QUANTUM GRAVITY: DIFFERENT TRENDS IN RESEARCH OUTPUT

 For comparison with string, this repeated keyword search shows the growth in arxiv posting of Loop Quantum Gravity and allied research papers:

  papers posted in 1994

  papers posted in 1995

  papers posted in 1996

  papers posted in 1997

  papers posted in 1998

  papers posted in 1999

  papers posted in 2000

  papers posted in 2001

  papers posted in 2002

  papers posted in 2003

  papers posted in 2004

  papers posted in the last twelve months

Here are the numbers, by year, for LQG and allied research output:

1994    61    
1995    83    
1996    72
1997    70
1998    67
1999    76
2000    89
2001    98
2002   121
2003   139
2004   178

Loop is still small by comparison to string---fewer people working in the field although considerable progress is occurring. By contrast String/M appears overcrowded and to be losing researchers as they move out of string and into other fields. Research in string appears to be going nowhere at present---and is losing citations. The Spires citation ranking (a measure of how significant scientists consider research to be) of recent string/M output has been on the decline.

Here is a repeated keyword search designed to pick up String/M research:

papers posted 1994

papers posted 1995

papers posted1996

papers posted 1997

papers posted 1998

papers posted 1999

papers posted 2000

papers posted 2001

papers posted 2002

papers posted 2003

papers posted 2004


papers posted in the past twelve months



Numbers of String/M research papers by year:

1994    610
1995    801    
1996   1002 
1997   1248  
1998   1298  
1999   1403   
2000   1428 
2001   1546  
2002   1567 
2003   1367
2004   1259