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A. G. D. Philip (ISO and Union College)
Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts, published each six months by the Rechen Institute in Heidelberg, Germany, presents the abstracts of all articles in astronomy and related topics. Volume 1 was published in 1969 and the current volume is Volume 71 which gives the abstracts for the first half of 1999. In 1990 there were 51 astronomers on the list (35 American, 4 Soviet, 3 UK, 2 Canadian and 1 each from Australia, France, West Germany, Holland, Italy, Japan and South Africa) who had published at least one publication every six months without interruption. With Volume 71 there are 23 astronomers (19 American, 2 Russian and 2 UK). In 1990 there were two female astronomers on the list; now the list is entirely male. A plot has been made showing the number of astronomers on the list as a function of time and between 1980 and 1996 the relation is a linear one with an intercept at the year 2002. However the 1999 point is off the line on the high side. The list will soon end however, since the Rechen Institute will cease publishing the abstract volumes. The NASA Astrophysics Data System lists titles and abstracts on the web but this system is sufficiently different that the list can not be continued in the same manner as with AA&A. The ADS does not segregate the information into six month intervals and the journals and books in their database is notidentical to that of AA&A.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: agdp@union.edu