As of 2026-09-11 · the last 10 years
Radium’s research intensity stands at about 6% of its own all-time peak, a level that has remained essentially flat over the last decade, with the historical peak occurring well before this window.
Research intensity ran from about 6% of the element's own all-time peak in 2016 to about 6% in 2026 — essentially flat across the window, and the all-time peak (1933) lies before this window. Over the same span its share of research attention across all elements held steady. Among the 118 elements, radium has a larger-than-average research literature.
The number of papers involving the element rose from about 2,228 in 2016 to about 3,398 in 2025 (1.53x). 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 radium’s recent research is divided between two distinct applications. The largest community, accounting for about 44% of the element's recent research, focuses on radium in natural radioactivity of submarine groundwater. These papers assess radium isotopes and natural radionuclides in submarine groundwater, focusing on radiological hazards and risk. Radium is a minor presence in this much larger community, with about 8% of its papers involving radium. This share has remained steady over the window. A key paper in this area, "Large scale submarine groundwater discharge dominates nutrient inputs to China’s coast" (2025), was cited about 40 times, while an earlier study on radionuclides in the Aegean Sea (2021) was cited over 260 times.
The second major community, representing about 36% of recent research, centers on radium-223 for bone metastases in prostate cancer. These papers focus on radium-223 dichloride treatment for patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and symptomatic bone metastases. Here, radium is also a minor presence in a much larger community, with about 4% of its papers involving radium. This share has also held steady. The field is anchored by high-impact clinical work, such as "Targeting signaling pathways in prostate cancer: mechanisms and clinical trials" (2022), which was cited over 260 times, and the 2025 ASCO guideline update on systemic therapy, cited about 49 times.
A smaller but steady community, holding about 7% of the research, tracks radium co-occurrence with uranium and thorium in water. These papers monitor radium alongside uranium and thorium in drinking water and actionide mixtures, rather than radium as a standalone material. Radium is a minor presence here, with about 1% of the community's papers involving it. This share has remained steady, with recent work including a 2025 systematic review on cancer risk from radionuclides in drinking water, cited about 16 times.
Overall, the composition of radium research has been stable, with no single community gaining or losing significant share. The remaining 12% of research is distributed among other smaller communities. For a deeper look at the current state of radium research, 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.
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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.
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Showing Radium's three strongest connections. Personal opens the slider and the whole 118-element graph.