As of 2026-09-11 · the last 10 years
Research intensity on astatine has climbed steadily over the last decade, reaching about 42% of the element’s all-time peak, which occurred in 1961.
Research intensity ran from about 26% of the element's own all-time peak in 2016 to about 42% in 2026 — a steady climb, and the all-time peak (1961) lies before this window. Over the same span its share of research attention across all elements rose. Among the 118 elements, astatine has one of the smaller research literatures of any element.
The number of papers involving the element rose from about 91 in 2016 to about 278 in 2025 (3.05x). That is faster than the literature as a whole grew over the same years, so the element gained ground in the wider body of research.
The dominant research community is Astatine for Targeted Alpha Therapy in Oncology, which accounts for about 89% of the element's recent research. This work focuses on astatine's use in targeted alpha-particle therapy, including radiochemistry, nanoparticle delivery, and clinical trials, with distinctive approaches involving alpha therapy and in vivo stability. Astatine is a minor presence in this much larger community, as only about 2% of its papers involve astatine. The community's share has remained steady over the window. A key anchor is the 2021 paper "Overview of the Most Promising Radionuclides for Targeted Alpha Therapy: The “Hopeful Eight”," cited over 190 times.
A second community, Synthesis and Decay of Superheavy Elements and Heavy-Ion Collision Physics, holds about 5.5% of recent research. This area explores chemical homology and the properties of elements close to astatine, such as charge radii and electromagnetic moments. Astatine is a minor presence here as well, with about 1% of papers involving the element. Its share has remained steady. A notable paper in this group is "Charge radii and electromagnetic moments of At 195 – 211" (2018), cited about 51 times.
A smaller community, Fluorinated Molecule Synthesis and Hypervalent Iodine Reactions, represents about 1.8% of recent research. Astatine is a minor presence in this field, with under 1% of papers involving the element. Its share has remained steady. An anchor paper is "Exploring the radiochemistry of PARP inhibitors: a new era in therapy and imaging" (2025), cited about 5 times.
Overall, the composition of astatine research has remained stable, with the oncology therapy community maintaining its dominant share while other areas have held steady or declined slightly. The "Other research communities" band, which includes smaller groups, has seen its share decline from 9.7% to 3.7% over the window.
The most-cited paper in the window, "Overview of the Most Promising Radionuclides for Targeted Alpha Therapy: The “Hopeful Eight”" (2021), is already highlighted within the oncology community.
For a deeper look at astatine's current standing, see the Last 12 Months and Executive Brief reports.
What changed in the past year: new papers, shifting applications, emerging collaborators. See the momentum over a shorter window than the decade view.
Personal →See recent trends — Personal.
A by-topic status read of what changed and what's new — built for decision-makers, not search engines. Citation clusters, emerging applications, and the papers that matter most.
Professional →See the executive read — Professional.
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Showing Astatine's three strongest connections. Personal opens the slider and the whole 118-element graph.