Scientific Literature of Small-Angle X-Ray and Neutron Scattering Applied to the Characterization of Materials at the Nanometer Scale

The SAXS and SANS techniques are widely applied to the structural characterization of materials at the nanometer scale. We here report quantitative analyses of the published literature related to these techniques and to relevant features of the International SAS Conferences. A total number of 42,048 articles related to SAXS and SANS were retrieved. The annual total number of published articles related to SAXS exhibits a fast and persistent growth from 1990 until 2018 while those referring to SANS remained essentially constant along the past two decades. Furthermore, the number of citations of articles published by authors from the USA and from some European countries (Germany, France, UK) are significantly higher than those published by authors from other countries. The persistent increase in the number of published articles related to SAXS around the world and particularly in Brazil is well correlated with the also increasing number of open synchrotron sources.

Keywords:
SAXS; SANS; bibliometric analysis; trends in science.