The American Thoracic Society (ATS) is the definitive US professional society for pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. Founded in 1905 (originally as a society devoted to tuberculosis, the era's defining lung disease), it now publishes four peer-reviewed journals that together cover the field end to end: the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (AJRCCM, universally known as the 'Blue Journal'), the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology (AJRCMB, the 'Red Journal'), the Annals of the American Thoracic Society (AnnalsATS), and ATS Scholar, its medical-education title launched in 2020.

A major recent change: ATS journals are now published in partnership with Oxford University Press. The old atsjournals.org site redirects to Oxford Academic (academic.oup.com/atsjournals), where all four journals are hosted, and OUP's open-access and institutional-agreement infrastructure now applies. This guide covers which ATS journal fits your paper, the open-access options and fees, peer review, and how to submit.

All four journals are specialty titles - the ATS does not publish outside pulmonary, critical care, sleep, and related education:

• AJRCCM - monthly; original research, concise clinical and translational reviews, state-of-the-art articles, perspectives, research letters, and editorials. First published in March 1917 as the American Review of Tuberculosis; it took its current name in 1994, when the ATS took over publishing from the American Lung Association.
• AJRCMB - lung cell and molecular biology, from airway epithelium to pulmonary immunology.
• AnnalsATS - clinical practice, epidemiology, outcomes, and health-services research across adult and pediatric respiratory medicine, critical care, and sleep.
• ATS Scholar - scholarship on training, assessment, and education in the specialty.

The research journals operate on a hybrid model: articles publish under the subscription model by default, with an optional paid open-access route.

Fee schedules changed with the move to OUP, so always confirm the current charges on the journal's Oxford Academic page rather than relying on older figures.

• Model: single-anonymized peer review - reviewers know the authors' identities, but not vice versa.
• Selectivity: AJRCCM is highly selective; AnnalsATS and AJRCMB offer realistic homes for sound work that doesn't clear the flagship's bar, and editors sometimes suggest transfer within the family.
• Turnaround: initial triage decisions come quickly; full review typically takes weeks to a few months depending on the title.
• Integrity rules: research funded by the tobacco or cannabis industry is not considered, and authors must declare any AI-tool usage in manuscript preparation.

1. Pick the journal using the decision table above, and read the title-specific author guidelines on Oxford Academic.
2. Prepare your manuscript. Original research at AJRCCM runs to a 3,500-word limit with a 250-word structured abstract; use the ATS journal template on SciSpace to match the formatting requirements.
3. Format references in AMA style with numbered citations - most article types cap references at 50.
4. Submit via ScholarOne (Manuscript Central) - each journal has its own portal, e.g. mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ajrccm.
5. Respond to review through the same system; accepted articles publish on Oxford Academic.

The ATS is a COPE member and follows COPE guidance on corrections and retractions. Conflict-of-interest disclosure is mandatory for all authors, tobacco- and cannabis-industry funding is prohibited, and clinical research must comply with ICMJE recommendations, including trial registration. Data-availability expectations are set per journal - check the author guidelines for the title you're targeting.