With the continued support of subscribers, Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) journal will be published open access in 2022 under a Subscribe-to-Open model.

Paris, 19 October 2021: The A&A Board of Directors has announced that their journal will move to a Subscribe-to-Open (S2O) model. If libraries renew their subscriptions, A&A will be published in full open access in 2022. Since its launch in 1969, A&A has been publishing pioneering, peer reviewed scientific content. The transition to open access will extend access of its high-quality research to a worldwide audience – furthering the field of astronomy and astrophysics. Library subscriptions, together with substantial contributions from the A&A sponsoring countries, will cover publication and editorial costs and enable content to become open access.

“We have long been interested in transitioning A&A to open access, and have followed recent developments closely”, said Professor André Moitinho de Almeida, Chairperson of the A&A Board of Directors. “It was important for us to apply a collaborative, transparent and rapid conversion to open access and balance that with a model that works for the astronomy community, and we consider S2O a promising approach.”

“Open access widens the reach of our authors’ work. In the interests of advancing open science and serving our community, we are committed to making open access a reality for our journal, with the support of our librarian partners across the world.” said Dr. Thierry Forveille, Editor-in-Chief of A&A. “We urge existing subscribers to renew as soon as they can and encourage other libraries to join the S2O programme and support our open access journey.”

A&A has been published by EDP Sciences since 2000. “Following the success of the Subscribe-to-Open programme introduced with our mathematics journals in 2020, we are looking forward to supporting our A&A colleagues in their transition to open access following a similar model. Focusing on transparency will be a priority in order to boost confidence in the S2O model and allow objective decision-making.” said Dr. Agnès Henri, Managing Director of EDP Sciences.

ENDS

About Astronomy & Astrophysics

Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) is a peer-reviewed community journal that publishes original research in astronomy and astrophysics. The journal is an international consortium governed by a Board of Directors who set the policies for A&A including general guidelines for publishing, the selection of the Editors, the various financial aspects, as well as membership of new countries.

The Editors are astronomers that are independent of any government or administrative body associated with the journal. A&A promotes diversity and equity in science and embraces open, inclusive, and fair practices that reflect the culture and values of the worldwide community of astronomers. Educational initiatives sponsored by A&A and EDP Sciences, such as the Science Writing for Young Astronomers (SWYA) workshops, educate and develop early career astronomers.

About EDP Sciences

EDP Sciences was established in 1920 by a prestigious academic community of French learned societies seeking to inspire, innovate and inform others by sharing their knowledge. Members of this community included eminent scientists like Marie Curie, Paul Langevin and Louis de Broglie. Today, EDP Sciences publishes high-quality scientific journals, conferences proceeding, books and magazines in a broad range of scientific, technical and medical disciplines. Since November 2019, EDP Sciences is owned by Science Press which is itself majority-owned by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). CAS is a prestigious learned society and the world’s largest research organisation. EDP Sciences has always been, and continues to be, the publishing partner of scientific communities throughout the world.

About A&A’s Subscribe-to-Open model

Subscribe-to-Open (S2O) is an alternative subscription model which enables libraries to use their budgets to support open access publishing. Existing subscription workflows and channels are used, and the financial structure of the journal does not change in any other way. If enough libraries commit to Subscribe-to-Open, A&A will be published open access in 2022.

A&A is a community journal which is sponsored by member countries. Authors from member countries will not pay any charges to publish in the journal. Authors from non-member countries will continue to pay a modest page charge. Page charges are common within astronomy and were devised to spread the costs and keep subscription prices down. A fundamental principle of A&A has always been to keep the subscription price as low as possible. The sponsoring by member countries and the page charges help in this regard by covering editorial costs. At the same time, fair and equitable access to publishing in A&A is a core value of the journal. Therefore, authors who do not have sufficient funding may apply for a waiver or discount, and for the A&A Letters publication is free for all researchers across the world. See the FAQs for more details.

For further information, contact:

Name: André Moitinho de Almeida

Position: Chairperson A&A Board of Directors

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Name: Thierry Forveille

Position: A&A Editor-in-Chief

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Name: Charlotte Van Rooyen

Position: Director of Marketing and Communications, EDP Sciences

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.