PFAS Research Boom 2025

Publications on PFAS increased dramatically in 2025, with 2,070 publications listed in PubMed, approximately 27% of the cumulative corpus, added in one year. Growth was broad-based, spanning toxicology (256 new articles), analytical methods (i.e., sensor, 53), remediation (187), and bioremediation (57). This acceleration reflects increased regulatory attention, funding, and advances in detection and treatment.

Recent studies increasingly integrate human epidemiology with mechanistic multiomics, illuminate mixture effects, and analyze emerging substitutes.

A Surge in PFAS Literature, Jan–Dec 2025

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) represent one of the most studied groups of environmental contaminants in recent years. Their extreme chemical stability, widespread use in industrial and consumer products, and documented persistence in ecosystems and human tissues have raised urgent scientific, regulatory, and public health concerns.

Growing recognition of their global distribution and the potential toxicological impacts of some PFAS has spurred a multidisciplinary research effort encompassing analytical chemistry, environmental monitoring, toxicology, epidemiology, and remediation sciences.

Monitoring trends in scientific literature is an effective way to capture shifts in research priorities and quantify the intensity of academic engagement on a topic. In the case of PFAS, the accelerating pace of publications is not only an indicator of increased awareness but also a reflection of evolving regulatory frameworks, increased funding opportunities, and advances in detection and treatment technologies.

To contextualize this rapid development, we examined PubMed-indexed publications on PFAS over different time periods, focusing on 2025. Table 1 summarizes the number of articles retrieved for selected PFAS-related topics and compares recent results with the cumulative literature published through December 31, 2024.

Table 1. Number of scientific publications reported on PubMed on PFAS, in the 2025,

as compared to previous periods.

Topic	Number of PubMed articles (Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025)	Number of PubMed articles (1900 – Dec 2024)
PFAS	2070	5710
PFAS & toxicology	256	662
PFAS & sensor	53	51
PFAS & remediation	187	475
PFAS & bioremediation	57	130

Table 1 shows a marked acceleration in PFAS research productivity during the full year of 2025.

Specifically:

• A total of 2,070 PubMed-indexed articles on PFAS were published between January 1 and December 31, 2025, already representing approximatively 26.6 % of the 7,780 articles ever published on PFAS up to the end 2024.

• In the subfield of PFAS & toxicology, 256 new articles appeared, compared to a prior total of 662, signaling that nearly 27.9 % of the lifetime literature emerged in this recent year.

• The PFAS & sensor category also recorded 53 new entries, now contributing 51.0 % of all research in this methodological domain (total previously 104).

• Meanwhile, PFAS & remediation and PFAS & bioremediation recorded 187 and 57 newly indexed studies, respectively, representing approximately 28.2 % (of 662) and 30.5 % (of 187) of their historical bodies.

  
  

These data reveal both strong absolute production and disproportionately high recent activity across all PFAS-related subsectors.

Indeed, the data reveal a pronounced and accelerated growth in PFAS-related research output, with nearly a sixth or more of the cumulative literature across several subsectors published in 2025 alone. This surge points to a strongly increasing trajectory of scientific attention, likely driven by intensifying regulatory scrutiny, growing public health concerns, and the allocation of new research funding.

Particularly noteworthy is the expansion of analytical methods on PFAS sensors, with 51% of all publications to date having been produced in this short period. This growth underscores the scientific community & strong focus on developing and refining techniques for the detection, quantification, and monitoring of PFAS, an essential prerequisite for effective regulation and remediation.

Toxicology and remediation research has also shown substantial progress, reflecting the urgent need to better understand the human and environmental health risks of PFAS exposure and to identify practical strategies to reduce contamination. The increase in toxicological studies is consistent with a wave of new findings linking PFAS to developmental, immunological, and associations with carcinogenic outcomes in specific studies, while the expansion of remediation research indicates an active search for scalable treatment solutions.

In this applied context, bioremediation remains a smaller niche in terms of total production, but is nevertheless experiencing a notable increase, with nearly a third of all literature available in 2025. This trend suggests that biology-based approaches, while still in their infancy, are gaining traction as potentially valuable components of an integrated PFAS management strategy.

Overall, the data clearly indicates a significant increase in PFAS literature during 2025, across all major subdomains. Methodological innovation is particularly evident, but research on health impacts and remediation measures is also rapidly expanding. Overall, these trends reflect an increasingly intense and multidisciplinary scientific response to the global challenge of PFAS.

Disclaimer

This analysis is based exclusively on publications indexed in PubMed, which primarily covers biomedical and life-science journals. As a result, it likely underrepresents relevant literature from environmental engineering, materials science, chemical engineering, and water treatment industry publications. The trends reported here should therefore be interpreted as indicative of activity within the biomedical research domain rather than as a comprehensive representation of all PFAS-related scientific output.