Linking Literature and Data: Status Report and Future Efforts

TL;DR

This paper reviews past and current efforts to link scientific literature with datasets, emphasizing the importance of data accessibility in data-intensive science and discussing future initiatives within the Virtual Astronomical Observatory.

Contribution

It provides a status update on previous linking efforts and introduces a new, more comprehensive approach being considered for better integration of literature and data.

Findings

Limited success of past linking efforts

Recognition of the need for better data-literature integration

Proposed new approach within the Virtual Astronomical Observatory

Abstract

In the current era of data-intensive science, it is increasingly important for researchers to be able to have access to published results, the supporting data, and the processes used to produce them. Six years ago, recognizing this need, the American Astronomical Society and the Astrophysics Data Centers Executive Committee (ADEC) sponsored an effort to facilitate the annotation and linking of datasets during the publishing process, with limited success. I will review the status of this effort and describe a new, more general one now being considered in the context of the Virtual Astronomical Observatory.