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Table 16. Doctorate recipients, by subfield of study and sex: 2015

Subfield of study Totala Male Female % female
All fields 55,006 29,596 25,403 46.2
Life sciences 12,520 5,578 6,941 55.4
Agricultural sciences and natural resources 1,439 748 691 48.0
Agricultural economics 102 52 50 49.0
Agronomy, horticulture science, plant breeding, plant pathology, plant sciences-other 326 182 144 44.2
Animal nutrition, poultry science 71 39 32 45.1
Animal sciences, other 90 53 37 41.1
Environmental science 183 85 98 53.6
Fishing and fisheries sciences and management 60 39 21 35.0
Food science, food technology-other 172 71 101 58.7
Forest biology, forest management, wood science, forestry sciences- other 112 62 50 44.6
Natural resources and conservation, wildlife and range management 119 57 62 52.1
Natural resource and environmental policy 57 26 31 54.4
Soil chemistry, soil sciences-other 71 36 35 49.3
Agricultural sciences, aggregated 76 46 30 39.5
Biological and biomedical sciences 8,801 4,112 4,688 53.3
Anatomy, developmental biology 212 82 130 61.3
Bacteriology, parasitology 53 18 35 66.0
Biochemistry (biological sciences) 749 386 363 48.5
Bioinformatics 175 111 64 36.6
Biomedical sciences 416 176 240 57.7
Biometrics and biostatistics 171 92 79 46.2
Biophysics (biological sciences) 181 124 57 31.5
Botany, plant pathology, plant physiology 135 62 73 54.1
Cancer biology 455 191 264 58.0
Cell, cellular biology, and histology 321 144 177 55.1
Computational biology 107 76 31 29.0
Ecology 455 222 233 51.2
Endocrinology, human/animal pathology 109 54 55 50.5
Entomology 110 55 55 50.0
Environmental toxicology, toxicology 140 58 82 58.6
Epidemiology 381 134 247 64.8
Evolutionary biology 209 120 89 42.6
Genetics-human/animal, plant genetics 415 192 223 53.7
Immunology 473 205 268 56.7
Microbiology 480 209 271 56.5
Molecular biology 631 287 344 54.5
Neurosciences, neurobiology 1,091 519 572 52.4
Nutrition sciences 186 55 131 70.4
Pharmacology, human and animal 243 106 136 56.0
Physiology, human and animal 210 108 102 48.6
Structural biology 64 28 36 56.3
Virology 164 80 84 51.2
Wildlife biology 47 22 25 53.2
Zoology 46 17 29 63.0
Biological and biomedical sciences, general 261 120 141 54.0
Biotechnology, biology/biomedical sciences-other 111 59 52 46.8
Health sciences 2,280 718 1,562 68.5
Environmental health, public health 518 120 398 76.8
Health and behavior 126 25 101 80.2
Health systems administration 70 31 39 55.7
Kinesiology, exercise science 264 163 101 38.3
Medical physics, radiological science 84 62 22 26.2
Nursing science 536 33 503 93.8
Pharmaceutical sciences 270 148 122 45.2
Rehabilitation, therapeutic services 87 42 45 51.7
Speech-language pathology and audiology 116 24 92 79.3
Health sciences, aggregated 209 70 139 66.5
Physical sciences and earth sciences 5,924 3,935 1,988 33.6
Chemistry 2,675 1,598 1,077 40.3
Analytical chemistry 389 186 203 52.2
Inorganic chemistry 354 220 134 37.9
Medicinal chemistry 79 49 30 38.0
Organic chemistry 627 421 206 32.9
Physical chemistry 368 225 143 38.9
Polymer chemistry 135 81 54 40.0
Theoretical chemistry 111 89 22 19.8
Chemistry, general 401 223 178 44.4
Chemistry, other 211 104 107 50.7
Geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 1,057 600 457 43.2
Atmospheric science and meteorology 213 138 75 35.2
Atmospheric physics, meteorology 89 62 27 30.3
Atmospheric chemistry, atmospheric sciences-general, atmospheric sciences-other 124 76 48 38.7
Geological sciences 554 317 237 42.8
Geochemistry, mineralogy 115 53 62 53.9
Geology 135 80 55 40.7
Geomorphology, geological sciences-general, geological sciences-other 134 69 65 48.5
Geophysics and seismology 123 85 38 30.9
Paleontology, stratigraphy 47 30 17 36.2
Ocean and marine sciences 290 145 145 50.0
Marine biology and biological oceanography 85 41 44 51.8
Oceanography, chemical and physical 67 32 35 52.2
Ocean/marine sciences, aggregated 138 72 66 47.8
Physics and astronomy 2,192 1,737 454 20.7
Astronomy and astrophysics 269 193 76 28.3
Astronomy 86 51 35 40.7
Astrophysics 174 135 39 22.4
Astronomy and astrophysics, other 9 7 2 22.2
Physics 1,923 1,544 378 19.7
Acoustics, optics/photonics 235 192 43 18.3
Applied physics 145 108 37 25.5
Atomic physics, polymer physics 151 117 34 22.5
Biophysics (physics) 127 97 30 23.6
Condensed matter, low-temperature physics 439 363 76 17.3
Elementary particle physics 243 203 40 16.5
Nuclear physics 86 72 14 16.3
Plasma, high-temperature physics 88 82 6 6.8
Physics, general 284 219 64 22.5
Physics, other 125 91 34 27.2
Mathematics and computer sciences 3,825 2,880 943 24.7
Computer and information sciences 2,005 1,582 423 21.1
Computer science 1,661 1,347 314 18.9
Information science, systems 157 100 57 36.3
Computer and information sciences, general 117 84 33 28.2
Computer and information sciences, other 70 51 19 27.1
Mathematics and statistics 1,820 1,298 520 28.6
Algebra 146 111 35 24.0
Analysis and functional analysis 161 134 27 16.8
Applied mathematics, computing theory 461 309 152 33.0
Geometry, geometric analysis 108 91 17 15.7
Logic, topology/foundations 108 90 18 16.7
Number theory 88 74 14 15.9
Operations research, mathematics/statistics-general, mathematics/statistics-other 365 258 106 29.0
Statistics (mathematics) 383 231 151 39.4
Psychology and social sciences 9,095 3,762 5,332 58.6
Psychology 3,782 1,060 2,722 72.0
Behavioral analysis 63 18 45 71.4
Clinical psychology 1,179 250 929 78.8
Cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics 220 109 111 50.5
Counseling 419 112 307 73.3
Developmental and child psychology 190 33 157 82.6
Educational psychology (psychology) 60 14 46 76.7
Experimental psychology 143 68 75 52.4
Family psychology, human development and family studies 191 43 148 77.5
Health, medical psychology 101 23 78 77.2
Industrial and organizational psychology 221 86 135 61.1
Neuropsychology, physiological psychology 129 52 77 59.7
School psychology (psychology) 115 19 96 83.5
Social psychology 219 72 147 67.1
Psychology, general 292 85 207 70.9
Psychology, aggregated 240 76 164 68.3
Social sciences 5,313 2,702 2,610 49.1
Anthropology 493 186 307 62.3
Anthropology, cultural 317 122 195 61.5
Anthropology, general 100 39 61 61.0
Anthropology, physical and biological 76 25 51 67.1
Economics 1,256 820 436 34.7
Econometrics, economics 1,209 794 415 34.3
Natural resources and environmental economics (social sciences) 47 26 21 44.7
Political science and government 859 527 332 38.6
Sociology 745 284 461 61.9
Other social sciences 1,960 885 1,074 54.8
American, U.S. studies 130 50 80 61.5
Area, ethnic, cultural, and gender studies 115 38 77 67.0
Criminal justice and corrections 111 52 59 53.2
Criminology 105 41 64 61.0
Demography, gerontology, statistics, urban affairs, social sciences- general, social sciences-other 300 116 184 61.3
Geography 302 175 127 42.1
Health policy analysis 82 26 55 67.1
International relations, international affairs 104 64 40 38.5
Linguistics 288 128 160 55.6
Public policy analysis 295 134 161 54.6
Urban, city, community and regional planning 128 61 67 52.3
Engineering 9,897 7,596 2,301 23.2
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 361 308 53 14.7
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 1,129 701 428 37.9
Chemical engineering 1,002 685 317 31.6
Civil engineering 633 458 175 27.6
Electrical, electronics, and communications engineering 2,004 1,711 293 14.6
Industrial and manufacturing engineering 244 154 90 36.9
Materials science engineering 874 651 223 25.5
Mechanical engineering 1,467 1,265 202 13.8
Other engineering 2,183 1,663 520 23.8
Computer engineering 412 350 62 15.0
Environmental, environmental health engineering 283 151 132 46.6
Nuclear engineering 130 117 13 10.0
Robotics 82 71 11 13.4
Structural engineering 125 104 21 16.8
Systems engineering 105 84 21 20.0
Other engineering, aggregated 1,046 786 260 24.9
Education 5,117 1,614 3,502 68.4
Education administration 922 345 577 62.6
Educational administration and supervision 169 64 105 62.1
Educational and human resource studies, development 68 28 40 58.8
Educational leadership 622 238 384 61.7
Urban education and leadership 63 15 48 76.2
Education research 2,783 855 1,927 69.2
Counseling education, counseling and guidance 294 69 225 76.5
Curriculum and instruction 589 161 427 72.5
Educational assessment, testing, measurement 65 28 37 56.9
Educational policy analysis 168 65 103 61.3
Educational psychology (education) 286 77 209 73.1
Educational statistics, research methods 92 30 62 67.4
Educational/instructional technology, media design 231 111 120 51.9
Higher education evaluation and research 522 203 319 61.1
International education 55 12 43 78.2
School psychology (education) 133 23 110 82.7
Social and philosophical foundations of education 90 30 60 66.7
Special education 258 46 212 82.2
Teacher education 155 36 119 76.8
Teaching fields 957 296 661 69.1
English as a second or foreign language 94 24 70 74.5
Health education 53 10 43 81.1
Literacy and reading education 123 18 105 85.4
Mathematics education 133 43 90 67.7
Music education 114 47 67 58.8
Physical education and coaching 36 26 10 27.8
Science education 123 44 79 64.2
Teaching fields, aggregated 281 84 197 70.1
Other education 300 82 218 72.7
Education, general 141 32 109 77.3
Other education, aggregated 159 50 109 68.6
Humanities and arts 5,600 2,767 2,832 50.6
Foreign languages and literature 656 239 417 63.6
French, Italian 177 55 122 68.9
Germanic language and literature 72 31 41 56.9
Latin American languages and literature 78 30 48 61.5
Spanish language and literature 187 74 113 60.4
Other aggregated languages 142 49 93 65.5
History 1,145 632 513 44.8
American history, United States and Canada 413 228 185 44.8
Asian history 89 50 39 43.8
European history 198 107 91 46.0
History, science and technology and society 72 38 34 47.2
Latin American history 63 28 35 55.6
Middle, Near East history 82 54 28 34.1
History, general 108 58 50 46.3
History, aggregated 120 69 51 42.5
Letters 1,590 650 940 59.1
American literature, United States and Canada 336 136 200 59.5
Classics 94 58 36 38.3
Comparative literature 167 72 95 56.9
English language 154 63 91 59.1
English literature, British and Commonwealth 412 150 262 63.6
Rhetoric and composition 240 89 151 62.9
Speech and rhetorical studies 42 23 19 45.2
Letters, aggregated 145 59 86 59.3
Other humanities and arts 2,209 1,246 962 43.5
Archaeology (humanities) 121 54 67 55.4
Art history, criticism, and conservation 272 55 217 79.8
Drama, theater arts 86 29 57 66.3
Film, cinema, video studies 67 32 35 52.2
Music 54 36 18 33.3
Musicology and ethnomusicology 148 66 82 55.4
Music performance 110 53 57 51.8
Music theory and composition 108 77 31 28.7
Philosophy, ethics 494 367 127 25.7
Religion/religious studies, Jewish/Judaic studies 340 215 124 36.5
Theology, religious education 172 133 39 22.7
Other humanities, aggregated 237 129 108 45.6
Otherb 3,028 1,464 1,564 51.7
Business management and administration 1,588 937 651 41.0
Accounting 194 110 84 43.3
Business administration and management 232 141 91 39.2
Finance 242 166 76 31.4
Human resources development 51 23 28 54.9
Management information systems, business statistics 101 70 31 30.7
Marketing management and research 183 89 94 51.4
Organizational behavior 190 88 102 53.7
Other aggregated business fields 395 250 145 36.7
Communication 668 256 412 61.7
Communication research 150 53 97 64.7
Mass communication, media studies 242 98 144 59.5
Communication, general 119 42 77 64.7
Communication, aggregated 157 63 94 59.9
Non-S&E fields not elsewhere classified 772 271 501 64.9
Architecture and environmental design 116 61 55 47.4
Family, consumer sciences and human sciences 47 10 37 78.7
Parks, sports, recreation, leisure and fitness 52 27 25 48.1
Public administration 122 55 67 54.9
Social work 308 55 253 82.1
Fields not elsewhere classified, aggregated 127 63 64 50.4