The scientific output of the Hubble Space Telescope from objective metrics

Georges Meylan; Brett S. Blacker; Duccio Macchetto; Juan P. Madrid

doi:10.1117/12.543391

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16 September 2004 The scientific output of the Hubble Space Telescope from objective metrics

Georges Meylan, Brett S. Blacker, Duccio Macchetto, Juan P. Madrid

Proceedings Volume 5493, Optimizing Scientific Return for Astronomy through Information Technologies; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.543391
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2004, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Abstract

After a decade of Hubble Space Telescope (HST) operations, observations, and publications, the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) decided it was pertinent to measure the scientific effectiveness of the HST observing programs. To this end, we have developed a methodology and a set of software tools to measure - quantitatively and objectively - the impact of HST observations on astrophysical research. We have gathered Phase I and Phase II information on the observing programs from existing STScI databases, among them the Multi-mission Archive at Space Telescope (MAST). We have gathered numbers of refereed papers and their citations from the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) and the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS), cross-checking information and verifying that our information is as complete and reliable as possible. We have created a unified database with links connecting any specific set of HST observations to one or more scientific publications. We use this system to evaluate the scientific outcomes of HST observations according to type and time. In this paper, we present a few such HST metrics that we are using to evaluate the scientific effectiveness of the Hubble Space Telescope.

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Georges Meylan, Brett S. Blacker, Duccio Macchetto, and Juan P. Madrid "The scientific output of the Hubble Space Telescope from objective metrics", Proc. SPIE 5493, Optimizing Scientific Return for Astronomy through Information Technologies, (16 September 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.543391

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