The AAVSO invites articles from all authors for the Journal of the AAVSO. Your article is more likely to proceed smoothly through the editorial process if its content is written to the standards of JAAVSO and if it is properly formatted.

Please read the following sections:

JAAVSO Editorial Policies - basic criteria for publication and a statement regarding ethics

Instructions for formatting an article for JAAVSO - presented in the form of a sample JAAVSO article and a downloadable template

Sample articles published in JAAVSO - use as models for format, style, scope, etc.

Information for Referees - how an article will be evaluated by the referee

IAU Resolution regarding magnitude systems - guidelines regarding optical and infrared photometric passbands

Also, presentations and material on how to publish scientific papers was presented at "The AAVSO Workshop on Writing and Publishing Scientific Papers" (conducted during the 95th Spring Meeting of the AAVSO in Rockford, Illinois); all relevant material can be accessed here

Page Charges

Per-page charges for published articles in JAAVSO are waived for Members of the AAVSO. You may choose to become an Annual Member (see linked page for dues schedule) of the AAVSO in lieu of the per-page charge. Otherwise, publication of unsolicited manuscripts in JAAVSO requires a page charge of $100 USD/page for the final printed manuscript. Page charge waivers may be provided under certain circumstances.

Ethics statement

The Journal of the AAVSO is a scholarly journal devoted to variable star science and related fields. We adhere to common standards of science and scholarship, and expect that our authors do the same. All results presented must be as accurate as possible, and free of known error and misstatements. All work must be correctly attributed, and all individuals making a significant contribution to the work presented should be explicitly credited with their contribution either via co-authorship or via appropriate citation and acknowledgement. All work, including both research results and text and figures, must be original, the creation of the authors of the article, and free of plagiarism either deliberate or accidental.

Instructions for formatting an article for JAAVSO

Note: These instructions are presented as a correctly-formatted JAAVSO article.

A downloadable Word document that may be used as a template is available. It includes a condensed version of these instructions and a variety of representative tables and figures. The initial submission of a paper should be in the form of a .pdf or a .doc or a .docx file. If authors can create a PDF from their .doc or .docx file, that is preferred. The final version of the paper, once it has been approved for publication, may be sent as a .doc or a .tex file. You will be requested to do so when the time comes. That final version may be sent in LaTeX (version 2e) . A PDF created from the LaTeX file should be included for reference. Authors should ensure prior to submission that LaTeX articles compile simply and without errors or warnings. Articles that cannot be compiled will be returned.

Instructions for Formatting an Article for JAAVSO

Author One, Author Two, Author Three [Leave blank until paper has been accepted for publication]
Affiliation, Affiliation Street Address, City, State, Postcode, Country; email@host.affiliation [Leave blank until paper has been accepted for publication]

Author Four, Author Five [Leave blank until paper has been accepted for publication]
Affiliation2, Affiliation Street Address2, City, State, Postcode, Country; email@host.affiliation2 [Leave blank until paper has been accepted for publication]

Submitted February 7, 2026

Subject Keywords

There are two sets of keywords to include in your article prior to the "Abstract" section. The first set is keywords that are categories in the JAAVSO Subject Index. Choose from the list those categories that best fit your article. Separate them by a semicolon (;) and use the format (for example): AAVSO keywords = AAVSO International Database; Catalogues, Databases, Surveys; Photometry, CCD; Spectra, Spectroscopy; Variable Stars (individual), Observing Targets: SS Cyg, U Gem, tau4 Ser; Period Analysis, Period Change; Cataclysmic Variables; Semiregular Variables In this example, 8 JAAVSO keywords have been used.

The second set is keywords that will be used when your article is submitted by the AAVSO to the Astrophysical Database System (ADS). Choose a maximum of 6 keywords from the American Astronomical Society list (on that website, look under Explore). Put keywords in alphabetical order, separate them by a semicolon (;), and use the format (for example): ADS keywords = astronomical databases: miscellaneous; novae, cataclysmic variables; stars: individual (SS Cyg, U Gem, tau4 Ser); stars: variables: general In the ADS keywords, each object listed under stars: individual (..., ...) counts as a separate keyword. Thus, the number of ADS keywords in the example totals 6.

Abstract

The abstract should be concise and one paragraph. It should be a short summary of the article in which you state the question at issue, the purpose of the study, the procedures followed, and your results, conclusions, or recommendations. References should not be given in the abstract.

1. Introduction

The author's responsibility is to provide a carefully prepared manuscript that generally conforms to JAAVSO style. The JAAVSO format changed significantly in 2014, so use JAAVSO issues beginning with Volume 43, Number 1, as your guide. Articles accepted for that issue and correctly formatted may be seen here.

1.1. Main title capitalization

Except for articles and prepositions, all words in the main title are capitalized.

1.2. Section headings capitalization

Only the first word of a section heading is capitalized unless it is a proper noun or a special term.

2. Parts of the manuscript

The parts of the manuscript should be divided into sections such as 1. Introduction, 2. Methods, 3. Results, 4. Discussion, 5. Conclusion, and so on. Sub-sub titles should be numbered 1.1., 1.2., and so on. You may give as many sections and sub-sections as you feel are necessary. Also, following your Conclusion section, you may include an Acknowledgements section, which should also be consecutively numbered. The last section of the manuscript, "References", is not numbered.

3. Tables and figures

Tables and figures may be included in the body of the article with appropriate captions. Authors are encouraged to also provide each table and figure as a separate file; and all figure captions should be given in a separate file as well. Table titles should be part of the table itself.

3.1. Table formatting and titling

Use a table when you have more information than can be clearly presented in a graph. Tables are numbered consecutively (for example, "Table 1", "Table 2", and so on). Table titles are to be given at the head of the table. Each column should be labeled clearly. Physical units should be given in the column label, not in the table body. Table 1 is an example of a short table.

Table 1. Comparison stars.

Identification* R.A. (2000) Dec. (2000) B V B-V
h m s º ' "

GSC 1948-1556 08 40 05.47 +27 39 12.1 12.526 11.998 0.528
GSC 1948-1451 08 40 09.30 +27 41 19.4 13.627 12.946 0.681
GSC 1948-1631 08 40 34.19 +27 47.50.0 13.972 13.204 0.768

*Table footnotes are placed directly following the table and are indicated with superscripted symbols, letters, or numerals.

3.2. Some information about figures

Figures must be provided in a high-contrast, high-resolution, standard digitized image format. They should have all coordinates labeled with division marks on all four sides.

Figures must be accompanied by a caption that clearly explains all symbols and significance, so that the reader can understand the figure without reference to the text.

Most figures will be reduced to fit one column, 3.5" wide. When submitting figures, be sure to allow for reduction in size by making all symbols, letters, and division marks sufficiently large. Point size 12 or larger must be used.

Symbols used in figures should each have a unique shape, and each be clearly distinguishable from one another. Symbols may be in color, but they should be uniquely shaped so that their significance will survive reproduction in black and white, or grayscale.

4. Equations

Equations should be written on a separate line and given a sequential Arabic number in parentheses near the right-hand margin. Equations should be referred to in the text as, for example, Equation (1).

5. Magnitudes

Magnitudes should conform to relatively well known systems such as Johnson-Cousins, Sloan, etc. Authors introducing a new passband should read the IAU Resolution regarding magnitude systems and follow the guidelines given there.

6. References

References should relate directly to the text. They should be keyed into the text with the author's last name and the year of publication, for example, (Smith 1974; Jones 1974) or Smith (1974) and Jones (1974). Joint authors would be cited as, for example, (Williams and Simpson 2001). In the case of three or more joint authors, the text reference should be written as follows: (Smith et al. 1980).

All references must be listed at the end of the text in alphabetical order by the author's last name and the year of publication, according to the format: Author(s). Year, Publication, Volume, page.

Brown, J., and Green, E. B. 1974, Astrophys. J., 200, 765.
Thomas, K. 1982, Phys. Rep., 33, 96.

Abbreviations used in references should be based on recent issues of JAAVSO. Authors are encouraged to examine the reference lists in a recently published JAAVSO issue.

7. Citations for hardware and software

In order to be able to replicate your research, readers need to know the sources of your research tools. The writing process is part of research. References to these sources should be analogous to those for references to the literature as far as possible.

* In the text: {Name of tool} (year accessed/acquired) or (name of tool, year); example: ChatGPT5 (OpenAI 2026)

* In the reference list: {Name of tool, year accessed/acquired,} journal article, website, or company name and address; example: OpenAI 2026, https://chatgpt.com/overview, accessed 30 January 2026

The Software Citation Station may be useful for generating citations to software.

Citations to hardware/instrumentation should similarly give the name of the item, the year of acquisition/manufacture, and a source of information.

Sample articles published in JAAVSO

Instructions for formatting an article for the JAAVSO are given on the webpage here. These instructions are presented in the form of a sample article, demonstrating what the text of the article is saying. This sample article is also available as a Word document you may download and edit using your own text, and may be obtained here.

For examples of correctly formatted articles, please see the following articles recently published in the JAAVSO as models for format, style, scope, etc.