American Astronomical Society

The Astronomical Journal Template

Write in a clean editor, then format for The Astronomical Journal in one click — DocuGuru applies the official American Astronomical Society template with author–year references and exports a submission-ready PDF plus the editable LaTeX source. Free to start.

About the The Astronomical Journal format

The Astronomical Journal is a peer-reviewed journal published by American Astronomical Society, covering Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies, Astronomy and Astrophysical Research, Astro and Planetary Science. Over its lifetime it has published 32,708 papers, which have received 1,157,210 citations.

PublisherAmerican Astronomical Society
Reference styleAuthor–year (AAS)
Author–year — (Smith, 2023) in the text
Smith, A., Jones, B., & Lee, C. 2023, The Astronomical Journal, 12, 45

Formats any DOI in The Astronomical Journal style. No sign-up.

Publishes research inStellar, planetary, and galactic studies Astronomy and Astrophysical Research Astro and Planetary Science Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
ISSN0004-6256
Citation impact (2-yr)4.67
h-index353
i10-index15,606
Article processing charge$4,499
Open accessYes — indexed in DOAJ
Top institutions publishing hereCalifornia Institute of Technology
Journal websiteiopscience.org
You getA submission-ready PDF and the editable LaTeX source — ready to submit.

Papers published in The Astronomical Journal per year

308
2014
391
2015
431
2016
556
2017
551
2018
526
2019
614
2020
594
2021
555
2022
553
2023
601
2024
712
2025

Citation impact of The Astronomical Journal by publication year

15.4K
2014
17.1K
2015
19.1K
2016
29.8K
2017
33.5K
2018
20.9K
2019
18.4K
2020
13.5K
2021
9.4K
2022
8.7K
2023
5.3K
2024
2.1K
2025

Citations each year’s papers have accumulated so far — the most recent years are still building up.

Most-cited papers in The Astronomical Journal

Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant

Adam G. Riess, A. V. Filippenko, P. Challis et al. · 1 Sep 1998

We present spectral and photometric observations of 10 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) in the redshift range 0.16 z 0.62. The luminosity distances of these objects are determined by methods that employ relations between SN Ia luminosity and light curve shape. Combined with previous data from our High-z Supernova Search Team and recent results by…

19,565 citations Cite SaveGo to paper →
The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)

Michael F. Skrutskie, R. M. Cutri, R. Stiening et al. · 24 Jan 2006

Between 1997 June and 2001 February the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) collected 25.4 Tbytes of raw imaging data covering 99.998% of the celestial sphere in the near-infrared J (1.25 μm), H (1.65 μm), and Ks (2.16 μm) bandpasses. Observations were conducted from two dedicated 1.3 m diameter telescopes located at Mount Hopkins, Arizona,…

12,213 citations Cite SaveGo to paper →
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary

Donald G. York, Jennifer Adelman, John E. Anderson et al. · 1 Sep 2000

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) will provide the data to support detailed investigations of the distribution of luminous and non- luminous matter in the Universe: a photometrically and astrometrically calibrated digital imaging survey of pi steradians above about Galactic latitude 30 degrees in five broad optical bands to a depth of g' about 23…

10,507 citations Cite SaveGo to paper →
THE WIDE-FIELD INFRARED SURVEY EXPLORER (WISE): MISSION DESCRIPTION AND INITIAL ON-ORBIT PERFORMANCE

E. L. Wright, Peter Eisenhardt, Amy Mainzer et al. · 9 Nov 2010

The all sky surveys done by the Palomar Observatory Schmidt, the European Southern Observatory Schmidt, and
\nthe United Kingdom Schmidt, the InfraRed Astronomical Satellite, and the Two Micron All Sky Survey have
\nproven to be extremely useful tools for astronomy with value that lasts for decades. The Wide-field Infrared
\nSurvey Explorer (WISE) is mapping the whole sky following…

8,088 citations Cite SaveGo to paper →
The Astropy Project: Building an Open-science Project and Status of the v2.0 Core Package<sup>*</sup>

Adrian M. Price-Whelan, Brigitta Sipőcz, Hans Moritz Günther et al. · 23 Aug 2018

Abstract The Astropy Project supports and fosters the development of open-source and openly developed Python packages that provide commonly needed functionality to the astronomical community. A key element of the Astropy Project is the core package astropy , which serves as the foundation for more specialized projects and packages. In this article, we provide an…

7,462 citations Cite SaveGo to paper →

The Astronomical Journal template — frequently asked questions

How do I write a paper in the The Astronomical Journal format?
In DocuGuru you write your manuscript in a normal editor — no LaTeX setup required — and select the The Astronomical Journal template. When you export, DocuGuru compiles the paper into the official American Astronomical Society format and hands you a submission-ready PDF along with the editable LaTeX source.
What reference style does The Astronomical Journal use?
The Astronomical Journal uses Author–year (AAS) references, shown as author–year markers such as (Smith, 2023) in the text. DocuGuru formats every in-text citation and the reference list in this exact style automatically. A reference appears like this: Smith, A., Jones, B., & Lee, C. 2023, The Astronomical Journal, 12, 45
Do I need to know LaTeX to submit to The Astronomical Journal?
No. DocuGuru generates the aastex701 LaTeX class and compiles the PDF for you in the background, so you get a American Astronomical Society-ready The Astronomical Journal document without writing any LaTeX. If you do want it, the LaTeX source is included in the export.
Can I import an existing draft into the The Astronomical Journal template?
Yes. Paste or upload your current manuscript — Word, LaTeX, Markdown, or plain text — and DocuGuru reflows it into the The Astronomical Journal format with correct headings, figures, tables, and author–year citations.
What is The Astronomical Journal?
The Astronomical Journal (AJ), AAS journal for observational astronomy.
Can I export a submission-ready The Astronomical Journal PDF?
Yes — DocuGuru produces a PDF built with the official The Astronomical Journal template (the aastex701 class) that is ready to submit to American Astronomical Society, together with the matching LaTeX source files.
How much does the The Astronomical Journal template cost?
You can start writing in the The Astronomical Journal template for free. Exporting the final submission-ready The Astronomical Journal PDF and LaTeX source is part of DocuGuru's paid plans — see the app for current pricing.
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