A System for Automated Extraction of Astronomical English Terms

Standardized Chinese translations of scientific terms are important for scientific research as well as science communication. Identifying new English terms in time is a basic requirement for standardized translations. In this paper we introduce a system that is designed for automated extraction of astronomical English terms from scientific publications. The system combines several techniques, e.g. the script filter, automatic term recognition, and regular-expression match. It can automatically trace updates of the arXiv paper database, analyze contents of papers, and generate lists of candidates of new terms. By using the system the China National Committee for Terms in Sciences and Technologies can focus on deciding Chinese translations of terms instead of spending time on term collection. We expect the system to contribute substantially to standardization of Chinese translations of astronomical English terms in the near future and promote other activities of standardization in astronomy.