2024/01/23 by Chaolin Tian, Xunyi Jiang, Tian, Chaolin +7
Computer Science · Decision Sciences · Health Professions · #Digital Libraries (cs.DL) #Doctoral Education Challenges and Solutions #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Online Learning and Analytics #scientometrics and bibliometrics research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2401.12739
openalex publication_date 2024/01/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The academic job market for fresh Ph.D. students to pursue postdoctoral and junior faculty positions plays a crucial role in shaping the future orientations, developments, and status of the global academic system. In this work, we focus on the domestic Ph.D. hiring network among universities in China by exploring the doctoral education and academic employment of nearly 28,000 scientists across all Ph.D.-granting Chinese universities over three decades. We employ the minimum violation rankings algorithm to decode the rankings for universities based on the Ph.D. hiring network, which offers a deep understanding of the structure and dynamics within the network. Our results uncover a consistent, highly structured hierarchy within this hiring network, indicating the imbalances wherein a limited number of universities serve as the main sources of fresh Ph.D. across diverse disciplines. Furthermore, over time, it has become increasingly challenging for Chinese Ph.D. graduates to secure positions at institutions more prestigious than their alma maters. This study quantitatively captures the evolving structure of talent circulation in the domestic environment, providing valuable insights to enhance the organization, diversity, and talent distribution in China's academic enterprise.