Paris, France, 4 April 2022: Following the announcement made in October 2021 that Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) would move to the Subscribe-to-Open (S2O) open access model in 2022, the A&A board of directors and EDP Sciences are pleased to announce that A&A has now received the required level of support and will be published open access in 2022 under the terms of this transformative model.

“For more than 50 years, A&A has been publishing pioneering, peer reviewed scientific content,” said Professor André Moitinho de Almeida, Chairperson of the A&A Board of Directors. “Above all, we are a community journal, and as we move into the age of open science, we are committed to a sustainable transition to open access through the innovative approach offered by S2O.”

“We are delighted by the support the community has shown enabling A&A to convert to full open access this year,” added Dr. Thierry Forveille, Editor-in-Chief of A&A. “We therefore celebrate the opening of our content through Subscribe-to-Open which will maximise effective and open communications for the astronomical and astrophysical communities.”

From 4th of April 2022, newly accepted A&A articles will publish under a CC-BY 4.0 license allowing authors to retain the copyright and others to share and adapt the content. A Creative Commons license also enables authors to be fully compliant with the open access requirements of their institution or funding organisation(s). With the release of other articles under embargo, all content will be freely available for everyone to access and read.

“We thank all our library partners and institutions whose support has made this transition possible,” said Dr. Agnès Henri, Managing Director, EDP Sciences. “However, the journey doesn’t end here; as the community comes to understand and favour S2O, we hope that annual renewals will become easier thereby ensuring A&A and other S2O journals continue to publish open access in the years to come.”

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. As well as A&A, EDP Sciences is successfully publishing their Mathematics portfolio in open access through the S2O model.

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.

Under the S2O model, existing subscriber institutions are asked to subscribe as usual and as long as the expected subscription income is received, then the journal is published in open access. In this way, institutions secure access for their members, support journals for the common good of the academic community and demonstrate their commitment to equitable open access.

From the 4th of April 2022, A&A articles will be freely available for anyone to access and read. This will be reviewed every year, depending on the level of subscription renewals.

See the A&A S2O FAQs for more details.

For further information, contact:
André Moitinho de Almeida
Chairperson A&A Board of Directors
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Thierry Forveille
A&A Editor-in-Chief
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Charlotte Van Rooyen
Director of Marketing and Communications, EDP Sciences
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