👁 Number of Academic Papers Published per Year

How many academic articles are published each year?

It is estimated that at least 64 million academic papers have been published since the year 1996, with the growth rate of newly published articles increasing over time.

• As of 2022, over 5.14 million academic articles are published per year, including short surveys, reviews, and conference proceedings.
• The number of published articles had increased by 2.06% since 2021, when over 5.03 million papers were published.
• Since 2018, the number of articles published by year jumped by 22.78%, starting from 4.18 million.
• The growth in published documents was exceptionally high during 2021, when 7.62% more articles were published compared to the previous year.

Year	Articles published (in millions)	Growth
2022	5.14	2.06%
2021	5.03	7.62%
2020	4.68	5.50%
2019	4.43	5.95%
2018	4.18
5-year growth	22.78%

👁 Number of Academic Papers Published per Year (in millions) (graph)

What country publishes the most academic articles?

• Since 2022, China has been the country with the most academic articles published in a year, and the first country to publish over 1 million documents during a year.
• Over 19.67% of all academic papers published in a year come from China as of 2022.
• The United States lost the leading position when it comes to the number of published articles, now accounting for 17.04% of all published papers in a year.
• These two countries, along with India and the United Kingdom, accounted for over 52% of all academic papers over the past year.
• Top 10 producers of academic papers account for over 87% of all published articles over the past year.

Country	Number of academic papers published	Global share
China	1,009,891	19.67%
United States	702,840	17.04%
India	275,367	8.05%
United Kingdom	236,145	7.50%
Germany	203,406	6.99%
Italy	152,881	5.65%
Japan	140,493	5.50%
Canada	130,678	5.41%
Australia	124,503	5.45%
France	123,837	5.74%

👁 Share of Academic Papers Published per Year by country (graph)

How many academic journals are there?

• As of 2020, there are 46,736 academic journals publishing papers worldwide, 1.07% more compared to 2019.
• It is also the seventh year in a row with over 40,000 active academic journals.
• Over the last 10 years, the number of academic journals has grown by 28.7%, growing at an average rate of 2.56% every year.
• However, the growth rate of academic journals has slowed down over the last decade after growing by 3.65% annually from 2002 to 2011.
• For the first time, there were over 100 published articles per academic journal during the year. This happened in 2020.

Year	Number of academic journals	Growth
2020	46,736	1.07%
2019	46,241	1.54%
2018	45,538	1.92%
2017	44,680	2.65%
2016	43,528	2.92%
2015	42,295	3.48%
2014	40,871	3.65%
2013	39,432	4.25%
2012	37,824	4.21%
2011	36,296	4.27%
2010	34,809	4.85%
2009	33,198	4.47%
2008	31,778	4.45%
2007	30,425	4.16%
2006	29,209	3.73%
2005	28,158	3.64%
2004	27,170	3.78%
2003	26,180	3.28%
2002	25,349	3.25%
2001	24,552

👁 Number of Academic Journals per Year (graph)

• 75.04% of all academic journals are published in the English language. There were 35,070 English-language journals published in 2020.
• The number of English-language journals has been growing by 3.22% per year, on average, over the last 10 years.
• On the other hand, the number of non-English journals declined during 2020 by 0.42% compared to the previous year.
• The growth of non-English language journals over the past 10 years stands at 2.33% annually, much slower compared to English language journals.

Year	English language journals	Growth	Non-English language journals	Growth
2020	35,070	1.58%	11,666	-0.42%
2019	34,526	1.94%	11,715	0.40%
2018	33,870	2.03%	11,668	1.61%
2017	33,197	3.12%	11,483	1.31%
2016	32,193	3.07%	11,335	2.48%
2015	31,234	3.49%	11,061	3.47%
2014	30,181	3.90%	10,690	2.94%
2013	29,047	4.56%	10,385	3.40%
2012	27,780	4.18%	10,044	4.30%
2011	26,666	4.41%	9,630	3.88%
2010	25,539	9,270

👁 Number of Academic Journals per Year -- English vs Non-English (graph)

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Which country publishes the most academic journals?

• Over 5,856 academic journals are published annually in the United Kingdom, as of 2020.
• The UK is the world’s largest producer of academic journals, accounting for over 12.53% of the global production.
• The United States publishes around 5,712 academic journals, accounting for 12.22% of the global production.
• The Netherlands (1,372) and Germany (1,339) are the only remaining countries that publish over 1,000 academic journals annually.
• Even though China publishes the most academic papers in the world, the country accounts for only 1.36% of the journals published per year.

Country	Number of journals (as of 2020)	Global share
United Kingdom	5,856	12.53%
USA	5,712	12.22%
Netherlands	1,372	2.94%
Germany	1,339	2.87%
Switzerland	805	1.72%
China	637	1.36%
Spain	582	1.25%
Russia	540	1.16%
India	448	0.96%
Italy	442	0.95%
France	438	0.94%
Poland	434	0.93%
Japan	398	0.85%
Brazil	370	0.79%
South Korea	289	0.62%
Australia	254	0.54%
Canada	245	0.52%
Iran	223	0.48%
Turkey	209	0.45%
Singapore	201	0.43%