What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to empirically examine how large language models (LLMs) influence academic fields outside of computer science.

January 18, 2026

Transforming scholarly landscapes: The influence of large language models on academic fields beyond computer science.

Key Points

The aim is to empirically examine how large language models (LLMs) influence academic fields outside of computer science.
Curated 106 large language models for analysis.
Examined approximately 148,000 papers citing LLMs.
Quantified LLM influence and identified usage trends across disciplines.
Focused on citation patterns since 2018 for specific fields.
Notable increase in LLM citations in non-computer science fields.
Linguistics and Engineering account for about 45% of LLM citations.
Most fields utilize task-agnostic LLMs, effective in zero or few-shot learning.

Abstract

Large Language Models (LLMs) have ushered in a transformative era in Natural Language Processing (NLP), reshaping research and extending NLP's influence to other fields of study. However, there is little to no work examining the degree to which LLMs influence other research fields. This work empirically and systematically examines the influence and use of LLMs in fields beyond NLP. We curate 106 LLMs and analyze ∼148k papers citing LLMs to quantify their influence and reveal trends in their usage patterns. Our analysis reveals not only the increasing prevalence of LLMs in non-CS fields but also the disparities in their usage, with some fields utilizing them more frequently than others since 2018, notably Linguistics and Engineering together accounting for ∼45% of LLM citations. Our findings further indicate that most of these fields predominantly employ task-agnostic LLMs, proficient in zero or few-shot learning without requiring further fine-tuning, to address their domain-specific problems. This study sheds light on the cross-disciplinary impact of NLP through LLMs, providing a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges.

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