Survey of Earned Doctorates

We encourage all doctoral students to fill out and submit the Survey of Earned Doctorates. The purpose of this confidential report is to assess the availability of highly educated personnel in evaluating the nation's work force.

The Survey gathers data from all research doctorate graduates each year on their educational history, sources of support, and postgraduation plans. The completed survey responses become part of the Doctorate Records File (DRF), a virtually complete data bank on doctorate recipients from 1920 to the present and the major source of doctoral data at the national level. The profiles of doctorate recipients that emerge from these data serve policymakers at the federal, state, local, and university levels.

National data are presented annually in the Doctorate Recipients from United States Universities: Summary Report.

• Click here to see an introductory statement on the Survey of Earned Doctorates
• Click here for more information on confidentiality
• Click here for the survey instrument