A Journal for the Astronomical Computing Community?

TL;DR

This paper explores the need for a dedicated journal for the astronomical computing community, analyzing community requirements and survey results to assess publication venues, but concludes the debate remains unresolved.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of community needs and survey data to evaluate the suitability of existing journals for astronomical computing papers.

Findings

Community discussion was inconclusive.

Survey indicates varied suitability of existing journals.

Further debate on publication venues is anticipated.

Abstract

One of the Birds of a Feather (BoF) discussion sessions at ADASS XX considered whether a new journal is needed to serve the astronomical computing community. In this paper we discuss the nature and requirements of that community, outline the analysis that led us to propose this as a topic for a BoF, and review the discussion from the BoF session itself. We also present the results from a survey designed to assess the suitability of astronomical computing papers of different kinds for publication in a range of existing astronomical and scientific computing journals. The discussion in the BoF session was somewhat inconclusive, and it seems likely that this topic will be debated again at a future ADASS or in a similar forum.