The Increasing Importance of Fellowships and Career Development Awards in the Careers of Early-Stage Biomedical Academic Researchers

Abstract

Excessive competition for biomedical faculty positions has ratcheted up the need to accumulate some mix of high-quality publications and prestigious grants to move from a training position to university faculty. How universities value each of these attributes when considering faculty candidates is critical for understanding what is needed to succeed as academic faculty. In this study I analyzed publicly available NIH grant information to determine the grants first-time R01 (FTR01) awardees held during their training period. Increases in the percentage of the FTR01 population that held a training award demonstrate training awards are becoming a more common aspect of a faculty candidate's resume. The increase was largely due to an expansion of NIH K-series career development awards between 2000 and 2017. FTR01 awardees with a K01, K08, K23, or K99 award were overrepresented in the top half of institutions, whereas FTR01 awardees with F32 fellowships and those with no training award were evenly distributed across institutions. Finally, training awardees from top institutions were overrepresented in the faculty of the majority of institutions, echoing data from other fields where a select few institutions supply an overwhelming majority of the faculty for the rest of the field. These data give important insight into how trainees compete for NIH funding and faculty positions and how institutions prefer those with or without training awards.

A survey-based analysis of the academic job market

“…A recent study of publicly available data indicates that the proportion of faculty receiving their first large research program grant (an R01 through the NIH) with a history of funding as a trainee (F and K awards through the NIH) is significantly increasing, driven mostly by K awards. Pickett states: "While not a prerequisite, a clear shift is underway that favors biomedical faculty candidates with at least one prior training award" ( Pickett, 2019 ).…”

Trends in NIH-supported career development funding: implications for institutions, trainees, and the future research workforce

“…Nikaj and Lund examined the trajectory of researchers who had been awarded K awards during the doubling period of NIH funding (years 1998–2003) and beyond (years 2004–2016) and found that K awardees were 24.1% more likely to obtain an R01, R01 equivalent, or Research Project Grant than researchers without these awards ( 5 ). Similarly, Pickett’s analysis showed that the percentage of investigators obtaining a first-time R01 who previously were awarded F or K awards has steadily increased since 2000 ( 6 ).…”

“…The return on investment of career development support has been well documented. Several analyses examined the impact of National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellowships on subsequent NIH R01 outcomes for applicants who obtained fellowships between 1996 and 2008 ( 4 – 6 ). For example, Heggeness et al found that NIH F32 postdoctoral fellowships increased the likelihood of receiving subsequent NIH-funded research awards in general and specifically of receiving subsequent R01 awards ( 4 ).…”

Insights from a survey-based analysis of the academic job market

“…Preprints, or manuscripts submitted to an open-access server prior to peer-reviewed publication, are becoming increasingly popular among early career researchers, particularly in the life sciences (33,34,35) and are shown to boost article citations and mentions (29)(30)(31)37). We opted to address whether this increase in preprint submissions had an impact on the academic job market.…”

“…Receiving funding as a trainee is often seen as part of a favorable research track record (32) and a recent study indicates faculty are more likely to receive a large research program grant (e.g. an R01 through NIH) if they have a history of funding as a trainee (33). We differentiated the types of funding a trainee can receive into independent funding (in which the trainee is listed as the PI and funds can often transition with the trainee to a hiring institute (e.g.…”