ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA, SECTION B. Frank H. Allen, Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre 12 Union Road, Cambridge CB2 lEZ, England

Section B of Acta appears bimonthly and has published an average of 136 Structural Science papers per year in the 1990's - a significant increase over its early years (1983-89). The loss of some biological papers to the new Section D since 1993 has been compensated by an increased submission rate to Section B. Journal content now also incorporates a controlled amount of review material, as comprehensive Lead Articles and, since 1994, as the shorter, more focused Topical Reviews. However, the principal purpose of Section B is to publish full Research Papers, covering topics that span the complete breadth of non-biological crystallography and its impact on related sciences. This diversity can be seen as a strength and Section B plays its part in the IUCr publication scenario: "to offer a central place for publication and discussion of all research in this vast and ever-expanding field". Section B is now carefully building on the CIF input schemes pioneered by Section C in the moves towards integrated electronic publishing mechanisms.

This paper will discuss (a) areas of possible overlap with other IUCr journals, particularly the policies with regard to publication of crystal structure reports in Sections B and C, (b) the diversity of content of Section B and its relationship to other competing non-IUCr journals, (c) the relationship of review material to primary scientific papers (d) procedures for commissioning reviews, and (e) the onward development of machine-readable submission procedures for numerical data and for complete manuscripts.

Finally, I should like to thank the Staff of the IUCr Editorial Office in Chester, UK for their skill, cooperation and enthusiasm in the journal production process.