Journal for the History of Astronomy
Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space & Planetary Science | Content Analysis | World History
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Journal for the History of Astronomy is a peer reviewed journal, founded in 1970, and is the only journal devoted to the history of astronomy from earliest times to the present, and to history in the service of astronomy. Its subject matter extends to such allied fields as the history of the relevant branches of mathematics and physics, and the use of historical records in the service of astronomy.
| James Evans | University of Puget Sound, USA |
| Owen Gingerich | Harvard University, USA |
| Michael Hoskin | University of Cambridge, UK |
| Richard L. Kremer | Dartmouth College, USA |
| Anthony Aveni | University of Colgate, USA |
| J.A. Belmonte | Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Spain |
| Dennis W. Duke | Florida State University, USA |
| Bernard R. Goldstein | University of Pittsburgh, USA |
| Miguel A. Granada | University of Barcelona, Spain |
| Nicholas Jardine | University of Cambridge, UK |
| Alexander Jones | New York University, USA |
| Helge Kragh | Aarhus University, Denmark |
| Li Liang | Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Beijing, China |
| Sir Geoffrey Lloyd | University of Cambridge, UK |
| Robert G. Morrison | Bowdoin College, USA |
| S. Mohammad Mozaffari | Maragheh University, Iran |
| C. Philipp E. Nothaft | University of Oxford, UK |
| Joachim Friedrich Quack | Heidelberg University, Germany |
| Francesca Rochberg | University of California, Berkeley, USA |
| Clive Ruggles | University of Leicester, UK |
| Bradley Schaefer | Louisiana State University, USA |
| Sara Schechner | Harvard University, USA |
| Robert Smith | University of Alberta, Canada |
| John Steele | Brown University, USA |
| Richard Stephenson | Durham University, UK |
| Liba Taub | University of Cambridge, UK |
| Anne Tihon | Government, Louvain, Belgium |
| David Valls-Gabaud | Observatoire de Paris, France |
| Albert Van Helden | Utrecht University, Netherlands |
Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Journal for the History of Astronomy
This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics
This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Journal for the History of Astronomy will be reviewed.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.
- What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper - Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests - Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving - Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplementary material
4.4 Reference style
4.5 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
5.3 Permissions - On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article - Further information
Before submitting your manuscript to Journal for the History of Astronomy, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
The Journal publishes articles reporting research in the history of astronomy from earliest times to the present. Its subject matter extends to such allied fields as the history of the relevant branches of mathematics and physics, and the use of historical records in the service of astronomy.
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.
Journal for the History of Astronomy operates a strictly anonymous peer review process. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two referees. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible.
Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors.
The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who:
- Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,
- Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
- Approved the version to be published,
- Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.
Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.
Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.
2.3.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:
- Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
- Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
- Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.
Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
2.3.2 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.
Journal for the History of Astronomy requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
Within your Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement you will be required to make a certification with respect to a declaration of conflicting interests. Journal for the History of Astronomy encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.
Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.
3.1.1 Plagiarism
Journal for the History of Astronomy and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.
3.3 Open access and author archiving
Journal for the History of Astronomy offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.
Journal for the History of Astronomy does not currently accept supplemental files.
Journal for the History of Astronomy adheres to the Sage Harvard reference style. View the Sage Harvard guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
Cite titles of articles, journals and books with as few capitals as possible. Cite journals in full, never abbreviated. Give volume numbers, followed by the year in parentheses. Give for each article etc. the first and the last page number. If you wish to cite a particular page, you may then do so. Thus:
John Smith, "Science today", History of science, 15 (1980), 23-46, p. 30.
John Smith, Medieval science (London, 1999), 30.
For books published after 1900, please give both the publisher's name and the place of publication in the form (London: Dog Press, 1932).
For books published before 1990, place and date are sufficient, in the form (Amsterdam, 1777).
Inessential information, especially place and date but also numbers of volumes etc, goes inside the parentheses; the essential information goes outside the parentheses.
In the case of newspapers etc. that are classed by date rather than volume, cite thus:
English mechanic, 10 July 1880, 25.
Give pairs of numbers up to 99 in full [44-49], but abbreviate the closing page number as far as possible: 233-7. However, numbers that are 'teens should always have the pair of digits: 214-18, not 214-8.
Back references should always cite the earlier ref. where the full details can be found, and should be in whichever of the following forms is the more convenient:
Smith, Medieval science (ref. 24), 13.
Smith, op. cit. (ref. 24), 13.
If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Harvard EndNote output file.
4.5 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you carefully read and adhere to all the guidelines and instructions to authors provided below. Manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Papers offered for publication should in the first instance be submitted in Word for Windows format, as an e-mail attachment to James Evans at:
Department of Physics
University of Puget Sound
1500 North Warner St.
Tacoma, WA 98416 USA
jha@pugetsound.edu
Books for review should be sent to:
Richard L. Kremer
Department of History
6107 Carson Hall
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755
USA
Each manuscript should contain:
(i) title page with full title and subtitle (if any).For the purposes of anonymize refereeing (submissions will be refereed anonymously by at least two referees), full name of each author with current affiliation and full address/phone/fax/email details plus short biographical note should be supplied on a separate sheet.
(ii) abstract of 100-150 words
(iii) up to 10 key words
(iv) Text to be clearly organized, with a clear hierarchy of headings and subheadings and quotations exceeding 40 words displayed, indented, in the text. Texts of a length greatly exceeding this will be considered as interest warrants and space permits.
(v) end notes, if necessary, should be signalled by superscript numbers in the main text and listed at the end of the text before the references.
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities ensuring that their work is recognised.
We encourage all authors to add their ORCIDs to their Sage Track accounts and include their ORCIDs as part of the submission process. If you don’t already have one you can create one here.
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.
6. On acceptance and publication
Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.
Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.
6.3 Access to your published article
Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Journal for the History of Astronomy editorial office as follows:
Department of Physics
University of Puget Sound
1500 North Warner St.
Tacoma, WA 98416 USA
Tel: (253) 879-3813; Fax: (253) 879-1572
Email: jha@pugetsound.edu