Data publishing from the perspective of the American Astronomical Society

1. SSP, May 2014
Data publishing from the
AAS perspective
A bit of history
Our current point of view
Data sharing attitudes of astronomers

2. SSP, May 2014
American Astronomical Society
Largest organization of research
astronomers, 100+ yrs, 6500+ members
The Astronomical Journal, 150+ yrs, IF = 5.0
 2013: 330 articles, 4375 pages
The Astrophysical Journal, 100+ yrs, IF = 6.7
 Letters (IF = 6.3), Supplement (IF = 16.2)
 2013: 3731 articles, 45150 pages

3. SSP, May 2014
AAS Heritage of Publishing Data
 AAS founded the Astrophysical Journal Supplement
in 1954 to publish the “data-rich” papers of the day.
 The move to electronic publishing (as the version of
record) ended the era of extensive typeset tables
 AAS journals currently accept machine readable
tables, FITS format, movies, and other VO-
compatible formats.

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5. SSP, May 2014
Long Tail of Science Data
DataVolume
Number of datasets
Large data sets at facility archives are well-tended
Moderate- to small-sized data sets are at risk
Graphic from B. Heidorn

6. SSP, May 2014
Long Tail of Science Data
DataVolume
Intellectual complexity?
Large data sets at facility archives are well-tended
Moderate- to small-sized data sets are at risk
Graphic from B. Heidorn
MAST
IRSA
CXC
SDSS
Journals,
CDS, et al.

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Data and linkages to data
Data in the journal
Data outside the journal
 Link resources together: object names (SIMBAD),
data set names (ADS et al.)
Nurture partnerships with important partners
 ADS, CDS, VO, et al.
 DataCite: TIB, BL, CDL, et al.
 CrossRef, Portico, other scholarly community

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MRTs in ApJ and ApJS
0
50
100
150
200
250
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
ApJ
ApJS
Data in the journal
Current AAS data formats
 Machine readable
tables (MRTs)
 Figure sets and
extended figures
 Data behind figures
(DbF)
 FITS files
 Animations
 Source code

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Data behind the figures

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Understanding what we have
and what people want
 Survey figure types in
the journals
 AAS author survey as
part of a 2012 NSF
data grant
•.

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AAS/AIP data access project
1. Journals will extend the methods for providing access to
data objects
2. Survey community attitudes about data sharing and re-
use
3. Engage community in discussions about formats and
metadata
Responds to various calls for digital data curation and sharing
 EC: Riding the Wave (2010)
 UK/RIN: Collaborative Yet Independent (2011)
 US NSB: Digital Research Data Sharing and Management
(2011)

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Data sharing/attitudes survey
Conducted by AIP SRC 12/12 – 1/13
 With NSF support
~1000 respondents in astrophysics and
plasma physics (68% response)
Two main themes
 Use: requests, receipts, re-use
 Sharing: inquiries, deliveries
 Recently (past 2 yrs) and future expectation

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Data sharing survey
62% shared in last two years
58% expect to share in next two years
 Plus 28% who said “possibly”
60% have requested data in last two years
68% expect to request in next two years
 Plus 23% who said “possibly”
Astronomers generally have no problems
with data sharing

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1) 60% have requested data in last two years
How data was obtained
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Directly from
author
Large data
repository
Publishing
Journal
Affiliated
institution
Other
%
How data was used
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Explore new
questions
Integrate
sources
Replicate work Other
%
2) 3)
AAS & AIP data sharing survey:
Highlights regarding using data

15. SSP, May 2014
Chris.Biemesderfer@aas.org