Trimble, V (Trimble, V.); Ceja, JA (Ceja, J. A.) Productivity and impact of astronomical facilities: Three years of publications and citation rates ASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN, 329 (6): 632-647 JUN 2008

[Eugene Garfield]

E-mail Address: vtrimble at astro.umd.edu 

Author(s): Trimble, V (Trimble, V.); Ceja, JA (Ceja, J. A.) 

Title: Productivity and impact of astronomical facilities: Three years of 
publications and citation rates 

Source: ASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN, 329 (6): 632-647 JUN 2008 

Language: English 

Document Type: Article 

Author Keywords: publications, bibliography; telescopes 

Keywords Plus: OPTICAL TELESCOPES 

Abstract: In calendar years 2001 to 2003, 20 journals of astronomy and 
astrophysics published 11831 papers that reported or analyzed observations 
at wavelengths from meter radio to ultrahigh energy gamma rays. These were 
cited 161556 times in the three calendar years following publication, 
according to the Science Citation Index/Web of Science, for an average of 
13.66 citations per paper or 4.55 citations per paper per year. We examine 
these numbers as a function of subject matter, wavelength bands, journals, 
and individual telescopes used and explore a small subset of possible 
temporal trends, anomalies, and sources of uncertainty, including 
blockbuster journals, papers and facilities. Many of the results resemble 
qualitative expectations. There are hot topics (cosmology, exoplanets) and 
not so hot topics (binary stars, planetary nebulae). Papers reporting data 
from space are cited a bit more often, and ground-based radio papers a bit 
less often, than optical papers, while multi-wavelength ones do noticeably 
better than average. The total number of telescopes involved is 
surprisingly large, approximately 350 optical and infrared (mostly ground-
based but including HST because of its long life), 144 radio facilities on 
about 100 sites (including WMAP and COBE and a few balloon-borne CMB 
experiments), and 105 space-based detectors (including satellites, 
interplanetary probes, things carried on rockets, balloons, the Shuttle, 
and so forth). The outstanding telescopes are generally both stable with 
time and predictable. HST and the VLA are responsible for the largest 
number of optical and radio papers respectively, but the most frequently 
cited optical papers come from SDSS (by a wide margin), Keck, and the AAT, 
while the JCMT, Parkes and (especially) CMB observatories lead the radio 
brigade. Among things that fly, leadership changes more quickly, as 
missions are launched, vigorously exploited, and turned off, sometimes 
achieving geostationary, suboceanic orbits. If you have a choice, large 
trumps small, but well-supported sites trump struggling ones by a 
comparable factor. And service to the community, in the form of catalogues 
and mission descriptions, is rewarded, at least in citation numbers, if 
not always in other ways. (c) 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 
Wemheim. 

Addresses: Univ Calif Irvine, Dept Phys & Astron, Irvine, CA 92697 USA; 
Las Cumbres Observ, Goleta, CA USA 

Reprint Address: Trimble, V, Univ Calif Irvine, Dept Phys & Astron, 
Irvine, CA 92697 USA. 

E-mail Address: vtrimble at astro.umd.edu 

Cited Reference Count: 10 

Times Cited: 0 

Publisher: WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH 

Publisher Address: PO BOX 10 11 61, D-69451 WEINHEIM, GERMANY 

ISSN: 0004-6337 

DOI: 10.1002/asna.200810999 

29-char Source Abbrev.: ASTRON NACHR 

ISO Source Abbrev.: Astro. Nachr. 

Source Item Page Count: 16 

Subject Category: Astronomy & Astrophysics 

ISI Document Delivery No.: 328OV 

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