title: Biomedical science postdocs: an end to the era of expansion.
abstract: After >3 decades of steady growth, the number of biological and medical science postdoctorates at doctoral degree-granting institutions recently began to decline. From 2010 through 2013, the most recent survey years, the postdoctoral population decreased from 40,970 to 38,719, a loss of 5.5%. This decline represents a notable departure from the previous long-standing increases in the number of postdoctorates in the biomedical workforce. The rate of contraction appears to be accelerating in the most recent survey years, and this has important implications for the biomedical workforce.
authors.affiliation: *Office of Public Affairs, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Bethesda, Maryland, USA; Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA; and Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA hgarrison@faseb.org.
authors.forename: Howard H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Garrison
authors.affiliation: *Office of Public Affairs, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Bethesda, Maryland, USA; Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA; and Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
authors.forename: Louis B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Justement
authors.affiliation: *Office of Public Affairs, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Bethesda, Maryland, USA; Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA; and Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
authors.forename: Susan A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Gerbi
mesh_terms: D004500:Education, Graduate / Q000639:trends*; D004651:Employment / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D012106:Research / Q000639:trends*; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000639:trends*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013663:Teaching / Q000639:trends*
keywords: employment; training; workforce