Open Journal of Astrophysics

{{Infobox journal | title = Open Journal of Astrophysics | cover = OJAp journal cover.jpg | caption = Cover image of OJAp | discipline = Astronomy, astrophysics | language = English | editor = Peter Coles | publisher = Maynooth Academic Publishing | country = United Kingdom | history = 2019-present | frequency = continuous | openaccess = Diamond <ref name=diamond_oa/> | license = CC-BY | impact = 6.8 (unofficial) | impact-year = 2025 | ISSNlabel = | ISSN = 2565-6120 | website = https://astro.theoj.org/ }} '''''Open Journal of Astrophysics''''' ('''OJAp''') is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in astronomy and astrophysics. It publishes original research in the form of scientific papers.

OJAp is a relatively new academic journal in astrophysics. Over the past few years, it has rapidly gained traction, after several other formerly free-to-publish journals in astronomy and astrophysics changed to have high fees. A founding motivation for OJAp was to avoid unnecessarily costly subscriptions to academic journals for universities, and article processing fees for authors.<ref name=fqxi_article>{{Cite web |last=Stuart |first=Colin |date=2 July 2025 |title=How to Start Your Own Journal |url=https://qspace.fqxi.org/articles/278/how-to-start-your-own-journal-the-open-journal-of-astrophysics |access-date=15 April 2026 |website=Foundational Questions Institute (FQxI)}}</ref>

The typical time from submission to acceptance is 2-3 months.<ref name=doaj>{{Cite web |title=The Open Journal of Astrophysics |url=https://doaj.org/toc/2565-6120 |access-date=12 April 2026 |website=DOAJ}}</ref> In 2023 the journal published 50 articles, increasing to 121 in 2024, while in 2025 the journal published 214 articles, according to Harvard ADS.<ref name=ads_search_2025>{{Cite web |title=Harvard ADS |url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/fq=%7B!type%3Daqp%20v%3D%24fq_database%7D&fq_database=(database%3Aastronomy%20OR%20database%3Aphysics)&q=%20year%3A(2025)%20bibstem%3A%22OJAP%22&sort=date%20desc%2C%20bibcode%20desc&p_=0 |access-date=12 April 2026 |website=Harvard Astrophysics Data System}}</ref> This makes it roughly ten times smaller than the most known and used astronomy journals, such as MNRAS. Professors from the top international astronomy and astrophysics research institutions, including Princeton, Caltech, MIT, and Harvard now regularly publish in OJAp.<ref name=arxiv_1>{{Cite web |title=Cosmic Rays Masquerading as Cool Cores: An Inverse-Compton Origin for Cool Core Cluster Emission |url=https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.18712 |access-date=11 April 2026 |website=arXiv}}</ref> <ref name=arxiv_2>{{Cite web |title=Finding the boundary: Using galaxy membership to inform galaxy cluster extent through machine learning |url=https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.07516 |access-date=11 April 2026 |website=arXiv}}</ref>

==Content==

OJAp applies a simple criterion for determining whether a paper is acceptable for publication: namely, if and only if it is suitable for the astro-ph section of the arXiv. Therefore, the following six broad topics are covered: Astrophysics of Galaxies, Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics, Earth and Planetary Astrophysics, High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, and Solar and Stellar Astrophysics.

Using Harvard ADS and counting only refereed citations:

{| class="wikitable" |+ OJAp Publication Statistics |- ! Year !! Number of Publications !! Total Citations !! H-index !! Impact Factor |- | 2025 || 214 || 1,373 || 17 || 6.8 |- | 2024 || 121 || 1,627 || 21 || 6.1 |- | 2023 || 50 || 1,313 || 19 || 3.7 |- | 2022 || 17 || 222 || 9 || 4.2 |- | 2021 || 17 || 585 || 8 || 7.8 |- | 2020 || 15 || 314 || 8 || - |- | 2019 || 12 || 1,658 || 10 || - |- | 2018 || 1 || - || - || - |}

==Open access==

OJAp is an arXiv-overlay, diamond open access journal. As a result, all articles are by definition free to read online as soon as they submitted, under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence.<ref name=diamond_oa>{{Cite web |last=Coles |first=Peter |date=9 November 2024 |title=Stop wasting money: go Diamond Open Access |url=https://astro.theoj.org/post/2804-stop-wasting-money-go-diamond-open-access |access-date=11 April 2026 |website=OJA}}</ref> There are no subscription fees for authors, or readers.

OJAp does not yet have an Clarivate impact factor. However, internal analysis calculates an IF of 7.15 (in 2021).<ref name=internal_if>{{Cite web |last=Coles |first=Peter |date=16 July 2022 |title=Our (unofficial) Journal Impact Factor for 2021 |url=https://astro.theoj.org/post/1589-our-unofficial-journal-impact-factor-for-2021 |access-date=11 April 2026 |website=OJA}}</ref> The journal is indexed on Scopus, with a SCImago journal rank (SJR) of 0.726 (2024), placing in the second quartile.<ref name=scimago>{{Cite web |title=Open Journal of Astrophysics |url=https://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php?q=21101206920&tip=sid&clean=0 |access-date=12 April 2026 |website=SCImago}}</ref> Ongoing shifts in research priorities towards Open Science will be essential for the widespread adoption and recognition of community-led journals such as OJAp.<ref name=eso_library>{{Cite web |last=Grothkopf |first=Uta |date=1 August 2025 |title=The Publication Landscape in Astronomy |url=https://www.eso.org/sci/libraries/edocs/ESO/2025-08_ESO_Writing_School.pdf |access-date=11 April 2026 |website=European Southern Observatory (ESO), Library, Documentation, and Information Services (LDIS) Department}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

==External Links==

* {{official website|https://astro.theoj.org/}}

Category:Astronomy journals Category:English-language journals Category:Astronomy in the United Kingdom