''Open Astronomy'' (formerly ''Baltic Astronomy'') is a

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

fully

open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication designed to further the progress of science by disseminating new research findings to the scientific community. These journals serve as a platform for researchers, schola ...

, and currently published by De Gruyter Open. The journal was established in 1992 by the Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy (

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Ea ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

) as ''Baltic Astronomy'', obtaining its current title in 2017 when it converted to

. The journal is devoted to publishing research, reviews and news spanning all aspects of

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

and

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

. The editor in chief is Prof. Beatriz Barbuy (IAG,

University of São Paulo The Universidade de São Paulo (, USP) is a public research university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, and the largest public university in Brazil. The university was founded on 25 January 1934, regrouping already existing schools in ...

History

Open Astronomy is the continuation of publishing in the open access model of ''Baltic Astronomy'', which was published by the Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy in Vilnius for astronomical institutions of the

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

. The political liberation in the then Soviet Union during the later part of the 1980s enabled increased international contacts. For greater international visibility, a modern journal publishing in English was desired, replacing several less visible publication series from the observatories in Tartu, Riga, and Vilnius. Each of those had, during Soviet rule, published mainly in Russian. Following discussions among the Baltic astronomical institutes, it was agreed to discontinue those publications once ''Baltic Astronomy'' was launched. Some regrets were expressed for the discontinuation of the long-running ''Publications of the Tartu Astrophysical Observatory'' (Estonian title: ), which, with some name variants, had been published at Tartu Observatory since 1817 (Latin title of its volume 1: ). Its final volume 53 appeared in 1990. Also the more recent ''Proceedings of the Tartu Astrophysical Observatory'' (Estonian title: ), started in 1954, were concluded with its number 109 in 1991. In Latvia, the publication series ''Investigations of the Sun and Red Stars'' by the Radioastrophysocal Observatory of the

Latvian Academy of Sciences The Latvian Academy of Sciences (, ) is the official science academy of Latvia and is an association of the country's foremost scientists. The academy was founded as the ''Latvian SSR Academy of Sciences'' (). It is located in Riga. The curren ...

in Riga (Latvian title: ), started in 1974, published its final volume 36 in 1993. In Lithuania, the ''Bulletin of the Vilnius Astronomical Observatory'' (Lithuanian title: ), founded in 1960 (published by Vilnius University Astronomical Observatory, in collaboration with the Institute of Physics and Mathematics), issued its final volume 86 in 1992. ''Baltic Astronomy'' was sponsored by the Ministry of Education and Science (Lithuania), and published quarterly (4 issues per year). Its final volume 25 appeared in 2016. Its editor in chief since the journal's inception in 1992 was Vytautas Straižys.

Abstracting and indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed by: *

Astrophysics Data System The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is a digital library portal for researchers on astronomy and physics, operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. ADS maintains three bibliographic collections containing over 15 ...

Current Contents ''Current Contents'' is a rapid alerting service database from Clarivate, formerly the Institute for Scientific Information and Thomson Reuters. It is published online and in several different printed subject sections. History ''Current Contents ...

/Physical, Chemical & Earth Sciences *

Inspec Inspec is a major indexing database of scientific and technical literature, published by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), and formerly by the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), one of the IET's forerunners. Inspec cov ...

Science Citation Index Expanded The Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) is a citation index owned by Clarivate and previously by Thomson Reuters. It was created by the Eugene Garfield at the Institute for Scientific Information, launched in 1964 as Science Citation Index ( ...

Scopus Scopus is a scientific abstract and citation database, launched by the academic publisher Elsevier as a competitor to older Web of Science in 2004. The ensuing competition between the two databases has been characterized as "intense" and is c ...

VINITI VINITI (; All-Russian Institute for Scientific and Technical Information; former All-Union Institute for Scientific and Technical Information) is a subsidiary of the Russian Academy of Sciences devoted to gathering scientific and technical inform ...

/ Referativny Zhurnal Astronomija

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/astro Astronomy journals Academic journals established in 1992 Quarterly journals 1992 establishments in Lithuania English-language journals Open access journals De Gruyter academic journals