1996 - 2024
Last data update: 03 November 2024
The ESO Telescope Bibliography (telbib) is a database of refereed papers published by the ESO users' community. All papers use partly or exclusively data from ESO telescopes.
telbib contains records from publication year 1996 onwards. New records are added approx. 3 weeks after they appear with their final bibcode on the NASA ADS Abstract Service. The following journals are routinely screened: A&A, A&ARv, AJ, AN, ApJ, ApJS, ARA&A, EM&P, Icarus, MNRAS, Nature, NewA, NewAR, PASJ, PASP, P&SS, Science.
For VLT/VLTI and Chajnantor facilities, instrument-level information and program IDs are available since the beginning of operations. All papers based on data from La Silla facilities are tagged with telescope labels since 1996, but instrument labels and program IDs have only been assigned to papers from publishing year 2000 onwards. In addition, some instruments (e.g., FEROS@1.5 m telescope) may have been operated under special agreements for which no program IDs exist.
We make extensive efforts in order to identify all refereed papers that use ESO data (see also the telbib Help pages at http://telbib.eso.org/help.html) and consider telbib essentially complete.
Statistics for a given year will not be complete until approx. March of the following year.
telbib's public interface is available at http://telbib.eso.org. While the public interface provides access to some publications that use data obtained during non-ESO time (such as APEX observations obtained during Max Planck, Onsala, or Chilean observing time), statistics reported in this document include only papers based on data from telescopes and instruments for which observing time is recommended by ESO, unless explicitly mentioned otherwise.
Metrics derived from the database can be explored in various ways:
Papers pertaining to the ESO Telescope Bibliography use partly or exclusively data from ESO facilities. These can be observations taken by the authors or data obtained from the ESO Science Archive or other sources, regardless of whether or not the observations have been published before. However, papers that merely quote results from the literature, that are derived from ESO data, are excluded. Likewise, papers that describe instrumentation or software, simply mention ongoing projects (e.g., surveys or Large Programmes), suggest future observations with ESO facilities, develop models or run simulations, using data merely as examples, are not included in telbib. Also excluded are papers which show ESO images as a visual reference rather than using them to achieve scientific results.
The ESO librarians communicate with authors as well as ESO instrument scientists and archive specialists to determine if, and which, observations were used in publications. The final decision about inclusion or exclusion of a given paper lies with the ESO Director for Science.
telbib is compiled by scanning the major astronomy journals for scientific papers that contain any of the ESO-defined keywords (e.g., telescope and instrument names). Bibliographic information, citations and some further metadata are imported from the NASA ADS Abstract Service. Standardized descriptions of telescopes and instruments, survey names and other tags as well as ESO program IDs are assigned by the librarians.
ESO publication statistics are derived from the Telescope Bibliography (telbib), a database of refereed articles that directly use ESO data. telbib is maintained by the ESO library. Here, we provide some basic statistics to give an overview of publications and citations for the publication years 1996-2024.
Notes:
VLT/VLTI: papers using data generated by VLT and VLTI instruments, including visitor instruments for which observing
time is recommended by ESO, e.g., VLT Ultracam, VLTI PIONIER.
La Silla: papers using data generated by facilities located on
La Silla, including visitor instruments for which observing time
is recommended by ESO, e.g., NTT Ultracam. Papers based on data from non-ESO telescopes or observations
obtained during ‘private’ periods are not included.
Survey telescopes: papers using data generated by ESO’s
survey telescopes VISTA and VST
APEX: papers using data generated by APEX, including visitor
instruments for which observing time is recommended by
ESO, e.g., APEX P-Artemis, APEX Z-Spec. Other visitor
instruments (e.g., APEX/CONDOR) are excluded. Only papers
based (entirely or partly) on ESO APEX time are included.
ALMA: papers using data generated by ALMA. Only papers
based (entirely or partly) on European ALMA time are included.
Archive: papers using partly or exclusively archival data, i.e.,
observations without any overlap between observers and
authors.
Papers can use data from more than one facility, therefore the total number cannot be calculated by simply adding all publications of the individual sites, telescopes, or instruments.
Publication and citation statistics mentioned in this report date from November 2024, unless indicated otherwise. Statistics for a given year will not be complete until approx. March of the following year.
VLT/VLTI | La Silla | Survey tel. | APEX | ALMA | Archive | Total | VLT/VLTI % | La Silla % | Survey tel. % | APEX % | ALMA % | Archive % | Total % | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1996 | - | 350 | - | - | - | - | 350 | - | 100 | - | - | - | - | 100 | |
1997 | - | 389 | - | - | - | - | 389 | - | 100 | - | - | - | - | 100 | |
1998 | - | 404 | - | - | - | - | 405 | - | 100 | - | - | - | - | 100 | |
1999 | 29 | 324 | - | - | - | - | 348 | 8 | 93 | - | - | - | - | 100 | |
2000 | 51 | 299 | - | - | - | 3 | 341 | 15 | 88 | - | - | - | 1 | 100 | |
2001 | 105 | 316 | - | - | - | 6 | 399 | 26 | 79 | - | - | - | 2 | 100 | |
2002 | 160 | 289 | - | - | - | 19 | 409 | 39 | 71 | - | - | - | 5 | 100 | |
2003 | 260 | 305 | - | - | - | 20 | 512 | 51 | 60 | - | - | - | 4 | 100 | |
2004 | 342 | 316 | - | - | - | 54 | 588 | 58 | 54 | - | - | - | 9 | 100 | |
2005 | 359 | 297 | - | - | - | 55 | 607 | 59 | 49 | - | - | - | 9 | 100 | |
2006 | 413 | 280 | - | 12 | - | 98 | 641 | 64 | 44 | - | 2 | - | 15 | 100 | |
2007 | 495 | 312 | - | 1 | - | 115 | 718 | 69 | 43 | - | 0 | - | 16 | 100 | |
2008 | 486 | 289 | - | 8 | - | 107 | 689 | 71 | 42 | - | 1 | - | 16 | 100 | |
2009 | 473 | 260 | - | 15 | - | 115 | 660 | 72 | 39 | - | 2 | - | 17 | 100 | |
2010 | 510 | 277 | 2 | 29 | - | 134 | 738 | 69 | 38 | 0 | 4 | - | 18 | 100 | |
2011 | 556 | 286 | 13 | 27 | - | 143 | 787 | 71 | 36 | 2 | 3 | - | 18 | 100 | |
2012 | 615 | 270 | 30 | 42 | 16 | 223 | 866 | 71 | 31 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 26 | 100 | |
2013 | 568 | 273 | 38 | 44 | 40 | 225 | 843 | 67 | 32 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 27 | 100 | |
2014 | 563 | 267 | 73 | 47 | 47 | 211 | 871 | 65 | 31 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 24 | 100 | |
2015 | 555 | 211 | 94 | 34 | 74 | 238 | 864 | 64 | 24 | 11 | 4 | 9 | 28 | 100 | |
2016 | 567 | 199 | 109 | 49 | 131 | 268 | 946 | 60 | 21 | 12 | 5 | 14 | 28 | 100 | |
2017 | 634 | 232 | 152 | 46 | 152 | 329 | 1,092 | 58 | 21 | 14 | 4 | 14 | 30 | 100 | |
2018 | 619 | 239 | 145 | 44 | 188 | 346 | 1,096 | 56 | 22 | 13 | 4 | 17 | 32 | 100 | |
2019 | 600 | 209 | 150 | 32 | 217 | 383 | 1,080 | 56 | 19 | 14 | 3 | 20 | 35 | 100 | |
2020 | 610 | 210 | 155 | 39 | 210 | 388 | 1,079 | 57 | 19 | 14 | 4 | 19 | 36 | 100 | |
2021 | 639 | 200 | 189 | 35 | 218 | 435 | 1,145 | 56 | 17 | 17 | 3 | 19 | 38 | 100 | |
2022 | 583 | 175 | 148 | 40 | 224 | 422 | 1,043 | 56 | 17 | 14 | 4 | 21 | 40 | 100 | |
2023 | 624 | 185 | 123 | 24 | 261 | 481 | 1,076 | 58 | 17 | 11 | 2 | 24 | 45 | 100 | |
2024 | 445 | 111 | 84 | 23 | 171 | 303 | 753 | 59 | 15 | 11 | 3 | 23 | 40 | 100 | |
Total 1996-2024 | 11,861 | 7,774 | 1,505 | 591 | 1,949 | 5,121 | 21,335 | 56 | 36 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 24 | 100 |
In bibliometric studies, numbers of publications show the observatory’s productivity, citations the impact papers have made
among the community. Since it takes time to gather citations, older papers typically have higher citation numbers than recent
ones.
While it is tempting to use publication and citation statistics for comparisons, this has to be done with utmost care as the
numbers may have been obtained with different methodologies.
Pubs | Cites | Average | |
---|---|---|---|
1996 | 350 | 19,177 | 55 |
1997 | 389 | 20,003 | 51 |
1998 | 405 | 40,949 | 101 |
1999 | 348 | 33,720 | 97 |
2000 | 341 | 20,235 | 59 |
2001 | 399 | 23,386 | 59 |
2002 | 409 | 26,942 | 66 |
2003 | 512 | 40,780 | 80 |
2004 | 588 | 49,255 | 84 |
2005 | 607 | 39,842 | 66 |
2006 | 641 | 51,345 | 80 |
2007 | 718 | 50,946 | 71 |
2008 | 689 | 46,340 | 67 |
2009 | 660 | 52,434 | 79 |
2010 | 738 | 53,612 | 73 |
2011 | 787 | 50,856 | 65 |
2012 | 866 | 52,020 | 60 |
2013 | 843 | 58,167 | 69 |
2014 | 871 | 52,553 | 60 |
2015 | 864 | 50,948 | 59 |
2016 | 946 | 54,826 | 58 |
2017 | 1,092 | 59,220 | 54 |
2018 | 1,096 | 57,633 | 53 |
2019 | 1,080 | 42,603 | 39 |
2020 | 1,079 | 34,057 | 32 |
2021 | 1,145 | 28,965 | 25 |
2022 | 1,043 | 18,784 | 18 |
2023 | 1,076 | 15,930 | 15 |
2024 | 753 | 3,079 | 4 |
In order to put ESO’s research output into context, we give an overview of the total numbers of publications of major observatories for the publication years 1996 to 2024 (if already available). Note that some facilities date back further than that; their early years are not included in this graph.
The most simplistic way of comparing facilities is to look at the numbers of publications. Obviously, this favors large institutions with many facilities over smaller ones. A more meaningful investigation should normalize the numbers in some way, for instance by number of observing hours, by actual share of data used in the papers (as many scientific articles use
data from more than one observatory), or by budget (telescope construction costs and maintenance).
When comparing publication statistics among different observatories, it is essential to assess the selection criteria applied by each observatory. To the best of our knowledge, the observatories shown in this graph include only papers that actually use observational data from their facilities (as opposed to merely referencing them). All papers were published in refereed journals.
The statistics shown in Fig. 3 and Table 3 were obtained as follows:
ESO total, VLT/VLTI, La Silla, ESO survey telescope, APEX (ESO and all partners), ALMA (Europe and all partners):
ESO Telescope Bibliography (http://telbib.eso.org)
Chandra: Chandra Bibliographic Statistics (http://cxc.harvard.edu/cda/bibstats/bibstats.html ‘Refereed Chandra Science Papers’ and http://cxc.harvard.edu/cda/bibstats/plots/Current/Papers_by-year.txt)
Gemini: Gemini publications, (http://www.gemini.edu/science/publications/), statistics via NASA/ADS, bibgroup: Gemini
HST: HST Publication Statistics (http://archive.stsci.edu/hst/bibliography/pubstat.html)
JWST: JWST Publication Statistics (https://archive.stsci.edu/jwst/bibliography/pubstat.html)
Keck: Keck Refereed Publications List (https://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/inst/scistratplan/kpub-keck-publications.html#top)
Spitzer: Spitzer Bibliographical Database (until 2020 at http://sohelp2.ipac.caltech.edu/bibsearch/, Observational + Legacy Enhanced Data Products), discontinued
Subaru: Subaru Publishing Results (https://subarutelescope.org/Observing/Proposals/Publish/index.html)
XMM: XMM-Newton in the Journals (http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xmm/xmmbib.html). Number of publications per year provided by Norbert Schartel, ESA, Madrid, Spain
ESO total | VLT/ VLTI | La Silla | Survey tel. | APEX (ESO) | ALMA (ESO) | APEX (all) | ALMA (all) | Chandra | Gemini | HST | JWST | Keck | Spitzer | Subaru | XMM | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1996 | 350 | - | 350 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 307 | - | 53 | - | - | - |
1997 | 389 | - | 389 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 378 | - | 68 | - | - | - |
1998 | 405 | - | 404 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 509 | - | 109 | - | - | - |
1999 | 348 | 29 | 324 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 502 | - | 128 | - | - | - |
2000 | 341 | 51 | 299 | - | - | - | - | - | 55 | 2 | 537 | - | 169 | - | 17 | 1 |
2001 | 399 | 105 | 316 | - | - | - | - | - | 198 | 2 | 560 | - | 175 | - | 23 | 85 |
2002 | 409 | 160 | 289 | - | - | - | - | - | 330 | 25 | 602 | - | 193 | - | 52 | 107 |
2003 | 512 | 260 | 305 | - | - | - | - | - | 431 | 27 | 607 | - | 210 | - | 52 | 242 |
2004 | 588 | 342 | 316 | - | - | - | - | - | 400 | 54 | 611 | - | 214 | 90 | 73 | 357 |
2005 | 607 | 359 | 297 | - | - | - | - | - | 447 | 78 | 686 | - | 232 | 138 | 68 | 350 |
2006 | 641 | 413 | 280 | - | 12 | - | 22 | - | 549 | 101 | 715 | - | 277 | 322 | 92 | 441 |
2007 | 718 | 495 | 312 | - | 1 | - | 5 | - | 499 | 122 | 728 | - | 312 | 503 | 103 | 389 |
2008 | 689 | 486 | 289 | - | 8 | - | 19 | - | 517 | 135 | 704 | - | 262 | 527 | 106 | 438 |
2009 | 660 | 473 | 260 | - | 15 | - | 29 | - | 430 | 151 | 679 | - | 269 | 681 | 122 | 472 |
2010 | 738 | 510 | 277 | 2 | 29 | - | 49 | - | 421 | 130 | 734 | - | 289 | 698 | 139 | 418 |
2011 | 787 | 556 | 286 | 13 | 27 | - | 50 | - | 440 | 189 | 789 | - | 304 | 659 | 141 | 450 |
2012 | 866 | 615 | 270 | 30 | 42 | 16 | 66 | 19 | 452 | 170 | 848 | - | 340 | 717 | 166 | 414 |
2013 | 843 | 568 | 273 | 38 | 44 | 40 | 74 | 65 | 425 | 205 | 785 | - | 319 | 694 | 119 | 438 |
2014 | 871 | 563 | 267 | 73 | 47 | 47 | 74 | 97 | 404 | 231 | 819 | - | 301 | 661 | 131 | 399 |
2015 | 864 | 555 | 211 | 94 | 34 | 74 | 63 | 148 | 429 | 204 | 853 | - | 306 | 668 | 148 | 370 |
2016 | 946 | 567 | 199 | 109 | 49 | 131 | 79 | 234 | 436 | 200 | 883 | - | 305 | 587 | 122 | 453 |
2017 | 1092 | 634 | 232 | 152 | 46 | 152 | 72 | 339 | 471 | 230 | 914 | - | 305 | 617 | 141 | 394 |
2018 | 1096 | 619 | 239 | 145 | 44 | 188 | 78 | 381 | 454 | 200 | 968 | - | 318 | 558 | 158 | 460 |
2019 | 1080 | 600 | 209 | 150 | 32 | 217 | 64 | 454 | 421 | 261 | 1016 | - | 312 | 530 | 148 | 452 |
2020 | 1079 | 610 | 210 | 155 | 39 | 210 | 69 | 442 | 389 | 251 | 930 | - | 293 | 465 | 178 | 388 |
2021 | 1145 | 639 | 200 | 189 | 35 | 218 | 61 | 486 | 377 | 244 | 1031 | - | 320 | - | 171 | 422 |
2022 | 1043 | 583 | 175 | 148 | 40 | 224 | 63 | 452 | 366 | 261 | 964 | 51 | 315 | - | 194 | 464 |
2023 | 1076 | 624 | 185 | 123 | 24 | 261 | 42 | 497 | 384 | 253 | 1057 | 397 | 301 | - | 150 | 446 |
2024 | 753 | 445 | 111 | 84 | 23 | 171 | 40 | 364 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Total | 21,335 | 11,861 | 7,774 | 1,505 | 591 | 1,949 | 1,019 | 3,978 | 9,725 | 3,726 | 20,716 | 448 | 6,999 | 9,115 | 2,814 | 8,850 |
VLT papers use data generated by VLT instruments. Visitor instruments for which observing time is recommended by ESO, e.g., VLT Ultracam, are included in the general VLT statistics, but are not shown in Fig. 4. Instrument-level data for the VLT are available since the beginning of operations, i.e., from publication year 1999 onwards
FLAMES papers are listed as GIRAFFE and/or UVES. NACO = NAOS + CONICA. SINFONI = SPIFFI + MACAO
CRIRES | ESPRESSO | FORS1 | FORS2 | GIRAFFE | HAWK-I | ISAAC | KMOS | MUSE | NACO | SINFONI | SPHERE | UVES | VIMOS | VISIR | X-SHOOTER | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | - | - | 13 | - | - | - | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
2000 | - | - | 24 | 2 | - | - | 11 | - | - | - | - | - | 16 | - | - | - |
2001 | - | - | 50 | 10 | - | - | 23 | - | - | - | - | - | 33 | - | - | - |
2002 | - | - | 60 | 30 | - | - | 38 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 51 | - | - | - |
2003 | - | - | 91 | 43 | 1 | - | 75 | - | - | 10 | 1 | - | 71 | - | - | - |
2004 | - | - | 103 | 89 | 3 | - | 86 | - | - | 23 | 2 | - | 98 | 2 | - | - |
2005 | - | - | 76 | 82 | 9 | - | 84 | - | - | 31 | 1 | - | 104 | 20 | 3 | - |
2006 | - | - | 89 | 78 | 19 | - | 88 | - | - | 39 | 13 | - | 117 | 20 | 6 | - |
2007 | 3 | - | 88 | 82 | 30 | - | 83 | - | - | 50 | 27 | - | 133 | 57 | 14 | - |
2008 | 7 | - | 77 | 98 | 33 | 2 | 68 | - | - | 51 | 24 | - | 130 | 46 | 22 | - |
2009 | 10 | - | 75 | 104 | 36 | 6 | 72 | - | - | 41 | 29 | - | 110 | 67 | 20 | - |
2010 | 19 | - | 49 | 91 | 39 | 17 | 75 | - | - | 56 | 36 | - | 134 | 60 | 19 | 13 |
2011 | 21 | - | 55 | 113 | 52 | 24 | 51 | - | - | 50 | 41 | - | 124 | 57 | 21 | 37 |
2012 | 25 | - | 47 | 136 | 50 | 27 | 64 | - | - | 55 | 41 | - | 136 | 93 | 23 | 50 |
2013 | 27 | - | 40 | 101 | 49 | 38 | 46 | 1 | - | 58 | 33 | - | 119 | 76 | 17 | 70 |
2014 | 23 | - | 27 | 106 | 59 | 29 | 42 | 3 | 2 | 49 | 42 | - | 137 | 79 | 13 | 68 |
2015 | 20 | - | 15 | 91 | 57 | 24 | 33 | 9 | 17 | 46 | 36 | 16 | 146 | 63 | 4 | 78 |
2016 | 13 | - | 21 | 109 | 33 | 34 | 34 | 10 | 47 | 38 | 39 | 29 | 124 | 75 | 8 | 67 |
2017 | 16 | - | 16 | 107 | 39 | 37 | 17 | 19 | 77 | 30 | 37 | 34 | 134 | 89 | 23 | 103 |
2018 | 8 | - | 18 | 82 | 43 | 24 | 19 | 13 | 98 | 33 | 36 | 47 | 140 | 68 | 8 | 103 |
2019 | 18 | 1 | 10 | 60 | 34 | 17 | 13 | 12 | 120 | 40 | 37 | 41 | 140 | 37 | 18 | 103 |
2020 | 5 | 20 | 5 | 61 | 27 | 17 | 11 | 17 | 133 | 26 | 33 | 60 | 120 | 59 | 16 | 109 |
2021 | 3 | 21 | 12 | 53 | 42 | 27 | 10 | 19 | 164 | 25 | 25 | 44 | 135 | 55 | 14 | 96 |
2022 | 6 | 34 | 9 | 44 | 42 | 19 | 5 | 14 | 170 | 29 | 12 | 46 | 115 | 53 | 9 | 83 |
2023 | 11 | 40 | 8 | 52 | 50 | 15 | 8 | 13 | 200 | 22 | 24 | 43 | 123 | 35 | 8 | 119 |
2024 | 10 | 32 | 3 | 40 | 21 | 8 | 1 | 9 | 137 | 10 | 10 | 23 | 77 | 22 | 5 | 86 |
Total | 245 | 148 | 1,081 | 1,864 | 768 | 365 | 1,062 | 139 | 1,165 | 813 | 579 | 383 | 2,767 | 1,133 | 271 | 1,185 |
VLTI papers use data generated by VLTI instruments, including visitor instruments for which observing time is recommended by ESO, e.g, VLTI PIONIER. Instrument-level data for the VLTI are available since the beginning of operations, i.e., from publication year 2002 onwards
AMBER | GRAVITY | MATISSE | MIDI | PIONIER | VINCI | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
2003 | - | - | - | - | - | 6 |
2004 | - | - | - | 3 | - | 12 |
2005 | - | - | - | 5 | - | 12 |
2006 | 1 | - | - | 11 | - | 6 |
2007 | 9 | - | - | 19 | - | 4 |
2008 | 12 | - | - | 11 | - | 1 |
2009 | 12 | - | - | 18 | 1 | 4 |
2010 | 12 | - | - | 6 | - | 1 |
2011 | 16 | - | - | 13 | 4 | 1 |
2012 | 18 | - | - | 8 | 2 | 1 |
2013 | 20 | - | - | 20 | 3 | - |
2014 | 15 | - | - | 12 | 13 | 1 |
2015 | 11 | - | - | 10 | 4 | - |
2016 | 13 | - | - | 7 | 11 | - |
2017 | 10 | 7 | - | 5 | 15 | 1 |
2018 | 7 | 9 | - | 6 | 10 | - |
2019 | 7 | 8 | - | 6 | 12 | - |
2020 | 7 | 21 | 1 | 3 | 9 | - |
2021 | 4 | 24 | 6 | 3 | 10 | - |
2022 | 3 | 16 | 6 | 3 | 9 | - |
2023 | - | 14 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
2024 | - | 24 | 9 | 2 | 9 | - |
Total | 177 | 123 | 26 | 172 | 115 | 52 |
ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), with its VIRCAM camera, has produced science papers since 2010. Papers mostly use data from the VVV, VIKING, VMC, UltraVISTA, VHS, and VIDEO surveys. Observations with OmegaCAM at the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) led to the first data papers in 2014.
VISTA (VIRCAM) | VST (OmegaCAM) | |
---|---|---|
2010 | 2 | - |
2011 | 13 | - |
2012 | 30 | - |
2013 | 38 | - |
2014 | 65 | 8 |
2015 | 72 | 24 |
2016 | 94 | 19 |
2017 | 102 | 55 |
2018 | 107 | 49 |
2019 | 101 | 58 |
2020 | 116 | 61 |
2021 | 146 | 71 |
2022 | 114 | 58 |
2023 | 75 | 70 |
2024 | 69 | 31 |
Total | 1,144 | 504 |
This section reports on papers that use data generated by other facilities of the La Silla Paranal (LSP) Observatory, located on La Silla. Papers based on data from non-ESO telescopes or observations obtained during reserved periods (e.g., national allocations of time) are not included. Instrument-level data for La Silla facilities are shown below from publication year 2000 onwards. Only papers based on data from FEROS (1.5m and 2.2m tel. combined), WFI (2.2m) EFOSC2 (2.2m, 3.6m, NTT combined), HARPS (3.6m), EMMI, and SOFI (both NTT) are included in the graph. The table also shows papers based on data from smaller or decommissioned La Silla facilities (e.g., TIMMI2, SUSI2) if observations took place during ESO time. Visitor instruments for which observing time is recommended by ESO (e.g., NTT Ultracam) are included in the general statistics, but are not shown in Fig. 7
2.2m | 3.6m | NTT | La Silla decomm. | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FEROS | WFI | HARPS | EFOSC2 | EMMI | SOFI | ||
2000 | 6 | 3 | - | 24 | 52 | 20 | 237 |
2001 | 28 | 16 | - | 45 | 34 | 31 | 217 |
2002 | 19 | 18 | - | 28 | 39 | 48 | 178 |
2003 | 34 | 15 | - | 44 | 42 | 51 | 169 |
2004 | 23 | 38 | 2 | 24 | 52 | 63 | 175 |
2005 | 42 | 30 | 10 | 28 | 49 | 49 | 135 |
2006 | 36 | 47 | 12 | 23 | 57 | 55 | 91 |
2007 | 40 | 52 | 21 | 27 | 68 | 48 | 97 |
2008 | 48 | 41 | 26 | 30 | 45 | 65 | 80 |
2009 | 38 | 33 | 35 | 30 | 43 | 54 | 67 |
2010 | 48 | 35 | 49 | 40 | 40 | 44 | 55 |
2011 | 48 | 33 | 63 | 47 | 38 | 45 | 47 |
2012 | 54 | 36 | 59 | 40 | 31 | 44 | 34 |
2013 | 47 | 32 | 73 | 63 | 31 | 43 | 37 |
2014 | 49 | 37 | 71 | 47 | 17 | 49 | 35 |
2015 | 40 | 26 | 81 | 46 | 13 | 38 | 17 |
2016 | 35 | 15 | 83 | 44 | 6 | 31 | 20 |
2017 | 40 | 9 | 98 | 56 | 11 | 28 | 20 |
2018 | 40 | 11 | 121 | 48 | 7 | 30 | 8 |
2019 | 34 | 9 | 101 | 44 | 3 | 24 | 19 |
2020 | 30 | 2 | 123 | 36 | 3 | 17 | 15 |
2021 | 50 | 5 | 98 | 46 | 1 | 14 | 15 |
2022 | 39 | 6 | 96 | 34 | 3 | 14 | 6 |
2023 | 32 | 3 | 98 | 47 | 3 | 16 | 5 |
2024 | 13 | 1 | 55 | 21 | 1 | 12 | 4 |
Total | 913 | 553 | 1,375 | 962 | 689 | 933 | 1,783 |
EFOSC2 = EFOSC2@NTT, EFOSC2@3.6m + EFOSC2@2.2m
FEROS = FEROS@1.5m + FEROS@2.2m
La Silla decomm. = small or decommissioned facilities.
National telescopes (e.g., Swiss Euler Tel.) are not included unless they are used in combination with data from ESO facilities.
APEX is a collaboration between the Max-Planck-Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR, 55%), the Onsala Space Observatory
(OSO, 13%), and ESO (32%). The telescope is located on the Chajnantor plateau in Chile’s Atacama region and is operated
by ESO.
Publication information for APEX is available since the beginning of operations, i.e., from publication year 2006 onwards. Papers based on data from all APEX partners are recorded in the ESO Telescope Bibliography (telbib), but only those that use
ESO/APEX data are counted in the ESO statistics.
APEX | |||
---|---|---|---|
ESO/APEX | all APEX | ||
2006 | 12 | 22 | |
2007 | 1 | 5 | |
2008 | 8 | 19 | |
2009 | 15 | 29 | |
2010 | 29 | 49 | |
2011 | 27 | 50 | |
2012 | 42 | 66 | |
2013 | 44 | 74 | |
2014 | 47 | 74 | |
2015 | 34 | 63 | |
2016 | 49 | 79 | |
2017 | 46 | 72 | |
2018 | 44 | 78 | |
2019 | 32 | 64 | |
2020 | 39 | 69 | |
2021 | 35 | 61 | |
2022 | 40 | 63 | |
2023 | 24 | 42 | |
2024 | 23 | 40 | |
Total | 591 | 1,019 |
ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, is an international collaboration between Europe, East Asia, and
North America in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The European executive is represented by ESO, which also hosts the
European ALMA Regional Centre. The other partners North America and East Asia are represented by NRAO and NAOJ, re-
spectively. The ALMA telescope bibliography is maintained by the librarians at ESO and NRAO as well as by NAOJ.
Papers based on European observing time as well as on data from all ALMA partners are recorded in the ESO Telescope Bib-
liography (telbib), but only those that use ESO/ALMA data are counted in the ESO statistics. Both numbers are shown below
for comparison.
Papers resulting from science verification data are attributed to the four ALMA partners JAO, ESO, North America, and East
Asia.
ALMA | ||
---|---|---|
ESO/ALMA | all ALMA | |
2012 | 16 | 19 |
2013 | 40 | 65 |
2014 | 47 | 97 |
2015 | 74 | 148 |
2016 | 131 | 234 |
2017 | 152 | 339 |
2018 | 188 | 381 |
2019 | 217 | 454 |
2020 | 210 | 442 |
2021 | 218 | 486 |
2022 | 224 | 452 |
2023 | 261 | 497 |
2024 | 171 | 364 |
Total | 1,949 | 3,978 |
ESO data papers without any overlap between authors and the team of observers (as listed in the ESO Observing Schedule) are considered archival papers. They can use partly or exclusively archival data. The criteria for data use are the same as for all other ESO data papers.
The tables and graphs below show the absolute numbers as well as the percentages of papers using ESO data obtained by the team of authors (“PI data only"), obtained from the ESO or ALMA Archive ("Archive data only"), and obtained partly by the team of authors as well as from the ESO or ALMA Archive ("Archive + PI data"), respectively.
For APEX and ALMA, only papers based (entirely or partly) on ESO time are included.
Information about the use of archival data for VLT/VLTI observations and Chajnantor facilities (APEX/ALMA) is available since the start of operations of the respective telescopes and instruments. For La Silla facilities, this information is only available starting in publication year 2000.
Information about the current year is only shown as of July.
PI data only | Archive data only | Archive + PI data | All archival | Total | PI data only % | Archive data only % | Archive + PI data % | All archival % | Total % | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | 348 | - | - | - | 348 | 100 | - | - | - | 100 | |
2000 | 338 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 341 | 99.1 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 100 | |
2001 | 393 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 399 | 98.5 | 1 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 100 | |
2002 | 390 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 409 | 95.4 | 2.7 | 2 | 4.6 | 100 | |
2003 | 492 | 12 | 8 | 20 | 512 | 96.1 | 2.3 | 1.6 | 3.9 | 100 | |
2004 | 534 | 34 | 20 | 54 | 588 | 90.8 | 5.8 | 3.4 | 9.2 | 100 | |
2005 | 552 | 29 | 26 | 55 | 607 | 90.9 | 4.8 | 4.3 | 9.1 | 100 | |
2006 | 543 | 66 | 32 | 98 | 641 | 84.7 | 10.3 | 5 | 15.3 | 100 | |
2007 | 603 | 67 | 48 | 115 | 718 | 84 | 9.3 | 6.7 | 16 | 100 | |
2008 | 582 | 55 | 52 | 107 | 689 | 84.5 | 8 | 7.5 | 15.5 | 100 | |
2009 | 545 | 59 | 56 | 115 | 660 | 82.6 | 8.9 | 8.5 | 17.4 | 100 | |
2010 | 604 | 75 | 59 | 134 | 738 | 81.8 | 10.2 | 8 | 18.2 | 100 | |
2011 | 644 | 74 | 69 | 143 | 787 | 81.8 | 9.4 | 8.8 | 18.2 | 100 | |
2012 | 643 | 145 | 78 | 223 | 866 | 74.2 | 16.7 | 9 | 25.8 | 100 | |
2013 | 618 | 125 | 100 | 225 | 843 | 73.3 | 14.8 | 11.9 | 26.7 | 100 | |
2014 | 660 | 114 | 97 | 211 | 871 | 75.8 | 13.1 | 11.1 | 24.2 | 100 | |
2015 | 626 | 148 | 90 | 238 | 864 | 72.5 | 17.1 | 10.4 | 27.5 | 100 | |
2016 | 678 | 170 | 98 | 268 | 946 | 71.7 | 18 | 10.4 | 28.3 | 100 | |
2017 | 763 | 195 | 134 | 329 | 1092 | 69.9 | 17.9 | 12.3 | 30.1 | 100 | |
2018 | 750 | 218 | 128 | 346 | 1096 | 68.4 | 19.9 | 11.7 | 31.6 | 100 | |
2019 | 697 | 231 | 152 | 383 | 1080 | 64.5 | 21.4 | 14.1 | 35.5 | 100 | |
2020 | 691 | 225 | 163 | 388 | 1079 | 64 | 20.9 | 15.1 | 36 | 100 | |
2021 | 710 | 265 | 170 | 435 | 1145 | 62 | 23.1 | 14.8 | 38 | 100 | |
2022 | 621 | 261 | 161 | 422 | 1043 | 59.5 | 25 | 15.4 | 40.5 | 100 | |
2023 | 595 | 256 | 225 | 481 | 1076 | 55.3 | 23.8 | 20.9 | 44.7 | 100 | |
2024 | 448 | 189 | 114 | 303 | 753 | 59.5 | 25.1 | 15.1 | 40.2 | 100 | |
Total | 15,068 | 3,030 | 2,091 | 5,121 | 21,335 | 71 | 14 | 10 | 24 | 100 |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.