The American Astronomical Society (AAS) and its publications partner the Institute of Physics (IOP) Publishing announce the return of Research Notes of the AAS (RNAAS) – short communications for the rapid publication and distribution of new and exciting results.
Last published in print in the 1970s, RNAAS have been brought up to date for digital publication by the AAS editorial team, led by AAS Editor in Chief Ethan Vishniac and Oxford University astrophysicist Chris Lintott, who serves as the AAS journals’ Lead Editor for Instrumentation, Software, Laboratory Astrophysics, and Data.
“Research Notes are short communications – at most 1,000 words and one figure or table – that provide an indexed and secure record of works in progress, comments and clarifications, null results, and timely reports of observations, such as the spectrum of a supernova,” explains Lintott. “They will also cover results that wouldn’t traditionally merit a full paper, such as the discovery of a single exoplanet or contributions to the monitoring of variable sources.
“We want them to be as accessible as possible for the community,” continues Lintott, “so currently they are free both to publish and to read. Moreover, they are citable and searchable in the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS), just like other papers in our journals.”
Research Notes are not subject to the same peer-review process as standard journal articles. Instead they are checked by a member of the AAS Journals Editorial Board to make sure they are appropriate and meet the guidelines for subject and format, then published as submitted, with no copy-editing or other production services. “The AAS’s priority for Research Notes is fast dissemination of knowledge,” says Lintott, “and this abbreviated publishing process ensures that they are available online within three business days of acceptance.”