Editorial
Abstract This introductory paper explains the background of the special issue Doctoral Education and Beyond and provides overviews of the selected eight articles. Six of the eight articles address policy-related topics such as career choice, international mobility, and time-to-degree, and two articles explore theory related topics, especially socialization theory for doctoral students. These articles are based on empirically collected data. Five articles are based on the GRN survey, and three articles are based on national survey data and international survey data collected by each research team. Although some findings in these articles resemble those from studies conducted in the West, mostly in the US, but similar findings do not necessarily mean doctoral students in East Asia have similar learning experiences to their colleagues in the West.