How much of the scientific literature is generated by AI?

2 min read Original article ↗
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Tools for reliably estimating what artificial intelligence is being used for are still lacking.

By

  1. Miryam Naddaf

    1. Miryam Naddaf is a reporter for Nature in London.

How much of the scientific literature is generated by AI? The first studies of the size of the AI footprint in scientific journals, preprint repositories and peer-review reports give a spread of answers — and indicate a rapidly evolving situation that it is difficult to get a handle on.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03504-8

References

  1. Gartenberg, C., Hasan, S., Murray, A. & Pierce, L. Organ. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2026.ed.v37.n3 (2026).

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  2. She, R. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.01.01.697311 (2026).

  3. Elazar, Y. & Antoniak, M. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2601.17036 (2026).

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