Astronomy and Astrophysics
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Astronomy and Astrophysics (abbreviated as A&A in the astronomical literature, or else Astron. Astrophys.) is a European Journal, publishing papers on theoretical, observational and instrumental astronomy and astrophysics. It was published by Springer-Verlag from 1969-2000, while EDP Sciences published the companion A&A Supplement Series. In 2000, the two journals merged, with the combined journal known simply as Astronomy and Astrophysics, and published by EDP Sciences. The journal copyright is owned by the European Southern Observatory.
A&A is one of the major journals of astronomy, alongside the Astrophysical Journal, Astronomical Journal and the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. While the first two are often the preferred journal of US-based researchers and the MNRAS is often the favoured journal for UK- and Commonwealth-based astronomers, A&A tends to be the preferred journal of astronomers based in Europe (excluding the UK), particularly since page charges are waived for astronomers working in member countries.
A&A was created from the merger in 1969 of six major European astronomical journals
- Annales d'Astrophysique (France), founded in 1938
- Arkiv for Astronomi (Sweden), founded in 1948
- Bulletin of the Astronomical Institutes of the Netherlands, founded in 1921
- Bulletin Astronomique (France), founded in 1884
- Journal des Observateurs (France), founded in 1915
- Zeitschrift für Astrophysik (Germany), founded in 1930
and extended in 1992 by the incorporation of:
- Bulletin of the Astronomical Institutes of Czechoslovakia, founded in 1947
[edit] Member Countries
The original member countries were the four countries whose journals merged to form A&A (France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden) together with Belgium, Denmark, Finland and Norway. ESO also participated as a 'member country'. Norway later withdrew, but Austria, Greece, Italy, Spain and Switzerland all joined. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia all joined as new members in the 1990s. In 2001 the words "A European Journal" were removed from the front cover in recognition that the journal was becoming increasingly global in scope, and in 2002 Argentina was admitted as an 'observer'. In 2004 the Board of Directors decided that "A&A will henceforth consider applications for sponsoring membership from any country in the world with well-documented active and excellent astronomical research". Argentina became the first non-European country to gain full membership in 2005. Brazil, Chile and Portugal all gained 'observer' status at this time and have since progressed to full membership.
