Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Feb 19;15(2):e0228197.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228197. eCollection 2020.

The role of scientific communication in predicting science identity and research career intention

Carrie Cameron  1 , Hwa Young Lee  1 , Cheryl B Anderson  1 , Jordan Trachtenberg  2 , Shine Chang  1
Affiliations

The role of scientific communication in predicting science identity and research career intention

Carrie Cameron et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The number of biomedical sciences PhDs persisting in academic faculty careers has been declining. As one potential influence on trainees' intention to persist, we investigate the development of scientific communication (SC) skills, hypothesizing that attitudes and behaviors regarding scientific writing, speaking, and presenting predict academic research career intention, through science identity. After adapting a social-cognitive career theoretical model of SC to include science identity and mentor practices, we conducted a longitudinal survey of 185 doctoral and postdoctoral fellows. Structural equation modeling was used to examine relationships among SC productivity, SC self-efficacy, SC outcome expectations, mentor practices in SC, science identity, and research career intention. Results confirmed the overall model and revealed additional specific pathways: SC productivity and SC outcome expectations directly predicted career intention; SC productivity and mentor practices predicted science identity through SC self-efficacy. Demographic factors did not predict intention when controlling for SC variables. Findings support a model of SC skill development as a predictor of research career intention (R2 = .32). The finding that SC language use predicts science identity has important sociolinguistic implications. The key factors in this process are actionable at the trainee, mentor, and institutional levels, suggesting potential for SC interventions to increase career persistence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Structural model.
The SC model fit the data well, and most hypothesized paths were statistically significant. * and ** represent p < .05 and p< .01, respectively. Values represent standardized (unstandardized) coefficients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Roach M, Sauermann H. The declining interest in an academic career. PLoS One. 2017;12(9):e0184130 10.1371/journal.pone.0184130 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Levitt M, Levitt JM. Future of fundamental discovery in US biomedical research. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2017;114(25):6498–503. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cirino LA, Emberts Z, Joseph PN, Allen PE, Lopatto D, Miller CW. Broadening the voice of science: Promoting scientific communication in the undergraduate classroom. Ecol Evol. 2017;7(23):10124–30. 10.1002/ece3.3501 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Meyers LC, Brown AM, Moneta-Koehler L, Chalkley R. Survey of checkpoints along the pathway to diverse biomedical research faculty. PLoS One. 2018;13(1):e0190606 10.1371/journal.pone.0190606 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Valantine HA, Lund PK, Gammie AE. From the NIH: A Systems Approach to Increasing the Diversity of the Biomedical Research Workforce. CBE—Life Sciences Education. 2016;15(3):fe4 10.1187/cbe.16-03-0138 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types