This study's research aim is to discover how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts early career researchers' work lives, prospects, and scholarly communication behavior. Early career researchers (ECRs), including doctoral students, post-docs, and pre-tenure faculty, are the next generation of scientists, researchers, scholars, teachers, and academic…

This paper focuses on Vietnamese PhD students' imaginative geographies of their destination countries. Using the data collected from in-depth semi-structured interviews with 18 Vietnamese PhD students, the study examines the participants' preparation for their sojourn before their departure, as well as their first multi-sensory experiences of the…

As online doctoral education continues to grow, faculty members are faced with mentoring an increasing number of students. To effectively support these students' research projects, faculty mentors need to develop strategies that take into account the unique challenges of online environments. This study, based on Crawford et al. (2014) theoretical…

Purpose: While higher education has been encouraging interdisciplinary research, few studies have been conducted to understand how interdisciplinarity shapes the identity construction of scholars, especially doctoral students who may already strive to socialize into academia. Design/methodology/approach: Therefore, this study adopts the approach…

The study systematically assesses the determinants impacting Ph.D. success, amalgamating insights from 38 meticulously curated studies. Through the integration of PRISMA, TCCM, and an 8-step process, it delineates crucial findings and factors influencing successful Ph.D. completion. The PRISMA diagram intricately outlines the data retrieval…

The purpose of the qualitative descriptive study is to explore how doctoral graduates describe the costs and benefits of having a mentor, from a social exchange perspective, during their online program in the United States. The social exchange theory was the selected framework to examine the relationship between a mentor and a mentee. Research…

Female doctoral students often experience several challenges in the program while balancing their personal and family roles. This phenomenological study investigated the experiences of international student mothers (N = 6) while pursuing full-time doctoral degrees, providing insights into how they navigate a research university. The study has one…

The paper, through the lens of positioning and agency theories, examines the experiences of being stranded in the home country due to the restricted mobility caused by the COVID-19 pandemic of 10 international doctoral students of different nationalities (Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysian, and Indian), majoring in different disciplines (Education,…

This study focused on Chinese doctoral recipients in social science disciplines in the U.S. and their decision making about returning to China upon graduation. In interviews of Chinese faculty who studied in the U.S. and Chinese PhD students currently in the U.S., we found that plans to return were associated with a blend of cultural, family, and…

In this qualitative study, we describe how gender, race, language, and culture cumulatively shape researcher development. Using a collaborative autoethnographic design, we theorize about our experiences as two Black women who conducted their dissertation research in Brazil and Ethiopia. Our data sources include retrospective interviews, journal…

The global imaginary contributes to the perpetuation of neo-colonial and neoliberal mentalities, which reinforce the political, cultural, and social dominance over international students. Through an exploration guided by interrelated theories of agency and transnational social fields, this study employs a narrative inquiry methodology with a…

This article aims to explore the perspectives and experiences of Chinese international doctoral students in social science and humanities disciplines at U.S. institutions. Unlike doctoral students in STEM, these students have diverse and fewer guidance-development pathways. Grounded on self-formation theory and language socialization theory, this…

In the globalized higher education landscape, international students are integral to the academic community. International students often face unique challenges, including language and cultural barriers, adjusting to American classroom expectations, and feelings of isolation. This qualitative study explores impostor feelings among nontraditional…

This study examines the extent to which career competencies (knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to manage one's own work and learning experiences to achieve the desired career progression) are prevalent amongst early career researchers (ECRs). We adapted the Career Competencies Questionnaire [Akkermans, J., Brenninkmeijer, V., Huibers, H.,…

The ways in which children and adolescents become interested in science have been well studied. However, little is known from a lifespan perspective about how this process continues from childhood through adulthood. This cross-national study builds an understanding of doctoral students in the sciences in the Chile and the United States and how…