Job advertisements as an indicator for mobility of researchers: Naturejobs as a case study

Using data extracted from Naturejobs, a country's fraction of the total jobs posted is compared with its share of papers published in Nature, the Nature family journals and the Science Citation Index, and with its overall R&D expenditures. The fractions of vacant positions offered by the public and private sectors are also studied. Based on the job descriptions, a classification scheme for the vacant positions is developed and used to compare by country the profile of the vacant jobs posted in Naturejobs. The results of this study are placed in the context of a broader project: using surveys, additional data on the response to the job advertisements and on the subsequent selection process could be collected to obtain a deeper understanding of human resource policies at research organisations, particularly on their propensity to recruit PhD students and staff from other institutes and from other countries. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.