2,433 411 769
2014newg 14,674 616 6,841 34 450 59 1,500 221 661 NA 666 2,445 411 770
2015 15,667 747 6,948 31 459 74 1,754 235 630 NA 718 2,701 472 898
2016 15,940 767 7,058 29 470 120 1,635 213 727 NA 760 2,735 456 970
2017olda na na na na na na na na na NA na na na na
2017newa 17,268 496 8,203 ne 476 ne 1,794 240 806 364 NA 2,871 494 1,524
na = not applicable. 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: include 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 doctorate-holding nonfaculty researchers 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.