Moving Out Of Academic Research: Why Scientists Stop Doing Research?

Aldo Geuna and Sotaro Shibayama ()
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Sotaro Shibayama: Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo

SPRU Working Paper Series from SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School

Abstract: This study examines the determinants of exit from academic research which occurs when academic researchers move into positions in academe which concentrate on non-research activities such as teaching or administration, or when researchers leave academia and move into industry. Drawing on career data for 13,500 Japanese PhD graduates in hard sciences (all scientific fields except social sciences and humanities), we develop a set of econometric models to test the determinants of exit from a career in academic research. We find that academics’ scientific productivity and academic network are negatively correlated with abandoning a university research career, and that female academics, and researchers in lessprestigious universities, tend to exit academic research more easily. Individual and institutional network effects play a role mainly for senior researchers. The results indicate also that the determinants of exit are contingent on scientific field and career stage.

Keywords: Researcher mobility; academic career; academic labor market; exit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 J24 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-sog
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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