After a brief historical introduction, we review the scope, editorial process, and production organization of A&A, one of the leading journals worldwide dedicated to publishing the results of astrophysical research. We then briefly discuss the economic model of the Journal and some current issues in scientific publishing.

Dutch astronomer S.R. Pottasch, who was appointed as one of the two first Editors-in-Chief of A&A together with J.L. Steinberg, recalls the events that led to the creation of the first European astronomy journal. This account is based on the author’s notes and documents and also on an article relating ESO’s early history written by A. Blaauw and published in The ESO Messenger No. 60, pp. 23–34 (1990). C. Bertout added footnotes giving a few biographical details about the actors.

This chapter explains the functioning of scientific journals from the editorial side of the process. Both the history and current functioning of scientific journals are reviewed with a particular emphasis on the evolution of the referee’s role. In its current form, the evaluation of a submission is interactive between the three parties – the author(s), editors, and reviewers. The editors serve as the mediators and final evaluators, seeking advice from one or more contacted experts who are in the special position of evaluating the science, presentation, and significance of the work. The chapter explains how this proceeds, and its advantages, pitfalls, and criteria – scientific, archival, and ethical – and how these have evolved historically and consensually. Since referees and editors are also authors, the symbiosis of the process is one of its strengths, since all participants exchange roles.

This paper describes the various facets of the publishing activity. The task of the publisher is to make every effort to promote the work of researchers who have submitted their article for publication. This requires the set up and maintenance of an effective management interface, timely production, delivery of quality items, a high-performance web interface, sustainable data archiving, indexing in large databases, and round-the-clock maintenance of data access. It is a daily work that envolves a dedicated professionals team for the timely production of Astronomy & Astrophysics.

In 2002, the A&A Board of Directors voted that all articles must be written in English and decided to improve the overall quality of the language in the articles with the help of a team of language editors. This article reviews the general advantages of editing the English expression and describes both the aims of this effort and its place in the full publication process. This is followed by the Guide to language editing that has been available on the Journal’s website for several years now.

We reproduce here the guide to the English editing currently in use at A&A.

This chapter reviews services offered by astronomy libraries for assisting astronomers in their research. Special attention is given to the two most important information tools in astronomy: the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) and the arXiv e-print server. Some less known features will be presented to lead to more efficient use of these tools. The core astronomy journals are explained, along with the open access concept and how it interacts with existing journals. The chapter also provides an introduction to bibliometric studies and shows why publication and citation statistics are important for both researchers and observatories. Finally, examples of cooperation between librarians and astronomers are presented in the context of working groups and conferences.

Scientific results strongly rely on previous studies, experiments, and observations. A huge quantity of data is produced by astronomers and needs to be available to the whole community. To support astronomers in their daily research work, the Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (Strasbourg astronomical data center – CDS) collects, verifies, homogenizes, and organizes information – in particular, those published in academic journals – in the most appropriate and comprehensible way. This CDS goal can reach the highest level of quality only through a close collaboration with journals, authors, and referees. This paper presents the succession of processes leading published data to the CDS databases, focusing on the strategy that maintains a high level of quality. Authors and referees are strongly encouraged to actively contribute to this endeavor. A few examples of how CDS databases are used through CDS services are also presented.