The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is the definitive US professional society for radiation oncology. Founded in 1958 as the American Club of Therapeutic Radiologists and renamed ASTRO in 2008, the society represents more than 10,000 radiation oncologists, medical physicists, radiation therapists, and allied professionals from its headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

ASTRO publishes three peer-reviewed journals in partnership with Elsevier: the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics (universally known as the "Red Journal"), Practical Radiation Oncology, and Advances in Radiation Oncology. Together they cover the full arc of the field - from basic radiobiology and medical physics through clinical trials to quality, safety, and practice improvement. This guide covers how to pick the right ASTRO journal, what each one costs to publish in, how peer review works, and how to submit.

Each ASTRO title has a distinct scope and publishing model, so the right venue depends on your article type, budget, and open-access needs.

3 peer-reviewed journals, all hosted on Elsevier's ScienceDirect platform:

• International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics (the Red Journal) - clinical investigations, radiation biology, and medical physics. The society's flagship and the field's reference journal.
• Practical Radiation Oncology (PRO) - clinical practice, quality improvement, patient safety, and ASTRO guideline publications.
• Advances in Radiation Oncology - fully open-access companion title for original research, case reports, and brief reports across the specialty.

ASTRO also produces clinical practice guidelines (published in PRO), the annual ASTRO Meeting abstracts, and patient-facing resources via RTAnswers - but the three journals above are its scholarly publishing program.

ASTRO offers all three standard routes, with fees set through Elsevier's price pages (2026 figures below, USD, excluding taxes - always confirm on the journal's open-access options page before submission):

License choices include CC BY, CC BY-NC, and CC BY-NC-ND, varying by journal. Green OA self-archiving of the accepted manuscript is permitted on the subscription titles with a 12-month embargo. Advances participates in Research4Life, giving discounts to authors in eligible lower-income countries, and Elsevier's Online Author Communication System (OACS) presents a personalized APC at submission based on your country, institution, and any applicable agreements. Authors at institutions with an Elsevier open-access (read-and-publish) agreement may have OA fees covered - check with your library.

ASTRO journals use single-anonymized peer review: reviewers know the authors' identities, but not vice versa. The Red Journal is selective, with senior editors triaging submissions before external review; PRO and Advances apply the same editorial standards within their narrower scopes. Formal time-to-first-decision figures are not published, so budget several weeks to a few months depending on the journal and article type.

1. Pick the journal. Match your article type and OA needs using the table above.
2. Read the author instructions. Guidelines for all three journals are maintained on the ASTRO website (the ScienceDirect guide-for-authors pages point there).
3. Format your manuscript. ASTRO journals use AMA/Vancouver-style numbered references; SciSpace templates for each journal handle the formatting.
4. Submit via Editorial Manager. All three journals run on Elsevier's Editorial Manager (e.g., editorialmanager.com/IJROBP for the Red Journal).
5. Choose your publishing route. On the hybrid titles you select subscription or open access after acceptance; Advances is OA by default.

ASTRO's journals follow COPE guidance on publication ethics, corrections, and retractions, and apply ICMJE recommendations on authorship, conflicts of interest, and clinical-trial registration. Disclosure of funding and conflicts is mandatory, and clinical trials must be registered in a public registry before enrollment to be considered.