NRAO Publication Statistics

NRAO publication statistics are taken from the NRAO publications bibliography (NRAOPapers), a database of refereed and non-refereed papers using NRAO telescope data or with NRAO staff members as authors. NRAOPapers is populated and maintained by the NRAO Library.

The graphs below are basic statistics covering the past 10 years; however, more detailed information can be found at https://find.nrao.edu/papers/ or by contacting the Observatory Librarian at library@nrao.edu.

This graph shows refereed papers by telescope with the total number of refereed papers, including non-NRAO telescope papers with an NRAO author.

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This graph depicts the total number of NRAO telescope papers separated into refereed and non-refereed by year.

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This graphs shows the total number of non-NRAO telescope papers with an NRAO staff member as author, segmented into refereed and non-refereed.

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Bibliometrics can be interesting and, sometimes, enlightening. They can, if all citing information is available (which does not exist presently – see below), measure productivity and impact for an individual or an observatory.

The bibliometrics shown below are derived from a single source (ADS) and, while ADS is an excellent source for astronomy publications, it is not acceptable for engineering or chemistry. Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive source for citations (whether citation count, H-Index, G-Index or a combination); each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Some citation sources cover only English-language journals while others cover more international journals but only those that have the largest subscription base. Some sources only use refereed sources while others use any source for citation counts, and some providers of citation information will not provide any information on what their citation rates entail.

Bibliometrics can be used for comparisons or trends, but this must be done with the understanding that there is no source (whether single or a combination of all available citation sources) that will provide a scientific measure, thus should be used with extreme caution.

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