Keeping up with the Max Plancks? In their new Scientometrics article G. Buenstorf, J. Koenig & A. Otto analyse the role of public research institutes in doctoral training
The authors find that Ph.D.s employed at public research organizations (PROs) during doctoral education 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 PROs like Max Planck Society, Helmholtz Association, Leibniz Association or Fraunhofer Society 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 findings, but also by demonstrating how research on doctoral education and the careers of doctoral students can productively engage with large-scale, process-generated data.