In the interval covered by this report, the number of published issues of the Information Bulletin on Variable Stars progressed from #3903 to #4351.

From 1995 on, there are two versions of the Bulletin: the conventional printed one (preferably for libraries) and the electronic version which is accessible via the World Wide Web for any user (but a registration is requested). The two versions are absolutely identical, the electronic version is free of charge, while the subscribers of the hardcopy version are charged with a nominal fee of 50 US$.

Owing to the effort of the technical editor, András Holl, the back issues of the IBVS are prepared for electronic retrieval in PostScript and in ASCII text formats. It is hoped for that, by the time of the Kyoto GA, IBVS will be the first astronomy journal accessible completely electronically, since the first 4000 issues will be published on a CD. Each recent volume (consisting of 100 issues) is also published in the CD journal JAD (Journal of Astrophysical Data, ed. by Sterken), and after the publication those issues are removed from the WWW pages. However, upon request, all back issues available will be sent to the interested readers.

The electronic production of the IBVS imposes stricter requirements on the submission of the manuscripts. The most important change is that apart from a very few cases (less than 1%), we accept only electronic submissions (for details see the Editorial Note published in January 1996). In addition, a thorough yet fast (possible because of the electronic submission) refereeing suggested by the Editorial Board was introduced.

The Editorial Board had "partial" meetings during the major variable star conferences. Its activity is mainly carried out via e-mail and thanks to to enthusiasm of the Chairman, Chris Sterken.

For more detailed and up-to-date information see the WWW Home Page at URL:

The address for editorial correspondence is:

At present, four persons are responsible for IBVS at Konkoly Observatory: the two scientific editors compiling this report, as well as András Holl (technical editor) and Zsolt Kövári (administrative editor).