Environmental, health, and safety (EHS) concerns are receiving considerable attention in the development of nanoscience and
nanotechnology (nano) R&D, underscored by the perspective that EHS work should be developed alongside the scientific research
rather than subsequent to applications. This positioning of nano EHS suggests the importance of early understanding and
measurement of the diffusion of nano EHS science. This research examines the diffusion of new nano EHS knowledge, defined
through a set of search terms in the global nanotechnology R&D publications database developed at Georgia Tech. The results
indicate that nano EHS research is growing rapidly although it is orders of magnitude smaller than the broader nano science and
technology (S&T) domain. Even as important, only a small albeit growing percentage of nano S&T works cite nano EHS publications.
These results suggest that policies to promote EHS in nano R&D are important, but the diffusion of these research should receive
attention as well.
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