EDITORIAL

Starting with the beginning of 2015, The Astrophysical Journal will no longer produce printed issues. Our motivation for this is partly financial. The production of a printed version involves steps that add significantly to our expenses but not to the quality of the journal. At the same time, the fraction of readers who receive the printed journal has declined dramatically. Thus, supporting a printed version has become an unjustifiable expense. However, an additional important consideration is that the two versions of the journal have diverged significantly in terms of what each mode is able to offer, and will continue to do so as long as we work to take advantage of the possibilities afforded by the electronic format. Working to maintain both the print and electronic versions has become an impediment to the future development of The Astrophysical Journal.

In line with this decision, we are also asking authors to abandon certain practices that became established before the advent of electronic publishing such as preparing double-spaced manuscripts with figures placed at the end of the text, which made sense for reviewers and copy editors armed with red pencils. In the electronic era, we ask for submissions that adhere as closely as possible to the authors' vision of the final text, complete with figures already sized and placed. Fees for printed color figures and requests for hard copy reprints similarly will be obsolete.

We see this decision as a natural part of the evolution of the journal. Our goal is to make the publishing process as transparent as possible, removing artificial burdens on the authors and allowing the final product to serve faithfully the goal of transmitting scientific results to our readers. This development is in line with our policy of allowing PDF figures rather than EPS versions and our parallel decision to publish 3D images.

Ultimately, we seek to be guided by the needs of our community. As we move forward, we welcome suggestions for innovations in the way scientific results are presented to the world.