 Cover image of MNRAS in 2022 | |
| Discipline | Astronomy,astrophysics |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Edited by | David Flower |
| Publication details | |
Former name | Monthly Notices of the Astronomical Society of London |
| History | 1827–present |
| Publisher | |
| Frequency | 36/year |
| Gold (since 2024)[2] | |
| License | CC-BY (since 2024) |
| 4.8 (2022) | |
| Standard abbreviations ISO 4 (alt) · Bluebook (alt) NLM (alt) · MathSciNet (alt  ) | |
| ISO 4 | Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. |
| NLM | Mon Not R Astron Soc |
| Indexing CODEN (alt · alt2) · JSTOR (alt) · LCCN (alt) MIAR · NLM (alt) · Scopus · W&L | |
| CODEN | MNRAA4 |
| ISSN | 0035-8711 (print) 1365-2966 (web) |
| LCCN | sf85001279 |
| OCLC no. | 10340650 |
| Links | |
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS) is apeer-reviewedscientific journal inastronomy,astrophysics and related fields. It publishesoriginal research in two formats:papers (of any length) and letters (limited to five pages). MNRAS publishes more articles per year than any other astronomy journal.[3]
Thelearned society journal has been in continuous existence since 1827 and becameonline only in 2020. It operates as a partnership between theRoyal Astronomical Society (RAS), who select and peer-review the contents, andOxford University Press (OUP), who publish and market the journal. Despite its name, MNRAS is no longer monthly, nor does it carry the notices of the RAS.[4] In 2024 MNRAS became a purelygold open access journal.[2]
The first issue of MNRAS was published on 9 February 1827 asMonthly Notices of the Astronomical Society of London and it has been in continuous publication ever since. It took its current name from the second volume, after theAstronomical Society of London became theRoyal Astronomical Society (RAS). Until 1960 it carried the monthly notices of the RAS, at which time these were transferred to the newly establishedQuarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1960–1996) and then to its successor journalAstronomy & Geophysics (since 1997). Until 1965, MNRAS was published in-house by the society; from 1965 to 2012 it was published byBlackwell Publishing (later part ofWiley-Blackwell) on behalf of the RAS. From 2013, MNRAS is published byOxford University Press (OUP).[1]
The journal is no longer monthly, with thirty-six issues a year divided into nine volumes. The Letters section had originally appeared on pink paper in the print edition, but moved online only in the early 2000s. Print publication ceased after the April 2020 volume, during theCOVID-19 pandemic, with thejournal becoming online-only.[5]
MNRAS publishes peer-reviewed articles on original research in astronomy and astrophysics. Two sorts of article are carried by MNRAS: papers, which can be of any length, and letters, which are published more quickly but are limited to five pages in length. Editorial control of the journal is exercised by the RAS through aneditorial board of professionalastronomers; since July 2012[update], theeditor-in-chief has beenDavid Flower (University of Durham).[6]
In 2022 MNRAS published 3441 articles, more than any other astronomy journal.[3]
In January 2024 MNRAS became agold open access journal, making all articles free to read online as soon as they are published, under aCreative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence.[2] There are no subscription fees for readers, instead the costs of publication are met by anarticle processing charge (APC) on the authors. As of June 2024[update], the APCs are £2310 for a standard article and £1100 for a letter; RAS Fellows receive a 20% discount on these fees.[7] In many cases the APCs are paid for by aread and publish agreement between the author's institution and OUP,[8] and authors based indeveloping countries are entitled to an APC waiver.[9] If an author is not from a developing country but is unable to pay the APC, MNRAS provides partial or full waivers on a case-by-case basis.[9]
Prior to 2024, MNRAS used a combination ofgreen open access,delayed open access (36 months) and optionalhybrid open access. There were no fees for authors, from the founding of the journal in 1927 until the end of 2023, with all costs of publications being met by subscriptions. Green open access was encouraged throughself-archiving by authors on personal webpages, ininstitutional repositories, and on thearXiv preprint server. Fellows of the RAS were provided with free online access to the RAS journals as part of their membership benefits.[10]
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The following persons have served as Editor-in-Chief (formerly titled Managing Editor or simply Editor):
The journal is abstracted and indexed in:
According to theJournal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2022impact factor of 4.8.[15]