Agentic AI drives surge in single-author scientific papers

An analysis of arXiv submission statistics found that the share of single-author papers rose sharply after agentic AI models arrived in late 2025: up 70% in mathematics, 71% in condensed matter physics and 44% in quantitative biology. In mathematics the solo-author share climbed from 28.8% to 37.7% by September 2026.

• Solo-author share in mathematics rose from 28.8% to 37.7% by September 2026
• Increases of 70% in math, 71% in condensed matter physics, 44% in quantitative biology
• No such rise in experimental particle physics, where large teams remain essential
• Non-CS arXiv submissions run 17% above expected levels since December 2025