Tracking Career Outcomes for Postdoctoral Scholars: A Call to Action

Elizabeth A Silva, Christine Des Jarlais, Bill Lindstaedt, Erik Rotman and Elizabeth S Watkins

PLOS Biology, 2016, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-8

Abstract: The oversupply of postdoctoral scholars relative to available faculty positions has led to calls for better assessment of career outcomes. Here, we report the results of a study of postdoctoral outcomes at the University of California, San Francisco, and suggest that institutions have an obligation to determine where their postdoc alumni are employed and to share this information with current and future trainees. Further, we contend that local efforts will be more meaningful than a national survey, because of the great variability in training environment and the classification of postdoctoral scholars among institutions. We provide a framework and methodology that can be adopted by others, with the goal of developing a finely grained portrait of postdoctoral career outcomes across the United States.This Perspective reports the results of a study of postdoctoral outcomes at UCSF and suggests that the same methodology could be used to help other institutions determine where their postdoc alumni are employed, with a view to sharing this information with current and future trainees.

Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pbio00:1002458

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002458

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