About Related Links
The "Related Links" section in an AAS electronic journal article consists of links to data centers and archive resources outside of the journal. Currently, an AAS journal article can have up to five different types of links.
- Object links supplied by authors
- Data set links supplied by authors
- NASA ADS record
- Objects in Simbad
- Objects in NED
The number of links that appear will depend on the nature of the article. Authors may use the new AASTeX object or data set macros to tag items for linking in the text and tables of their papers. In the electronic edition, the tagged objects and data sets can be reached through the "Object/Data Set Links Supplied by Authors" links in the "Related Links" section of the navigation frame. These links become operational as soon as the article is posted.
As data centers import and digest the information in the AAS journal articles, useful resources relating to each article are created. As soon as these resource are available, links to them to will appear in the "Related Links" section. The ADS record is available a few days after the issue posts, while the NED and Simbad links can take up to a few months to appear. The longer delay is due to the fact that these NED and Simbad resources are generated by humans sifting through all the major astronomical literature sources.
It is also important to note that NED and Simbad employ different philosophies when generating their lists. NED selects only what they consider to be the most important objects in the paper while Simbad casts a wider net by listing all of the objects mentioned in the paper. This means that some objects listed on Simbad may be only marginally related to the main point of the paper. The result is that in some cases the number of objects in the author-selected list, the Simbad list, and the NED list might differ, while in other cases, having three sets of links may seem redundant. Readers should use the object links that best meet their research needs and preferences.