Data

U. Washington, Seattle

Number of earned doctorates, by trend major field of study of recipients: 2025–16
Fields 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016
All fields 683 686 710 615 632 681 708 619 604 615
  Science and engineering 589 589 606 509 556 573 586 516 473 501
    Agricultural sciences and natural resources 8 9 8 14 10 11 12 15 9 6
      Agricultural sciences . 1 1 2 2 1 3 2 . .
      Natural resources and conservation 8 8 7 12 8 10 9 13 9 6
    Biological and biomedical sciences 156 158 170 122 132 145 162 134 106 139
      Biochemistry and biophysics 20 8 20 15 10 16 17 9 9 9
      Biology and biomedical sciences, general 5 4 9 8 2 4 8 8 1 8
      Bioinformatics, biostatistics, and computational biology 21 16 24 13 13 20 23 11 13 13
      Cellular and developmental biology, and anatomy 1 . 2 1 2 1 7 3 5 6
      Ecology, evolutionary biology, and epidemiology 29 35 33 22 26 27 33 22 21 28
      Genetics and genomics 10 12 14 12 12 10 12 15 7 12
      Microbiology and immunology 22 27 22 20 19 19 18 18 18 21
      Molecular biology 21 21 24 11 18 12 14 12 9 12
      Neurobiology and neurosciences 8 22 6 8 11 13 15 14 13 10
      Pharmacology and toxicology 9 5 3 1 11 6 7 10 6 12
      Physiology, pathology, and cancer biology 7 5 9 9 4 11 3 5 . 1
      Biology and biomedical sciences, other 3 3 4 2 4 6 5 7 4 7
    Computer and information sciences 35 49 39 35 34 57 45 37 27 20
      Computer science 26 33 23 23 20 39 36 21 16 12
      Computer and information sciences, other 9 16 16 12 14 18 9 16 11 8
    Engineering 143 142 142 114 130 115 136 82 105 95
      Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 8 8 8 7 8 6 8 4 5 6
      Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 29 22 25 18 11 14 33 19 24 12
      Chemical and petroleum engineering 13 17 10 14 14 17 13 7 13 11
      Civil, environmental, and transportation engineering 11 14 16 8 15 14 20 8 8 11
      Electrical and computer engineering 49 43 41 38 46 24 24 18 20 25
      Industrial engineering and operations research 3 10 4 4 6 6 5 4 4 3
      Materials and mining engineering 4 11 10 8 9 5 7 11 3 10
      Mechanical engineering 22 13 22 16 15 23 21 11 23 16
      Engineering, other 4 4 6 1 6 6 5 . 5 1
    Geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 31 31 28 29 29 36 32 31 21 46
      Geological sciences 5 8 11 8 5 13 13 9 7 7
      Ocean, marine, and atmospheric sciences 26 23 17 21 24 23 19 22 14 39
    Health sciences 44 42 51 28 44 45 47 46 45 36
      Nursing science 12 11 10 9 11 9 11 13 16 9
      Pharmaceutical sciences 2 9 8 2 9 13 7 9 3 3
      Public health 18 16 24 11 12 15 19 15 17 10
      Health sciences, other 12 6 9 6 12 8 10 9 9 14
    Mathematics and statistics 31 32 27 31 36 23 32 25 30 27
      Applied mathematics 7 8 9 15 12 6 5 5 13 2
      Mathematics 4 6 . 3 1 1 7 10 3 7
      Statistics 8 5 10 6 6 7 10 5 5 5
      Mathematics and statistics, other 12 13 8 7 17 9 10 5 9 13
    Physical sciences 74 64 63 58 79 62 47 66 59 48
      Astronomy and astrophysics 10 7 8 3 8 4 6 9 7 5
      Chemistry 38 30 34 35 41 39 21 34 31 22
      Physics 26 27 21 20 30 19 20 23 21 21
    Psychology 14 18 21 12 14 19 16 17 17 18
      Clinical psychology 4 6 6 2 5 11 5 6 8 8
      Counseling and applied psychology 1 3 4 1 2 2 1 1 3 1
      Research and experimental psychology 8 6 7 9 5 5 9 8 5 8
      Psychology, other 1 3 4 . 2 1 1 2 1 1
    Social sciences 53 44 57 66 48 60 57 63 54 66
      Anthropology 6 3 1 2 2 8 8 7 5 7
      Economics 18 7 12 14 12 11 13 15 9 14
      Political science and government 8 8 7 7 8 8 5 12 4 11
      Public policy analysis 1 3 5 6 1 4 . 3 2 4
      Sociology, demography, and population studies 4 5 4 4 5 7 6 12 11 7
      Social sciences, other 16 18 28 33 20 22 25 14 23 23
  Non-science and engineering 94 97 104 106 76 108 122 103 131 114
    Business 16 10 21 21 11 15 12 9 13 13
      Business 16 10 21 21 11 15 12 9 13 13
    Education 23 40 25 32 18 27 40 39 40 52
      Education leadership and administration 5 3 2 4 . 2 1 3 2 5
      Education research 12 25 19 19 14 21 30 30 27 28
      Teacher education and teaching fields 6 10 4 8 4 2 6 4 6 16
      Education, other . 2 . 1 . 2 3 2 5 3
    Humanities and arts 37 33 39 40 35 48 47 42 53 43
      Letters 13 16 16 19 12 23 21 17 16 21
      Foreign languages and literature 6 2 2 3 4 8 9 5 7 7
      History 4 6 8 4 5 8 6 6 8 3
      Philosophy and religious studies 2 2 4 5 3 4 1 2 3 3
      Music and performing arts 4 4 5 3 7 2 3 7 9 3
      Humanities and arts, other 8 3 4 6 4 3 7 5 10 6
    Other non-science and engineering 18 14 19 13 12 18 23 13 25 6
      Communication 10 7 5 3 3 8 6 3 6 1
      Public administration and social services 2 5 7 7 3 3 9 6 8 3
      Non-science and engineering, other 6 2 7 3 6 7 8 4 11 2

NOTES:
  • . = data were not collected at this level or institution was not eligible to participate for this survey year.

SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates

Open printer friendly view

Back to Top of page.