Since 2010, Nature has periodically performed a survey on how researchers around the world perceive their careers. The survey asks whether scientists are satisfied in their jobs and optimistic about the future, and the reasons for their responses. The results of the latest survey of nearly 4,000 scientists — published on 13 October — include some surprises (Nature 658, 825–829; 2026), especially in light of the results obtained in the 2018 and 2021 surveys.
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Respondents in several leading research-intensive nations, including the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom, provided less optimistic answers about the future of their careers when compared with those asked in previous years, according to the survey, which ran in May and June. And a greater share of this year’s respondents think that their career prospects are worse than those of previous generations were. In 2018 and 2021 — during the COVID-19 pandemic — higher proportions of scientists in these countries responded positively to these questions.
By contrast, respondents are less pessimistic in middle-income countries — notably in China and India, which are becoming attractive destinations for researchers. In this year’s survey, 70% of respondents in India feel optimistic about their prospects. Although the share of respondents in China who feel positive about the future (55%) is close to the global average (52%), it is noticeably higher than those of Germany (38%), the United Kingdom (33%) and the United States (34%). There is, however, one caveat: the responses from India’s scientists pre-date the nationwide student protests in July.
Under pressure
It’s hardly a secret that a fair number of high-income nations are going through upheavals that recent generations have not experienced. The US government is slashing funding for some grant programmes and directing money towards its priorities, creating anxiety and uncertainty about the future of some projects and research areas.
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Scientists in Europe might also be looking at large changes to their grants. European nations are devoting a greater share of public funding to defence, which has led to cuts to other budgets, including science. Several universities are being urged to work on defence research.
When it comes to job satisfaction, however, the results are reversed. Survey respondents in India and China have relatively low levels of job satisfaction compared with those in several high-income countries. Only 51% of China’s scientists reported being satisfied and 59% of India’s. By contrast, 65% of respondents in the United States, 67% in Germany and 63% in United Kingdom are satisfied with their jobs. Scientists in Canada had the highest job satisfaction of the surveyed countries: 70% of respondents there were happy with their work.
Some low- and middle-income countries are struggling to improve working conditions for their researchers. For instance, scientists in China note that they are under pressure to publish in journals, as we reported in a News feature on artificial-intelligence research in the country (Nature 658, 598–600; 2026). By contrast, scientists in Europe and the United States generally work in environments in which they have higher levels of independence — a strong predictor of satisfaction — than do researchers in low- and middle-income countries.
So what of the future? With US midterm elections next month and various national elections due to follow in the next few years, global politics will probably have shifted again before Nature runs its next career-satisfaction survey — and so will the research landscape.
One thing can be said with high confidence: the next survey’s findings will be different from the 2026 results in ways that we cannot predict.