Surveying the experience of postdocs in the United States before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Morin, Andréanne; Helling, Britney A.; Krishnan, Seetha; Risner, Laurie E.; Walker, Nykia D.; Schwartz, Nancy B.

doi:10.7554/elife.75705

Cited by 16 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…ECRs, well-aware that employment problems were looming to an even greater extent on their already precarious horizons, were very concerned indeed that the pandemic-triggered financial problems in the academic world were endangering their career prospects (AAS -EMCR, 2020; Baker, 2020b; Byrom, 2020; Morin et al, 2022;SMaRteN;Watchorn;Heckendorf;Smith, 2020;Woolston, 2020;Yan, 2020). With good reason, too: after all, junior researchers, being typically employed on fixed-duration, non-tenure track contracts, as they are, certainly were the most vulnerable cohort in the research community, particularly prone to hiring freezes, layoffs and dearth of job openings that the pandemic was predicted to bring about.…”

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confidence: 99%

Early career researchers in the pandemic-fashioned ‘new scholarly normality’: a first look into the big changes and long-lasting impacts (international analysis)

Nicholas¹,

Herman²,

Boukacem‐Zeghmouri

et al. 2022

EPI

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After two-years of repeat interviewing around 170 early career science/social science researchers from China, France, Malaysia, Poland, Russia, Spain, UK and US about their work life and scholarly communications in pandemic-times, the Harbingers project is now in possession of a mountain of data on what constitutes a very important academic topic. The purpose of the paper is to share the early highlights of the data, with a focus on the main and lasting impacts of the pandemic. The data presented comes from the national interviewers, who had conducted 3 rounds of interviews with their 20 or so early career researchers (ECRs) over two years and, thus, knew them well. They were asked to provide an ‘aerial view’ by identifying the most important impacts they had detected while things were still fresh in their minds. The main findings are that: 1) ECRs, the research workhorses, have generally proved to be resilient and perseverant and some have prospered; 2) the pandemic has fast-tracked researchers to a virtual and remote scholarly world, with all the advantages and disadvantages that comes with it. The data, however, is nuanced, with significant differences occurring between countries, especially China and France. The paper also updates a literature review on the topic previously published in this journal.

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confidence: 99%

Early career researchers in the pandemic-fashioned ‘new scholarly normality’: a first look into the big changes and long-lasting impacts (international analysis)

Nicholas¹,

Herman²,

Boukacem‐Zeghmouri

et al. 2022

EPI

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“…Some of the studies bringing the voices of ECRs take a more wide-ranging approach to their experiences, but focus on specific knowledge areas, such as ecology and evolutionary biology (Aubry; Laverty; Ma, 2021), pediatric pain (Hartley, 2020) or autism (Harrop et al, 2021). Others look at the situation of ECRs in specific countries (Aubry;Laverty;Ma, 2021, McGaughey et al, 2021Morin et al, 2022) and even specific HE institutes, such as Gates & Gavin's (2021) research on the impact of Covid-19 on University of Southampton Early Career Researchers.…”

Section: Direct Quotesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early career researchers in the pandemic-fashioned ‘new scholarly normality’: voices from the research frontline

Nicholas¹,

Herman²,

Boukacem‐Zeghmouri

et al. 2022

EPI

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After two-years of talking to around 170 early career science/social science researchers from China, France, Malaysia, Poland, Russia, Spain, UK and US about their work life and scholarly communications during the pandemic, the Harbingers-2 project is in possession of a mountain of verbatim data. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the kinds of comments ECRs are raising, with a focus on those that provide a particular interesting and illuminating take on ECRs’ experiences under difficult times. Comments, for instance, that might challenge the established order of things or that presage big changes down the line. The selection of comments presented here were made by the national interviewers shortly after the completion of the last of three rounds of interviews (two interviews in the case of Russia). The understandings, appreciations and suggestions thus raised by the ECRs are insightful and constructive, which is what we might have expected from this cohort who are very much at the forefront of the research enterprise and veritable research workhorses. Sixteen broad scholarly topics are represented by quotes/comments, with the main focus of the comments on a subset of these: research performance and assessment, scholarly communication transformations, networking and collaboration, social media and access to information/libraries, which suggests, perhaps, where the action, concerns and interest mainly lie.

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“…However, they are also vulnerable security-wise as they are likely to be graduate students, postdocs or on fixed-term/non-tenure contracts [ 5 , 6 ]. The literature leaves little doubt that ECRs have been disproportionally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and they bear the brunt of the burden of the pandemic-incurred hardships [ 2 , 7 – 11 ]. Given that ECRs constitute the next generation of researchers, who will spearhead further developments, any changes in their research related attitudes and practices have great implications for the future of science.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The concerns did indeed turn out to be justified: for example, according to U.S. Labor Department estimates, colleges and universities closed out 2020 with continued job losses, shedding a net total of at least 650,000 workers since the World Health Organization declared a pandemic [ 13 ]. Indeed, in study after study ECRs report that their career prospects were significantly affected by the pandemic [ 8 , 11 , 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The pandemic and changes in early career researchers’ career prospects, research and publishing practices

et al. 2023

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Introduction As part of the Harbnger-2 project, this study aimed to discover the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on junior researchers’ work-life, career prospects, research and publishing practices and networking. Methods An online international survey of 800 early career researchers (ECRs) was conducted in 2022. A questionnaire was developed based on three rounds of interviews and distributed using multiple channels including publishers, social media, and direct email to ECRs. Results The impact of the pandemic on career prospects, morale, job security, productivity, ability to network and collaborate, and quality and speed of peer review has on the whole been more negative than positive. A quarter of ECRs shifted their research focus to pandemic-related topics and half of those who did, benefited largely due to increased productivity and impact. The majority worked remotely/from home and more than two-thirds of those who did so benefitted from it. While virtual or hybrid conferences have been embraced by the majority of ECRs, around a third still preferred face-to-face only conferences. The use of library online platforms, Sci-Hub, ResearchGate, Google Scholar and smartphone to search and access full-text papers increased. ECRs prioritised journals with fast submission procedures for the publishing of their papers and spent more time on increasing the visibility of their research. Fees were a problem for publishing open access. Conclusion Although, generally, the pandemic negatively impacted many aspects of ECRs’ work-life, certain research areas and individuals benefited from being more appreciated and valued, and, in some cases, resulted in increased resources, better productivity and greater impact. Changes, such as the use of digital technologies and remote working created new opportunities for some ECRs. While continuing work flexibility and hybrid conferences might benefit some ECRs, institutions should also take measures to help those ECRs whose career and productivity have been adversely impacted.

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Surveying the experience of postdocs in the United States before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Cited by 16 publications

References 25 publications

Early career researchers in the pandemic-fashioned ‘new scholarly normality’: a first look into the big changes and long-lasting impacts (international analysis)

Early career researchers in the pandemic-fashioned ‘new scholarly normality’: a first look into the big changes and long-lasting impacts (international analysis)

Early career researchers in the pandemic-fashioned ‘new scholarly normality’: voices from the research frontline

The pandemic and changes in early career researchers’ career prospects, research and publishing practices

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