astronomy-and-astrophysics - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: astronomy-and-astrophysics description: Use when targeting Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) or deciding whether an astronomy manuscript fits this European flagship published by EDP Sciences. Encodes the journal's fit, framing, method-and-evidence bar, house style, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics.

Astronomy & Astrophysics (astronomy-and-astrophysics)

Journal positioning

A&A is published by EDP Sciences on behalf of a consortium of mostly European countries and is the European flagship journal covering all of astronomy and astrophysics. Its defining character is comprehensive scope paired with high observational and methodological rigor: A&A publishes the full range of the field — stellar physics, the interstellar medium, galaxies, cosmology, the Sun and heliosphere, planets and exoplanets, and instrumentation — and is especially strong on observational surveys, data-rich analyses, and instrument/method papers. It maintains a dedicated Letters section for urgent, significant short results alongside full-length research articles. A&A rewards careful, reproducible analysis with complete description of data reduction, calibration, and uncertainties; it is a working journal of record for the community, not a venue that prioritizes headline novelty over completeness. Readership is the international astronomy community, with a strong European base. This skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool. It does not replace the journal's current official submission guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live author instructions on the A&A/EDP Sciences site.

When to trigger

The author names A&A as the target venue for a complete astronomy or astrophysics research article or a Letter.
A manuscript is an observational survey, instrumentation/method paper, or data-driven astrophysical analysis and the author is choosing between A&A, The Astrophysical Journal, The Astronomical Journal, and MNRAS.
A short, time-critical but significant result needs the A&A Letters section.
The author needs A&A's data-reduction-documentation norms, language-editing expectations, and section conventions, plus desk-reject criteria, before submission.

Scope & topic fit

Stellar physics: stellar structure and evolution, atmospheres, spectroscopy, asteroseismology, variable and binary stars, and stellar populations.
Interstellar medium and star formation: molecular clouds, dust, astrochemistry, protostars, and feedback processes.
Galaxies and cosmology: galaxy formation and evolution, AGN, large-scale structure, the high-redshift universe, and cosmological parameter analyses.
The Sun, heliosphere, and solar-stellar connection: solar physics, magnetism, and space weather drivers.
Planetary systems and exoplanets: detection, characterization, atmospheres, dynamics, and solar-system bodies.
Instrumentation, numerical methods, catalogs, and data-reduction techniques that enable the above — A&A explicitly welcomes instrument and method papers.

Method & evidence bar

Data reduction, calibration, and analysis must be documented completely enough to reproduce; this is a central A&A referee expectation.
Uncertainties must be propagated and reported rigorously; statistical methods must be appropriate and justified, with systematics discussed explicitly.
Observational claims must account for selection effects, completeness, and instrumental systematics; survey papers must define samples precisely.
Numerical and modeling results must specify codes, parameters, and convergence sufficiently for reproduction.
New results should be placed against existing measurements and theoretical expectations, with quantitative comparison rather than qualitative assertion.
Data products, catalogs, and code should be made available (e.g., via the CDS/VizieR for tables, or a public repository); A&A has long-standing data-archiving links with the CDS.

Structure & house style

A&A uses the aa LaTeX class (EDP Sciences aa.cls); manuscripts follow standard structure (Introduction, Observations/Data, Methods/Analysis, Results, Discussion, Conclusions) with appendices for technical detail.
Full-length articles have no strict hard length cap but should be appropriately concise; Letters are short, with their own length limit and a fast-track significance bar.
Clear, correct scientific English is expected; A&A provides language-editing services and may require editing where needed.
Tables intended for the community should be submitted in machine-readable form and are archived at the CDS; large tables go to the CDS rather than the body text.
Figures must be quantitatively clear with labeled axes and uncertainties; color and multi-panel figures are standard.
References follow the A&A/EDP style; the abstract is structured into Context, Aims, Methods, and Results.

Official-submission checklist

Before giving submission-ready advice, read ../../resources/source-basis.md and ../../resources/official-source-map.md; start from the official source anchors for this journal family, then cite the current journal-specific page you checked.
Search the live site for "Astronomy & Astrophysics author guidelines" / "A&A instructions for authors" and follow the current EDP Sciences version.
Re-check the aa.cls LaTeX class and current formatting, the structured-abstract requirement, and Letters length limits.
Re-check CDS/VizieR table-submission and data-archiving requirements; confirm accepted repositories for data and code.
Re-check language-editing, open-access/charge options, competing-interests, and AI-use disclosure; confirm preprint (arXiv) policy.
If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win.

Pre-submission self-check

One sentence — the astronomical result of this paper and how it advances the field.
Data reduction, calibration, and uncertainties are documented completely enough to reproduce the analysis.
Selection effects, completeness, and systematics are addressed; samples and methods are precisely defined.
The manuscript uses the aa.cls class with a structured (Context/Aims/Methods/Results) abstract.
Machine-readable tables are prepared for the CDS; data and code availability is arranged.
The paper is positioned against recent A&A / ApJ / MNRAS measurements and models on this question.

Common desk-reject triggers

An analysis with incompletely described data reduction, missing uncertainties, or unaddressed systematics.
A survey or catalog paper with an ill-defined sample, ignored selection effects, or no completeness assessment.
A result presented without quantitative comparison to existing measurements or theory.
A Letter that does not meet the urgency-and-significance bar or exceeds the Letters length limit.
Manuscript English so unclear that the scientific content cannot be assessed, with no use of available language editing.

Re-routing decision

AAS-style framing or a US-community readership better matched to the ApJ family: the-astrophysical-journal.
Observationally broad survey, catalog, solar-system, or exoplanet data paper emphasizing the data product: the-astronomical-journal.
RAS-community framing, theory-heavy or simulation-driven astrophysics suited to the RAS journals: monthly-notices-of-the-royal-astronomical-society.
High-impact, broad-audience astronomy result for a Nature-family venue: nature-astronomy.

Output format

[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A)
[Topic tags] <2–3 closest topics>
[Method/evidence] <is the data reduction, uncertainty treatment, and systematics handling complete and reproducible, with quantitative comparison to prior work?>
[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
[Official items to re-check] <aa.cls & structured abstract / Letters length / CDS table archiving / data-code / language editing / arXiv policy>
[Re-route suggestion] <if not a fit, a better-matched venue>