As with the 1970 report, it has not been possible to write an all-inclusive account listing everything published by the great number of astronomers in this field (which greatly exceeds the commission membership). The subject headings below are not intended as completely separate divisions, but rather as guides to the contents. Where possible, references are given by the numbers in Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts; elsewhere, commonly-used abbreviations for journals are used and volume numbers alone without years.

Among the colloquia and symposia on extragalactic astronomy whose proceedings have been published in the last three years are the following. IAU Symposium No. 38, on ‘The Spiral Structure of Our Galaxy’ (03.012.013), contained a few papers concerned with external galaxies, as did IAU Symposium No. 37, on ‘Non-Solar X- and Gamma-Ray Astronomy’ (04.012.002). ‘Quasars and High-Energy Astronomy’ (04.012.005) contained several papers on galaxies and QSOs. Some theoretical work relevant to external galaxies was contained in ‘Structure and Evolution of the Galaxy’ (Athens; NATO Summer Study; 05.012.006).