Aggregation and Linking of Observational Metadata in the ADS

TL;DR

This paper describes efforts to enhance the NASA Astrophysics Data System by aggregating and linking observational metadata, including proposals and data products, to improve discoverability and citation of astronomical data and literature.

Contribution

It introduces methods for integrating observational metadata and data links into ADS, enriching bibliographic content with discoverable, citable observational resources.

Findings

Enhanced visibility of data products through integrated links.

Increased citations linked to data archives.

Improved discoverability of observational metadata.

Abstract

We discuss current efforts behind the curation of observing proposals, archive bibliographies, and data links in the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS). The primary data in the ADS is the bibliographic content from scholarly articles in Astronomy and Physics, which ADS aggregates from publishers, arXiv and conference proceeding sites. This core bibliographic information is then further enriched by ADS via the generation of citations and usage data, and through the aggregation of external resources from astronomy data archives and libraries. Important sources of such additional information are the metadata describing observing proposals and high level data products, which, once ingested in ADS, become easily discoverable and citeable by the science community. Bibliographic studies have shown that the integration of links between data archives and the ADS provides greater visibility to data products and increased citations to the literature associated with them.