Introducing AASTeX v7.0

AAS publishing is proud to announce the latest release of our popular AASTeX package. This version, v7.0, along with a new BibTeX style file, was released in January 2025.

Why the update?

The previous version of AASTeX, v6.3.1, depends on the American Physical Society’s REVTeX 4.1 macros as the underlying base. This version of AASTeX is not compatible with the newer version of REVTeX, 4.2, which was released in January 2019. AASTeX v7 is built entirely from scratch, removing its dependence on REVTeX completely.

In addition, it has been almost four years since the last new AASTeX release, v6.3.1 — it was time for a refresh! AASTeX v7 has many new features while still retaining the functionality of the 6+ versions.

What is new in v7?

There are four primary changes/additions in v7. They are:

  • New metadata components in the \author command
    Want more freedom in how you express your name on your manuscript? In addition to linking to your ORCID profile, authors can now specify surnames (family or last names), given names (personal or first names), and suffixes while still expressing their full names as they want in the compiled PDF.
  • Changes in how the \email command works
    Starting in 2025, submitters will need to provide email addresses for all authors on a manuscript. In AASTeX v7, we’ve made it easy to include these within each author block with the \email command. A new error message will alert you when emails are missing.
  • A new environment command for specifying author contributions
    Authors can briefly explain the individual contributions of all the manuscript’s authors via this new environment. Like the acknowledgments environment, this environment is anonymized when dual anonymous review is used.
  • A new .bst file for inline citation changes and titles in PSJ
    AAS journals have made two recent style changes to how citations appear in articles: inline citations now include first initials (e.g., “G. Smith et al. (2022)”) in all AAS journals, and article titles have been added to references in Planetary Science Journal articles. The .bst file in AASTeX v7 reproduces these style changes.

Full details of the changes are available in our revision history page.

Where can I get AASTeX v7?

AASTeX v7 is available here and in our github repository here. Once you have the files, please see our guidebook for the latest details on how to effectively use AASTeX v7.

Have suggestions for new features or found bugs in v7?

The AAS publishing team would love your input! You can contact them at aastex-help@aas.org with additional suggestions or ideas for the next iteration of AASTeX. You can also post issues on our github site.