Beyond tradition: Successful career paths to full professorship
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German academia has faced a multitude of changes over the last two decades, including new alternative academic pathways to a professorship based on the Anglo-Saxon science system, such as junior or tenure track professorship. Our study investigates the patterns of academic career trajectories to a professorship that have emerged due to these changes. It looks deeper into the relationship between those patterns and determinants of academic success, such as previous career choices, scientific productivity and the chosen scientific field. Using data from the prof*panel (N=660) – a survey of recently appointed full professors in Germany – and sequence-cluster analysis, we find four academic career clusters, three of which are beyond the traditional pathway of Endurance Careers: Efficient Careers, Unconventional Careers and International Careers indicating an institutional change within German academia. Cluster affiliation is mainly related to time-to-tenure, habilitation (second thesis), working abroad and the field of the professorship. Our findings suggest that traditional career paths still play a major role, although the influence of internationalization and novel academic career steps, like junior and tenure-track positions, is growing. Furthermore, less conventional career paths, attract a higher proportion of women and are characterized by international mobility and more diverse professional experiences. The insights of our study underscore the ongoing changes in the landscape of academic careers and highlight both persistent challenges and new opportunities for aspiring professors.