size New scientific and technical knowledge It has grown exponentially in recent decades, however Research Indicates that progress is taking place slowing down In various fields, reports magazine nature.
This British science publication highlighted this situation based on an analysis of 25 million articles and 3.9 million patents For years it has been done by experts.
researchers University of Minnesota (USA) examined the data from these articles using a tool called the CD Index, which measures how articles and patents change citation networks in Science and Technology.
The authors draw on basic theories of scientific and technological change, which distinguish between two types of progress: contributions that enhance existing knowledge flows, and contributions that disrupt existing knowledge.
Across all disciplines, the decline in article status, between 1945 and 2010, ranges between 91.9 percent and 100 percent; In the case of patents, the decline between 1980 and 2010 is about 78.7 percent and 91.5 percent.
Since 1980, the rate of decline in articles has been less pronounced in biomedicine and the physical sciences, and more pronounced and sustained in the social sciences and technology.
The authors replicated these findings by looking at surrogate indicators, such as word diversity.
This decrease is unlikely to be due to the quality of the published work or citation changes, according to the authors.
The authors argue that a better understanding of the decline of science and technology allows for a much needed rethinking of strategies for regulating science and technology production in the future.
With information from EFE
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