Aims, Scope and Objectives
The Revista Mexicana de Astronomía y Astrofísica publishes original research papers in all branches of astronomy, astrophysics, and related topics. It has editorial policies that guarantee the integrity of the contents and the adoption of ethical publishing practices, and it functions as a vehicle for the dissemination of knowledge, and as a public record of research results in astronomy, astrophysics, and related topics. It is a digital, open access publication with a global reach, with an editorial process that is offered free of charge.
Journal Modalities
It has three publication modalities: the main one (acronym RMxAA), founded in 1974; the Conference Series (acronym RMxAC), founded in 1995; and the Early Career Series (acronym RMxAT), which will begin in November 2026. This document describes the editorial policy of the main journal.
General Information
The Revista Mexicana de Astronomía y Astrofísica (RMxAA) is a triannual publication edited by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Delegación Coyoacán, 04510 Mexico City, through the Institute of Astronomy.
Since its foundation, it has been an open access scientific journal, with a free editorial process for authorship groups and institutions. Starting in 2025, it is a journal distributed exclusively in digital format.
The digital ISSN of RMxAA is 3061-8649 and is the only one currently in use. The printed ISSN was 0185-1101 and was valid until 2024, when the printed version was discontinued.
The RMxAA is currently hosted on its own editorial platform at https://astronomia.unam.mx/journals/rmxaa/. This platform is compatible with the Open Journal Systems digital publishing software (https://pkp.sfu.ca/software/ojs/).
Editorial Model
Since its foundation, RMxAA has been completely free and open access for authorship groups and institutions dedicated to the fields covered by the journal. It receives manuscripts from specialists all over the world, and its content covers a wide diversity of topics. Originally, the journal was printed and distributed free of charge to the libraries of organizations conducting astronomical research in at least 50 countries. Since 2000, the complete collection (which currently contains 62 volumes distributed across 125 issues) is also available in digital format in open access and completely free to consult or download, at https://astronomia.unam.mx/journals/rmxaa/issue/archive.
Open Science Practices
Since its foundation, the journal has been published under the open access modality, so all its content is freely accessible at no cost to users or their institutions. Registered individuals are authorized to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal (or the figures and tables contained therein) without prior permission from the editorial board or the authorship group, in accordance with the BOAI (Budapest Open Access Initiative) definition of Open Access. The reuse of works can be done for non-commercial purposes, provided there is proper acknowledgement of authorship and the original source is indicated.
Since its foundation, all RMxAA articles have been distributed free of charge. The printed version used to be sent, free of charge, to more than 70 institutions in Mexico and other parts of the world. In the current digital version, the RMxAA web platform includes free and open access to all volumes (62), all issues (125), and all individual articles of the journal (1245) from 1974 to date.
Currently, each article is assigned a DOI preceded by the words OPEN ACCESS in the third line of the header of each article, which is registered with the DOI organization at https://www.doi.org/ and allows access to the published article from anywhere.
Currently, it is not mandatory for published articles to include information on access to data or codes.
In addition, RMxAA participates in interoperability initiatives for scientific communication by implementing the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH), which allows the automated exposure and harvesting of metadata by repositories, indexes, and academic aggregators. The journal's OAI-PMH access point is available at https://astronomia.unam.mx/journals/rmxaa/oai, contributing to the visibility, accessibility, preservation, and integration of its contents into open science infrastructures.
Originality and Quality
RMxAA publishes original research papers in astronomy and astrophysics, which can be submitted for review by any person or group in the world. The originality of the works is always checked during the editorial process, confirming that they have not been previously published in other journals or editorial organs. The quality of the works is also carefully and strictly considered, which is why the RMxAA Scientific Editorial Committee is made up of members of the scientific community, specialists, and leaders in 11 areas of the discipline. When reviewing new contributions, the Scientific Editorial group may suggest rejecting those works that do not meet the minimum criteria for content, accuracy, and quality. Strict peer review also serves this function for contributions selected for review: reviewers (referees) are always chosen from a list of specialists in the topic of each contribution, and they provide detailed reports that include recommendations and corrections, typically in two rounds of review (although there are cases that may require three or more). The members of the authorship group must answer the referee reports point by point and must provide corrected versions of the articles with clear indications of the changes to the main text as well as figures, tables, and supplementary materials. This process guarantees both originality and quality in the articles published by RMxAA.
Periodicity Statement
One volume is published per year containing three issues (triannual periodicity) on the following dates: March 1st, July 1st, and November 1st, with the deadline for article submission being January 15th, May 15th, and September 15th, respectively.
Contact
Email: rmaa@astro.unam.mx
Address: Institute of Astronomy UNAM, Circuito Exterior s/n, Zona de la Investigación Científica, Ciudad Universitaria, Delegación Coyoacán, C.P. 04510, Mexico City
Phone: (+52) 55 5622 3906