Basic ESO Publication Statistics

1996 - 2024
Last data update: 02 March 2025

Introduction

What is the ESO Telescope Bibliography?

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.

Coverage and Completeness
Access, Reports, Statistics
Paper classification / selection criteria
Populating the Database

ESO total

Publications

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:

LSP: papers using data generated by the La Silla Paranal (LSP) facilities, which are
- 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. Only papers based (entirely or partly) on ESO VST time are included;
- 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: ESO observations without any overlap between observers and authors. Please note that all Archive papers utilise data from LSP and/or ALMA;
- Arc only or Arc+PI: papers using partly or exclusively (a) ESO data obtained from the ESO or ALMA Archive ("Arc only"), or (b) ESO data obtained from the ESO or ALMA Archive as well as by the team of authors ("Arc+PI”);
- Archive only: papers using partly or exclusively ESO data obtained from the ESO or ALMA Archive.

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 March 2025, unless indicated otherwise. Statistics for a given year will not be complete until approx. March of the following year.


Table 1a: Numbers and percentages of refereed papers using ESO data (see also http://telbib.eso.org/pubstats_overview.php)
* Archive = Arc only or Arc+PI
LSPALMAArchive*TotalLSP
%
ALMA %Archive %
1996350--350 100 - -
1997389--389 100 - -
1998405--405 100 - -
1999349--349 100 - -
2000341-3341 100 - 1
2001399-6399 100 - 2
2002409-19409 100 - 5
2003512-20512 100 - 4
2004588-54588 100 - 9
2005607-55607 100 - 9
2006640-98641 100 - 15
2007715-115718 100 - 16
2008687-107689 100 - 16
2009659-115660 100 - 17
2010737-134738 100 - 18
2011784-143787 100 - 18
201285216223866 98 2 26
201380640225843 96 5 27
201482447211871 95 5 24
201578774238864 91 9 28
2016829132268947 88 14 28
20179601533291,094 88 14 30
20189261883461,096 84 17 32
20198902183831,081 82 20 35
20209082133891,082 84 20 36
20219682214361,149 84 19 38
20228552274241,046 82 22 41
20238662634781,079 80 24 44
20249592805041,196 80 23 42
Total 1996-202420,0012,0725,32321,796 92 10 24
Show last 10 years Show all years

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: ESO observations without any overlap between observers and authors. Please note that all Archive papers utilise data from LSP and/or ALMA;
- Arc only or Arc+PI: papers using partly or exclusively (a) ESO data obtained from the ESO or ALMA Archive ("Arc only"), or (b) ESO data obtained from the ESO or ALMA Archive as well as by the team of authors ("Arc+PI”);
- Archive only: papers using partly or exclusively ESO data obtained from the ESO or ALMA Archive.

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 March 2025, unless indicated otherwise. Statistics for a given year will not be complete until approx. March of the following year.


Table 1b: Numbers and percentages of refereed papers using ESO data (see also http://telbib.eso.org/pubstats_overview.php)
* Archive = Arc only or Arc+PI
VLT/VLTILa SillaSurvey tel.APEXALMAArchive*TotalVLT/VLTI
%
La Silla %Survey tel.
%
APEX %ALMA %Archive %
1996-350----350 - 100 - - - -
1997-389----389 - 100 - - - -
1998-405----405 - 100 - - - -
199929325----349 8 93 - - - -
200051299---3341 15 88 - - - 1
2001105316---6399 26 79 - - - 2
2002160289---19409 39 71 - - - 5
2003260305---20512 51 60 - - - 4
2004342316---54588 58 54 - - - 9
2005359297---55607 59 49 - - - 9
2006413280-12-98641 64 44 - 2 - 15
2007495312-1-115718 69 43 - 0 - 16
2008486289-8-107689 71 42 - 1 - 16
2009473260-15-115660 72 39 - 2 - 17
2010510277229-134738 69 38 0 4 - 18
20115562861327-143787 71 36 2 3 - 18
2012615270304216223866 71 31 3 5 2 26
2013568273384440225843 67 32 5 5 5 27
2014563267734747211871 65 31 8 5 5 24
2015555211943474238864 64 24 11 4 9 28
201656719910949132268947 60 21 12 5 14 28
2017635232152461533291,094 58 21 14 4 14 30
2018619239145441883461,096 56 22 13 4 17 32
2019601209150322183831,081 56 19 14 3 20 35
2020610210155392133891,082 56 19 14 4 20 36
2021640200189352214361,149 56 17 16 3 19 38
2022583175148402274241,046 56 17 14 4 22 41
2023625186123242634781,079 58 17 11 2 24 44
2024697175137382805041,196 58 15 11 3 23 42
Total 1996-202412,1177,8411,5586062,0725,32321,796 56 36 7 3 10 24
Show last 10 years Show all years

Citations

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.

Table 2: Total and average citations of refereed papers using ESO data
PubsCitesAverage
199635019,30055
199738920,12852
199840541,703103
199934934,25698
200034120,35860
200139923,52559
200240927,11966
200351241,15480
200458849,69385
200560740,16966
200664151,93381
200771851,48072
200868946,84268
200966053,09780
201073854,38974
201178751,69866
201286652,89261
201384359,28870
201487153,66062
201586452,14360
201694756,37960
20171,09461,15656
20181,09659,86755
20191,08144,77241
20201,08236,20533
20211,14931,40027
20221,04621,02720
20231,07919,16118
20241,1966,3225

ESO and Other observatories

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

Table 3: Number of refereed papers using data from ESO and other observatories. Please note that statistics for a given year may remain incomplete throughout the following year. Links to the observatory statistics can be found via the links listed below Fig. 3
ESO
total
VLT/
VLTI
La
Silla
Survey
tel.
APEX
(ESO)
ALMA
(ESO)
APEX
(all)
ALMA
(all)
ChandraGeminiHSTJWSTKeckSpitzerSubaruXMM
1996350-350----- --307-53---
1997389-389----- --378-68---
1998405-405----- --509-109---
199934929325----- --502-128---
200034151299----- 552537-169-171
2001399105316----- 1982560-175-2385
2002409160289----- 33025602-193-52107
2003512260305----- 43127607-210-52242
2004588342316----- 40054611-2149073357
2005607359297----- 44778686-23213868350
2006641413280-12-22- 549101715-27732292441
2007718495312-1-5- 499122728-312503103389
2008689486289-8-19- 517135704-262527106438
2009660473260-15-29- 430151679-269681122472
2010738510277229-49- 421130734-289698139418
20117875562861327-50- 440189789-304659141450
20128666152703042166619 452170848-340717166414
20138435682733844407465 425205785-319694119438
20148715632677347477497 404231819-301661131399
201586455521194347463148 429204853-306668148370
20169475671991094913279235 436200883-305587122453
201710946352321524615372341 471230914-305617141394
201810966192391454418878381 454200968-318558158460
201910816012091503221864456 4212611016-312530148452
202010826102101553921369446 389251930-293465178388
202111496402001893522161490 3772441031-320-171422
202210465831751484022763458 36626196451315-194464
202310796251861232426342499 3842531057397301-150446
202411966971751373828059553 --------
Total21,79612,1177,8411,5586062,0721,0384,1889,7253,72620,7164486,9999,1152,8148,850

VLT instruments

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

Table 4: Number of refereed papers using VLT data
CRIRESESPRESSOFORS1FORS2GIRAFFEHAWK-IISAACKMOSMUSENACOSINFONISPHEREUVESVIMOSVISIRX-SHOOTER
1999--13---5---------
2000--242--11-----16---
2001--5010--23-----33---
2002--6030--38--1--51---
2003--91431-75--101-71---
2004--103893-86--232-982--
2005--76829-84--311-104203-
2006--897819-88--3913-117206-
20073-888230-83--5027-1335714-
20087-779833268--5124-1304622-
200910-7510436672--4129-1106720-
201019-4991391775--5636-134601913
201121-55113522451--5041-124572137
201225-47136502764--5541-136932350
201327-401014938461-5833-119761770
201423-27106592942324942-137791368
201520-159157243391746361614663478
201613-21109333434104738392912475867
201716-1610739371719783038341348923103
20188-18824324191398333647140688103
20191811060341713131204037411403718103
2020520561271711171332633601205916109
2021321125342271019165252544136551496
2022634944421951417029124611553983
202311408525015813200222443124358119
202417498643015712212131838120348128
Total2521651,0861,8887773721,0681431,2428165883982,8121,1452741,227

VLTI instruments

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

Table 5: Number of refereed publications using data from VLTI instruments
AMBERGRAVITYMATISSEMIDIPIONIERVINCI
2002-----1
2003-----6
2004---3-12
2005---5-12
20061--11-6
20079--19-4
200812--11-1
200912--1814
201012--6-1
201116--1341
201218--821
201320--203-
201415--12131
201511--104-
201613--711-
2017107-5151
201879-610-
201978-612-
2020721139-
20214246310-
2022316639-
2023-144131
2024-339310-
Total1771322617311652

Survey telescopes: VISTA + VST

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.

Table 6: Number of refereed publications using data from the VISTA and VST telescopes
VISTA (VIRCAM)VST (OmegaCAM)
20102-
201113-
201230-
201338-
2014658
20157224
20169419
201710255
201810749
201910158
202011661
202114671
202211458
20237570
202411155
Total1,186528

La Silla instruments

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

Table 7: Number of refereed papers using data from La Silla facilities
2.2m 3.6mNTTLa Silla decomm.
FEROSWFIHARPSEFOSC2EMMISOFI
200063-245220237
20012816-453431217
20021918-283948178
20033415-444251169
200423382245263175
2005423010284949135
200636471223575591
200740522127684897
200848412630456580
200938333530435467
201048354940404455
201148336347384547
201254365940314434
201347327363314337
201449377147174935
201540268146133817
20163515834463120
20174099856112820
20184011121487308
20193491014432419
20203021233631715
2021505984611415
202239696343146
202333398473165
202427187332187
Total9285531,4079746909391,786

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

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.

Table 8: Number of refereed publications using ESO/APEX data and data generated by all APEX partners, respectively.
APEX
ESO/APEXall APEX
20061222
200715
2008819
20091529
20102949
20112750
20124266
20134474
20144774
20153463
20164979
20174672
20184478
20193264
20203969
20213561
20224063
20232442
20243859
Total6061,038


Imagers: APEX-SZ, Artemis, LABOCA, P-Artemis, SABOCA, SUPERCAM
Spectrographs: APEX-2A, CHAMP+, CONDOR, FLASH, LAsMA, MPI_1.1THz, nFLASH, PI230, SEPIA, SHFI, ZEUS-2, Z-Spec

ALMA

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.

Table 9: Number of refereed publications using ESO/ALMA data and data generated by all ALMA partners per year, respectively.
ALMA
ESO/ALMAall ALMA
20121619
20134065
20144797
201574148
2016132235
2017153341
2018188381
2019218456
2020213446
2021221490
2022227458
2023263499
2024280553
Total2,0724,188

Archive

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.

Table 10: Number of refereed publications using archival data per year (absolute numbers and percentages).
PI data onlyArchive data onlyArchive + PI dataAll archivalTotalPI data only %Archive data only %Archive + PI data %All archival %Total %
1999349---349100---100
200033821334199.10.60.30.9100
200139342639998.510.51.5100
20023901181940995.42.724.6100
20034921282051296.12.31.63.9100
200453434205458890.85.83.49.2100
200555229265560790.94.84.39.1100
200654366329864184.710.3515.3100
20076036748115718849.36.716100
2008582555210768984.587.515.5100
2009545595611566082.68.98.517.4100
2010604755913473881.810.2818.2100
2011644746914378781.89.48.818.2100
20126431457822386674.216.7925.8100
201361812510022584373.314.811.926.7100
20146601149721187175.813.111.124.2100
20156261489023886472.517.110.427.5100
20166791709826894771.71810.328.3100
2017765195134329109469.917.812.230.1100
2018750218128346109668.419.911.731.6100
2019698231152383108164.621.414.135.4100
202069322616338910826420.915.136100
2021713266170436114962.123.214.837.9100
2022622263161424104659.525.115.440.5100
2023601257221478107955.723.820.544.3100
2024692313191504119657.926.21642.1100
Total15,3293,1592,1645,32321,796 70 14 10 24 100

More Information

Articles and Presentations

For articles and presentations related to the ESO Telescope Bibliography, see http://www.eso.org/sci/libraries/useful_links/publications.html

Further telbib-related links:

Search: ESO Telescope Bibliography (telbib)
Cite: ESO data citation policy
Understand: telbib Methodology
Explore: More info, reports, statistics


Cite as:

Grothkopf, U.; Meakins, S.; Eren, M.; Saldias, L. (2025). Basic ESO Publication Statistics. European Southern Observatory (ESO). https://doi.org/10.18727/docs/12


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