Biochimica et Biophysica Acta
journal
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of biochemistry and biophysics that was established in 1947. The journal is published by Elsevier with a total of 100 annual issues in ten specialised sections.
History
Early years
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta was first published in 1947 and was the first international journal to be devoted to the joint fields of biochemistry and biophysics. Published by Elsevier in cooperation with Interscience, it was the first international journal to be launched by Elsevier. The journal first made a profit in 1951.
Early papers were published in English, French, and German, with summaries in all three languages. The majority of papers in the first volume originated in northern and western Europe, with a minority from the US and elsewhere; contributors included William Astbury, Jean Brachet, Hubert Chantrenne, Pierre Desnuelle, Claude Fromageot, Heinz Holter, Raymond Jeener, Felix Haurowitz, Edgar Lederer, Kaj Linderstrøm-Lang, Roger Vendrely, Jean-Marie Wiame, and Ralph W.G. Wyckoff.
Important papers from these early years include "Studies on the structure of ribonucleic acids" by Boris Magasanik and Erwin Chargaff (1951), part of the evidence on which Watson and Crick's model of the structure of DNA was based, and "Enzymic synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid" by Arthur Kornberg and colleagues (1956), an early report on the isolation of DNA polymerase I. In 1989, in celebration of the journal's thousandth issue, it published contemporary perspectives on some of the key papers published up to 1964.
Diversification
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta was published as a single title until 1962, when additional sections began to be published alongside the main journal: first Specialized Section on Nucleic Acids and Related Subjects and then, from 1963, Specialized Section on Enzymological Subjects and Specialized Section on Lipids and Related Subjects.
In 1964, the main journal became Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - General Subjects, and was published alongside the three established sections plus Specialized Section on Biophysical Subjects and Specialized Section on Mucoproteins and Mucopolysaccharides.
“Biochimica et Biophysica Acta” enters the record as journal. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Biochimica, Biophysica and Acta can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 17, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q864239. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1947, 1951, 1956 and 1989.
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This entry incorporates text from “Biochimica et Biophysica Acta” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.