The production of Ph.D.'s in chemistry

Data for 434 graduate faculty members of U.S. departments of chemistry during 1954–57 show that the distribution of new Ph.D. production is positively skewed with a level of inequality similar to that of the production of publications. Ph.D. production has moderate positive associations with measures of recognition and eminence, but an exploratory regression analysis of its determinants shows a surprisingly large independent effect for academic rank. Also examined are the determinants of the number of Ph.D.'s produced who later obtain positions that emphasize publishing and the total amount of recognition received by a faculty member's Ph.D.'s about a decade after their degrees. Some implications of the results are discussed as they apply to an understanding of the social organization of chemistry and the generalizability of the results to other disciplines.