The authors find that Ph.D.s employed at public research organizations during doctoral education like Max Planck institutes, Helmholtz institutes, Leibniz institute or institute of Fraunhofer Society are more likely to stay in academia than their university-employed peers. Despite extensive policy efforts that sought to strengthen the research performance of German universities, doctoral candidates employed at basic research-oriented public research organizations had the strongest cross-cohort increase in their post-graduation academic employment share. This group also experienced the most pronounced fall in the share of high post-graduation income owners. Industry-employed doctoral candidates are unlikely to migrate to the academic sector and have the highest likelihood of obtaining high post-graduation incomes.

This study aims to contribute to research not only through its empirical findings, but also by demonstrating how research on doctoral education and the careers of doctoral students can engage with large-scale process-generated data.

Buenstorf, G., Koenig, J. & Otto, A. Keeping up with the Max Plancks? Germany’s quest for university excellence and the role of public research institutes in doctoral education. Scientometrics (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-024-05195-w