English

Chandra Publication Statistics

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics 2015-05-30 v2 Digital Libraries

Abstract

In this study we develop and propose publication metrics, based on an analysis of data from the Chandra bibliographic database, that are more meaningful and less sensitive to observatory-specific characteristics than the traditional metrics. They fall in three main categories: speed of publication; fraction of observing time published; and archival usage. Citation of results is a fourth category, but lends itself less well to definite statements. For Chandra, the median time from observation to publication is 2.36 years; after about 7 years 90% of the observing time is published; after 10 years 70% of the observing time is published more than twice; and the total annual publication output of the mission is 60-70% of the cumulative observing time available, assuming a two year lag between data retrieval and publication.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1110.1212,
  title  = {Chandra Publication Statistics},
  author = {Arnold H. Rots and Sherry L. Winkelman and Glenn Becker},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1110.1212},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

22 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables; revised manuscript submitted to PASP

R2 v1 2026-06-21T19:15:59.958Z