Call for Papers

The CAPjournal is an IAU publication published at least twice a year. It is a free peer-reviewed journal for astronomy communicators, available online and in print.

We invite papers for submission on topics relating to the public communication of astronomy. Note that the journal's emphasis is on astronomy communication – (not education). Keep in mind that CAPj readers are communicators first, and educators second (if at all). Similarly, personal essays and papers regarding scientific research are outside the scope of CAPj and will not be accepted.

General Submissions

Submissions for general issues are accepted on an ongoing basis. Final acceptance for publication is made after an article has been reviewed and is assigned to an issue by the Editorial Board. Please consult the Submission Guidelines and submit your article to capjournal@oao.iau.org for consideration.

If two submitted papers are similar, the Editorial Staff will confer with the authors and take appropriate actions.

Special Issue Submissions

Special issues will follow specific guidelines and due dates. The same policies for the general submissions otherwise apply to the special issue submissions.

In honour of the centennial of the planetarium, the CAPjournal will host a special issue on planetaria worldwide. We call all planetaria, big and small, to submit an article to this edition of the CAPjournal (for some examples of previous CAPjournal articles on planetaria, see this link and this link). Articles for this issue might include (but are certainly not limited to): your lessons learnt as a planetarium director; how to establish (or grow) a planetarium; how to provide a meaningful planetarium experience to people with blindness or low vision; the role of the planetarium as a dark sky oasis; the role of the planetarium in the fight against light pollution; and much more. Please note that readers of CAPjournal tend to be communicators, astronomy outreach practitioners, amateur astronomers and professional astronomers interested in outreach.

We aim to publish this edition in September 2023. With this edition of CAPjournal, we hope to celebrate the myriad accomplishments of the planetarium community over the last 100 years. Using the template provided, please submit your full article (summary and body text) to capjournal@oao.iau.org before 30 April 2023.