Aspects of Throughput Rate and Scientific Output in Doctoral Education: Changes over Time at the Departmental Level

Abstract

Doctoral education has been shaped by a continuous interaction between the research community and representatives of the governmental authorities. In Sweden, doctorates were organised into structured educational programmes in 1969. In this study, the development of doctoral education in Medical Radiation Physics at Lund University, Sweden, was analysed over approximately 50 years, in terms of quantitative parameters related to throughput rate and scientific production making up the doctoral theses. Theses from two time periods (1970 to 1999 versus 2001 to 2023) were compared in terms of the total number of full papers (either accepted or in manuscript form), number of accepted full papers and number of accepted full papers as first author. For all three categories of included papers, median values were not significantly different between the two time periods while the variances were significantly smaller for the period 2001 to 2023 (level of significance 0.05). The time between admission and thesis defence decreased with time, according to linear correlation analysis, while the number of supervisors increased. Doctoral theses showed a significantly more uniform composition after a major political reform in 1998. Hence, doctoral education can be described as becoming more efficient and predictable. It is suggested that the primary causes include the introduction of individual study plans and secured personal financial support. The increased efficiency can also be problematised regarding, for example, insufficient independence and limited freedom of research.