Shaping a sustainable future for A&A: new policy on paper length

Since 2022, the Astronomy & Astrophysics Journal (A&A) has been published in open access under the Subscribe to open (S2O) model conditional on the renewals of library subscriptions, allowing unrestricted access to all papers published in the journal, regardless of geographic or economic barriers. We are strongly committed to maintaining this policy in the future, and continuing to publish A&A as a journal by astronomers, for astronomers.

The number of papers published in A&A has been growing steadily, and the trend has accelerated in recent years due, in part, to the journal’s commitment to ensuring equitable access to science through its publication under the S2O model.

However, alongside the growth in the number of articles, the average length of papers has also been increasing. Too often, papers are longer than necessary, leading to increased workload for authors, referees, and editors, and hindering the reader’s ability to efficiently grasp their content. As well as needing logistical consideration, the challenges related to the journal's growth have financial implications that must be addressed to ensure long-term sustainability.

With all this in view, the A&A Board of Directors, together with the A&A Editors, has decided to implement publication costs for papers exceeding a size limit, effective for papers submitted to A&A from 2 April 2025. Any authors wishing to exceed the page cap for their regular paper (main body or appendices) or Letter (appendices only) will need to pay a page charge that supports the additional costs associated with the longer format. Page charges will be tiered, reflecting the additional support already provided by sponsoring countries and subscribing institutions.

By encouraging authors to be more selective about what they include in the main body of their papers, we hope to promote clearer and more concise presentations of research without sacrificing scientific depth. We strongly believe that with these changes, the community can help to increase the sustainability of scientific publishing by reducing publication costs without sacrificing the quality of the journal or its open access model.

The new approach will affect the papers by authors from both A&A-sponsoring and non-sponsoring countries. Costs will be levied on the first author of the paper following the rules defined in the table below. They will apply to both the main body and appendix pages with no distinction. A strict limit of 4 main body pages will be applied to Letters.

If authors are listed in alphabetical order, the costs will be levied to the corresponding author instead of the first author.

Exceptions can be considered in special cases, such as the reference paper of a space mission, etc. Exceptions can also be considered for Letters on major discoveries.

We believe this policy change will serve both authors and readers well. As always, we remain committed to the growth and dissemination of astronomical knowledge, and we appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we implement this important change.

Main body page cap Appendix page cap Cost per page within cap Cost per page above cap
Paper by first author from A&A sponsoring country
Regular paper 12 8 0 € 150 €
Letter 4 (strict) 5 0 € 150 €
Paper by first author from A&A non-sponsoring country & subscribing institute
Regular paper 12 8 100 € 150 €
Letter 4 (strict) 5 100 € 150 €
Paper by first author from A&A non-sponsoring country & non-subscribing institute
Regular paper 12 8 150 € 200 €
Letter 4 (strict) 5 150 € 200 €