The Astronomical Journal (often abbreviated AJ in scientific papers and references) is a peer-reviewed monthly scientific journal owned by the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and currently published by IOP Publishing. It is one of the premier journals for astronomy in the world.
Until 2008, the journal was published by the University of Chicago Press on behalf of the AAS. The reasons for the change to the IOP were given by the society as the desire of the University of Chicago Press to revise its financial arrangement and their plans to change from the particular software that had been developed in-house. The other two publications of the society, the Astrophysical Journal and its supplement series, followed in January 2009.
The journal was established in 1849 by Benjamin A. Gould. It ceased publication in 1861 due to the American Civil War, but resumed in 1885. Between 1909 and 1941 the journal was edited in Albany, New York. In 1941, editor Benjamin Boss arranged to transfer responsibility for the journal to the AAS.
The first electronic edition of The Astronomical Journal was published in January, 1998. With the July, 2006 issue, The Astronomical Journal began e-first publication, an electronic version of the journal released independently of the hardcopy issues.
As of 2016, all of the scientific AAS journals were placed under a single editor-in-chief. On January 1, 2022, the AAS Journals, including AJ, transitioned to Gold open access model, with all new papers released under a Creative Commons Attribution license and access restrictions and subscription charges removed from previously published papers.
Editors
2016–present Ethan Vishniac
2005–2015 John Gallagher III
1984–2004 Paul W. Hodge
1980–1983 Norman H. Baker
1975–1979 Norman H. Baker and Leon B. Lucy
1967–1974 Lodewijk Woltjer (with Baker and Lucy for later volumes)
1966–1967 Gerald Maurice Clemence
1965–1966: Dirk Brouwer and Gerald Maurice Clemence
1963–1965: Dirk Brouwer
1959–1963: Dirk Brouwer and Harlan James Smith
1941–1959: Dirk Brouwer
1912–1941: Benjamin Boss
1909–1912: Lewis Boss
1896–1909: Seth Carlo Chandler
1885–1896: Benjamin A. Gould, Jr.
1849–1861: Benjamin A. Gould, Jr.