The number of papers with 50+ authors is on the increase. Based on figures from papers indexed by Thomson Reuters, ScienceWatch has reported on the growth in multi- and hyper-authorship.
In 2010, 17 papers with 1000+ authors were indexed. In 2011, the number had increased to 140. The number of articles written by more than 50 authors began to grow quite steeply in 2006. By 2010 there were over 1000 papers indexed with 50+ authors.
The physical sciences in particular have witnessed a rapid growth in the number of multi-authored papers. Large, collaborative and international projects, such as the Large Hadron Collider, are driving this trend.
Read the full story, by Christopher King, here.