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News and updates about the Nacaps project and research results
Scientific-Use-File Release
Nacaps Debutes Research Data from the 2020 Cohort
A new Scientific Use File (SUF) from the National Academics Panel Study (Nacaps) is now available. It contains the research data from the first two survey waves of the second Nacaps cohort, the 2020 cohort. All doctoral candidates who were registered for a doctoral program at one of the 65 participating HEIs in Germany between December 2, 2018, and December 1, 2020, were invited to participate in the initial survey in 2021. More than 14,000 doctoral candidates participated. One year later, in 2022, just under 3,000 of them took part in the follow-up survey.The surveys covered a wide range of topics, including doctoral studies and supervision, international mobility, employment conditions, and psychosocial and health characteristics such as personality and subjective well-being.
A distinctive feature of the 2020 cohort is that, for the first time, weights were applied to the research data to counteract systematic selection biases and thereby optimize the representativeness of the data.
A look at the research data:
- 71% of doctoral candidates are rather satisfied with the supervision of their doctorate by their main supervisor
- 26 hours is the average time doctoral candidates spend working on their dissertation per week
- 35% would like to remain in academia after completing their doctorate
- 60% are pursuing their doctorate as part of a research project with other people
In addition to the research data from the 2020 cohort, the six survey waves from the first Nacaps cohort – the 2018 cohort – are available free of charge for research purposes: Nacaps 2018