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ETO Research Almanac
Between 2016 and 2021, researchers published roughly
200,000
English-language articles on natural language processing
The global natural language processing literature grew
37%
between 2016 and 2021
Articles on natural language processing made up
13%
of all articles on artificial intelligence
Authors from private companies contributed to
5%
of natural language processing articles
What counts as "natural language processing" research?How precise are these numbers?What are the other caveats?
Data last updated May 17, 2023

Vital signs

199,361
natural language processing articles were released between 2016 and 2021 (estd.)
Statistic description
37%
growth in research between 2016 and 2021
Statistic description
13%
of all artificial intelligence articles focused on natural language processing

Citation impact

11
citations for the average natural language processing article
14
citations for the average artificial intelligence article

Countries

Documentation
20%
of natural language processing articles have American authors
Statistic description
17%
have Chinese authors
Statistic description
23%
have European authors
Statistic description
Country Articles (2016-2021)Documentation Growth (2016-2021) Global shareDocumentation Citations per articleDocumentation
United States39,07658%20%24.4
China34,440100%17%13.1
United Kingdom12,57325%6%19.3

Top-cited articlesDocumentation

Research organizations

Documentation
  • #1 Microsoft (United States)
  • #2 Chinese Academy of Sciences (China)
  • #3 Carnegie Mellon University (United States)
Organization Articles
(2016-2021Documentation
Citations per article Documentation Country
Microsoft1,79054.8United States
Chinese Academy of Sciences1,72926China
Carnegie Mellon University1,55996United States

Patents and industry

1%
of natural language processing articles are cited in patents
2%
of artificial intelligence articles are cited in patents
5%
of natural language processing articles had authors from private companies (vs 4% of artificial intelligence articles in general)
Statistic description
Company Articles
(2016-2021Documentation
Citations per article Documentation Country
Microsoft1,79054.8United States
Google1,436127.2United States
IBM82178United States