There has been a significant surge in the number of new biomarkers described in the literature during 2014.

Between 2008 and 2013, the annual growth rate in publications that describe new biomarkers was 25% per year.

When looking at the average number of publications per day this year versus last year, the growth rate has almost doubled, to over 45%. With one third of the year still to go, 2014 publications are nearly equal to the total for all of 2013.

This chart shows the total number of publications each year that include the specific phrases "new biomarker" or "novel biomarker" in the title, abstract, or text. These publications represent the most obvious or explicit examples of new biomarker publications, and certainly underestimate the total number of publications each year that include descriptions of novel biomarkers.
This chart shows the total number of publications each year that include the phrases “new biomarker” or “novel biomarker” in the title, abstract, or text. These publications represent the most obvious or explicit examples of new biomarker publications, and certainly underestimate the total number of publications each year that include descriptions of novel biomarkers. The total for 2014 publications is as of August 21, 2014.

We will look at trends by type of biomarker in future posts.