As of 2026-09-11 · the last 10 years
Selenium’s research intensity stands at about 65% of its own all-time peak, a level that has remained essentially flat over the last decade, even as its share of attention across all elements has risen.
Research intensity ran from about 65% of the element's own all-time peak in 2016 to about 65% in 2026 — essentially flat across the window, and the all-time peak (1988) lies before this window. Over the same span its share of research attention across all elements rose. Among the 118 elements, selenium has a larger-than-average research literature.
The number of papers involving the element rose from about 15,604 in 2016 to about 39,661 in 2025 (2.54x). That matches the growth of the literature as a whole over the same years: the general tide of scientific output, not a surge specific to the element.
The core of selenium’s recent literature is its biological role, specifically in Selenium Nanoparticles, Supplementation, and Biological Roles. This community focuses on selenium accumulation, antioxidant capacity, and the biological functions of selenoproteins. Selenium is central to this community, appearing in about 76% of its papers. It accounts for about 55% of selenium’s recent research, a share that has remained steady. A 2023 paper in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences on the biological activity of selenium and its impact on human health, cited over 380 times, anchors this field.
A second significant area is Selenium in Copper Indium Gallium Selenide Thin-Film Photovoltaics. Here, research centers on the absorber layer composition and device efficiency of CIGS solar cells, with distinctive work on copper indium gallium selenide thin films. Selenium is a minor presence in this much larger community, involved in about 9% of its papers. Its share of selenium’s research has held steady at about 6.4%. A 2024 Nature Energy paper describing a copper indium gallium selenide solar cell with 23.6% efficiency, cited over 410 times, highlights the high-impact work in this niche.
A smaller but distinct group focuses on Selenium in Chalcogenide Quantum Dot Synthesis, involving the creation of copper, zinc, and lead selenide nanocrystals. Selenium is a minor presence here, involved in about 7% of the community's papers, and represents about 1.7% of selenium’s recent research, a share that has remained steady. A 2025 Science paper on transforming achiral semiconductors into chiral domains, cited about 43 times, illustrates the current frontier in this area.
Overall, the composition of selenium’s research has remained stable, with the biological and health-related community maintaining its dominant share while the photovoltaic and quantum dot communities hold their smaller, steady positions. The remainder of the literature, comprising other smaller communities, also holds a steady share.
For a deeper look at the element's current standing and recent developments, 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.
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