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25 June 2025
AAS Journals Again Receive Strong Impact Factors
According to the 2025 Journal Citation Reports, the impact factors of AAS journals remained strong in 2024. The Astrophysical Journal Letters (ApJL), the premier journal for rapid publication of high-impact astronomical research, has leapt to an impact factor of 11.7 — a growth of 33% over the previous year — placing it among the most impactful journals in astronomy and astrophysics. The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ), the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series (ApJS), and the Astronomical Journal (AJ) received strong impact factors of 5.4, 8.5, and 5.1, respectively. The Planetary Science Journal (PSJ), which was launched only five years ago, already has an impact factor of 4.3, positioning it as the top journal in the planetary science field.
As one of several quantitative tools used to evaluate journal quality, the impact factor measures the frequency with which the average article has been cited during the previous two years. Another measurement, used by Google Scholar, is the h5-index. In astronomy and astrophysics, our own ApJ (including ApJL) tops the list at 167. AJ and ApJS occupy the 6th and 7th spots, respectively.
The ranking of AAS journals serves to underscore the high-quality, groundbreaking research that our community produces, as well as its valuable efforts to preserve that work and make it accessible to the community and the public. Thank you to the authors, the selfless reviewers who ensure the quality of the journals, the editors who support the peer-review process, and the publishing team who compiles, shares, and preserves this record of our community's work. Together, we continue to support the AAS's mission to enhance and share humanity's scientific understanding of the universe as a diverse and inclusive astronomical community.
We are looking forward to continuing to support the community and seeing the journals grow further.
To submit a manuscript or to learn more about the AAS journals, please visit https://journals.aas.org.
— The AAS Publishing Team