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The GSS is an unreliable indicator of biological sciences postdoc population trends

Christopher L. Pickett, Adriana Bankston, Gary S. McDowell
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/171314
Christopher L. Pickett
aRescuing Biomedical Research, 1200 New York Avenue, Room 767 Washington, DC 20005
bPrinceton University Lewis-Sigler Institute Princeton, NJ 08544
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  • For correspondence: clp3@princeton.edu
Adriana Bankston
cThe Future of Research, 848 Brockton Avenue Abington, MA 02351
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Gary S. McDowell
cThe Future of Research, 848 Brockton Avenue Abington, MA 02351
dManylabs 1086 Folsom Street San Francisco, CA 94103
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Abstract

The postdoctoral research position is an essential step on the academic career track, and the biomedical research enterprise has become heavily dependent on postdoctoral scholars to conduct experimental research. Monitoring postdoc population trends is important for crafting and evaluating policies that affect this critical population. The tool most use for understanding the trends of the biological sciences postdoc population is the Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSS) administered by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. To determine how well institutions tracked their postdocs, we analyzed the yearly changes in the biological sciences postdoc population at institutions surveyed by the GSS from 1980 to 2015. We find examples of large changes in the biological sciences postdoc population at one or a few institutions most years from 1980 to 2015. Most universities could not explain the data presented in the GSS, and for those that provided an explanation, the most common causes were improved institutional policies and more robust tracking of their postdocs. These large changes, unrelated to hiring or layoffs, sometimes masked population trends in the broader biological sciences postdoc population. We propose the adoption of a unified definition and titles for postdocs and the creation of an index to better assess biological sciences postdoc population trends.

NSF
National Science Foundation
NCSES
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
GSS
Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering
Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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Posted December 01, 2017.
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The GSS is an unreliable indicator of biological sciences postdoc population trends
Christopher L. Pickett, Adriana Bankston, Gary S. McDowell
bioRxiv 171314; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/171314
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The GSS is an unreliable indicator of biological sciences postdoc population trends
Christopher L. Pickett, Adriana Bankston, Gary S. McDowell
bioRxiv 171314; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/171314

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