The contribution of the postdoctoral fellows to the advancement of knowledge

30 avril 2014

The contribution of the postdoctoral fellows to the

advancement of knowledgeHeld Barbosa de Souza

[email protected]

Vincent Larivière

[email protected]École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l’information

Faculté des arts et des sciencesUniversité de Montréal

This work was supported by the Observatoire des sciences et des technologiesand the Canada Research Chair Program

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The postdoctoral fellows

✤ Young researchers recently graduated✤ Seek a position in academia (80% in Canada)✤ overpopulation of postdocs in some fields (Nerad and Cerny 1999; Jones 2013)✤ more competition✤ longer period in transitional positions✤ 9 000 postdocs in Canada in 2012 (Mitchell et al 2013)✤ That is probably an underestimation, as the status of postdocs is relatively unclear in Canada

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Computer Science : overpopulation of postdocs or PhDs?

Source : Jones 2013

Postdocs

Tenure-track faculty

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Postdoctoral system issues

✤ Bad employment conditions (Mitchell 2013; Åkerlind 2005; NIH 2012)✤ Governmental postdoctoral scholarships in Canada have a lower amount than doctoral scholarships✤ Lack of systematization for the management of profiles (AAU 1998;

2005)✤ Status unclear - students or researchers? (AAU 1998; 2005)

✤ Overpopulation

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Impact in the media 1/2

Source: Radio-Canada

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Impact in the media 2/2

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Source: Washington Post

Important facts about postdocs

✤ They have more chances to be placed in prestigious institutions (Hornbostel et al. 2009; Su 2011)✤ Young researchers are in the period of their life of more creativity (Simonton, 1977)✤ Engaged full time in research✤ Main purpose is to contribute to research

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Postdoctoral scholarships in Canada

✤ Federal gouvernment: 81,000$CAN for two years

✤ Provincial government (Quebec): 60,000$CAN for two years

✤ Very low success rate…

✤ Contrary to doctoral scholarships on which students do not pay taxes, postdoc scholarships are imposed.

✤ So the net effect is that PhD students earn more more money than Postdocs!

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The aim of the study

✤ Despite their importance in the research system, their overall contribution to the knowledge produced in Canada staysunkown.

✤ What proportion of papers to they account for?

✤ What is the scientific impact of their papers?

✤ Do “productive”postdocs remain more active after their postdoc period?

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Methodology

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Population andpublication window

✤ Postdocs granted by the Canadian and Quebec provincial government, between 2004 and 2008

- N = 3 454 postdocs

✤ Two publication windows:

Indicators:Number of publicationsAverage of relative citations (ARC)

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6 years25 027 papers

postdoc period

(3 years)11 327 papers

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Postdoc list constitution

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Match between postdocs names and bibliographic database

Results

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Productivity

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Average annual number of papers of postdocs during their fellowship

(competition year plus two years), and by faculty members and PhD

students from Québec, 2000-2007

Average of relative citations

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Average of relative citations (ARC) of papers published by postdocs

during their fellowship program (competition year plus two years), and

by faculty members and PhD students from Québec, 2000-2007

Evolution of scientific productivity and impact (1/3)

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Health programs

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Evolution of scientific productivity and impact (2/3)

Natural Sciences and Engineering programs

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Evolution of scientific productivity and impact (3/3)

Social Sciences and Humanities programs

Conclusion (1/2)

✤ Postdocs have higher productivity and scientific impact than established researchers✤ The evolution of the indicators during the 6-year period studied shows little change, except for CIHR and SSHRC (impact)✤ Because of the lack of standardised information on postdocs in universities,we could only analyse data for a small proportion of Canadian postdocs – those who have had direct governmental funding.

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Conclusion (2/2)

✤ Population of postdocs with scholarships - represents the elite of the whole group

✤ Could explain the high score obtained

✤ Results can not be generalized

✤ First step towards understanding the contribution of postdoctoral fellows to the advancement of knowledge in the country.

✤ Could inform policies aimed at a better (financial) support for postdocs

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Bibliography

Braun D. 2014. Faire de longues études pour mal gagner sa vie. Radio-Canada, 7 mars 2014. < http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/societe/2014/03/07/004-postdoctorants-canadiens-difficultes.shtml >.

Brian V. 2012. U.S. pushes for more scientists, but the jobs aren’t there. The Washington Post, July 7, 2012. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/us-pushes-for-more-scientists-but-the-jobs-arent-there/2012/07/07/gJQAZJpQUW_story.html>.

Gingras Y, Larivière V, Macaluso B, Robitaille J-P. 2008. The effects of aging on researchers publication and citation patterns. Plos One 3, no 12 : e4048.

Hornbostel S, Böhmer S, Klingsporn B, Neufeld J, Von Ins M. 2009. Funding of young scientist and scientific excellence. Scientometrics 79, no 1 : 171–190.

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Bibliography

Jones A. 2013. The explosive growth of postdocs in Computer science. Comunications of the ACM 56, no 2 : 37-39.

Larivière V. 2010. A bibliometric analysis of Quebec’s PhD students’ contribution to the advancement of knowledge. Montreal : School of Information Studies, McGill University.

Mitchell JS, Walker VE, Annan RB, Corkery TC, Goel N, Harvey L, Kent DG, Peters J, Vilches SL. 2013. The 2013 Canadian Postdoc Survey: Painting a Picture of Canadian Postdoctoral Scholars. Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars and Mitacs.

Simonton DK. 1997. A predictive and explanatory model of career trajectories and landmarks. Psychological Review 104, no 1 : 251–267.

Su, X. 2011. Postdoctoral training, departmental prestige and scientists' research productivity. Journal of Technology Transfer 36 : 275-291.

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