Astronomy and Computing: a New Journal for the Astronomical Computing Community

We introduce \emph{Astronomy and Computing}, a new journal for the growing population of people working in the domain where astronomy overlaps with computer science and information technology. The journal aims to provide a new communication channel within that community, which is not well served by current journals, and to help secure recognition of its true importance within modern astronomy. In this inaugural editorial, we describe the rationale for creating the journal, outline its scope and ambitions, and seek input from the community in defining in detail how the journal should work towards its high-level goals.

💡 Research Summary

The inaugural editorial for Astronomy and Computing outlines the motivation, scope, and operational principles of a new journal dedicated to the intersection of astronomy, computer science, and information technology. The authors argue that the rapid growth of data volumes, high‑performance simulations, cloud‑based analysis, and machine‑learning techniques has created a substantial body of work that is poorly served by traditional astronomy journals, which tend to focus on observational results and theoretical models. Consequently, technical contributions such as software pipelines, data‑management frameworks, algorithmic innovations, and reproducibility‑focused studies often lack an appropriate venue for peer review and citation.

To fill this gap, the journal defines a clear scope that includes, but is not limited to, data‑reduction pipelines, image‑processing algorithms, large‑scale simulations, machine‑learning applications, cloud‑computing infrastructures, and software engineering practices relevant to astronomical research. The editorial proposes a dual‑criteria peer‑review system that evaluates both scientific impact and engineering quality, requiring authors to provide well‑documented code, metadata, and, where feasible, open access to the underlying datasets. A “reproducibility checklist” will be used by reviewers to verify that the software can be executed and that results can be independently reproduced.

The editorial also emphasizes community building: special issues, workshops, and online forums will be organized to foster dialogue between astronomers, computer scientists, and software engineers. An editorial board composed of experts from both domains will guide policy, ensuring that the journal remains responsive to emerging technologies and community needs. By assigning DOIs to both articles and associated software artifacts, the journal aims to integrate these contributions into citation indexes, thereby providing tangible career benefits for authors.

In summary, Astronomy and Computing seeks to become the primary scholarly outlet for methodological and infrastructural advances that enable modern, data‑intensive astronomy. Its high‑level goals are to improve the visibility and recognition of computational work, to enforce rigorous standards for reproducibility, and to create a sustainable ecosystem where technical innovation is directly linked to scientific discovery. The editorial invites ongoing feedback from the community to refine these objectives and to ensure that the journal evolves in step with the rapidly changing landscape of astronomical computing.