Liquid crystal literature: A novel growth pattern

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Abstract
Liquid crystal literature is characterised from 1888 (the first paper) to 1975. After an initial peak in 1910, expo nential growth did not occur again until the 1960s. Reviews and especially patents then exhibited very rapid growth with doubling times of less than 1 year for patents in the 1970s. The concept of relative scientific activity is proposed as the number of papers in a field divided by some function of the size of all fields of science. A plot of relative scientific activ ity shows that the 1910 peak in relative activity was not achieved again until 1972 when the actual number of papers per year showed a 20 fold increase. Core journals for the field are identified.

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