The fourth annual survey conducted by The Scientist to determine how academic researchers feel about their universities and organizations invited more than 35,000 scientists to participate in a Web-based questionnaire, and 1,456 usable responses from the United States, Canada and Europe were used in the tally. Ninety-one institutions—66 from the U. S. and 25 from Canada and Europe—were ranked.

An accompanying article, “Best Places to Work: What’s Important to the Academic Scientist?” reveals that American researchers are primarily interested in university health benefits, tenure policies and fair, competitive salaries.

The top 10 institutions for academic scientists, in order of placement by The Scientist, were: California Institute of Technology; Purdue University; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Wash.; University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Cornell University; University of Delaware; University of Michigan; Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pa., the Wadworth Center, the New York State Department of Health laboratory; and IU.

The two highest marks to institutions outside the U.S. went to Canada’s University of Toronto and University of Alberta.

Tenure policy was ranked very important among U.S. research respondents to the survey, while European and Scandinavian respondents were more concerned with their institution’s infrastructure issues. Health coverage was considered the most important workplace factor to U.S. researchers but placed 13th overall among all other countries. Interestingly, life scientists in the survey pool in all countries except the U.S. and Portugal considered adequate research facilities as the most important factor in the workplace; American researchers ranked it second, and the Portuguese, fifth.

IU is one of Indiana’s largest employers and received a record $413 million in public and private funding for research and teaching in the fiscal year 2004.

Read the reports online at this Web site:
http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2004/nov/biobus6_041108.html