Commission G1 Open Access Publications
IAU Commission G1 is associated with three open access publications: the Bibliography of Close Binaries, BCB, the Information Bulletin on Variable Stars, IBVS, and the Information Circular: DS.Bibliography of Close Binaries: BCB
The Bibliography of Close Binaries, BCB, was initiated in 1963. Its creation was announced in the Commission 42 Triennial Report submitted by C42 President J. E. Merrill in 1964, published in IAU Transactions, Vol. XIIA. Until December 1997 (Issue No. 65), this publication was known as Bibliography and Program Notes on Close Binaries, BPN. The current name of the BCB started with Issue No. 68 in June 1998. On average, about 49 journals plus proceedings, books, etc. are searched and over 500 entries are included in each issue.Gunnar Larsson-Leander, at Lund Observatory in Sweden, was the first Editor-in-Chief, and he served in this position from 1963 - 1982. He was succeeded by Tibor Herczeg (1983-1988), Atsuma Yamasaki (1989-1994), Horst Drechsel (1995-2000), and Colin Scarfe (since 2001).
Archival issues of the BCB are available online at Remeis Observatory Bamberg (Issues since 1995), Konkoly Observatory (Issues since 2001), University of Victoria (Issues since 2003).
Information Bulletin on Variable Stars: IBVS
The Information Bulletin on Variable Stars was established over fifty years ago at the 1961 IAU General Assembly in Berkeley, California. The first issue was published in the same year, under the editorship of L. Detre. The IBVS was distributed free of charge within the relatively small research community of variable star astronomers. Since then it has grown into a small, refereed open access journal. It was a pioneer on the web, appearing online in 1994, but only for distribution of issues in PostScript. Full HTML content was introduced in 2000. The electronic version of the journal has become an enhanced publication, through the gradual addition of research data, a touch of multi-media content, and various services and features. Sources: B. Szeidl (2011) and Andras Holl (2012).The IBVS has published 50-200 articles yearly in past decades, and the articles are typically less than 5 pages long. The current editors of the IBVS are R. Szabo, Zs. Bognar, A. Sodor, and L. Szabados, and the bulletin is published by Konkoly Observatory, Budapest, Hungary (E-ISSN 1587-2440).
The IBVS was a bulletin of IAU Commission 27 (Variable Stars) and Commission 42 (Close Binary Stars).
Information Circular: IAUDS
The Information Circular was started in 1954 by Paul Muller of the Observatoire de Strasbourg, France, and was formerly known as the "Commission 26 Information Circular." Publication of the Circular was taken over in 1983 by Paul Couteau of the Observatoire de Nice and in 1993 by J.A. Docobo, who proposed J.F. Ling to be a co-editor. Both are members of the Observatorio Astronomico "Ramon Maria Aller", of the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The 120 Circulars published by Drs. Muller and Couteau were scanned to pdf files by Brian Mason.The lists of new binaries and orbital elements which have traditionally comprised the Circulars were recently supplemented by bibliographies of recently published binary star papers. Both paper and electronic mail versions of the Circular are published by Drs. Docobo and Ling. Contributions to this most worthwhile publication should be sent to the authors at joseangel.docobo@usc.es or josefinaf.ling@usc.es, respectively.
We are grateful to Drs. Muller and Couteau for their major efforts over the past 40 years, as well as to Drs. Docobo and Ling for their continuation and expansion of this effort. Thanks should also go to the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, for their financial assistance in the publication of these Circulars.
Issues of the IAUDS are available online at the US Naval Observatory.
The IAUDS was originally a bulletin of IAU Commission 26 (Double and Multiple Stars).