IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0202528.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Market share and recent hiring trends in anthropology faculty positions

Author

Listed:
  • Robert J Speakman
  • Carla S Hadden
  • Matthew H Colvin
  • Justin Cramb
  • K C Jones
  • Travis W Jones
  • Isabelle Lulewicz
  • Katharine G Napora
  • Katherine L Reinberger
  • Brandon T Ritchison
  • Alexandra R Edwards
  • Victor D Thompson

Abstract

Between 1985 and 2014, the number of US doctoral graduates in Anthropology increased from about 350 to 530 graduates per year. This rise in doctorates entering the work force along with an overall decrease in the numbers of tenure-track academic positions has resulted in highly competitive academic job market. We estimate that approximately79% of US anthropology doctorates do not obtain tenure-track positions at BA/BS, MA/MS, and PhD institutions in the US. Here, we examine where US anthropology faculty obtained their degrees and where they ultimately end up teaching as tenure-track faculty. Using data derived from the 2014–2015 AnthroGuide and anthropology departmental web pages, we identify and rank PhD programs in terms of numbers of graduates who have obtained tenure-track academic jobs; examine long-term and ongoing trends in the programs producing doctorates for the discipline as a whole, as well as for the subfields of archaeology, bioanthropology, and sociocultural anthropology; and discuss gender inequity in academic anthropology within the US.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert J Speakman & Carla S Hadden & Matthew H Colvin & Justin Cramb & K C Jones & Travis W Jones & Isabelle Lulewicz & Katharine G Napora & Katherine L Reinberger & Brandon T Ritchison & Alexandra R , 2018. "Market share and recent hiring trends in anthropology faculty positions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-19, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0202528
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202528
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0202528
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0202528&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0202528?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julie Gould, 2015. "How to build a better PhD," Nature, Nature, vol. 528(7580), pages 22-25, December.
    2. Navid Ghaffarzadegan & Joshua Hawley & Richard Larson & Yi Xue, 2015. "A Note on PhD Population Growth in Biomedical Sciences," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 402-405, May.
    3. Richard C. Larson & Navid Ghaffarzadegan & Yi Xue, 2014. "Too Many PhD Graduates or Too Few Academic Job Openings: The Basic Reproductive Number R0 in Academia," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(6), pages 745-750, November.
    4. David Cyranoski & Natasha Gilbert & Heidi Ledford & Anjali Nayar & Mohammed Yahia, 2011. "Education: The PhD factory," Nature, Nature, vol. 472(7343), pages 276-279, April.
    5. Shannon Tushingham & Tiffany Fulkerson & Katheryn Hill, 2017. "The peer review gap: A longitudinal case study of gendered publishing and occupational patterns in a female-rich discipline, Western North America (1974–2016)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(11), pages 1-24, November.
    6. Kendall Powell, 2015. "The future of the postdoc," Nature, Nature, vol. 520(7546), pages 144-147, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gen-Chang Hsu & Wei-Jiun Lin & Syuan-Jyun Sun, 2023. "Temporal trends in academic performance and career duration of principal investigators in ecology and evolutionary biology in Taiwan," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(6), pages 3437-3451, June.
    2. Ghaffarzadegan, Navid & Xue, Yi & Larson, Richard C., 2017. "Work-education mismatch: An endogenous theory of professionalization," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 261(3), pages 1085-1097.
    3. Jeongeun Kim & Molly Ott & Lindsey Dippold, 2020. "University and Department Influences on Scientists’ Occupational Outcomes," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 61(2), pages 197-228, March.
    4. Santos, João M. & Horta, Hugo & Heitor, Manuel, 2016. "Too many PhDs? An invalid argument for countries developing their scientific and academic systems: The case of Portugal," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 113(PB), pages 352-362.
    5. Ganguli, Ina & Gaule, Patrick & Čugalj, Danijela Vuletić, 2020. "Biased Beliefs and Entry into Scientific Careers," IZA Discussion Papers 13475, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Navid Ghaffarzadegan & Ran Xu, 2018. "Late retirement, early careers, and the aging of U.S. science and engineering professors," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(12), pages 1-16, December.
    7. Spronken-Smith, Rachel, 2018. "REFORMING DOCTORAL EDUCATION: There is a Better Way," University of California at Berkeley, Center for Studies in Higher Education qt4s08b4jx, Center for Studies in Higher Education, UC Berkeley.
    8. Hyungjo Hur & Maryam A Andalib & Julie A Maurer & Joshua D Hawley & Navid Ghaffarzadegan, 2017. "Recent trends in the U.S. Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (BSSR) workforce," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, February.
    9. Navid Ghaffarzadegan & Richard C. Larson, 2018. "SD meets OR: a new synergy to address policy problems," System Dynamics Review, System Dynamics Society, vol. 34(1-2), pages 327-353, January.
    10. Ganguli, Ina & Gaulé, Patrick & Čugalj, Danijela Vuletić, 2022. "Chasing the academic dream: Biased beliefs and scientific labor markets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 17-33.
    11. Clara Boothby & Staša Milojević, 2021. "An exploratory full-text analysis of Science Careers in a changing academic job market," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(5), pages 4055-4071, May.
    12. Navid Ghaffarzadegan & Richard Larson & Joshua Hawley, 2017. "Education as a Complex System," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 211-215, May.
    13. Giulio Marini, 2021. "The employment destination of PhD-holders in Italy: non-academic funded projects as drivers of successful segmentation," DoQSS Working Papers 21-16, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    14. Shibayama, Sotaro, 2019. "Sustainable development of science and scientists: Academic training in life science labs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 676-692.
    15. Sucharita Ghosh & Emanuele Grassi, 2020. "Overeducation and overskilling in the early careers of PhD graduates: Does international migration reduce labour market mismatch?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(4), pages 915-944, August.
    16. Songyue Lin & Kaixuan Zhang & Jin Liu & Wenjing Lyu, 2024. "Credential inflation and employment of university faculty in China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.
    17. Nathalie Duval-Couetil & Michael Ladisch & Soohyun Yi, 2021. "Addressing academic researcher priorities through science and technology entrepreneurship education," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 288-318, April.
    18. Jin, Ruining & Hoang, Giang & Nguyen, Thi-Phuong & Tri, Nguyen Phuong & Le, Tam-Tri & La, Viet-Phuong, 2022. "An analytical framework-based pedagogical method for scholarly community coaching: A proof of concept," OSF Preprints qabhj_v1, Center for Open Science.
    19. Barbara Ermini & Luca Papi & Francesca Scaturro, 2016. "Over-education among italian Ph.D. graduates. Does the crisis make a difference?," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 126, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    20. Malgorzata Lagisz & Kevin R Bairos-Novak & April Robin Martinig & Michael G Bertram & Ayumi Mizuno & Saeed Shafiei Sabet & Matthieu Paquet & Manuela S Santana & Eli S J Thoré & Nina Trubanová & Joanna, 2025. "Priced out of belonging? Insufficient concessions on membership fees across international societies in ecology and evolution," Post-Print hal-04948128, HAL.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0202528. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.