Author: David P. Baker, Professor of Sociology, Education and Demography, Penn State

Millions of scientific papers are published globally every year. These papers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine present discoveries that range from the mundane to the profound. Since 1900, the number of published scientific articles has doubled about every 10 to 15 years; since 1980, about 8% to 9% annually. This acceleration reflects the immense and ever-growing scope of research across countless topics, from the farthest reaches of the cosmos to the intricacies of life on Earth and human nature. Derek de Solla Price wrote an influential book about the growth rate of science. The de Solla Price family/Wikimedia…