Data

Cornell U.

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 628 598 549 509 472 514 527 539 496 492
  Science and engineering 560 519 475 444 414 443 448 459 427 412
    Agricultural sciences and natural resources 51 50 57 37 44 46 46 47 43 31
      Agricultural sciences 43 44 50 36 39 39 39 40 34 23
      Natural resources and conservation 8 6 7 1 5 7 7 7 9 8
    Biological and biomedical sciences 109 107 95 87 76 93 78 83 89 81
      Biochemistry and biophysics 13 17 14 10 8 9 19 11 9 12
      Biology and biomedical sciences, general 12 14 17 8 7 5 9 4 4 3
      Bioinformatics, biostatistics, and computational biology 4 5 6 4 6 6 . 2 9 4
      Cellular and developmental biology, and anatomy 2 5 2 3 1 . 1 4 1 .
      Ecology, evolutionary biology, and epidemiology 11 8 16 8 7 15 10 6 11 14
      Genetics and genomics 8 11 8 10 6 12 5 4 6 8
      Microbiology and immunology 15 15 8 16 7 11 9 9 5 7
      Molecular biology 6 6 6 7 3 7 2 6 10 2
      Neurobiology and neurosciences 5 3 3 3 7 1 2 4 1 5
      Pharmacology and toxicology . 1 . . . . 2 3 3 3
      Physiology, pathology, and cancer biology 3 2 . 1 1 . . 1 . 1
      Biology and biomedical sciences, other 30 20 15 17 23 27 19 29 30 22
    Computer and information sciences 55 54 34 34 32 29 18 29 27 26
      Computer science 43 35 23 28 25 20 16 19 25 22
      Computer and information sciences, other 12 19 11 6 7 9 2 10 2 4
    Engineering 130 123 122 108 104 115 125 109 107 104
      Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 8 8 8 8 2 4 4 2 3 3
      Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 21 19 22 17 23 19 25 19 20 24
      Chemical and petroleum engineering 26 12 17 16 17 21 28 10 18 16
      Civil, environmental, and transportation engineering 10 7 10 10 7 7 13 10 10 10
      Electrical and computer engineering 20 26 21 23 20 21 17 26 21 19
      Industrial engineering and operations research 12 15 12 3 8 9 6 9 4 5
      Materials and mining engineering 16 9 7 7 9 11 13 14 10 9
      Mechanical engineering 10 24 21 21 16 19 15 13 16 16
      Engineering, other 7 3 4 3 2 4 4 6 5 2
    Geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 7 3 6 3 2 8 8 14 11 7
      Geological sciences 6 1 2 2 2 6 4 9 6 3
      Ocean, marine, and atmospheric sciences 1 2 4 1 . 2 4 5 5 4
    Health sciences 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1
      Public health 1 . . 1 . . . . . 1
      Health sciences, other . . . . . . 1 . . .
    Mathematics and statistics 32 28 19 35 23 18 25 26 19 23
      Applied mathematics 14 6 4 10 3 5 5 9 6 7
      Mathematics 3 . 1 1 3 1 4 5 4 2
      Statistics 3 5 8 10 8 4 3 2 3 3
      Mathematics and statistics, other 12 17 6 14 9 8 13 10 6 11
    Physical sciences 86 74 62 58 66 65 56 80 49 66
      Astronomy and astrophysics 8 14 3 7 10 5 7 5 4 7
      Chemistry 32 33 22 20 26 22 18 35 18 24
      Physics 46 27 37 31 30 38 31 40 27 35
    Psychology 10 14 7 14 6 13 16 12 10 17
      Counseling and applied psychology . . . . . 3 2 1 2 1
      Research and experimental psychology 7 12 5 10 5 6 9 6 6 8
      Psychology, other 3 2 2 4 1 4 5 5 2 8
    Social sciences 79 66 73 67 61 56 75 59 72 56
      Anthropology 7 6 6 7 4 4 6 7 2 6
      Economics 21 21 21 25 17 25 24 18 27 17
      Political science and government 10 12 7 10 8 3 14 10 13 6
      Public policy analysis 4 5 3 2 2 1 1 1 . 1
      Sociology, demography, and population studies 13 7 11 8 11 8 14 10 14 12
      Social sciences, other 24 15 25 15 19 15 16 13 16 14
  Non-science and engineering 68 79 74 65 58 71 79 80 69 80
    Business 18 14 11 12 14 16 11 8 14 16
      Business 18 14 11 12 14 16 11 8 14 16
    Education . . . . . 1 3 2 . 3
      Education research . . . . . 1 1 1 . 1
      Teacher education and teaching fields . . . . . . . 1 . 2
      Education, other . . . . . . 2 . . .
    Humanities and arts 38 54 45 44 36 42 51 60 43 52
      Letters 11 15 16 18 14 6 14 15 7 16
      Foreign languages and literature 5 8 4 6 3 11 8 13 13 11
      History 8 11 9 6 6 11 8 15 11 7
      Philosophy and religious studies 3 11 4 5 3 5 9 4 7 5
      Music and performing arts 3 3 3 4 6 5 5 6 1 8
      Humanities and arts, other 8 6 9 5 4 4 7 7 4 5
    Other non-science and engineering 12 11 18 9 8 12 14 10 12 9
      Communication 4 5 6 5 4 5 6 8 5 6
      Non-science and engineering, other 8 6 12 4 4 7 8 2 7 3

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