Mendelevium

Mendelevium (Md) — 10-Year Trends

As of 2026-09-11 · the last 10 years

Research intensity has fallen to about 8% of the element's own all-time peak, a level reached after a steady decline over the last decade.

Research intensity ran from about 19% of the element's own all-time peak in 2016 to about 8% in 2026 — a steady decline, and the all-time peak (1959) lies before this window. Over the same span its share of research attention across all elements fell. Among the 118 elements, mendelevium has one of the smaller research literatures of any element.

The number of papers involving the element fell from about 19 in 2016 to about 9 in 2025 (0.47x). 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.

The primary research community is Synthesis and Decay of Superheavy Elements and Heavy-Ion Collision Physics. Mendelevium is a minor presence in this much larger community, with under 1% of its papers involving the element. However, this community now accounts for 100% of the element's recent research, rising from 57% in the previous period. Key work includes a 2020 theoretical study of spectroscopic properties, cited about 11 times, and a 2019 paper on automated aqueous-phase chemistry apparatuses, cited about 6 times.

Other communities show declining or steady shares. Actinide Chemistry and Nuclear Fuel Materials and Silicon-Germanium Quantum Devices and Laser-Structured Surfaces both saw their share drop to 0% in the recent period, down from 14% previously. Advanced Nuclear Reactor Materials and Corrosion Science remained steady at 0%. The remaining research, previously held by other communities, has also declined in share.

For a deeper look at current activity, see the element's Last 12 Months or Executive Brief reports.