Journal profile · ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
ISSN 0035-8711 · eISSN 1365-2966 · Oxford University Press · ENGLAND · Biweekly · Founded 1831
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: CAS Zone 2 · Physics & Astronomy (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 5; fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; review about 3 months (community reports); community-reported acceptance: fairly hard; 2,296 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society is published by Oxford University Press and is in Zone 2 of Physics & Astronomy in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies, Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena and Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies, together about 38.9% of its articles. Its main subfields are Astronomy and Astrophysics. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
MNRAS publishes the results of original research in astronomy and astrophysics, including work which is observational or theoretical.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
Editor-in-chief Biography David FlowerPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United Kingdom 13, United States 6, Netherlands 6, France 2, Germany 1 (32 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Stellar, planetary, and galactic studiesPhysics and Astronomy14.8%
- Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, PhenomenaPhysics and Astronomy13.4%
- Astrophysics and Star Formation StudiesPhysics and Astronomy10.7%
- Astronomy and Astrophysical ResearchPhysics and Astronomy10.1%
- Astrophysical Phenomena and ObservationsPhysics and Astronomy7.2%
- Astro and Planetary SciencePhysics and Astronomy6.3%
- Gamma-ray bursts and supernovaePhysics and Astronomy5.9%
- Astrophysics and Cosmic PhenomenaPhysics and Astronomy4.7%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Physics & Astronomy Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Physics & Astronomy | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Astronomy & Astrophysics | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Physics & Astronomy Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Physics & Astronomy | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Astronomy & Astrophysics | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Physics & Astronomy Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Physics & Astronomy | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Astronomy & Astrophysics | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- Impact factor
- 5LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 10.7LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.85LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.06LetPub ·
- h-index
- 280LetPub ·
- h-index
- 501OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 57,738OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 5.36OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 21.2%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 73.6%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 2,075LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 95,089 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1,824 | 1,824 | 1,267 |
| 2025 | 2,296 | 2,296 | 9,640 |
| 2024 | 2,834 | 2,834 | 26,399 |
| 2023 | 4,030 | 3,768 | 58,511 |
| 2022 | 3,838 | 3,488 | 67,460 |
| 2021 | 3,820 | 3,542 | 92,524 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
Review time from article dates manuscript dates registered with PubMed · to
Too few articlesOnly 7 articles from the last 24 months carry both submission and acceptance dates, too few for a median
Only articles that were accepted and published are counted, not the time spent on rejected manuscripts, so this usually runs longer than a publisher's "time to first decision".
Other sources
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 3 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly hardLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 14 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Single anonymous peer reviewDOAJ
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Fully open accessDOAJ
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | GBP 2,310 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | GBP 2,310 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,356 / GBP 1,122 | — | — |
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
Article types accepted3
- correctionsThree types of paper are published by MNRAS: Papers, Letters, and Corrections.Length not stated
- lettersThree types of paper are published by MNRAS: Papers, Letters, and Corrections.Length not stated
- papersThree types of paper are published by MNRAS: Papers, Letters, and Corrections.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, License & copyright, Open access, Plagiarism, Preprints
- Authorship 3.2 Authorship
Authorship is limited to those who have significantly contributed to the conception or design of the research described in the paper; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; and/or involvement in the execution of the research described. Any contributors whose participation does not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged but not listed as an author. For further det…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest 6.5 Conflicts of Interest
Any conflicts of interest should be declared in the cover letter at submission and in the Acknowledgements section of the paper.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Availability of Data and Materials
Data Availability Statement required Model summary
Where ethically feasible, MNRAS strongly encourages authors to make all data and software code on which the conclusions of the paper rely available to readers. Authors are required to include a Data Availability Statement in their article. We suggest that data be presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files, or deposited in a public repository whenever possible. Information on g…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright 2.6 Copyright and plagiarism
It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure they have the necessary copyright permissions for any material (including, but not limited to, figures and text) used in their paper. Any re-use of material which has previously been published – even by the same authors, and/or in the same journal – must be accompanied by a citation to the original source and the necessary copyright permissions obt…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access
Open Access CC BY licence Model summary
MNRAS is fully Open Access, therefore all papers submitted are required to be published in the Journal under a non-exclusive CC BY Open Access licence immediately upon publication.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism 2.6 Copyright and plagiarism
Plagiarism screening with iThenticate Model summary
It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure they have the necessary copyright permissions for any material (including, but not limited to, figures and text) used in their paper. Any re-use of material which has previously been published – even by the same authors, and/or in the same journal – must be accompanied by a citation to the original source and the necessary copyright permissions obt…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints 3.7 Preprint policy
Authors retain the right to make an Author’s Original Version (preprint) available through various channels, and this does not prevent submission to the journal. For further information see our Online Licensing, Copyright and Permissions policies. If accepted, the authors are required to update the status of any preprint, including your published paper’s DOI, as described on our Author Self-Archiv…
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Biweekly
- Founded
- 1831
- ISSN
- 0035-8711
- Electronic ISSN
- 1365-2966
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
What CAS zone is Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society is in Zone 2 of Physics & Astronomy, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Astronomy & Astrophysics. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Physics & Astronomy. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 5; CiteScore 10.7, h-index 501.
How long does peer review take at Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society?
Authors report an average review time of about 3 months; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly hard”. Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
Where are the editorial board members of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society based?
Of the 32 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (13), United States (6) and Netherlands (6). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society open access, and what is the APC?
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society is a fully open-access journal. APC charged, amount not published.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, Publisher website; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-25). Last updated: .