A Bibliometric Analysis of the Scholarly Impact of Early Subaru Telescope-based Publications

TL;DR

This study uses bibliometric methods to evaluate the impact of Subaru Telescope-based publications in Japanese astronomy, showing they have higher citation impact and visibility despite being a small share of total output.

Contribution

It provides a novel bibliometric analysis of Subaru Telescope publications, demonstrating their high impact and illustrating the utility of bibliometrics in assessing large research infrastructure.

Findings

Subaru Telescope publications have FWCI above 2.0.

They constitute less than 10% of Japan's astronomy output.

These publications show higher citation impact and visibility.

Abstract

Bibliometric methods provide valuable tools for assessing scientific productivity and impact across disciplines, yet their application in astronomy journals remains relatively limited. This study conducts a bibliometric analysis of Japanese astronomy publications before and after the commissioning of the Subaru Telescope, a major national investment in observational infrastructure. Using data from Scopus and SciVal, we examine peer-reviewed journal articles published between 1996 and 2007 by authors affiliated with Japanese institutions, focusing on field-normalized citation indicators such as the Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and the share of publications in the top 10% most cited globally. Subaru Telescope-based publications are identified through cross-referencing with official telescope publication lists and are compared against national and global benchmarks. The results show that Subaru Telescope-based publications, while accounting for less than 10% of Japan's total scholarly output in astronomy, consistently achieved FWCI values above 2.0 and a significantly higher proportion of highly cited papers. This indicates that the Subaru Telescope substantially enhanced Japan's research visibility and impact, especially during its early operational years. This study demonstrates the utility of bibliometric evaluation in capturing the academic return of large-scale research facilities and contributes to broader discussions on research infrastructure in astronomy.