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The Impact of Research Independence on PhD Students' Careers: Large-scale Evidence from France

Author

Listed:
  • Sofia Patsali

    (Université Côte d'Azur, France
    CNRS, GREDEG)

  • Michele Pezzoni

    (Université Côte d'Azur, France
    CNRS, GREDEG)

  • Fabiana Visentin

    (Maastricht University
    UNU-MERIT)

Abstract
This study investigates the effect of research independence during the PhD period on students' career outcomes. We use a unique and detailed dataset on the French population of STEM PhD students who graduated between 1995 and 2013. To measure research independence, we compare the PhD thesis content with the supervisor's research. We employ advanced neural network text analysis techniques evaluating the similarity between student's thesis abstract and supervisor's publications during the PhD period. After exploring which characteristics of the PhD training experience and supervisor explain the level of research similarity, we estimate how similarity associates with the likelihood of pursuing a research career. We find that the student thesis's similarity with her supervisor's research work is negatively associated with starting a career in academia and patenting probability. Increasing the PhD-supervisor similarity score by one standard deviation is associated with a 2.1 percentage point decrease in the probability of obtaining an academic position and a 0.57 percentage point decrease in the probability of patenting. However, conditional on starting an academic career, PhD-supervisor similarity is associated with a higher student's productivity after graduation as measured by citations received, network size, and probability of moving to a foreign or US-based affiliation.

Suggested Citation

  • Sofia Patsali & Michele Pezzoni & Fabiana Visentin, 2021. "The Impact of Research Independence on PhD Students' Careers: Large-scale Evidence from France," GREDEG Working Papers 2021-35, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    • Handle: RePEc:gre:wpaper:2021-35
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Research independence; Early career researchers; Scientific career outcomes; Neural network text analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

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