The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) is the professional home of US ophthalmology - an association of around 32,000 eye physicians and surgeons whose roots go back to 1896, when the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology was founded; the two specialties split in 1979 and the AAO has operated as a standalone ophthalmology academy ever since. Headquartered in San Francisco, the Academy publishes a tightly focused family of four peer-reviewed journals, produced by Elsevier on the Academy's behalf: the flagship Ophthalmology (established 1978), the subspecialty titles Ophthalmology Retina (launched 2016) and Ophthalmology Glaucoma, and the fully open-access Ophthalmology Science (launched 2021).

Unlike the mega-publishers, the AAO portfolio is small and highly selective - every title is clinical-ophthalmology focused, AMA-styled, and edited by leading academic ophthalmologists. This guide covers how to pick the right AAO journal, the open-access options and fees, the peer-review workflow, and how to submit.

4 peer-reviewed journals, all produced by Elsevier for the Academy:

• Ophthalmology - the flagship, publishing original clinical research, systematic reviews, and major trial reports across the whole specialty. Indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science.
• Ophthalmology Retina - launched June 2016 to serve the fast-growing retina subspecialty; covers medical retina, surgical retina, and retinal imaging.
• Ophthalmology Glaucoma - the glaucoma-focused sister title, run in collaboration with the American Glaucoma Society.
• Ophthalmology Science - gold open access (CC BY or CC BY-NC-ND), launched 2021, listed in DOAJ, with a scope that welcomes translational science, artificial intelligence, and big-data studies alongside clinical work.

The Academy also produces member education products (EyeNet Magazine, EyeWiki, the BCSC series), but those are not peer-reviewed research venues and are out of scope here.

The AAO family offers all three standard routes:

• Gold OA: Ophthalmology Science is fully open access - every article is published under CC BY or CC BY-NC-ND.
• Hybrid OA: Ophthalmology, Ophthalmology Retina, and Ophthalmology Glaucoma are subscription journals that offer an optional open-access route for a fee.
• Green OA: Elsevier's standard self-archiving policy applies - accepted manuscripts can be shared per the journal's embargo terms.

Authors at institutions with an Elsevier transformative (read-and-publish) agreement may have hybrid or gold APCs covered - check the ESAC registry or your library. Waivers for authors in low- and middle-income countries follow Elsevier's Research4Life-linked policy.

AAO journals use single-anonymized peer review: reviewers know the authors' identities, but reviewers remain anonymous. Manuscripts are handled by academic editors-in-chief and associate editors who are practicing ophthalmologists and researchers. Decision times vary by journal and article type; the flagship is the most selective, while Ophthalmology Science is designed for a somewhat faster, scope-broader route without lowering methodological standards.

1. Pick the journal using the decision table above - scope fit matters more than impact factor.
2. Read the Guide for Authors on the journal's Elsevier page; each title has its own article types and length limits.
3. Format in AMA style. All AAO journals use AMA numbered citations - SciSpace templates for the AAO family handle this automatically.
4. Submit via Editorial Manager, Elsevier's submission system for the AAO titles.
5. Complete disclosures. Financial-conflict and ICMJE disclosure forms are required for all authors; clinical trials must be registered.

The AAO journals follow COPE guidance on publication ethics, corrections, and retractions, and apply ICMJE recommendations on authorship and disclosure. Human-subjects research must document IRB/ethics approval and informed consent; clinical trials require prospective registration. As Elsevier-published titles, they also inherit Elsevier's research-integrity and data-sharing frameworks.