List of fields of doctoral studies in the United States


This is the list of the fields of doctoral studies in the United States used for the annual Survey of Earned Doctorates, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for the Science Foundation">History of science">Science Foundation and other federal agencies, as used for the 2015 survey.
These are fields of research-oriented doctoral studies, leading mostly to Ph.D.s – in the academic year 2014–15, 98% of the 55,006 research doctorates awarded in the U.S. were Ph.D.s; 1.1% were Ed.D.s; 0.9% were other research doctorates. Professional degrees, though they are also considered doctorates, and do entitle the holder to call themselves "Doctor", such as D.D.S., D.Min., M.D., D.Pharm., D.V.M, J.D., Psy.D., and Th.D., are not included in the survey.

[Life sciences]

[Agricultural sciences]/[natural resources]

Biological">Biological sciences">Biological/[biomedical sciences]

[Health sciences]

[Engineering]

Computer">Computer science">Computer and [information sciences]

[Mathematics]

[Physical sciences]

[Astronomy]

[Atmospheric science] and [meteorology]

[Chemistry]

Geological">Geology">Geological and [Earth sciences]

[Physics]

Ocean">Oceanography">Ocean/[marine sciences]

[Psychology]

[Social sciences]

[Humanities]

[History]

Letters">Literature">Letters

Foreign languages and literature

Other humanities

[Education]

Research and administration

Teacher education

  • 850 Pre-elementary/Early Childhood Teacher Education
  • 852 Elementary Teacher Education
  • 856 Secondary Teacher Education
  • 858 Adult and Continuing Teacher Education

Teaching fields

Other education

  • 895 Workforce Education and Development
  • 898 Education, General
  • 899 Education, Other

Business management/administration

Communication">Communication studies">Communication

Fields not elsewhere classified