Paris, France, 24 September 2025. In the 2024 edition of the Journal Citation Reports™ released by Clarivate in June, Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) received an Impact Factor of 5.8, placing it firmly at the head of the leading journals for original research in astronomy and astrophysics. We were pleased with this result, and are even more pleased to report that, after one of our community members identified missing citations from the highly-cited Gaia Data Release 3 article and raised the issue with the Editors, Clarivate reviewed the record at the request of the publisher, EDP Sciences, and corrected the calculation. A&A’s Impact Factor is now 6.1, and this corrected figure will be formally reflected in the October reload of the JCR.

We are grateful to our authors, reviewers, editors, and readers whose contributions have made this achievement possible. It reflects the quality of the research published in A&A, the strength of the community it serves, and our shared commitment to scientific excellence. As a journal for astronomers, by astronomers, A&A is first and foremost shaped by the values and priorities of its community.

However, as many in our community and across academia more generally recognise, the Impact Factor is a narrow and often flawed measure of scientific impact. It is frequently misused as a proxy to measure the research output of individual scientists or research groups, when in fact it was designed to evaluate journals, not people or institutions. In addition, it can be distorted by editorial policy, shaped by discipline-specific citation practices, and manipulated through strategic publishing behaviours. More fundamentally, it tends to reward short-term citation gains over longer-term influence, and incentivises a “publish or perish” culture that does not always serve the best interests of science.

These concerns were strongly reflected in the recent A&A community survey on publishing practices and challenges that was carried out by the A&A team together with EDP Sciences during May 2025. Preliminary results were presented in June at the European Astronomical Society (EAS) meeting in Cork, Ireland, by João Alves, Professor of Stellar Astrophysics at the University of Vienna and Editor-in-Chief of A&A Letters, while a more detailed analysis is underway and will be presented in A&A later.

Commenting on the findings, Alves said: “We should question the continued reliance on the Impact Factor, which fosters ‘publish or perish’ behaviours and encourages citation-driven publishing. If we want to support meaningful research, we need to move beyond metrics that reward visibility over substance.”

While many respondents still consider citation counts useful for assessing individual articles and Impact Factors helpful when choosing where to publish, the survey revealed a clear desire for a more balanced and nuanced approach to evaluating research impact.

Respondents highlighted the value of using more qualitative measures such as:

• Shifting paradigms, opening new research avenues, or making a lasting contribution to a field
• Real-world outcomes, including tangible benefits, societal relevance, or influence on policy and practice
• Engagement with the research community, including discussion, collaboration, and follow-up work
• Broader reach and dissemination, such as contributions to education, public understanding of science, and non-academic audiences
• Support for future reuse of research outputs by linking underlying data, software, methods, and other resources directly to the published article

While article-level metrics remain important to many researchers, survey respondents also noted the limitations of citation-based metrics, including disciplinary variation, time lags, and their vulnerability to gaming. As one respondent commented:

“Obtaining many citations is nice and boosts the researchers’ metric values … but nowadays papers are very often not really cited for their achievements anymore but appear in long lists of citations, often not even for the right reason. An impact occurs when the research results are used, when codes are further developed, or the results are discussed in proper context, which is barely the case anymore.”

Although some welcomed the growing use of alternative metrics (such as downloads or social media mentions), these too were viewed with caution. Ultimately, many researchers felt that impact should be assessed in context, with attention to a paper’s purpose, audience, and potential to inform future work. As one respondent observed, “Citation matters a lot, but is not everything. Public engagement is also very important, especially if a work instigates the curiosity of general public, and gets media attention.” Others noted that personal satisfaction, scholarly contribution, and the intrinsic value of rigorous research often go unrecognised by any metric at all.

A&A supports these calls for reform. As a community journal, we are committed not only to high-quality publishing, but also to responsible research assessment. A&A already provides alternative article-level metrics and will continue to do so, as encouraged by initiatives such as the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). We encourage institutions, funders, and researchers to consider a broad range of contributions when evaluating scientific work, and to avoid overreliance on any single metric, however convenient.

So while we celebrate this year’s Impact Factor, we do so with perspective. It is a recognition of the trust placed in A&A by its authors and readers. But the true impact of a paper lies in the knowledge it advances, the conversations it starts, and the future work it inspires.

Arūnas Kučinskas – Chairperson, A&A Board of Directors
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Charlotte Van Rooyen – Director of Marketing and Communications, EDP Sciences
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About Astronomy & Astrophysics

Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) is a peer-reviewed community journal that publishes original research in astronomy and astrophysics. Guided by its mission as a journal for astronomers, by astronomers, the journal is an international consortium governed by a Board of Directors who set the policies for A&A including general guidelines for publishing, the selection of the Editors, the various financial aspects, as well as membership of new countries.

The Editors are astronomers that are independent of any government or administrative body associated with the journal. A&A promotes diversity and equity in science and embraces open, inclusive, and fair practices that reflect the culture and values of the worldwide community of astronomers. Educational initiatives sponsored by A&A and EDP Sciences, such as the Science Writing for Young Astronomers (SWYA) workshops, educate and develop early career astronomers.

About EDP Sciences

Founded in 1920 by a distinguished group of French learned societies including eminent scientists like Marie Curie, Paul Langevin and Louis de Broglie, EDP Sciences today publishes high-quality scientific journals, conferences proceeding, books and magazines in a broad range of scientific, technical, and medical disciplines.