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Astronomical Keywords in the era of the Virtual Observatory
Version 1.00

IVOA Note 25 April 2007

Interest/Working Group:
http://www.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/IvoaSemantics
Author(s):
Andrea Preite Martinez, Soizick Lesteven
Editor(s):
Andrea Preite Martinez, Soizick Lesteven

Abstract

In the framework of the on-going activities within the Semantics working group of the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA) in this paper we report on the usage of standard keywords in the field of astronomy and astrophysics. In order to monitor the usage of keywords in the literature we have scanned all the issues of Astronomy and Astrophysics (A&A) and of The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ) in the years 1995, 2000 and 2005 and the issues of MNRAS in the years 2000 and 2005.
Scope of the study is: (i) to compare the lists of keywords that the three journals A&A, ApJ and MNRAS propose to the authors. The three lists (at the date of September 2006) are slightly different and we analyze these differences; (ii) to understand how authors use keywords to synthetically describe their work. To do this we derive the frequency of use of the various keywords, its evolution with time and possible anomalies in the use of the keywords.
As a result of the first part of this study, we define a merged, standard list of keywords and we propose to the editors of the three journals to adopt this standard list of keywords as a very short term common action.
Starting from the analysis of the statistics of usage, we propose to the editors amendments to the standard list of keywords, in order to better suit the needs of the authors.
Finally, we suggest an action to transform the list of keywords into an IVOA standard vocabulary.

Status of this document

This is an IVOA Note expressing suggestions from and opinions of the authors.
It is intended to share best practices, possible approaches, or other perspectives on interoperability with the Virtual Observatory. It should not be referenced or otherwise interpreted as a standard specification.



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