Meitnerium

Meitnerium (Mt) — 10-Year Trends

As of 2026-09-11 · the last 10 years

Meitnerium’s research intensity currently stands at about 10% of its own all-time peak, a level that has remained essentially flat over the last decade.

Research intensity ran from about 7% of the element's own all-time peak in 2016 to about 10% in 2026 — essentially flat across the window, and the all-time peak (2009) lies before this window. The trajectory is steady, with no significant mid-window reversals or spikes. Among the 118 elements, meitnerium has one of the smaller research literatures of any element.

The number of papers involving the element rose from about 8 in 2016 to about 10 in 2025 (1.25x). 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 research landscape for meitnerium is dominated by a single, highly specialized community: Synthesis and Decay of Superheavy Elements and Heavy-Ion Collision Physics. This group accounts for about 87.5% of the element's recent research, a share that has risen from 81.8% in the previous five-year period. Meitnerium is a minor presence in this much larger community, with under 1% of its papers involving meitnerium. The work here focuses on the mechanics of creating superheavy nuclei, with distinctive phrases including "element synthesis," "sequential fission," and "dynamics superheavy." Two anchor papers define this field’s recent output: "Colliding heavy nuclei take multiple identities on the path to fusion" (2023), cited about 25 times, and "Entrance channel dependent hot fusion reactions for superheavy element synthesis" (2020), cited about 58 times.

Two other communities appear in the data but hold negligible share. Superconducting Magnets, Anodic Oxide Coatings, and Porous Orthopedic Implants and Advanced Nuclear Reactor Materials and Corrosion Science both show a steady direction with 0% share of the element's recent research. Meitnerium is a minor presence in both, with under 1% of their papers involving the element. These communities likely capture peripheral mentions or tangential applications rather than core research focus.

The composition of meitnerium’s literature has consolidated further into the superheavy element synthesis community, which gained 5.7 percentage points of share over the window. The remainder of the literature, comprising other smaller communities, declined from 18.2% to 12.5%. This shift indicates a narrowing of focus toward the fundamental physics of nuclear synthesis, while peripheral applications have receded in relative importance.

The most-cited paper in the window, "Colliding heavy nuclei take multiple identities on the path to fusion" (2023), belongs to the primary synthesis community and is already highlighted above. For a deeper look at meitnerium’s current standing, see the Last 12 Months and Executive Brief reports.