Disciplinary position: the flagship journal of the American Astronomical Society, published by IOP Publishing, carrying original research across the branches of astrophysics.学科定位： 本刊是美国天文学会的旗舰学术刊物，由英国物理学会出版，刊载天体物理学各方向的原创研究。[1]
Scope of coverage: the journal covers stars and interstellar matter, galaxies and cosmology, star formation and planetary systems, high-energy and neutrino astrophysics, and observational methods with data processing.收录范围： 内容涵盖恒星与星际物质、星系与宇宙学、恒星形成与行星系统、高能与中微子天体物理以及观测方法与数据处理。[1]
Companion system: the journal family comprises the main title, its letters and its supplement series, the three catalogued separately and not to be conflated in citation.姊妹刊体系： 本刊体系包含本刊、快讯刊与增刊三部分，三者编目独立，引用时不应混计。[1]
Indexing: the journal is indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded with a 2025 impact factor of 5.7 against 5.4 in 2024, holding a stable leading place among astronomy titles.收录数据库： 被科学引文索引扩展版收录，2025 年影响因子 5.7，2024 年为 5.4，在天文学类期刊中稳定居前。[1]
Ranking: the Chinese Academy of Sciences ranking places it in the physics and astrophysics class 2 zone, with astronomy and astrophysics also at zone 2.分区与排名： 在中科院分区中列于物理与天体物理二区，小类天文与天体物理同列二区。[1]
Open access policy: since 1 January 2022 all content of the journal has been gold open access with no subscription charge and no paywall, every article under a licence that keeps copyright with the authors.开放获取政策： 本刊自二〇二二年一月一日起全部内容转为金色开放获取，无订阅费与付费墙，全部文章采用署名授权协议且保留作者版权。[2]
Funding model: after full open access the journal is supported by article processing charges assessed to authors, with the society running an expanded waiver and discount scheme giving members a reduced rate.经费来源： 全面开放获取后的运营资金来自向作者收取的文章处理费，学会另设扩大的豁免与折扣计划，会员可享折扣。[3]
History
Founding: founded in 1895 by the University of Chicago astronomer George Ellery Hale, who was also instrumental in creating the American Astronomical Society.创刊： 一八九五年由芝加哥大学天文学家 George Ellery Hale 创办，此人亦是创建美国天文学会的关键人物。[1]
Founding title: the full founding title was considerably longer and referenced spectroscopy and reviews of astronomical physics, reflecting the journal's origin in stellar spectroscopic work.创刊刊名： 创刊时的全名较长，兼有光谱学与天体力学物理综述的含义，反映该刊早期从天体光谱研究发端。[1]
Founding publisher: published at founding by the University of Chicago Press, which held the title for the long stretch until 1971.创刊出版方： 创刊时由芝加哥大学出版社出版，该社长期持有本刊直至一九七一年。[1]
Change of ownership: the official history records the society assuming ownership in 1971, the last editor under the University of Chicago Press being Chandrasekhar, later a Nobel laureate.所有权变更： 官方沿革记载一九七一年学会取得本刊所有权，芝加哥大学出版社时期最后一位主编为后来的诺贝尔奖得主 Chandrasekhar。[1]
Publisher transition: the society selected IOP Publishing as partner in 2007, with the journal passing to that publisher for publication from January 2009.出版方迁移： 学会于二〇〇七年选定英国物理学会为出版伙伴，本刊自二〇〇九年一月起由该社承接出版。[1]
Digitisation: the journal ceased print and moved to electronic-only form from 2015, a fundamental change in its publishing shape.电子化： 本刊自二〇一五年起停止印刷改为纯电子刊，出版形态由此发生根本变化。[1]
Open access transition: with effect from 1 January 2022 the society converted its entire journal portfolio to fully open access in a single step, ending the previous subscription model, and the recorded near-total open access share is fully consistent with that policy.开放获取转型： 学会于二〇二二年元旦起将全部期刊组合一次性转为完全开放获取，此前的订阅模式随即终止，库内记录的开放获取占比接近全量与该政策完全自洽。[2]
Unified submission: the journal family has been brought into the society's unified manuscript system, which still runs on its original submission platform and has not moved to a third-party one.投稿系统统一： 本刊体系已并入学会统一的稿件系统，该系统仍运行在原有的投稿平台上，并未迁往第三方平台。[4]
On frequency: the recorded three issues a month describes the journal's earlier arrangement, while the society's site now gives only an annual article count of over three thousand and no current issue frequency, so the present rate is best treated as unverified.刊期口径： 库内记录的每月三期属本刊早期的编排形态，学会官网现仅公布年发文量超过三千篇而不标示当期数，故现行频率宜视为未核实。[1]
Country of publication: the serial number authority records the United Kingdom as country of publication while the sponsor sits in the United States, the difference arising from the British publisher, so a United States only entry is incomplete.出版国口径： 权威刊号记录将本刊出版国记为英国而主办方在美国，差异源于实际出版方为英国机构，库内仅记美国并不完整。[5]
Metric history: the impact factor has fluctuated between about 5.5 and 5.9 in recent years, standing at 5.7 in 2025, a relatively stable position within the field.指标沿革： 影响因子近年在 5.5 至 5.9 区间波动，二〇二五年为 5.7，学科内位置相对稳定。[1]
Editors
Current editor: Ethan Vishniac has served as editor in chief of the journal since 2006 and now oversees the editorial affairs of all society publications.现任主编： Ethan Vishniac 自二〇〇六年起担任本刊主编，其后更统管学会全部出版物的编辑事务。[6]
Editorial handover: the society has announced Emily Levesque as the incoming editor in chief, with the handover completing in late summer 2027 after a brief overlap, a confirmed rather than speculative arrangement.主编交接： 学会已宣布由 Emily Levesque 接任本刊主编，二〇二七年夏末完成交接并设短暂重叠期，属已官宣的确定安排。[7]
Letters editor: the letters component of the family has its own editor, with the division from the main title explicit and the editorial affairs of the two not overlapping.快讯刊主编： 姊妹刊快讯部分的主编另有其人，与本刊主编分工明确，两刊编辑事务互不重叠。[6]
On the acceptance figure: the recorded relatively hard acceptance rate is aggregator experience, the society publishing no acceptance proportion for the title.录用率口径： 库内记录的录用率为相对较难，学会不公布该刊录用比例，该数值应视作聚合站经验值。[1]
On self-citation: the recorded self-citation rate near twenty-seven per cent comes from aggregator statistics without authoritative support, and since self-citation runs high across astronomy generally the figure should not be treated as fact.自引水平口径： 库内记录的自引率接近百分之二十七，来自聚合站统计而未获权威佐证，天文学类期刊的自引水平普遍较高，该值不宜当作事实。[1]
Standing: one of the oldest and most prolific general journals in astronomy, the title organises scholarly debate across several sub-fields of astrophysics.学科地位： 本刊是天文学界历史最悠久且发文量最大的综合刊物之一，在天体物理多个子方向上承担着组织学术讨论的功能。[1]