PAPERS AND CITATIONS RESULTING FROM DATA COLLECTED AT LARGE, AMERICAN OPTICAL TELESCOPES

Data compiled about a decade ago and pertaining to 1980-84 showed that the large, general-access American optical telescopes (the 4-meters at Kitt Peak and Cerro-Tololo) were at least as productive in published papers, pages, and citations as the large, privately-owned ones (3-meter at Lick and 5-meter at Palomar). A current very similar compilation shows that the relative contributions of these four telescopes have changed rather little, though several additional ones are now major contributors. For both papers and pages, the current ranking from most to least productive is CTIO, Palomar, KPNO, and Lick. (KPNO moves ahead of Palomar in numbers of citations.) If the numbers are normalized to the area of the primary mirror, the rankings change radically, and Lick becomes the most productive of the four in both 1980-81 and 1990-91. The average number of citations per paper per year is nearly unchanged at a bit more than four.