Best Places to Work in Academia, 2005

The respondents to The Scientist's third annual Best Places to Work in Academia survey conveyed a clear message: The people that they work with, the resources at their disposal, and their opportunities for career advancement are the leading factors in determining their satisfaction with their work environment. Researchers from across the United States and abroad – more than 2,600 in all – rated survey questions relating to peers, research resources, and tenure as the most important, and the institutions that earned high marks in those categories came out on top in this year's rankings.

Respondents repeatedly emphasized the necessity of being able to work well with their peers and derive a sense of accomplishment from collaborative projects. "There is a spirit of collegiality and cooperation," explains a researcher at 6th-ranked University of Wisconsin, Madison. "There is a very large excellent faculty in the biological sciences (over...