# Structural shifts in institutional participation and collaboration within the AI arXiv preprint research ecosystem

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.03969 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.03969/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 15 of its 37 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 3 Feb 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 15 of 15)

- [OmniParser for Pure Vision Based GUI Agent](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.00203/) (2024)
- [Co-Writing with Opinionated Language Models Affects Users' Views](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.00560/) (2023)
- [Delving into LLM-assisted writing in biomedical publications through excess vocabulary](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.07016/) (2024)
- [The De-democratization of AI: Deep Learning and the Compute Divide in Artificial Intelligence Research](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.15581/) (2020)
- [A Bibliometric Review of Large Language Models Research from 2017 to 2023](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.02020/) (2023)
- [The Widespread Adoption of Large Language Model-Assisted Writing Across Society](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.09747/) (2025)
- [The Elephant in the Room: Analyzing the Presence of Big Tech in Natural Language Processing Research](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.02797/) (2023)
- [The Compute Divide in Machine Learning: A Threat to Academic Contribution and Scrutiny?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.02452/) (2024)
- [Academic collaboration on large language model studies increases overall but varies across disciplines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.04163/) (2024)
- [Popularity of arXiv.org within Computer Science](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.05225/) (2017)
- [Estimating the prevalence of LLM-assisted text in scholarly writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.01560/) (2025)
- [Impactful scientists have higher tendency to involve collaborators in new topics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.06682/) (2022)
- [Multiple Greedy Quasi-Newton Methods for Saddle Point Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.00241/) (2024)
- [Is OpenAlex Suitable for Research Quality Evaluation and Which Citation Indicator is Best?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.18427/) (2025)
- [Generative AI in Science: Applications, Challenges, and Emerging Questions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.08310/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The emergence of large language models (LLMs) represents a significant technological shift within the scientific ecosystem, particularly within the field of artificial intelligence (AI). This paper examines structural changes in the AI research landscape using a dataset of arXiv preprints (cs.AI) from 2021 through 2025. Given the rapid pace of AI development, the preprint ecosystem has become a critical barometer for real-time scientific shifts, often preceding formal peer-reviewed publication by months or years. By employing a multi-stage data collection and enrichment pipeline in conjunction with LLM-based institution classification, we analyze the evolution of publication volumes, author team sizes, and academic--industry collaboration patterns. Our results reveal an unprecedented surge in publication output following the introduction of ChatGPT, with academic institutions continuing to provide the largest volume of research. However, we observe that academic--industry collaboration is still suppressed, as measured by a Normalized Collaboration Index (NCI) that remains significantly below the random-mixing baseline across all major subfields. These findings highlight a continuing institutional divide and suggest that the capital-intensive nature of generative AI research may be reshaping the boundaries of scientific collaboration.