What is it?
The number of science and technology research papers published has skyrocketed over the past few decades — but the ‘disruptiveness’ of those papers has dropped, according to an analysis of how radically papers depart from the previous literature. The proportion of publications that send a field in a new direction has plummeted over the past half-century.
WHY IMPORTANT
The data suggest something is changing. We don’t have quite the same intensity of breakthrough discoveries you once had.
