Teamwork has become more important in recent decades. We show that larger teams generate an unintended side effect: individuals who finish their PhD when the average team in their field is larger have worse career prospects. Our analysis combines data on career outcomes from the Survey of Doctorate Recipients with publication data that measures team size from ISI Web of Science. As average team size in a field increased over time, junior academic scientists became less likely to secure research funding or obtain tenure and were more likely to leave academia relative to their older counterparts. The team size effect can fully account for the observed decline in tenure prospects in academic science. The rise in team size was not associated with the end of mandatory retirement. However, the doubling of the NIH budget was associated with a significant increase in team size. Our results demonstrate that academic science has not adjusted its reward structure, which is largely individual, in response to team science. Failing to address these concerns means a significant loss as junior scientists exit after a costly and specialized education in science.
Authors
Mabel Andalón, Catherine de Fontenay, Donna K. Ginther, Kwanghui Lim
Related Organizations
- Acknowledgements & Disclosure
- We thank Carlos Zambrana for research assistance and Pat Oslund for creating the SDR Longitudinal Data. Ginther acknowledges funding from NSF grant number SMA-1854849. We acknowledge funding from ARC Grant DP1095010 and IPRIA.org. We also thank seminar participants at the AEIA-NBER Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the APPAM conference, the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy Virtual Research Seminar, and the NBER Early Careers Scientists conference. James Evans provided valuable comments. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the Productivity Commission or its employees. The use of NSF data does not imply NSF endorsement of the research, research methods, or conclusions contained in this report. Any errors are our own responsibility. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3386/w32827
- Pages
- 52
- Published in
- United States of America
Table of Contents
- Figure 4 Exits from Academia between 5 and 10 year of Career by Team Size Before and After Mandatory Retirement. 24
- SDR Field PhD field 36
- SED Code 36
- TS Change 36
- Table S.1 continued from previous page 37
- SDR Field PhD field SED Code 37
- BotanyPlant Biology 37
- Plant PathologyPhytopathology 37
- Plant Physiology 37
- Plant Genetics 37
- Table S.1 continued from previous page 38
- SDR Field PhD field SED Code 38
- Plant PathologyPhytopathology 38
- MathematicsStatistics Other 38
- Statistics 38
- Table S.1 continued from previous page 39
- SDR Field PhD field SED Code 39
- Table S.1 continued from previous page 40
- SDR Field PhD field SED Code 40
- Dentistry 40
- Table S.1 continued from previous page 41
- SDR Field PhD field SED Code 41
- OpticsPhototonics 41
- Other 41
- Table S.1 continued from previous page 42
- SDR Field PhD field SED Code 42
- Political Science Public Administration 42
- Table S.1 continued from previous page 43
- SDR Field PhD field SED Code 43
- AreaEthnicCulturalGender Studies 43
- Field 44
- 1997 2013 44
- Table S.4 Impact of Field Team Size on Getting Tenure TrackTenure Appointment for Sample that Started in Academia 46
- Table S.5 Impact of Field Team Size on Getting Tenure for Sample that Started in Academia 47
- Table S.6 Impact of Field Team Size on Receiving Federal Research Funding for Sample that Started in Academia 48
- Table S.7 Impact of Field Team Size on Exiting Academia for Sample that Started in Academia 49
- Table S.8 Impact of Field Team Size on Exiting Ph.D. Field for Sample that Started in Academia 50
- Table S.9 Hazard Ratios of the Impact of Field Team Size on Academic Career Outcomes for Full Sample 51
- Table S.10 Percentage Change in Team Size Before and After Mandatory Retirement 52
- Field 52
- 1970-1992 1992-2004 52
- Table S.11 Effect of Pre- and Post- Mandatory Retirement on Team Size Estimates 52
