In the comments to my last post [OED3 Revision Revised for 2020] I posted this chart, in reply to a remark about projected completion:
This implies that revision has slowed down somewhat in the last ten years, and even more in the last five. But it was pointed out to me elsewhere that entries per se might not be the best measure of revision–some entries are short and simple and can be revised quickly; some are long and complicated and so take up more resources. There is no reason to suppose a regular distribution in this.
So I put together the following three charts, which measure progress in three different ways:
Each of these measures shows overall decline in revision rate since 2010, with some fluctuation year-to-year. And, while 2016 seems to be an exception, the most recent five years are definitely the least productive five years in the history of the revision, and it looks like six of the last seven years have made less headway than any year since the work really took off in 2003!
Here’s hoping the next score years live up to the first.