The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) and Oxford University Press (OUP) continue to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic. Our first priority is to contribute to the global effort to contain and eliminate the new coronavirus. As a result, our editorial staff, and many of our editors and referees, are now working remotely, in some cases with limited technical facilities and also facing additional organisational and other work.
We continue to offer the regular services associated with submission and publication of scientific papers. Given the severity of the situation, the Society anticipates some delays as a result of illness, and of the need for staff, editors and referees to care for others. We ask for your patience in this difficult time.
We fully understand that authors will face similar additional demands on their time, which must take precedence over regular work. We will therefore be more than happy to grant extensions, for example, on revision times, upon request. We will greatly appreciate when those of you serving as reviewers let us know as soon as possible if for any reason you will be unable to meet the usual deadlines.