Report on Section A of Acta Crystallographica. A. Authier, Université P. et M. Curie, Paris, France.

Section A of Acta Crystallographica publishes papers reporting fundamental advances in all fields of crystallography. Contributions include Research Papers, Short Communications, Letters to the Editor, Lead Articles and Topical Reviews, the latter two being commissioned by the Section Editor. There is a steady flow of manuscripts and no major changes have been introduced. As for the other sections, the table of contents can now be consulted on the Web. The major problem is getting authors to write Lead Articles and Topical Reviews. There are a few coming in but much less than there should be, despite all the efforts by the editor to get more. The help of all Crystallographers is needed to improve the situation. The other problem is the time of publication. All efforts are made to reduce it by systematic use of FAX and email in communications with authors and referees and by asking authors to submit their manuscripts in machine-readable form.