Research results in astronomy, solar physics, and planetary science are about to become more widely accessible to scientists and the public alike. The American Astronomical Society (AAS), a leading nonprofit professional association for astronomers, announced the switch of its prestigious journals to fully open access (OA) as of 1 January 2022. This means contents from the following four journals will be immediately available to everyone:
In addition, AAS' Planetary Science Journal is already fully open access. To know more about this change, see the AAS website for details and FAQ.
JPL scientists publish heavily in those four journals, a quick count of the number of papers with at least one JPL author for 2020 and 2021 shows
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Astronomical Journal (AJ) | 40 | 64 | 36 |
| The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ) | 105 | 88 | 49 |
| The Astrophysical Journal Letters (ApJL) | 23 | 25 | 19 |
| The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series (ApJS) | 6 | 21 | 12 |
| Total | 174 | 198 | 116 |
Who pays for OA?
Open access is great for the spread of knowledge, papers are widely read and cited by others. However, AAS has chosen the Gold Open Access model which shifts the cost for publishing to authors (or authors' affiliations). Depending on the number of pages, graphs and pictures included with the article, and other factors, AAS has a formula for calculating the Article Processing Charge (APC) for each article. Based on its data, AAS expect about 80% of the articles would fall into either the $1,149 or $2,599 categories. According its web site, AAS has communicated with NASA and other funding agencies, and Article Processing Charges are allowable under most grants. Details about the finances related this shift can be found on the same AAS OA announcement and FAQ page,
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