Rise of the Science Ph.D. Dropout New study says scientists are leaving academic work at unprecedented rate - Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed

The researchers also found a “rapid rise” in scientists who spend their careers supporting others and never leading a paper of their own -- from about 25 percent of scientists in the 1960s to 60 percent today. “Entering graduate students should be aware of this, so that they would have realistic expectations and perhaps try to plan their lives accordingly,” lead author Staša Milojević, associate professor of informatics at Indiana University, said Monday. While some scientists do survive and thrive, the paper says it remains somewhat unclear what drives that “survivability.” This message is clearer: as supporting scientists become more and more essential, given the rise of team science, they’re “suffering from greater career instability and worse long-term career prospects in some fields.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/12/11/new-study-says-scientists-are-leaving-academic-work-unprecedented-rates