REEIS Important Facts About the System
REEIS relies on data from several sources to provide its reports. Important facts have been gathered about each of these source systems in order to assist you in determining whether the data will meet your information needs and to provide a context for understanding the most appropriate uses of the data.
The table below includes some important facts about the systems history, the data that is available in the system, the means by which the data is collected, and any special circumstances of conditions that affect the collection, processing, and reporting of that data.
Source System: National Science Foundation (NSF)/Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED)
| REEIS imports the Survey of Earned Doctorates data from the National Science Foundation. REEIS does not create or change the data. |
| The SED data that was obtained spans from fiscal years 1985 to 2005. This data is a special USDA request from NSF and, therefore, includes only a subset of data. This subset was based on certain chosen values from the column PHDFLD, field of Doctorate. |
| Fields of Study (PhD Field Name) from the NSF Survey of Earned Doctorates have changed over time. These data were extracted at two different points in time--1985-1992 (earlier but fewer fields of study) and 1993-2005 (more recent and enlarged number of fields of study). The total number of students graduating by year will vary based on the number of disciplines extracted. |
| The data is updated once a year. |
| The purpose of the data is to present overall trends in research doctorates awarded by U.S. universities, addressing trends in several broad fields in which research doctorate recipients earn their degrees. Trends in doctorate awards by sex, race/ethnicity, citizenship, parental education and time to degree are also described. |
| The Survey of Earned Doctorates classifies research doctorate degrees into approximately 290 fields of specialization. |
| The Survey of Earned Doctorates closely monitors the universe of doctorate-granting institutions and makes a strong effort to include all accredited institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. |
| Newly-identified institutions granting one or more of the doctorates listed in the report are contacted by Survey of Earned Doctorates and included in the universe, as soon as they award a recognized research doctorate. |
NSF SED data prior to 2004 were not imported for the following fields:
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Data Collection for 2004 deleted the following disciplines:
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