NSF has released its report on doctoral recipients, combining data from 2007 and 2008, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education. Last year's report released only selected findings due to privacy concerns and so this year's combined some minority groups together — the Chronicle points out that "the data show that there are six American Indians who earned doctorates in 'other fields,' rather than dividing them up among six possible categories." Some numbers from the report include that 48,802 research doctorates were awarded in 2008, 46 percent of which were earned by women and, in the life sciences, 11,088 doctorates were awarded in 2008.
Writedit also points out a report from the Annals of Internal Medicine that looks into gender differences in attaining independent funding. The study examined the rates at which K08 and K23 grant awardees receive R01 grants. "The actuarial rate of R01 award attainment at 5 years was 22.7% overall, 18.8% among women, and 24.8% among men," the authors say, adding that at the 10-year mark, "sex persisted as an independent significant predictor of R01 award attainment."