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Science and Engineering Doctorates

About this report

SED report cover

The Survey of Earned Doctorates, the data source for this report, is an annual census of individuals who receive research doctoral degrees from accredited U.S. academic institutions. The survey is sponsored by six federal agencies: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Agriculture, and Department of Education. These data are reported in several publications from NSF's National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. The most comprehensive and widely cited publication is this report, Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities.

This report calls attention to major trends in doctoral education, organized into themes highlighting important questions about doctorate recipients. Online, the reader is invited to explore trends in greater depth through detailed data tables and interactive graphics (https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/sed/). Technical notes and other online resources are provided to aid in interpreting the data. The data tables are available in HTML, PDF, and Excel formats for easy viewing, printing, and downloading.

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