Purpose

This paper is the result of a collaboration and sharing of experiences of two postdoctoral researchers. The purpose of this paper is to put these experiences into perspective by cross-referencing our respective personal narratives with an analysis of the existing literature on the postdoctoral experience in the social sciences.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a non-exhaustive systematic literature review using the database PsycInfo and the multidisciplinary Web of Science Catalogue database to find relevant articles published from 2000 to today. Of the 946 articles identified from the database, only 12 were included in the literature review. The authors also included four articles identified from other sources, such as Google Scholar. Secondly, the authors used a method inspired by reflexive personal narrative writing, which allowed us to share our postdoctoral experience and examine how it compares or complements the existing literature on postdoctoral experience in the social sciences.

Findings

The literature highlights three significant criteria that play a major role in the postdoctoral experience across disciplines: professional identity, work–life balance and relationship with supervisor. While the majority of the current literature seems to highlight the importance of career prospects in the daily lives of postdoctoral researchers, the other two aspects seem to be somewhat less explored. However, personal factors as well as the relationship with the supervisor appear to be of major importance in the search for work–life balance, feelings of competency and overall satisfaction among postdoctoral researchers.

Research limitations/implications

At the theoretical level, this paper allows a better understanding of the experiences of postdoctoral students in the social sciences, which seem to be less documented than those in scientific fields (e.g., Science, technology, engineering and mathematics postdoctoral fellow).

Practical implications

On a practical level, it constitutes a tool for reflection for postdoctoral researchers in the social sciences as well as for academic actors working to support and develop the well-being of these researchers (e.g. teachers, supervisors, administrators), all with the aim of optimising academic practices.

Originality/value

These results are discussed with respect to the specificity that our subjective personal narratives can offer to understand postdoctoral experiences, particularly in the social sciences, and thus offer reflections on ways to attend to individual psychosocial and relational needs that can foster an improved personal and professional training.

中文翻译：

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你能告诉我更多关于你的博士后经历吗？社会科学博士后岗位的个人叙事回顾

目的

本文是两位博士后研究人员合作和分享经验的结果。本文的目的是通过交叉引用我们各自的个人叙述与对现有社会科学博士后经验的文献进行分析，将这些经验置于正确的角度。

设计/方法/方法

作者使用数据库 PsycInfo 和多学科 Web of Science Catalog 数据库进行了非详尽的系统文献回顾，以查找从 2000 年至今发表的相关文章。在数据库中确定的 946 篇文章中，只有 12 篇被纳入文献综述。作者还收录了从其他来源（例如 Google 学术搜索）中确定的四篇文章。其次，作者使用了一种受反思性个人叙事写作启发的方法，这使我们能够分享我们的博士后经验，并研究它如何比较或补充现有的社会科学博士后经验文献。

发现

文献强调了三个在跨学科博士后体验中发挥重要作用的重要标准：专业身份、工作与生活的平衡以及与主管的关系。虽然当前的大多数文献似乎都强调了博士后研究人员日常生活中职业前景的重要性，但其他两个方面似乎较少被探索。然而，个人因素以及与导师的关系似乎对博士后研究人员寻求工作与生活的平衡、能力感和整体满意度至关重要。

研究限制/影响

在理论层面，本文可以更好地理解社会科学领域博士后学生的经历，这些经历似乎比科学领域（例如，科学、技术、工程和数学博士后）的文献更少。

实际影响

在实践层面，它构成了社会科学博士后研究人员以及致力于支持和发展这些研究人员（例如教师、主管、管理人员）福祉的学术参与者的反思工具，所有这些都旨在优化学术实践。

原创性/价值

这些结果讨论了我们的主观个人叙述可以提供的特殊性来理解博士后的经历，特别是在社会科学领域，从而提供对如何处理个人心理和关系需求的思考，这些需求可以促进个人和专业培训的改进.