As of 2026-09-11 · the last 10 years
Strontium’s research intensity currently stands at about 47% of its own all-time peak, a level that has risen steadily since 2016, though the element’s historical high point was reached in 1965.
Research intensity ran from about 41% of the element's own all-time peak in 2016 to about 47% in 2026 — a net rise with setbacks along the way, and the all-time peak (1965) lies before this window. Over the same span its share of research attention across all elements rose. Among the 118 elements, strontium has a mid-sized research literature.
The number of papers involving the element rose from about 5,675 in 2016 to about 10,454 in 2025 (1.84x). 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 most substantial body of recent work belongs to the community focused on Strontium Doping for Osteogenic Scaffolds and Bioactive Glasses. In this field, strontium is doped into hydroxyapatite and bioactive glass scaffolds to enhance osteogenic differentiation and bone repair, with distinctive approaches involving strontium-doped hydroxyapatite and mesoporous bioactive structures. Strontium is one strand of a broader community, with about 13% of its papers involving the element. This community holds about 13.7% of strontium’s recent research, a share that has remained steady over the last decade. A 2017 review on bone grafts and biomaterials substitutes, cited over 1,900 times, anchors this area, while a 2026 paper on advances in strontium-releasing biomaterials, cited about 27 times, represents the current frontier.
A second major area is Strontium Isotopes for Tracing Human Mobility in Archaeology. These papers use radiogenic strontium ratios to reconstruct the geographic origins and movement patterns of Bronze and Iron Age populations, often utilizing bioavailable strontium and isotope stratigraphy. Here, strontium is also one strand of a broader community, appearing in about 13% of its papers. This community accounts for about 12.5% of strontium’s recent research, which has also held steady. A 2023 study in Nature on Neolithic social organization, cited over 110 times, exemplifies this work, alongside a 2020 paper on global bioavailable strontium isoscapes, cited over 250 times.
The third material community is Strontium Doping in Barium Titanate Thin Films, where research focuses on the structural and optical properties of strontium-doped barium titanate and related titanate thin films. Strontium is a minor presence in this much larger community, involved in about 9% of its papers. Its share of strontium’s research has declined slightly to about 6.3% in the current period. A 2022 Science paper on giant electric field–induced strain in lead-free piezoceramics, cited over 290 times, is a key anchor here, as is a 2024 study on flexoelectricity, cited about 42 times.
Overall, the composition of strontium research has remained relatively stable, with the three named communities holding steady or slightly declining shares, while the remainder of the literature—comprising smaller, more specialized areas—has grown to represent about 67.5% of the element's recent research.
For a deeper look at strontium’s current standing, 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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Showing Strontium's three strongest connections. Personal opens the slider and the whole 118-element graph.