For a long time, A&A has published a category of short papers known as Research Notes, which has no counterpart in other astronomy journals. This category is intended mainly for extensions of previous work. After seeing the number of Research Notes submissions significantly increase in recent years, and having all too often had to explain that a Research Note must nonetheless represent a substantial contribution, we have decided to discontinue this paper category. Evaluation of the Research Note manuscripts received prior to this announcement will proceed, but we will not consider any new ones for publication. Short manuscripts that meet the standards of the Main Journal can, of course, be submitted as such.

© ESO, 2016