Factors associated with the permanence of doctoral students. A scoping review

Abstract

The permanence of students in doctoral programs is a multi-causal phenomenon, which makes it difficult to address and leads to an isolated investigation of its causes, being necessary a joint understanding. The aim is to investigate, through a scoping review of quantitative studies published between 2015 and 2021, the influence of individual, academic, socioeconomic and institutional factors on retention, attrition and dropout. The 32 included studies evidenced a predominance of research focused on individual factors versus few that combined all possibly relevant factors. The present study provides evidence for the emergence of several subfactors: female students, self-efficacy and motivation (individual); the relationship with the supervisor (academic); support for psychological needs (institutional); and migratory status (socioeconomic). This article highlights the need for research that understands this problem with a multifactor approach and an impact on permanence.