 | |
| Discipline | Astronomy,Astrophysics |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Edited by | Ethan Vishniac |
| Publication details | |
| History | 1895–present |
| Publisher | |
| Frequency | 3/month |
| Gold open access | |
| 4.8 (Journal) 8.8 (Letters) 8.6 (Supplement) (2023) | |
| Standard abbreviations ISO 4 (alt) · Bluebook (alt) NLM (alt) · MathSciNet (alt  ) | |
| ISO 4 | Astrophys. J. |
| Indexing CODEN (alt · alt2) · JSTOR (alt) · LCCN (alt) MIAR · NLM (alt) · Scopus · W&L | |
| ISSN | 0004-637X (print) 1538-4357 (web) |
| Links | |
The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ[1]) is apeer-reviewedscientific journal ofastrophysics andastronomy, established in 1895 by American astronomersGeorge Ellery Hale andJames Edward Keeler. The journal discontinued its print edition and became an electronic-only journal in 2015.[2]
Since 1953,The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series (ApJS) has been published in conjunction withThe Astrophysical Journal, with generally longer articles to supplement the material in the journal. It publishes six volumes per year, with two 280-page issues per volume.
The Astrophysical Journal Letters (ApJL), established in 1967 bySubrahmanyan Chandrasekhar as Part 2 ofThe Astrophysical Journal, is now a separate journal focusing on the rapid publication of high-impact astronomical research.
The three journals were published by theUniversity of Chicago Press for theAmerican Astronomical Society until, in January 2009, publication was transferred toIOP Publishing,[3] following the move of the society'sAstronomical Journal in 2008. The reason for the changes were given by the society as the increasing financial demands of the University of Chicago Press.[4] Compared to journals in other scientific disciplines,The Astrophysical Journal has a larger (> 85%) acceptance rate, which, however, is similar to other journals covering astronomy and astrophysics.[5][6]
On January 1, 2022, the AAS Journals, including ApJ, changed to an open access model, with access restrictions and subscription charges removed from previously published papers.[7] Articles accepted after October 11, 2022, will be published under theCreative Commons license CC-BY-SA 4.0. Non-open access articles accepted before that date will be free to access but will still need permission to reuse.[8]
The journal was founded in 1895 byGeorge Ellery Hale andJames E. Keeler asThe Astrophysical Journal: An International Review of Spectroscopy and Astronomical Physics.[9] In addition to the two founding editors, there was an international board of associate editors:M. A. Cornu, Paris;N. C. Dunér, Upsala;William Huggins, London;P. Tacchini, Rome;H. C. Vogel, Potsdam,C. S. Hastings, Yale;A. A. Michelson, Chicago;E. C. Pickering, Harvard;H. A. Rowland, Johns Hopkins; andC. A. Young, Princeton.[10] It was intended that the journal would fill the gap between journals in astronomy and physics, providing a venue for publication of articles on astronomical applications of thespectroscope; on laboratory research closely allied to astronomical physics, includingwavelength determinations of metallic and gaseousspectra and experiments onradiation andabsorption; on theories of the Sun, Moon, planets, comets, meteors, and nebulae; and on instrumentation for telescopes and laboratories.[10] The further development of ApJ up to 1995 was outlined byHelmut Abt in an article entitled "Some Statistical Highlights of theAstrophysical Journal" in 1995.[11]
The following persons have beeneditors-in-chief of the journal: