"Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: Summary Report 2007-08" is the 41st in a series of reports on research doctorates awarded by universities in the United States. Data presented in this report were collected by the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED). The SED, which has been conducted annually since 1957, is a census of all individuals who receive a research doctorate from a U.S. academic institution in a given academic year (July 1 through June 30 of the following year). This report presents data from the 2007 and 2008 SED. The 2008 census covered 48,802 individuals who earned research doctorates in the academic year ending June 2008; the 2007 census covered 48,112 individuals who earned research doctorates in the academic year ending June 2007. The body of this report discusses the results of the 2008 SED, beginning with a summary of key findings. Trends in the numbers and percentages of doctorate recipients through 2008 are reported by the broad fields in which doctorate recipients earn their degrees, and by sex, race/ethnicity, and citizenship. Cross-sectional data on the educational pathways that doctorate recipients take to the research doctorate are reported for the 2008 cohort, as well as data on the average amount of time taken to complete the doctoral degree, doctorate recipients reporting disabilities, sources of financial support during graduate school, and the postgraduation status and plans of doctorate recipients. The data tables follow the main text, beginning with summary data tables for 2008 (tables 1-35), which display the numbers and percentages from which the figures and the numbers cited in the text are drawn. Detailed data tables for 2008 research doctorate recipients (tables 36-46) and for the previous 10-year period (1998-2008, tables 47-50) follow the summary 2008 data tables. Data collected by the 2007 SED are presented as a data supplement without accompanying narrative. These supplementary summary and detailed data tables follow the 2008 tables. Appended are: (1) Technical Notes; and (2) Survey of Earned Doctorates Questionnaires. (Contains 10 footnotes, 20 figures, and 106 tables.).

Deals with doctoral students, the institutions that provided their education, and the factors--intellectual, scientific, social, political, and economic--that effected change during the most significant and tumultuous period in U.S. doctoral education from its beginnings in 1861 through 1999. Detailed tables and figures provide historical trend data for 20th century periods. Data since 1958 are from the Survey of Earned Doctorates; earlier data are from public records and the Department of Education. The report covers doctorate recipients' demographic characteristics; study fields and institutions for bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees; financial support; indebtedness; time from baccalaureate to doctorate; and postgraduation plans.