Changing Degrees: Creation and Growth of New Kinds of Professional Doctorates

Since 1990, new types of doctoral degrees—most in professions that never had doctorates before—surged into the higher education scene in the United States and elsewhere. In the United States, new “professional practice doctorates” were created in more than a dozen fields, and programs for these doctorates skyrocketed from near 0 in 2000 to about 650 by 2015. In some fields, aspiring professionals who once completed master’s degrees now either must or increasingly are expected to complete doctorates to enter practice. This article examines the creation and expansion of these doctorates and the forces driving them. Using comparative case-study analysis of 3 professional fields, the study revealed that professional associations or professional school administrators spearheaded the creation of new doctoral credentials. The study concluded that these associations or administrators did so primarily to increase the professions’ or practitioners’ status, autonomy, and income or to raise institutional standing—rather than to respond to labor market needs or more complex professional work environments. Once the new doctoral titles were established, many programs quickly converted from master’s degrees to doctoral awards, despite program costs and uncertainties. These new doctorates raise important policy questions about professional access, institutional resources, quality of client care, and the meaning of a doctorate.