Rendering the European neutron research landscape
Journal article, 2025
Neutrons, owing to their unique properties, serve as indispensable probes for investigating the structure and dynamics of materials across various length scales. The scientific community utilizing neutron research infrastructures encompasses a diverse range of disciplines, making it challenging to quantify its scientific and societal impact. To address this challenge, we apply Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning techniques to analyze the scientific output of the European neutron science community. Leveraging open-source software toolkits, our method allows for the quantitative assessment of community evolution and research focus. Our analysis reveals consistent growth in the neutron community despite a reduction in sources, underscoring the enduring significance of neutron methods in scientific research. Furthermore, an increase in unique authors and an even distribution of publications across diverse scientific topics highlight the community's interdisciplinary nature and collaborative spirit. While this study emphasizes neutron scattering, our methodology holds promise for a broad range of scientific communities reliant on Large Research Infrastructures (LRIs), offering opportunities for collaboration, optimization of experimental approaches, and informed decision-making by governmental and funding bodies.
Author
Evgenii Velichko
Delft University of Technology
Hartmut Abele
Vienna University of Technology
David J. Barlow
University of Manchester
Antonio Benedetto
University College Dublin
Stefano Deledda
Institute for Energy Technology
Lambert van Eijck
Delft University of Technology
Maria Teresa Fernandez-Diaz
Institut Laue-Langevin
Marc Janoschek
Paul Scherrer Institut
University of Zürich
Maths Karlsson
Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Energy and Material
Kim Lefmann
University of Copenhagen
Natalie Malikova
Sorbonne University
Maria P. M. Marques
University of Coimbra
Konstantina Mergia
National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos”
Joerg Pieper
University of Tartu
Henrik M. Ronnow
University of Copenhagen
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)
Jan Saroun
Czech Academy of Sciences
Astrid Schneidewind
Jülich Research Centre
Frank Schreiber
University of Tübingen
Kristiaan Temst
Interuniversitair Micro-Elektronica Centrum (IMEC)
KU Leuven
Max Wolff
Uppsala University
Wojciech Zajac
Polish Academy of Sciences
Marco Zanatta
University of Trento
Scientific Reports
2045-2322 (ISSN) 20452322 (eISSN)
Vol. 15 1 5722Subject Categories (SSIF 2025)
Condensed Matter Physics
Subatomic Physics
DOI
10.1038/s41598-025-88099-w
PubMed
39962151