News archive
New A&A memberships and scientific editorial structure for the Letters section (March 2006)
- Details
- Published on 10 March 2006
New in online version of A&A: Cited by (January 2006)
- Details
- Published on 10 January 2006
Available with the full html page the 'Cited by' link lists all the papers quoting the present article and referred to in the ADS database.
This service is based on the ADS service 'Citations to the article'.
Latest articles FREE for Astronomy & Astrophysics (June 2005)
- Details
- Published on 02 June 2005
As a service to the authors, to enlarge dissemination of scientific information and to increase the visibility of articles, EDP Sciences is pleased to announce the launch of the Latest articles FREE service for Astronomy & Astrophysics. This service allows non-subscribers to the journal to have, on registration, free access to the full online edition of the most recent issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics on EDP Sciences website.
The Latest articles FREE service is devoted to individuals for their private studies, scholarship or research, without any commercial benefit.
Closure of the Japanese mirror site (April 2005)
- Details
- Published on 14 April 2005
As of April 1, 2005, The EDP Sciences mirror site at http://edpsciences.nao.ac.jp is no longer available.
Please use one of the following sites:
- http://www.edpsciences.org
- http://www.edpsciences-usa.org
- CDS mirror site
New search tools available for Astronomy & Astrophysics (2004)
- Details
- Published on 05 December 2004
Search on full-text PDF files can now be performed for Astronomy & Astrophysics.
For this journal you can now:
- search words in full-text PDF articles;
- search in authors/title/abstract/keywords;
- find an article using its reference (journal/volume/starting page);
- find an article using its DOI.
Newly accepted? Then it's online (November 2004)
- Details
- Published on 05 November 2004
As a new service to authors, Astronomy & Astrophysics now gives online access to the unedited preprint version of accepted papers several weeks ahead of publication, on the author's consent. This service is free of charge for authors.
The first PDF files of accepted papers were published online on November 16, 2004.
Permission is asked to the author either through MMS (Manuscript Management System) for regular articles or by the editorial office for Letters. The PDF file is produced by the publisher from the LaTeX file sent by the author and is released if the final size is less than 3Mb without any conversion problem. This online version does not take into account corrections made during copy-editing and production processes.
Online access to PDF forthcoming papers is granted to all Astronomy & Astrophysics subscribers.
Go to A&A Forthcoming Papers list .
Letter from the Board of Directors (October 2004)
- Details
- Published on 14 October 2004
New policy concerning expanded European and non-European A&A memberships
In the early nineteen-nineties, A&A with great foresight took an important step - which the European Union would follow more than a decade later - by incorporating eastern European countries into its sponsoring membership: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic; Estonia became a full member in 1998. A&A was now truly "A European Journal", as then stated on the front cover.
In the meantime, A&A grew in importance as a vehicle for world-wide dissemination of astronomical research and an ever-increasing number of high-quality papers began streaming into the A&A Editorial offices from non-European countries, as well as from other European non-member countries. It became obvious to us that A&A no longer was merely a European Journal and in 2001 we removed the "A European Journal" from the front cover.
Eventually, some of these non-European countries began approaching us with queries about potential membership in A&A and in 2002 we admitted the first such country, Argentina, with an observer status. Meanwhile, the Board intensified its study of the financial and administrative consequences of a wider expansion including the admission of member countries beyond Europe - a special subcommittee was appointed.
The Board of Directors, at its meeting in Tartu, Estonia on 8 May 2004, made the important decision - after a lengthy and thorough discussion - that A&A will henceforth consider applications for sponsoring membership from any country in the world with well-documented active and excellent astronomical research. Each application will be carefully treated on a case-by-case basis. Subsequently, at this meeting, the Board admitted Argentina to full membership in A&A starting on 1 January 2005. In addition, three other applicants were admitted to observer status, namely Brazil, Chile and Portugal. The above-mentioned special Board subcommittee will continue its work and submit recommendations on the restructuring of the Board and its Executive Committee, a necessary consequence of the foreseen expansion.
Editorial: Editorship and peer-review at A&A (June 2004)
- Details
- Published on 15 June 2004
Claude Bertout (Editor-in-Chief) and Peter Schneider (Letters Editor)
PDF file of the Editorial
See table of contents of the relevant issue (420-3)
Abstract. We present an overview of current issues involved in editing Astronomy & Astrophysics, going from the detail of editorial policies and procedures to some more general aspects.
Table of contents of the editorial.
1. Introduction
2. Considering a submission for publication
2.1. Regular papers
2.2. Letters
2.3. Papers describing instruments and observational techniques
2.4. Catalogs and data papers
2.5. Papers on special subjects
3. Some style issues
4. The peer-review process at A&A
4.1. How do we select referees?
4.2. The referee report
4.2.1. Regular papers
4.2.2. Letters
4.2.3. Special A&A Issues
4.3. Possible complications in the peer-review process
4.3.1. Delay in finding a referee
4.3.2. Delay in getting the referee report
4.3.3. Offensive attitude of referee or author
4.3.4. Delay in revising the paper
4.3.5. Some statistics and conclusions
5. Acceptance and publication
5.1. Letters
5.2. Regular papers
5.3. Language editing
5.4. On-line material 5.4.1. Publishing data at the CDS
5.4.2. On-line material
5.5. Page charges
6. Outlook
6.1. Impact factor issues
6.2. Electronic-only publication of A&A?
LaTeX2e v5.4 class for A&A (June 2004)
- Details
- Published on 15 June 2004
Download macro package
What's New in A&A v5.4?
-
the pagelayout is better adapted for A4 and Letter format
-
some new journals macros have been added (see the User's Guide)
-
some examples of particular tables have been added in aa.dem or in the User's Guide
New prices for colour figures (June 2004)
- Details
- Published on 14 June 2004
From now on, thanks to new technologies, it has been possible to reduce the prices of the colour figures. For an article, for one or two figures, the price is 250 euros without VAT per figure; for three or more figures, the price is 180 euros without VAT per figure.
Note that this is a price per figure, irrespective of the number of electronic files that make up the figure.
| EDP Sciences new prices (euros, without VAT) |
|
| 1 figure (whatever the number of electronic files) | 250 |
| two figures (whatever the number of electronic files) | 250 W 2 = 500 |
| three figures (whatever the number of electronic files) | 180 W 3 = 540 |
| more figures (N) (whatever the number of electronic files) | 180 W N |
The A&A experience with impact factors (March 2004)
- Details
- Published on 21 March 2004
See preprint
From the Publisher: A&A individual subscription offer (October 2003)
- Details
- Published on 15 October 2003
We are pleased to inform you that the Astronomy & Astrophysics individual subscription now offers you two choices:
- "Paper +Online" version: 48 issues/year +online access (access controlled by IP address);
- "Online only" version: online access only (to subscribe we kindly ask you to precise us your IP address with your order).
Please do not hesitate to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for any further information.
EDP Sciences
Publisher
Special Letters Edition issue on First science with INTEGRAL (October 2003)
- Details
- Published on 15 October 2003
See table of contents of the relevant issue (411-1)
This Special Letters Issue features the INTEGRAL observatory. About one year after its successful launch, this series of 75 publications describe the mission, the various instruments and their performance,as well as first scientific results from the spacecraft, ranging from gamma-ray bursts to Galactic sources. In order to produce this issue in time, all parties involved have worked under great time pressure. I would like to thank the authors and referees of these articles for meeting such stringent deadlines and for their cooperative attitude, and our publisher, EDP Sciences, for their support and flexibility. A special thanks goes to Hendrik Hildebrandt, Michael Mertens, and Tim Schrabback for their particular dedication during the preparation of this Issue, working many hours overtime to get that many Letters processed within two months (and in many cases, on even much shorter time-scale). Furthermore, I thank Dr. Thierry Courvoisier for his help during the preparation of this Issue.
Peter Schneider
Remark on impact factor (April 2003)
- Details
- Published on 15 April 2003
The Board of Directors of Astronomy & Astrophyics has now received information from the ISI Web of Knowledge that the impact factor statistics is seriously flawed. Owing to the short abbreviation(A&A) with which articles in Astronomy & Astrophyics are usually cited, and the possible non-uniqueness of this abbreviation among the scientific journals covered by the JCR, these are not counted. A similar situation occurred with The Astrophysical Journal, for which the three-letter abrreviation (ApJ) had been considered too challenging. After accounting for citations with ApJ, the impact factor of The Astrophysical Journal increased by more than a factor of two from 2000 to 2001.
After contacting the ISI Web of Knowledge, the Chairman of the Board of Directors was assured that the situation will be changed, and that in the future, the abbreviation A&A will be counted for the citations. In-house studies at the ISI Web of Knowledge have shown that very little confusion arises through this, and, more importantly, after accounting for these citations, the impact factor of Astronomy & Astrophyics becomes comparable to that of the other major astronomy journals.
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Special Letters Edition: First Science with the ODIN satellite (April 2003)
- Details
- Published on 15 April 2003
See table of contents of the relevant issue (402-3)
The Editors of Astronomy and Astrophysics recognize the importance of this event and present, in the present issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics, a special Letters Issue on the ODIN satellite. The 11 letters describe the basic features of the satellite and its instruments, and present first scientific results achieved with it.
From the Publisher: new online version of A&A (April 2003)
- Details
- Published on 15 April 2003
We are very pleased to inform you that the new online version of A&A is now available from issue 402-2 onwards.
Keeping all the features of the previous online version (various full-text formats, abstracts and references, ...), we have improved the full HTML version for better ergonomics and increased clarity.
The whole article is now displayed on one single HTML page including direct access to:
- sections of the article
- list of figures
- list of tables
- online material
- SIMBAD objects
- CDS tables
- table of contents of the relevant issue.
To improve access to scientific data, LaTeX source of tables are now released.
This new version has been designed by EDP Sciences following the specifications of the Editorial Board of A&A to improve the transmission of scientific works.
Hoping that you will be satisfied with this new version, we would like to thank our audience for its past and future comments, helping us to improve the quality of the online version of Astronomy & Astrophysics.
EDP Sciences
Publisher
Future editorial structure of A&A (November 2002)
- Details
- Published on 16 November 2002
Letter from the Astronomy & Astrophysics Board of Directors
PDF file (43 KB)
Considering
- the rapid growth of the number of submitted papers,
- the proceeding specialization of subfields in astronomy,
- and the wish to involve more countries in the editorial process,
In the new system the Editor-in-Chief will receive all submitted regular papers and will assign a Scientific Editor to each paper. The Scientific Editor will be responsible for the refereeing process and will decide on whether the paper should be accepted or not. The final responsibility for acceptance lies with the Editor-in-Chief. The Associate Editor-in-Chief will assist the Editor-in-Chief, e.g., by taking over his/her duties during times of absence. Letters will be submitted directly to the Letter Editor, who will have the same duties as in the present system. All papers will be handled in a web-based peer review system. The final language editing will be done at the central office.
As of 1 January 2004, Dr. H. J. Habing will retire and Dr. C. Bertout will continue as the Editor-in-Chief. Dr. P. Schneider will continue as Letter Editor. Herewith, we invite applications for the seven positions of Scientific Editors.
The Scientific Editors are expected to have a broad knowledge of astronomy and astrophysics and to have expertise in one or several of the main sub-fields of A&A, i.e. cosmology, extragalactic astronomy, galactic structure and stellar populations, interstellar and circumstellar matter, stellar structure and evolution, stellar atmospheres, the Sun, planets and planetary systems. Candidates should have a strong record of published research in astronomy and astrophysics, should have experience as a referee and/or journal editor, and be prepared to commit the time needed to handle the peer review of up to three hundred papers per year. Limited support for office equipment and secretarial help as well as an annual indemnity will be provided to the Scientific Editors. The initial term of appointment is three years.
Applicants should submit a curriculum vitae, a list of publications, and a concise cover letter that summarizes the candidate's qualifications and reasons for seeking a Scientific Editor position. Possible support from the home institute for the task should also be discussed. Applications should preferably be e-mailed or sent/faxed to the Chairman of the Board of Directors:
Prof. Aage Sandqvist
Stockholm Observatory
SCFAB-AlbaNova
SE-106 91 Stockholm
Sweden
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Fax: +46 8 5537 8510
Informal inquiries about the positions may be directed by e-mail to Aage Sandqvist.
Aage Sandqvist
An important announcement for readers, authors and libraries (August 2000)
- Details
- Published on 16 August 2000
- 1. Change of publisher and merger of the Supplement Series with the Main Journal
- 2. Websites
- 3. Publication in the journal is fast
1. Change of publisher and merger of the journals
- From 1st January 2001, the Main Journal will be published by EDP Sciences, who has published the Supplement Series since 1980.
- From 1st January 2001, the Supplement Series will be merged with the Main Journal.
The new contract with EDP Sciences for the publication of the Main Journal has now been signed. Library subscriptions for the new Main Journal per 100 pages will be significantly lower than for the old Main Journal and Supplement Series. The actual library subscription for the Main Journal in 2001 will depend on the number of pages to be published. The Board of Directors will decide this at its meeting in May 2000. If the combined Main Journal publishes the same number of pages in the year 2001 as will be published in the Main Journal and the Supplement Series in the year 2000, then a library which subscribes this year to both journals will pay 18% less next year. A library, which this year takes only the Main Journal, will pay 11% more for the combined Main Journal.
New LaTeX macros will become available after the summer. There will be little difference for the authors.
The Board of Directors of Astronomy & Astrophysics would like to thank Springer, the publisher of the Main Journal from 1969 to 2000, for its past services.
2. New websites
The Board of Directors of Astronomy & Astrophysics now has its own domain and website http://www.aanda.org/
On this website you can find details of the Board of Directors and their work.
The Editorial Offices have websites, which give instructions to authors about submitting their papers. They are
These are in addition to the existing websites which are
Main Journal
http://link.springer.de/link/service/journals/00230/index.htm
http://link.springer-ny.com/link/service/journals/00230/index.htm
Supplement series
http://www.edpsciences.org/aas/
http://www.edpsciences-usa.org/aas/
http://edpsciences.nao.ac.jp/aas/
Centre de Donnies Astronomique de Strasbourg (CDS)
http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/
3. Publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics is now very fast
In 1999 the times were as follows:
For all the published Letters,
10% are accepted after 13 days,
20% are accepted after 18 days,
50% are accepted after 37 days,
80% are accepted after 65 days.
The median time between acceptance and publication is 35 days.
For all the published papers,
10% were accepted within 38 days,
20% were accepted within 54 days,
50% were accepted within 93 days,
80% were accepted within 152 days.
After the acceptance of the papers,
20% are published within 56 days,
50% are published within 69 days,
80% are published within 85 days.
Copyright The European Southern Observatory (ESO)