Scientific Literature of Small-Angle X-Ray and Neutron Scattering Applied to the Characterization of Materials at the Nanometer Scale

The SAXS and SANS techniques are widely applied to the structural characterization of materials at the nanometer scale. We here report quantitative analyses of the published literature related to these techniques and to relevant features of the International SAS Conferences. A total number of 42,048 articles related to SAXS and SANS were retrieved. The annual total number of published articles related to SAXS exhibits a fast and persistent growth from 1990 until 2018 while those referring to SANS remained essentially constant along the past two decades. Furthermore, the number of citations of articles published by authors from the USA and from some European countries (Germany, France, UK) are significantly higher than those published by authors from other countries. The persistent increase in the number of published articles related to SAXS around the world and particularly in Brazil is well correlated with the also increasing number of open synchrotron sources.

小角X射线散射（SAXS）与小角中子散射（SANS）技术已被广泛应用于纳米尺度材料的结构表征领域。本研究针对上述两类技术及国际小角散射会议（International SAS Conferences）的相关特征，对已发表的学术文献开展定量分析。本次研究共检索得到42048篇与SAXS和SANS相关的学术论文。1990年至2018年期间，SAXS相关学术论文的年度发表总量呈现持续快速增长的趋势；而同期SANS相关论文的发表数量在近二十年间基本保持稳定。进一步分析表明，美国及德国、法国、英国等欧洲国家作者发表的论文总被引次数，显著高于其他国家作者的研究成果。全球范围内，尤其是巴西地区，SAXS相关学术论文的持续增长态势，与开放同步辐射光源数量的不断增加呈现显著正相关。