  This study has been carried out to analyze the research field of
high-temperature superconductivity and to demonstrate the potential of modern
databases and search systems for generating meta-information. The alkaline
earth (A2) rare earth (RE) cuprate high-temperature superconductors as a
typical inorganic compound family and the corresponding literature were
analyzed by scientometric methods. The time-dependent overall number of
articles and patents and of the publications related to specific compound
subsets and subject categories are given. The data reveal a significant
decrease of basic research activity in this research field. The A2 RE cuprate
species covered by the CAS compound file were analyzed with respect to the
occurrence of specific elements in order to visualize known and unknown
substances and to identify characteristic patterns. The quaternary and
quinternary cuprates were selected and the number of compound species as
function of specific combinations of A2 and RE elements is given. The Cu/O and
RE/A2 ratios of the quaternary cuprate species as function of A2 and RE atoms
are shown. In addition, the research landscape of the MgB2 related publications
was established using STN AnaVist, an analysis tool recently developed by STN
International.
