Publications Committee

Charge: The Publications Committee provides independent oversight of the AAS research journals. The Publications Committee serves as the chief conduit between AAS members and AAS leaders on matters related to publishing in the Society’s research journals and encourages communications from members on these issues. This committee regularly reviews the publication policies of each of the Society’s research journals and reports its findings and recommendations to the Board of Trustees. It reviews new AAS research Publishing initiatives, in consultation with the Editor in Chief. It oversees the recruitment and hiring of the Editor in Chief; carries out the annual performance review of the Editor in Chief; reviews and approves Lead Editor appointments made by the Editor in Chief; and is consulted in the selection of Scientific Editors.

Members: There shall be 9 or 10 voting members of the Publications Committee, consisting of eight regular members, the chair, and every fourth year a chair-elect. The Board of Trustees shall appoint new Publications Committee members from nominees provided by the Publications Committee, who must be members of the Society. Written consent to serve shall be required of all candidates for the Publications Committee. When vacancies occur, the Publications Committee will nominate new members to be approved by the Board, paying close attention to nominating individuals with no dualities of interest (e.g. serving as an editor for a non-AAS scholarly publication). All members must disclose conflicts of interest on an annual basis while serving on the committee. The AAS Publications Committee Librarian Representative will be selected by the Publications Committee after an open call for expressions of interest is made to the Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics (PAM) Division membership by the current Librarian Representative, and in collaboration with the PAM Board. The Librarian Representative shall be a non-voting committee member, will be approved by the Publications Committee and the Board of Trustees, and need not be a member of the Society.

Term: The regular committee members shall each serve for four years. Two new members shall be appointed each year to replace two retiring members. The chair shall serve a term of four years following one year as chair-elect. A new chair-elect shall be elected every fourth year, from nominees sent by the Publications Committee to the AAS Board. The term for the SLA PAM Division's representative is also four years.

Chair: Nominees shall be sent by the Publications Committee to the AAS Board, in close consultation with the editor-in-chief, the current committee chair, and President. Nominees must have previously served on the Publications Committee or in some capacity of scholarly publishing activities. 

History: AAS Bylaws Article VI, Sec. 3, Approved 1 January 1979; revised January 2015.