https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4393-3989
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ABSTRACT
Academic training is the initial step for junior scientists to learn to develop into independent scientists. This study investigates how supervisors decide to employ different approaches of early-career research training, and how these approaches influence the degree of trainees’ independence in their later careers. Drawing on survey and bibliometric data of life scientists in Japanese universities, this study presents the following findings. First, if scientists are allowed higher autonomy in upstream research functions in early-career training, they later tend to attain greater organizational independence with higher organizational ranks. Second, if scientists are encouraged to deviate from conventional research topics during early-career training, they later tend to achieve greater cognitive independence by producing original research output. Third, the differences in the training approaches chosen by individual supervisors are influenced by the training that they had received in their early-career training. Overall, the study suggests that training approaches and independence of scientists are socialized in the local training context and passed down from one generation to the next.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 This is the case in many fields (e.g. natural sciences, engineering, medicine), but the roles of the lab and the senior scientist can be different in other fields (e.g. social sciences, ‘big science’ fields).
2 As of 2018, 4.6% of faculty members and 23% of PhD students are non-Japanese (source: the School Basic Survey).
3 Source: the School Basic Survey.
5 The degree fields include Science (44%), Medicine (19%), Agriculture (11%), Bioscience (10%), and others (16%).
6 First, this allows us to administer the survey in a single language (Japanese), and the resulting homogeneous sample simplifies the later analyses. Second, non-Japanese students are less likely to say in academic careers in Japan – for example, only 50% of non-Japanese graduates stay in Japan while 95% of Japanese graduates stay in Japan (Nistep Citation2018).
7 Of the 587, we could not reach 14 scientists.
8 The indicator takes a value of 0 for non-novel publications and positive values for novel publications with higher indicator values corresponding to greater novelty. Since the indicator takes positive values only for 10% of all publications, we transform the indicator into a dichotomous measure coded 0 for non-novel and 1 for novel publications.
9 The correlation matrix of the variables is found in Online Supplement.
10 Spearman's rank correlation is calculated between the three-point scale (major – minor – no responsibility) measures for all functions in the PhD period and in the postdoc period. The analysis finds significantly positive correlations for subject setting (p < 0.001), planning (p < 0.001), and experiment (p < 0.001), but not for hypothesis formulation and writing.
11 The percentages of the respondents choosing either mainly A (or B) or rather A (or B) than B (or A) are summed and reported.
12 The distinction of upstream and downstream functions is supported by a factor analysis (see Online Supplement).
13 The marginal effect is computed with all variables set at their mean values except for the focal independent variable.
14 The result of the factor analysis is found in Online Supplement.
15 In computing the marginal effect, the comparison is made between a case where the focal independent variable takes the value of 5 and a case where the independent variable takes the value of 1.
16 The respondents reported significantly higher autonomy for their own training period ((A,B)) than for the training of their students ((C)). We believe that this is due to the respondents' cognitive bias.
17 For example, the study found that 60% of the Japanese in PhD training received intensive faculty guidance while 47% of respondents on average across 22 countries were given such guidance (e.g. 23% in the UK and 70% in the US). Similarly, 60% of the Japanese chose their PhD research topics, while 65% is the global average (64% in the UK and 85% in the US).