Americium

Americium (Am) — 10-Year Trends

As of 2026-09-25 · the last 10 years

Research intensity stands at about 34% of the element's all-time peak, a level well below the 1969 high that lies outside this window.

Research intensity ran from about 50% of the element's own all-time peak in 2016 to about 34% in 2026 — a steady decline, and the all-time peak (1969) lies before this window. Over the same span its share of research attention across all elements fell. Among the 118 elements, americium has one of the smaller research literatures of any element.

The number of papers involving the element rose from about 443 in 2016 to about 610 in 2025 (1.38x). That is slower than the literature as a whole grew over the same years, so the element lost ground in the wider body of research even as its own count rose.

The core of americium research remains focused on separating the element from other actinides and lanthanides. The largest community, "Americium Separation from Lanthanides and Actinides," accounts for about 31% of the element's recent research, though this share has declined from 38% in the previous period. In this group, americium is a minor presence in a much larger community, with only about 2% of its papers involving americium. The work centers on solvent extraction and chromatographic methods to separate trivalent americium from europium, curium, and plutonium. A key paper in this area, "Beyond U/Pu separation: Separation of americium from the highly active PUREX raffinate" (2023), has been cited about 71 times.

A second major area, "Americium Separation from Plutonium and Lanthanides," holds a steady share of about 23% of recent research. Here too, americium is a minor presence, comprising about 2% of the community's papers. This community focuses on isolating trivalent americium from plutonium and lanthanides, often using surface complexation and internal contamination controls. The most cited paper in the entire window, "Ultrafiltration separation of Am(VI)-polyoxometalate from lanthanides" (2023), belongs to this group and has been cited over 270 times.

The third significant community, "Americium Transmutation in Fast Reactor Fuel Cycles," maintains a steady share of about 17% of recent research. Americium is a minor presence here as well, involved in about 1% of the community's papers. This work focuses on transmuting americium with plutonium and curium in fast reactors and radioisotope power systems. A notable recent contribution, "Optimal Neutron Spectrum Database for In‐reactor 238 Pu Production" (2025), has been cited about 28 times.

Overall, the composition of americium research has shifted slightly away from the largest separation community toward the remainder of the field, which now holds about 29% of the element's research, up from 22%.

For a deeper look at the current state of americium research, see the Last 12 Months and Executive Brief reports.