The growing competition in Brazilian science: rites of passage, stress and burnout.
Brazil's scientific community is under pressure. Each year there is an increase in its contribution to international science and in the number of students who are trained to do research and teach at an advanced level. Most of these activities are carried out in state and federal universities, but with government funding that has decreased by more than 70% since 1996. Interviews with graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and professors in one university department with a strong research tradition illustrate the level of stress engendered by the conflict between increasing competition and diminishing resources, and serve to underscore the negative effects on creativity and on the tendency to choose science as a career.
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Departamento de Bioquímica Médica, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, São Leopoldo, RS, Brasil. demeis@biqmed.ufrj.br
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D000328:Adult; D035843:Biomedical Research; D001938:Brazil; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000523:psychology*; D002321:Career Choice; D003163:Competitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D017150:Public Sector; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000523:psychology* / Q000639:trends