Prior to this year, the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) survey contractor, currently the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, has made available “Tabulations of research doctorates by race/ethnicity, gender, and fine field of study” for United States citizens and United States citizens and permanent residents which you may have purchased in the past.  These tables are no longer available in that same format.

Due to heightened privacy concerns regarding the pledge of confidentiality to our SED respondents, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has made the SED data subject to stricter confidentiality protections.  These enhanced protections require that all counts with a small number of cases be suppressed to prevent deductive disclosure of personal identity.  As a result, a large proportion of counts of doctorate recipients classified by race or sex, field of study, and university will now have to be suppressed. 

NSF is aware that these changes may present problems for previous users of these data and we are currently working to identify alternative products that will meet users’ needs while also protecting the confidentiality of the respondents.  For that purpose, we are planning a user workshop to better understand users’ data needs.  In the meantime, we are providing these modified tables to users at no cost available for download on this site.  To download the tables and their associated introductory notes, please click on the following links:

Table 2a: Research doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens by race/ethnicity and fine field of study, 1997-2006

Introductory notes     Excel table     PDF table

Table 2b: Research doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens by sex and fine field of study, 1997-2006

Introductory notes     Excel table     PDF table

Table 3a: Research doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens and permanent residents by race/ethnicity and fine field of study, 1997-2006

Introductory notes     Excel table     PDF table

Table 3b: Research doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens and permanent residents by sex and fine field of study, 1997-2006

Introductory notes     Excel table     PDF table

Please feel free to contact Jaqui Falkenheim at jfalkenh@nsf.gov with questions on this policy change. 

The Survey of Earned Doctorates is conducted by the National Opinion Research Center

55 E. Monroe Street, Chicago, IL 60603  Phone: 800-248-8640  Fax: 800-684-0704