How to Cite Rubin Observatory

There are situations in which you may need to cite Rubin Observatory or include a funding agency acknowledgement in your material or simply credit an image. This page provides you a guideline on how to do these correctly.

For publications and manuscripts:

• if you describe the Rubin Observatory system or its anticipated science outcomes, please cite the Ivezić et al. Overview paper.
• If you use Rubin Observatory data products or software, please cite the relevant technical paper.

Please include this acknowledgement on construction papers:

This material is based upon work supported in part by the National Science Foundation through Cooperative Agreement AST-1258333 and Cooperative Support Agreement AST-1202910 managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), and the Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515 with the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory managed by Stanford University. Additional Rubin Observatory funding comes from private donations, grants to universities, and in-kind support from LSSTC Institutional Members.

For acknowledgements related to the pre-operations of Rubin Observatory, please use the following:

This material or work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation through Cooperative Agreement AST-1258333 and Cooperative Support Agreement AST1836783 managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), and the Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515 with the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory managed by Stanford University.

For other purposes: e.g. websites, press releases etc, or if your time is funded to work on Rubin Observatory, please consult Document-3607, which describes in detail how the funding acknowledgement statement should be phrased and used.

The Rubin Observatory Publications Policy

The Rubin Observatory Observatory Project has a specific publications policy for papers that (see Sec. 3 of the Policy for exact details):

• describe infrastructure work to design, develop, construct, commission, or operate Rubin Observatory;
• have any authors who are supported by Rubin Observatory Project funds to work to design, develop, construct, commission, or operate Rubin Observatory;
• are based on access to non-public Rubin Observatory/LSST data;
• are based on access to non-public intellectual property of Rubin Observatory Project.

Publications to which the Policy applies must follow the authorship policy: consult Sec. 4. If they use a released <link> data product, e.g. data releases, software or simulations, and a publication exists that describes this data product, then it must be referenced (see Sec. 6.1).

Quality control of the publication, or if the data product has not yet been publicly released, follows an internal review process with the <link> Publication Board (see Sec. 6): contact Rubin Observatory to initiate a publication review.

Acknowledging Science Collaborations

Check with your Science Collaboration for any acknowledgment requirements they may have for work developed within a SC, with the support of a SC’s infrastructure, or that used data products or software produced by an SC. They may also have an internal publication review process.

Science and technology papers that describe Rubin Observatory's software and physical infrastructure

See the living document of up-to-date references with BibTeX; also in pdf.

Acknowledging and Citing Software

When you use software produced by the Rubin Observatory Project, Science Collaborations, or Data Management team, make sure you include the right citation. Refer to the specific software documentation. For example; the Stack, or Simulators. For software and data products generated by the Science Collaborations please get in touch with the SC 

Acknowledging Images/Video

See the Rubin Observatory Media Use Policy

Operations Data Statement

Vera C. Rubin Observatory is an astronomical project that will generate a data set of unprecedented volume and complexity by executing the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) in its first 10 years of operations. Most Rubin LSST data products are subject to a proprietary period of two years, with access granted to all scientists in the US, a diverse set of scientists in Chile, and named individuals or communities in other countries with approved data rights agreements with Rubin Observatory, its funding agencies, and/or managing partners. After the two-year proprietary period, all the LSST data in a Data Release become publicly shareable. However, access to the data will not be made available for non-data rights holders through Rubin Observatory Data Access Centers (DACs) in the US and Chile. Rubin Observatory is exploring ways to provide access to the publicly shareable data.