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To submit to ApJ (The Astrophysical Journal), you use the single AAS manuscript portal that serves all of the American Astronomical Society’s journals, choose ApJ and a topical corridor, and upload a manuscript that meets the AAS pre-submission checklist. This guide puts the AAS requirements into one ordered walk-through and adds the 2026 article charges. Facts below come from the AAS journals site and were checked on 2026-10-29.
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What ApJ submission is
ApJ is The Astrophysical Journal, published by the American Astronomical Society (AAS). “ApJ journal submission” means sending a manuscript through the AAS submission system for consideration in ApJ. The AAS states that a manuscript must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. All AAS journals have been open access since 1 January 2022.
Which AAS journal and corridor
AAS runs one submission portal for the Astronomical Journal (AJ), ApJ, the Astrophysical Journal Letters (ApJL), the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series (ApJS), the Planetary Science Journal (PSJ) and Research Notes of the AAS (RNAAS). The “Submit a manuscript” button on the AAS submission page leads to the portal at aas.msubmit.net, and the page asks authors to read it before proceeding.
During submission you select a journal and a topical corridor. The checklist notes that the Lead Editor makes the final decision on which journal handles the paper, so the choice you make is a request, not a commitment.
Before you submit: the AAS checklist
The AAS pre-submission checklist for authors contains specific requirements that are easy to miss. Check each one against your files:
- Line numbers. The checklist says to make sure the manuscript includes line numbers.
- Abstract length in two places. The abstract must be shorter than 250 words, both in the manuscript file and in the submission-form abstract field.
- Author emails. Have a current email address for every author.
- Flat file structure. The upload system cannot parse folders or subdirectories, so every file must sit at the same directory level.
- Author order. The authors you enter in the form must be in the same order as in the manuscript PDF.
The AAS author resources page also links the Manuscript Preparation guide, AASTeX, the AAS Style Guide, the Graphics Guide, the Data Guide and the Guide to Digital Assets. It notes a partnership with Overleaf that allows direct upload of initial submissions to AJ, ApJ, ApJS and ApJL. If your paper has a data availability statement, see the CASRAI entry on the data availability statement.
Steps in the portal
The AAS checklist describes what the submission form asks for. In order:
- Open the AAS submission page and follow “Submit a manuscript” to the portal.
- Choose the journal (for example ApJ) and a topical corridor.
- Enter the title, abstract and authors, with authors in manuscript order.
- Choose whether to opt in to dual anonymous review (see below).
- Acknowledge the AAS Professional and Ethical Standards.
- Describe your digital assets, and indicate any datasets from astronomy archives (the form asks for DOIs).
- Enter financial information: article charge discounts or support, and how charges are split among authors.
- Enter funder information.
- Select between 1 and 12 concepts from the Unified Astronomy Thesaurus.
- Upload the files and submit.
The sign-in for the system is reached from the portal link on the AAS submission page.
Dual anonymous review
The submission form lets you opt in or out of dual anonymous review. If you opt in, the checklist says to remove identifying information from the manuscript, including file metadata, because the journal will not do it for you. You upload a separate cover letter that carries author names, affiliations and acknowledgements. The checklist also says not to post the paper to arXiv or social media before AAS review if you want to stay anonymous. For general background, see double-anonymized peer review, cover letters for journal submission and preprints.
Article charges for 2026
AAS journals are open access and charge per article. The AAS article charges page gives the 2026 figures below. Charges are computed from “digital quanta” (words, figures and tables).
| Journal | Charge basis | 2026 charge |
|---|---|---|
| AJ, ApJ, ApJS | Tier 1, up to 30 quanta | $1,425 |
| AJ, ApJ, ApJS | Tier 2, 31 to 50 quanta | $3,162 |
| AJ, ApJ, ApJS | Tier 3, 51 to 100 quanta | $5,581 |
| AJ, ApJ, ApJS | More than 100 quanta | Tier 3 charge plus a $250 surcharge |
| ApJL | Up to 40 quanta (includes a $450 handling fee) | $2,978 |
| ApJL | More than 40 quanta | An additional $450 |
| PSJ | Per text quantum; per figure, table and similar item | $69.51; $61.40 |
| RNAAS | None | No charge |
The checklist adds two sources of relief. There is an AAS Publication Support Fund, and AAS members get a 15% discount on one manuscript if their membership dues were paid before 1 January of the membership year (the form asks for the member number). It also states that AAS journals are not part of IOP Publishing’s transformative and institutional access agreements. For the general concept, see article publication charge.
For papers accepted after 11 October 2021, authors retain copyright and grant AAS a non-exclusive CC-BY license; gold open access articles are published under CC BY 4.0.
Strengths and limits
- One portal for six journals. You do not need separate accounts or systems to try ApJ versus ApJL or ApJS.
- Published fee schedule. The charge tiers are on a public page, so you can estimate cost from your quanta count.
- Strict file rules. The flat-directory and 250-word abstract rules mean a package organised in folders must be flattened before upload.
- Cost scales with length. Because charges are computed from words, figures and tables, a long paper with many figures costs more than a short one.
Alternatives within the AAS portal
| If you need | Option the AAS portal offers | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| No article charge | RNAAS | The AAS charges page lists no article charges for RNAAS |
| A different AAS journal for the same manuscript | AJ, ApJL, ApJS, PSJ | All are submitted through the same portal |
| Comparison of submission systems | See Editorial Manager vs ScholarOne vs OJS | Background on other journal systems; AAS uses its own portal (aas.msubmit.net) |
FAQ
Is ApJ open access?
Yes. The AAS states that all of its journals have been open access since 1 January 2022, and accepted articles carry the article charges listed above.
Where do I submit to ApJ?
Go to the AAS submission page at journals.aas.org/submission and choose “Submit a manuscript”, which leads to aas.msubmit.net.
Who do I contact with questions?
The AAS submission page lists [email protected] and (202) 328-2010 for help, [email protected] for data questions and [email protected] for AASTeX.
Can I submit the same paper to another journal at the same time?
No. The AAS author resources page says a manuscript must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere.
Sources
- AAS Journals, Author Resources, checked 2026-10-29.
- AAS Journals, Submission, checked 2026-10-29.
- AAS Journals, Pre-submission checklist for AAS journal authors, checked 2026-10-29.
- AAS Journals, Article charges and copyright, checked 2026-10-29.
