How to Cite SDSS
If you have used public SDSS data in your paper, please cite the following papers describing the instruments, survey, and data analysis as appropriate. Links open in new windows.
For your convenience we provide them in bibitem and bibtex formats ready for your LaTeX paper.
Please cite the relevant survey description(s):
- Blanton et al. 2017 (SDSS-IV Overview)
- Bundy et al. 2015 (MaNGA technical description)
- Dawson et al. 2016 (eBOSS technical description)
- Majewski et al. 2017, AJ, 154, 94 (APOGEE Overview Paper)
- Yan et al. 2019, ApJ, 883, 175 (MaStar Overview Paper)
- Eisenstein et al. 2011 (SDSS-III technical description)
- Dawson et al. 2013 (BOSS technical description)
- Yanny et al 2009, AJ, 137, 4377 (SEGUE Overview)
- Majewski et al 2017, AJ, 154, 94 (APOGEE Overview Paper)
- York et al. 2000 (SDSS-I and SDSS-II Legacy technical description)
- Strauss et al. 2002 (SDSS Main Galaxy Sample Targetting)
- Frieman et al. 2008 (SDSS-II Supernova Survey technical description)
- Eisenstein, D.J., et al. 2001, AJ, 122, 2267 (LRG Sample Targetting)
- Richards, G.T., et al. 2002, AJ, 123, 2945 (Quasar Sample Targetting)
the Sloan Foundation 2.5-meter Telescope description:
the relevant Data Release Paper:
- Data Release 17 (Abdurro’uf et al. 2022, ApJSS, 259, 35) is the most recent Data Release paper, but please cite the appropriate paper for the Data Release used for your download.
and the relevant instrumentation paper(s):
- Gunn et al. 1998 (SDSS photometry, camera)
- Doi et al. 2010 (SDSS photometry, filters)
- Fukugita et al 1996, AJ, 111, 1748 (SDSS Photometric System)
- Smee et al 2013 (SDSS original optical spectrograph and the BOSS upgrade to that spectrograph)
- Wilson et al. 2019 (APOGEE spectrographs)
- Drory et al. 2015 (MaNGA Integral Field Unit Fiber Feed System; note that MaNGA uses the BOSS Spectrograph, so papers which use MaNGA should also cite Smee et al. 2013)
In addition, the appropriate SDSS acknowledgment(s) for the survey and data releases that were used should be included in the Acknowledgments section:
- SDSS-I/II acknowledgment (SDSS-I, SDSS-II Legacy, SDSS-II SEGUE-1, SDSS-II Supernova, DR 1-7)
- SDSS-III acknowledgment (APOGEE-1, BOSS, MARVELS, SEGUE-2, DR 8-12)
- SDSS-IV acknowledgment (APOGEE-2, eBOSS, MaNGA, MaStar)
For reference, a more extensive list of technical SDSS papers that it may be appropriate to cite is available at the Technical Publications page . In particular, this list includes papers that describe the target selection algorithms for the different SDSS spectroscopic surveys and the methods that have been used to extract physical quantities such as classifications, photometry, astronometry, redshifts, and stellar parameters from the survey data.
TeX version of the SDSS-IV acknowledgement
Here is the TeX code for the SDSS-IV standard acknowledgement, which can be pasted directly into papers written in TeX format:
Funding for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, and the Participating Institutions. SDSS-IV acknowledges support and resources from the Center for High Performance Computing at the University of Utah. The SDSS website is www.sdss4.org. SDSS-IV is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions of the SDSS Collaboration including the Brazilian Participation Group, the Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard \& Smithsonian, the Chilean Participation Group, the French Participation Group, Instituto de Astrof\'isica de Canarias, The Johns Hopkins University, Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU) / University of Tokyo, the Korean Participation Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Leibniz Institut f\"ur Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), Max-Planck-Institut f\"ur Astronomie (MPIA Heidelberg), Max-Planck-Institut f\"ur Astrophysik (MPA Garching), Max-Planck-Institut f\"ur Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE), National Astronomical Observatories of China, New Mexico State University, New York University, University of Notre Dame, Observat\'ario Nacional / MCTI, The Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, United Kingdom Participation Group, Universidad Nacional Aut\'onoma de M\'exico, University of Arizona, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Oxford, University of Portsmouth, University of Utah, University of Virginia, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, Vanderbilt University, and Yale University.