Multiauthor papers redux: a new peek at new peaks
Thomson Scientific
January 2008
After appearing to level off earlier in this decade, the number of papers with 50 or more coauthors reached new peaks in recent years, with a notable spike in reports with at least 500 authors, according to a new ScienceWatch survey.
Science Watch last visited this topic three years ago, assessing trends in multiauthor papers from the early 1990s through 2003. At that time, the population of such papers, after exhibiting a high around 1997 or 1998, seemed to be leveling off. To gauge current trends, Science Watch updated the numbers for the last three years, enumerating those papers with more than 50, 100, 200, and 500 authors for the years 1993 to 2006.
It remains to be seen, of course, whether such mega-multiauthor papers are anomalies or whether they'll become increasingly common. Meanwhile, a couple of the general trends mentioned in the previous Science Watch survey have continued . . .
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