ABSTRACT

In the USA, postdoctoral preparation has developed over the past approximately 100 years in response to the need for additional research training (American Association of Universities [AAU], 1998). The Johns Hopkins University initiated postdoctoral preparation shortly after its founding in 1876 and the Rockefeller Foundation established formal postdoctoral fellowships for recent PhD graduates in the physical sciences at the beginning of the twentieth century. Postdoctoral preparation grew modestly in the first half of the past century, but increased rapidly in the 1970s.