Tennessine

Tennessine (Ts) — 10-Year Trends

As of 2026-09-25 · the last 10 years

Research intensity has climbed to about 72% of the element's all-time peak, a level reached after a decade of uneven growth that began well below that historical high.

Research intensity ran from about 31% of the element's own all-time peak in 2016 to about 72% in 2026 — a net rise with setbacks along the way, and the all-time peak (1972) lies before this window. The trajectory is characterized as an uneven climb, with fluctuations visible in the yearly data but a clear upward trend overall. Among the 118 elements, tennessine has one of the smaller research literatures of any element.

The number of papers involving the element rose from about 11 in 2016 to about 22 in 2025 (2.0x). 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 dominant research community is Superheavy Nuclei, Heavy-Ion Collisions, and Nuclear Structure, which accounts for about 85% of tennessine’s recent research. Tennessine is a minor presence in this much larger community, with under 1% of its papers involving the element. The work focuses on element synthesis, dynamics superheavy, synthesis reactions, sequential fission, and decay superheavy. This community’s share has remained steady over the last two periods. A key anchor paper is "Colliding heavy nuclei take multiple identities on the path to fusion" (2023), cited about 25 times, which leads in both citation and impact metrics for this group.

Two other communities show rising shares: Radioligand Therapy and Molecular Imaging for Prostate and Neuroendocrine Cancers, and Fluorinated Organic Synthesis and Bioorthogonal Chemistry. Both now hold about 8% of the element’s recent research, up from zero in the previous period. In the radioligand therapy community, tennessine is a minor presence, with under 1% of papers involving it. The anchor paper here is "The Chemical Bond at the Bottom of the Periodic Table: The Case of the Heavy Astatine and the Super‐Heavy Tennessine" (2024), cited about 5 times. In the fluorinated organic synthesis community, tennessine is also a minor presence, with under 1% of papers involving it. The anchor paper is "The Group 17 elements" (2025), not yet cited.

Two communities are declining: an unnamed research community and Lanthanide and Actinide Coordination Chemistry for Magnetic and Optical Applications. Both held about 5% of the element’s research in the earlier period but have dropped to zero in the current period. In the unnamed community, tennessine is a minor presence, with under 1% of papers involving it. The anchor paper is "Scalar abraham-lorentz-dirac-langevin equation, radiation reaction and vacuum fluctuations simulation of interaction of synchrotron radiation emission as a function of the beam energy and tennessine nanoparticles using 3d finite element method (FEM) as an optothermal human cancer cells, tissues and tumors treatment" (2020), cited about 34 times. In the lanthanide and actinide coordination chemistry community, tennessine is a minor presence, with under 1% of papers involving it. The anchor paper is "Application of a Dual-Column Method to Selectively Extract and Purify Berkelium-249 from Other Actinides and Impurities" (2019), cited once.

The most-cited paper in the window, "Names and symbols of the elements with atomic numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118 (IUPAC Recommendations 2016)" (2016), cited about 99 times, belongs to the Superheavy Nuclei community and anchors the decade’s foundational work.

For a deeper look at tennessine’s current standing, see its Last 12 Months and Executive Brief reports.