Background: When viewed internationally, Germany boasts a high rate of doctoral candidates. Fields such as medicine and life sciences have a notably high proportion of doctoral students, a trend rooted in historical factors. Despite this, comprehensive empirical studies concerning the doctoral phase and early-career researchers, especially in relation to the rise of structured doctoral programmes, have only recently gained traction.Methods: We present findings from a project investigating young scientists in medicine and life sciences. Postdoctoral graduates from these disciplines were examined both quantitatively and qualitatively within the E-Prom projects, emphasizing the primary domain of research.Results: Our analysis indicates some benefits of structured doctoral programmes over traditional individual doctorates. However, the disparities between these doctoral approaches are less pronounced than anticipated. We also identified discrepancies between the programme descriptions and their actual execution. Integration into the scientific community and research-related self-efficacy are potential indicators of publication output and inclination towards a scientific career. Physicians exhibited lower research-related self-efficacy and a lesser tendency towards a scientific career than biologists. Notably, we found gender disparities disadvantaging female graduates, with these disparities being more marked in medicine.Conclusions: There is evidence to suggest that official representations of structured doctoral programmes do not always align with their practical applications, limiting their potential effectiveness. Therefore, resources should be allocated to ensure the consistent execution of these programmes. Given the empirical evidence supporting the benefits of community integration for junior researchers, efforts should be made to facilitate their networking. Additionally, our findings emphasize the necessity of providing enhanced support for young female scientists.

Structured doctoral education is increasingly preferred compared to the individual model. Several science policy organisations give recommendations on how to structure doctoral education. However, there is little research on to what extent these recommendations find their way into practice. In our study, we first compared European and German recommendations on doctoral education with, second, the institutional regulations of structured doctoral programmes (N= 98) in the life sciences at twelve different German universities. Additionally, we third asked doctoral graduates (N= 1796) of these structured doctoral programmes and graduates of individual doctoral studies about their experience in doctoral education. Fourth, we contrasted the regulations of structured doctoral programmes with the reported experiences of their graduates. We found significant deviations of the reported practices of graduates from the regulations of their organisations, regarding the student admission, supervision and curricular activities of doctoral candidates. The efficacy of structured versus traditional doctoral education should be examined based on reported practice rather than on the respective written regulations.

Objectives: To prevent the occurrence of injury in a sport, exact knowledge of injury patterns is needed. To synthesize sport-specific injuries in track and field comparing elite and recreational level athletes, as well as gender. Furthermore, analyze the time loss due to injury and reduction in athletic performance. Methods: Injury type-specific frequencies were recorded according to discipline, gender and performance level. Injury severity was assessed by time loss duration and performance reduction. Results: 64% of athletes suffered at least one injury. In the top 10 ranking, 83% (n = 524) were located in the lower extremities. A muscle strain of the thigh had the highest prevalence in sprint (34%, n = 41), jump (15%, n = 15) and middle-distance running (16%, n = 6). More injuries occurred during training (75%, n = 165) as compared to competition (25%, n = 56). The longest time loss was documented in throwing with a downtime of 36 weeks after a ligament injury of the elbow and 39 weeks after a muscle injury of the elbow. The injury with the highest number of athletes with a reduced level of performance was the foot ligament injury in sprint athletes at 100%. Conclusion: Assessing time loss and performance reduction in athletics, there are discipline-specific injury patterns. This study points out the high prevalence of training injuries, highlighting the need for future investigations to adapt training management, improve medical care and rehabilitation with respect to every discipline.

Abstract Side differences in the limb symmetry index during hop tests have been rarely investigated in uninjured athletes. Unknown differences can result in false interpretation of hop tests and affect return to sport decision. Hypothesis was that un-injured athletes in Judo and Taekwondo have side differences in hop test and that asymmetries can be predicted based on the athletes fighting display. Differences, risk relationships were analyzed using the chi-squared test and the odds ratio. A two-tailed p value of<0.05 was considered statistically significant. 115 athletes from the national teams were included (mean age 18.4 years; range 13–27 years). 93, 97.4 and 98.3% did not have symmetric hop distance for three hop tests. Up to a quarter did not reach a limb symmetry index of>90. Moreover, 57.4% (n=66) reached longer jumping distance with the standing leg. Ignoring such pre-existent side differences in evaluation of hop tests and not knowing which limb was dominant prior the injury, can lead to premature or delayed return to sports in the rehabilitation process. Therefore, it might be helpful to refer to individual jump lengths for each limb in case of injury by using hop tests in pre-season screening in professional athletes in Judo and Taekwondo.

Background : In Germany, more than half of the students complete a doctorate in the life sciences and medicine. Thus the doctorate, which is supposed to pave the way for a research career, also seems to perform other functions. In medicine, there is a cliché that students earn doctorates for reasons of prestige but in the life sciences, there is an assumption that you will not succeed on the labor market without a doctorate. To date, we know little about the actual motives for earning a doctorate and its perceived meaningfulness after graduation. Methods : Motives for obtaining a doctorate from both subject groups were analyzed using data from the E-Prom study (N = 1518). For medicine, additional data from the Bavarian Graduate Study MediBAS (N = 570) were analyzed. Qualitative interview data from the E-Prom study (N = 28) were used to better understand the motives for obtaining a doctorate in their substance and to compare them with the retrospectively perceived meaningfulness. Results : In medicine, the motives of “customariness” and feared “career disadvantages” predominate. Approximately half of the medical doctoral graduates had little or no interest to do research during or after the doctorate. In the life sciences, customariness and feared career disadvantages are important motives, too. However, research (career) interest also receives high and significantly higher approval than in medicine. Moreover, female medical graduates express significantly lower research and career motives; the latter also applies to the life sciences. The qualitative analyzes indicate a close connection between career paths and justifications of meaningfulness of the doctorate in the life sciences. In medicine, justifications of meaningfulness are closely related to initial motives for obtaining a doctorate. Hence, people who only pursued a doctorate to bear a title accordingly justified their doctorate’s meaningfulness merely with its acquisition. Conclusion : Our results stress the need for greater promotion of (academic) research careers among medical students, as well as the promotion of female careers in and outside of academic research. Further investigations are necessary to understand the exact mechanisms behind our results and to develop effective interventions.

The paper addresses the impact of the parental socio-economic status (SES) on the performances during the conferral of a doctorate in life sciences (medicine and biology). Further, it investigates the question how structured doctoral programs affect this relation. A standardized survey of life science doctorates showed that SES solely had minor effects on the performances. However, occupations linked to the graduation, e.g. being a research assistant or having a scholarship, are very important for a better performance. The participation in a structured doctoral program neither affects the performance, nor has it a moderating effect on the relationship between SES and performance.

Female researchers remain underrepresented in higher academic ranks, even within female-dominated fields, such as the life sciences. The phenomenon is often attributed to women’s lower publication productivity. The current article explores gender differences with respect to integration into the scientific community, pursued tasks during the Ph.D. (e.g., teaching and research), and publication productivity in the life sciences. Moreover, it explores how these variables relate to the intention of pursuing an academic research career. Survey data with recent Ph.D. graduates from the life sciences in Germany (N = 736) were analyzed through descriptive and multivariate analysis. Females had fewer publications as lead author (1.4 vs. 1.9, p = 0.05). There were no differences in pursued tasks, perceived integration into the scientific community, and co-authorship. However, Ph.D. characteristics affected females and males differently. Only male Ph.D. graduates benefited from being integrated into their scientific community by an increase in lead author publications. In contrast to male Ph.D. graduates, women’s academic career intentions were significantly affected by their integration into the scientific community and co-authorship. Results suggest that women may benefit less from their integration into the scientific community and may ascribe more importance to networks for their career progress.

Previous research suggests that self-efficacy is an important predictor for intentions to pursue a doctorate and academic career aspirations. However, an appropriate German instrument to measure research related self-efficacy is currently lacking. Therefore, the FoSWE-scale was developed as a short scale to measure science related self-efficacy economically. The quality of the scale was evaluated using survey data on doctoral graduates in the life sciences (medicine and biological sciences). Confirmatory factor analysis and correlations with objective success factors confirms the reliability and validity of the instrument. We found strong measurement invariance across several samples within the disciplines, but weak measurement invariance between the two disciplinary groups. In line with these results, the scale can be recommended for use in the context of early career scientists academic and career aspirations. However, comparisons between different disciplines require careful considerations.

Zusammenfassung. Zahlreiche Studien weisen darauf hin, dass der Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung eine entscheidende Bedeutung bei der Vorhersage einer Promotionsintention sowie der Intention, eine wissenschaftliche Karriere anzustreben, zukommt. Zur Erfassung der forschungsbezogenen Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung steht derzeit jedoch kein geeignetes Instrument zur Verfügung. Daher wurde die FoSWE-Kurzskala zur ökonomischen Erfassung der forschungsbezogenen Selbstwirksamkeit entwickelt und anhand von Umfragedaten mit Promovierten der Lebenswissenschaften (Naturwissenschaften und Medizin) überprüft. Konfirmatorische Faktorenanalysen und Korrelationen mit objektiven Erfolgskriterien der Promotion weisen auf eine insgesamt reliable und valide Skala hin. Über mehrere Kohorten innerhalb der Disziplinen zeigt sich starke Messinvarianz. Zwischen Promovierten der beiden Disziplinen besteht hingegen schwache Messinvarianz. Die Verwendung der FoSWE-Skala kann daher im Zusammenhang mit Promotions- und Karrierewegen in der akademischen Wissenschaft empfohlen werden, Vergleiche zwischen Fächern sollten jedoch vorsichtig gehandhabt werden.

This chapter presents and discusses various steps to ensure empirical reliability and theoretical validity in the construction of competence scales in graduate surveys. The development of a scale to assess demands of the teacher profession and related abilities in graduates for a German tracer study project serves as an example. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), principal component analysis (PCA) and Cronbach's coefficient alpha are employed to test the reliability of the scale. Differing results illustrate how the method applied influences decisions in the process of developing a scale. Our findings show that multidimensionality can only be tested appropriately by CFA; PCA renders no feasible or similar results to CFA depending on the predetermination of the number of factors; Cronbach's alpha produces misleading results as the prerequisite assumption of unidimensionality is violated by the data.