Andrew Akbashev/X

Nov 11, 2025, 01:48

Andrew Akbashev: Globally, Life in Academia is Getting Worse

Andrew Akbashev, Senior Staff Scientist at PaulScherrer Institute, posted on X:

“Pressure to publish jumps. And researchers have no time to do science. (New survey from Elsevier)

Survey of 3200 researchers:

Only 45% of scientists have sufficient time for actual research.
For 68%, the pressure to publish today is greater than 2-3 years ago.
29% of researchers are considering relocating to another country (for better funding, work‐life balance, or greater research freedom).
58% of researchers use AI tools in their work.
Reported benefits from AI: saving time (58%), helping with literature summaries (61%), literature reviews (51%), data analysis (38%), drafting proposals (41%), and drafting papers (38%).

Globally, life in academia is getting worse.

For students and postdocs – it’s especially hard to decide on an academic career.

A few days ago, I gave a lecture on this topic.

“PhD: Dreams, Reality and Consequences”

Watch it here:

(I’ll appreciate if you ‘like’ this video – you will GREATLY help it reach more students.)”

Andrew Akbashev: Globally, Life in Academia is Getting Worse