The scientific impact of a facility is the most important measure of its success. Monitoring and analysing the scientific return can help to modify and optimise operations and adapt to the changing needs of scientific research. The methodology that we have developed to monitor the scientific productivity of the ALMA Observatory, as well as the first results, are described. We focus on the outcome of the first cycle (Cycle 0) of ALMA Early Science operations. Despite the fact that only two years have passed since the completion of Cycle 0 and operations have already changed substantially, this analysisconfirms the effectiveness of the underlying concepts. We find that ALMA is fulfilling its promise as a transformational facility for the observation of the Universe in the submillimetre.
European Southern Observatory（欧洲南方天文台）；ALMA Santiago Central Offices（ALMA圣地亚哥中央办公室）；National Radio Astronomy Observatory（美国国家射电天文台）；National Astronomical Observatory of Japan（日本国立天文台）
Users of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) are provided with calibration and imaging products in addition to raw data. In Cycle 0 and Cycle 1, these products are produced by a team of data reduction experts spread across Chile, East Asia, Europe, and North America. This article discusses the lines of communication between the data reducers and ALMA users that enable this model of distributed data reduction. This article also discusses the calibration and imaging scripts that have been provided to ALMA users in Cycles 0 and 1, and what will be different in future Cycles.
The Additional Representative Images for Legacy (ARI-L) project is a European Development project for ALMA Upgrade approved by the Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO), started in June 2019. It aims to increase the legacy value of the ALMA Science Archive (ASA) by bringing the reduction level of ALMA data from Cycles 2-4 close to that of data from more recent Cycles processed for imaging with the ALMA Pipeline. As of mid-2021 more than 150000 images have been returned to the ASA for public use. At its completion in 2022, the project will have provided enhanc…
The Atacama Large mm and sub-mm Array (ALMA) radio observatory is one of the world's largest astronomical projects. After the very successful conclusion of the first observation cycles Early Science Cycles 0 and 1, the ALMA project can report many successes and lessons learned. The science data taken interleaved with commissioning tests for the still continuing addition of new capabilities has already resulted in numerous publications in high-profile journals. The increasing data volume and complexity are challenging but under control. The radio-astronomical data analysis package "Common Astro…
In response to the challenges presented by high reviewer workloads in traditional panel reviews and increasing numbers of submitted proposals, ALMA implemented distributed peer review to assess the majority of proposals submitted to the Cycle 8 Main Call. In this paper, we present an analysis of this review process. Over 1000 reviewers participated in the process to review 1497 proposals, making it the largest implementation of distributed peer review to date in astronomy, and marking the first time this process has been used to award the majority of observing time at an observatory. We descri…
We present an updated analysis of systematics in the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) proposal ranks from Carpenter (2020) to include the last two ALMA cycles, when significant changes were introduced in the proposal review process. In Cycle 7, the investigator list on the proposal cover sheet was randomized such that the reviewers were aware of the overall proposal team but did not know the identity of the principal investigator (PI). In Cycle 8, ALMA adopted distributed peer review for most proposals and implemented dual-anonymous review for all proposals, in which the ide…
After eight observing Cycles, the Atacama Large Millimeter-submillimeter Array (ALMA) is capable of observing in eight different bands (covering a frequency range from 84 to 950 GHz), with 66 antennas and two correlators. For the current Cycle (7), ALMA offers up to 4300 hours for the 12-m array, and 3000 hours on both the 7-m of the Atacama Compact Array (ACA) and TP Array plus 750 hours in a supplemental call. From the customer perspective (i.e., the astronomical community), ALMA is an integrated product service provider, i.e. it observes in service mode, processes and delivers the data obta…
ObsMode is a yearly process which aims at preparing capabilities for future ALMA Observing cycles. The process has been running for a number of years tied to each ALMA observing cycle, with various leaderships. This document specifically summarizes the ObsMode2020 process (April- October 2020) with a new scheme led by the Joint ALMA Observatory. In the ObsMode2020 process, seven capabilities are identified as high priority items, for which it was originally aimed to be ready for Cycle 9. However, because of the observatory shutdown due to the covid-19 pandemic, we were forced to delay the test…
High-frequency long-baseline experiments with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array were organized to test the high angular resolution imaging capabilities in the submillimeter wave regime using baselines up to 16 km. Four experiments were conducted, two Band 7 (289 GHz) and two Band 8 (405 GHz) observations. Phase correction using band-to-band (B2B) phase referencing was used with a phase calibrator only 0.7deg away observed in Band 3 (96 GHz) and Band 4 (135 GHz), respectively. In Band 8, we achieved the highest resolution of 14x11 mas. We compared the synthesis images of the targ…
While the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is a uniquely powerful telescope, its impact in certain fields of astrophysics has been limited by observatory policies rather than the telescope's innate technical capabilities. In particular, several observatory policies present challenges for observations of variable, mobile, and/or transient sources --- collectively referred to here as "time-domain" observations. In this whitepaper we identify some of these policies, describe the scientific applications they impair, and suggest changes that would increase ALMA's science impact i…
The results from the ALMA proposal peer review process in Cycles 0-6 are analyzed to identify any systematics in the scientific rankings that may signify bias. Proposal rankings are analyzed with respect to the experience level of a Principal Investigator (PI) in submitting ALMA proposals, regional affiliation (Chile, East Asia, Europe, North America, or Other), and gender. The analysis was conducted for both the Stage 1 rankings, which are based on the preliminary scores from the reviewers, and the Stage 2 rankings, which are based on the final scores from the reviewers after participating in…
With high over-subscription rates and significant operational costs, observatories must ensure that their operations are efficient and effective. A number of key performance indicators are generally used to evaluate the observatory's performance among which are the numbers of publications and citations of refereed journal articles to measure the overall scientific impact. Those measures, however, are broad and can not assess whether the observatory was successful on a project-by-project basis to deliver data to the PIs enabling them to carry out their science and to publish their results. In p…
One of the classic ways to measure the success of a scientific facility is the publication return, which is defined as the number of refereed papers produced per unit of allocated resources (for example, telescope time or proposals). The recent studies by Sterzik et al. (2015, 2016) have shown that 30-50 % of the programmes allocated time at ESO do not produce a refereed publication. While this may be inherent to the scientific process, this finding prompted further investigation. For this purpose, ESO conducted a Survey of Non-Publishing Programmes (SNPP) within the activities of the Time All…
Measures for research activity and impact have become an integral ingredient in the assessment of a wide range of entities (individual researchers, organizations, instruments, regions, disciplines). Traditional bibliometric indicators, like publication and citation based indicators, provide an essential part of this picture, but cannot describe the complete picture. Since reading scholarly publications is an essential part of the research life cycle, it is only natural to introduce measures for this activity in attempts to quantify the efficiency, productivity and impact of an entity. Citation…
