As of 2026-09-11 · the last 10 years
Research intensity is currently at about 99% of the element's all-time peak, a peak that falls inside this ten-year window.
Research intensity ran from about 75% of the element's own all-time peak in 2016 to about 99% in 2026 — a steady climb, and the all-time peak (2026) falls inside this window. Over the same span its share of research attention across all elements rose. Among the 118 elements, lutetium has a mid-sized research literature.
The number of papers involving the element rose from about 733 in 2016 to about 2,228 in 2025 (3.04x). 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 force in lutetium research is Lutetium-177 Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy. In this field, lutetium-177 serves as the therapeutic radionuclide in treatments for neuroendocrine and metastatic prostate cancers, with work frequently centered on prostate-specific membrane antigen targeting and peptide receptor ligands. While lutetium is a minor presence in the broader community of radioligand therapies—accounting for about 4% of those papers—it is central to this specific application, representing about 67% of lutetium’s recent research. This share has risen significantly, up from about 48% in the previous period. The community’s weight is anchored by a 2021 paper in the New England Journal of Medicine on Lutetium-177–PSMA-617 for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, cited over 2,700 times, alongside a 2023 review on theranostics cited over 210 times.
A second, smaller area of focus is Lutetium Oxide Single Crystals and Luminescence. Here, research involves the synthesis and optical characterization of lutetium oxide single crystals and doped nanoparticles for luminescent applications, often involving lutetium aluminum garnets or cerium-doped lutetium systems. Lutetium is a minor presence in the wider community of rare-earth-doped phosphors, comprising about 1% of those papers, but it holds about 6% of lutetium’s own research. This share is declining, down from about 11% in the earlier period. Key work includes a 2017 study on tunable optical properties in blue-emitting phosphors, cited over 180 times, and a 2025 paper on calcium lutetium gallate for plant lighting, cited about 13 times.
A third community, Computational Materials Science: Electronic Structure, Phase Transitions and Machine Learning Potentials, accounts for about 5% of lutetium’s research, a share that has remained steady compared to the previous period. This area includes high-profile investigations into superconductivity, such as a 2023 Nature paper on the absence of near-ambient superconductivity in LuH2±xNy, cited about 88 times.
The shift in composition over the last decade is clear: the literature is consolidating around nuclear medicine applications, which have gained substantial share, while materials science and computational studies have held or lost ground relative to the total. The remainder of the research, comprising other smaller communities, has declined from about 37% to about 22% of the element's work.
For a deeper look at the current state of lutetium research, you can review the element's Last 12 Months report or Executive Brief.
What changed in the past year: new papers, shifting applications, emerging collaborators. See the momentum over a shorter window than the decade view.
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