Telescope Bibliographies: an Essential Component of Archival Data Management and Operations

TL;DR

Telescope bibliographies are crucial for assessing the scientific impact of astronomical data, and their integration into observatory operations enhances data impact evaluation.

Contribution

This paper emphasizes the importance of integrating telescope bibliographies into observatory workflows and reviews tools and efforts needed for their maintenance.

Findings

Telescope bibliographies enable impact assessment through bibliometrics.

Maintaining bibliographies requires specific tools and expertise.

Integration into operations improves data impact tracking.

Abstract

Assessing the impact of astronomical facilities rests upon an evaluation of the scientific discoveries which their data have enabled. Telescope bibliographies, which link data products with the literature, provide a way to use bibliometrics as an impact measure for the underlying data. In this paper we argue that the creation and maintenance of telescope bibliographies should be considered an integral part of an observatory's operations. We review the existing tools, services, and workflows which support these curation activities, giving an estimate of the effort and expertise required to maintain an archive-based telescope bibliography.