J. Brit. Astron. Assoc., 107, 5, 1997, p.236

The BAA Journal on the World Wide Web

by Hazel McGee

The Journal has had its own Web page for over a year now (http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~hwm) where I have listed the contents of recent issues, and uploaded the text of the letters page, occasional articles and book reviews. Does anyone read it? Who can tell. The counter shows over 8500 visits since 1996 July, which for a variety of technical reasons is certainly an underestimate, perhaps by as much as 35%. I do know that we have obtained a number of advertisements, and that several books have been sent for review, as a direct result of the page. I also receive occasional e-mail enquiries on Journal content, and requests from other researchers to be put in touch with specific authors in their field.

The BAA's profile on the Web is about to become stronger. We have been asked by the Astrophysical Data System (ADS) to allow them to scan the Journal and upload it to their website, which is a powerful literature search and indexing resource managed by the Harvard Center for Astrophysics for NASA, in use by professional and advanced amateur astronomers worldwide. Council approved this development in 1997 May, with the proviso that a year's delay should elapse between publication of an issue of the Journal and its appearance on the site (most journals make such a restriction, to protect the interests of subscribers). The titles, authors and abstracts of our papers have been indexed on the ADS for some while; where they are known to me, authors' e-mail addresses are also listed. Curious readers can browse the site (which is free to all) at http://www.adswww.harvard.edu.

Back issues of the Journal from 1982 (when it changed to A4 format) to the present day will eventually be scanned and made available to the astronomical community in this way. This increased accessibility of the Journal to researchers should result in more references to the BAA's work in other journals, and an enhanced image for the Association across the world.


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