Asimov's Science Fiction is an American science fiction magazine edited by Sheila Williams and published by Dell Magazines, which is owned by Penny Press. It was launched as a quarterly by Davis Publications in 1977, after obtaining Isaac Asimov's consent for the use of his name. It was originally titled Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, and was quickly successful, reaching a circulation of over 100,000 within a year, and switching to monthly publication within a couple of years. George H. Scithers, the first editor, published many new writers who went on to be successful in the genre. Scithers favored traditional stories without sex or obscenity; along with frequent humorous stories, this gave Asimov's a reputation for printing juvenile fiction, despite its success. Asimov was not part of the editorial team, but wrote editorials for the magazine.
Scithers was fired in 1982, and his replacement, Kathleen Moloney, only lasted a year. Shawna McCarthy took over as editor in 1983, and quickly relaxed the strictures on the kind of fiction Asimov's was willing to publish. "Her Furry Face", by Leigh Kennedy, with a plot that involved sex with an intelligent orangutan, scandalized some readers, as did other stories involving sex or violence. Asimov defended McCarthy's choices in an editorial, and "Her Furry Face" was nominated for a Nebula Award. McCarthy transformed the magazine into a leading market for science fiction writers, and more award-winning stories appeared, including fiction by Frederik Pohl, Robert Silverberg, Lucius Shepard, and John Varley.
Gardner Dozois took over as editor in 1985 and stayed for nearly twenty years. Asimov's continued to be a prestigious market and several award-winning stories appeared during Dozois's tenure, including Lucius Shepard's "R&R"; Orson Scott Card's "Hatrack River"; Pat Murphy's "Rachel in Love"; Suzy McKee Charnas's "Boobs"; and Terry Bisson's "Bears Discover Fire". Mike Ashley, a historian of science fiction magazines, describes Dozois's time at Asimov's as "one of the greatest of all editorial careers".
Publication history
In February 1976, Isaac Asimov visited the offices of Davis Publications in New York to drop off a story he was submitting to Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="max-width:500px; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 11pt; margin-left: 2em; text-align: center; float: right"
! colspan="13" | Issue data for 1977 to 1980
|-
! !!colspan="3"| Spring !!colspan="3"| Summer !!colspan="3"| Fall!!colspan="3"| Winter
|-
! !!Jan !! Feb !!Mar !!Apr !!May !!Jun !!Jul !!Aug !!Sep !!Oct !!Nov !!Dec
|-
!1977
|colspan="3"|<u>1/1</u>||colspan="3"|<u>1/2</u>||colspan="3"|<u>1/3</u>||colspan="3"|<u>1/4</u>
|-
!1978
|colspan="2"|2/1||colspan="2"|2/2||colspan="2"|2/3||colspan="2"|2/4||colspan="2"|2/5||colspan="2"|2/6
|-
!1979
|3/1 || 3/2 || 3/3 || 3/4 || 3/5 || 3/6 || 3/7 || 3/8 || 3/9 || 3/10 || 3/11 || 3/12
|-
!1980
|4/1 || 4/2 || 4/3 || 4/4 || 4/5 || 4/6 || 4/7 || 4/8 || 4/9 || 4/10 || 4/11 || 4/12
|-
|colspan="13" style="font-size: 8pt; text-align:left"|Issues of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, showing volume/issue number. Underlining indicates that an issue was titled as a quarterly (e.g. "Spring 1977") rather than as a monthly. George Scithers was editor throughout.
|}
George Scithers was soon hired to fill the editorial role, with Gardner Dozois as associate editor; Davis initially committed to three quarterly issues,
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="max-width:500px; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 11pt; margin-right: 2em; float: left"
! colspan="4" | Issue data for 1981 and 1982 The change took effect at Asimov's with the January issue, which was dated January 19, 1981. This led to newsstand vendors removing the magazine more quickly, since the date implied that it was a weekly magazine. The cover date was changed back to the current month starting with the April 1982 issue, but the new schedule remained in place, with "Mid-December" issues for more than a decade thereafter.
Davis launched two more magazines in 1981: Crime Digest and Science Fiction Digest; these carried book excerpts and publishing news. Scithers had been announced as the editor of Science Fiction Digest, but when it was launched Shawna McCarthy was given the editorial role. This may have been because Scithers was based in Philadelphia, with a local team of first readers to help read the incoming manuscripts, and Davis wanted an editor who was in the New York office five days a week. According to Asimov, Scithers and Davis never got along very well. Scithers's refusal to move to New York made matters worse, and there were other sources of tension: Davis appointed Carol Gross as executive director in charge of marketing and production, and Gross instigated a redesign of the magazine and took control of the art department away from Scithers. In December 1981, Scithers was fired.
Scithers's replacement was Kathleen Moloney, who was hired away from Bantam where she had been a book editor. At first Moloney edited the stories heavily without consulting the authors until the galley proofs were printed, against McCarthy's advice. After pushback from the authors, Moloney turned over manuscript editing to McCarthy. Moloney was hired away by Times Books later that year, and replaced by McCarthy, who was told that Asimov had insisted that she become the next editor if the magazine wanted to keep his name. Her first issue was dated January 1983. She was succeeded in May 1985 by Gardner Dozois, though he was not credited on the masthead until January 1986.
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="max-width:650px; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 11pt; margin-left: 2em; text-align: center; float: right"
|-
! colspan="14" | Issue data for 1983 to 2026
|-
! !!Jan !! Feb !!Mar !!Apr !!May !!Jun !!Jul !!Aug !!Sep !!Oct !!Nov !!Dec !!Mid-Dec
|-
!1983
| style="background:#cff;"|7/1 || style="background:#cff;" |7/2|| style="background:#cff;" |7/3|| style="background:#cff;" |7/4|| style="background:#cff;" |7/5|| style="background:#cff;" |7/6|| style="background:#cff;" |7/7|| style="background:#cff;" |7/8|| style="background:#cff;" |7/9|| style="background:#cff;" |7/10|| style="background:#cff;" |7/11|| style="background:#cff;" |7/12|| style="background:#cff;" |7/13
|-
!1984
| style="background:#cff;"|8/1 || style="background:#cff;" |8/2|| style="background:#cff;" |8/3|| style="background:#cff;" |8/4|| style="background:#cff;" |8/5|| style="background:#cff;" |8/6|| style="background:#cff;" |8/7|| style="background:#cff;" |8/8|| style="background:#cff;" |8/9|| style="background:#cff;" |8/10|| style="background:#cff;" |8/11|| style="background:#cff;" |8/12|| style="background:#cff;" |8/13
|-
!1985
| style="background:#cff;"|9/1 || style="background:#cff;" |9/2|| style="background:#cff;" |9/3|| style="background:#cff;" |9/4|| style="background:#cff;" |9/5|| style="background:#cff;" |9/6|| style="background:#cff;" |9/7|| style="background:#cff;" |9/8|| style="background:#cff;" |9/9|| style="background:#cff;" |9/10|| style="background:#cff;" |9/11|| style="background:#cff;" |9/12|| style="background:#cff;" |9/13
|-
!1986
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|10/1 || style="background:#c3f9bf;" |10/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |10/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |10/4|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |10/5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |10/6|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |10/7|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |10/8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |10/9|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |10/10|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |10/11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |10/12|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |10/13
|-
!1987
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|11/1 || style="background:#c3f9bf;" |11/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |11/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |11/4|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |11/5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |11/6|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |11/7|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |11/8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |11/9|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |11/10|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |11/11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |11/12|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |11/13
|-
!1988
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|12/1 || style="background:#c3f9bf;" |12/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |12/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |12/4|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |12/5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |12/6|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |12/7|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |12/8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |12/9|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |12/10|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |12/11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |12/12|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |12/13
|-
!1989
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|13/1|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |13/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |13/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |13/4|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |13/5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |13/6|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |13/7|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |13/8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |13/9|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |13/10|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |13/11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |13/12|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |13/13
|-
!1990
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|14/1 || style="background:#c3f9bf;" |14/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |14/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |14/4|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |14/5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |14/6|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |14/7|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |14/8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |14/9|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |14/10|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |14/11 & 12|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |14/13|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |14/14
|-
!1991
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|15/1|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |15/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |15/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |15/4 & 5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |15/6|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |15/7|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |15/8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |15/9|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |15/10|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |15/11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |15/12 & 13|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |15/14|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |15/15
|-
!1992
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|16/1|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |16/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |16/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |16/4 & 5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |16/6|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |16/7|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |16/8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |16/9|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |16/10|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |16/11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |16/12 & 13|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |16/14|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |16/15
|-
!1993
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|17/1|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |17/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |17/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |17/4 & 5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |17/6|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |17/7|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |17/8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |17/9|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |17/10|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |17/11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |17/12 & 13|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |17/14|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |17/15
|-
!1994
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|18/1|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |18/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |18/|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |18/4 & 5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |18/6|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |18/7|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |18/8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |18/9|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |18/10|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |18/11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |18/12 & 13|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |18/14|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |18/15
|-
!1995
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|19/1|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |19/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |19/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |19/4 & 5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |19/6|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |19/7|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |19/8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |19/9|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |19/10|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |19/11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |19/12 & 13|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |19/14|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |19/15
|-
!1996
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|20/1|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |20/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |20/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |20/4|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |20/5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |20/6|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |20/7|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |20/8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |20/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |20/10 & 11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |20/12 ||
|-
!1997
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|21/1|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |21/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |21/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |21/4|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |21/5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |21/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |21/7 & 8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |21/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |21/10 & 11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |21/12 ||
|-
!1998
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|22/1|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |22/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |22/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |22/4|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |22/5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |22/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |22/7 & 8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |22/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |22/10 & 11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |22/12 ||
|-
!1999
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|23/1|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |23/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |23/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |23/4|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |23/5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |23/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |23/7 & 8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |23/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |23/10 & 11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |23/12 ||
|-
!2000
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|24/1|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |24/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |24/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |24/4|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |24/5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |24/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |24/7 & 8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |24/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |24/10 & 11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |24/12 ||
|-
!2001
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|25/1|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |25/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |25/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |25/4|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |25/5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |25/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |25/7 & 8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |25/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |25/10 & 11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |25/12 ||
|-
!2002
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|26/1|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |26/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |26/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |26/4|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |26/5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |26/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |26/7 & 8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |26/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |26/10 & 11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |26/12 ||
|-
!2003
| style="background:#c3f9bf;"|27/1|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |27/2|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |27/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |27/4|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |27/5|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |27/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |27/7 & 8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |27/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |27/10 & 11|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |27/12 ||
|-
!2004
| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;"|28/1|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |28/2|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |28/3|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |28/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |28/7 & 8|| style="background:#c3f9bf;" |28/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#c3f9bf;" |28/10 & 11|| style="background:#ffff99;" |28/12 ||
|-
!2005
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|29/1|| style="background:#ffff99;" |29/2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |29/3|| style="background:#ffff99;" |29/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |29/7 & 8|| style="background:#ffff99;" |29/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |29/10 & 11|| style="background:#ffff99;" |29/12 ||
|-
!2006
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|30/1|| style="background:#ffff99;" |30/2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |30/3|| style="background:#ffff99;" |30/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |30/7 & 8|| style="background:#ffff99;" |30/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |30/10 & 11|| style="background:#ffff99;" |30/12 ||
|-
!2007
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|31/1|| style="background:#ffff99;" |31/2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |31/3|| style="background:#ffff99;" |31/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |31/7 & 8|| style="background:#ffff99;" |31/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |31/10 & 11|| style="background:#ffff99;" |31/12 ||
|-
!2008
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|32/1|| style="background:#ffff99;" |32/2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |32/3|| style="background:#ffff99;" |32/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |32/7 & 8|| style="background:#ffff99;" |32/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |32/10 & 11|| style="background:#ffff99;" |32/12 ||
|-
!2009
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|33/1|| style="background:#ffff99;" |33/2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |33/3|| style="background:#ffff99;" |33/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |33/7 & 8|| style="background:#ffff99;" |33/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |33/10 & 11|| style="background:#ffff99;" |33/12 ||
|-
!2010
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|34/1|| style="background:#ffff99;" |34/2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |34/3|| style="background:#ffff99;" |34/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |34/7 & 8|| style="background:#ffff99;" |34/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |34/10 & 11|| style="background:#ffff99;" |34/12 ||
|-
!2011
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|35/1|| style="background:#ffff99;" |35/2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |35/3|| style="background:#ffff99;" |35/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |35/7 & 8|| style="background:#ffff99;" |35/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |35/10 & 11|| style="background:#ffff99;" |35/12 ||
|-
!2012
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|36/1|| style="background:#ffff99;" |36/2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |36/3|| style="background:#ffff99;" |36/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |36/7 & 8|| style="background:#ffff99;" |36/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |36/10 & 11|| style="background:#ffff99;" |36/12 ||
|-
!2013
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|37/1|| style="background:#ffff99;" |37/2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |37/3|| style="background:#ffff99;" |37/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |37/7 & 8|| style="background:#ffff99;" |37/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |37/10 & 11|| style="background:#ffff99;" |37/12 ||
|-
!2014
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|38/1|| style="background:#ffff99;" |38/2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |38/4|| style="background:#ffff99;" |38/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |38/7 & 8|| style="background:#ffff99;" |38/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |38/10 & 11|| style="background:#ffff99;" |38/12 ||
|-
!2015
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|39/1|| style="background:#ffff99;" |39/2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |39/4|| style="background:#ffff99;" |39/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |39/7 & 8|| style="background:#ffff99;" |39/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |39/10 & 11|| style="background:#ffff99;" |39/12 ||
|-
!2016
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|40/1|| style="background:#ffff99;" |40/2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |40/4|| style="background:#ffff99;" |40/6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |40/7 & 8|| style="background:#ffff99;" |40/9|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |40/10 & 11|| style="background:#ffff99;" |40/12 ||
|-
!2017
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|41/1 & 2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |41/3 & 4|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |41/5 & 6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |41/7 & 8 || colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |41/9 & 10 || colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |41/11 & 12 ||
|-
!2018
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|42/1 & 2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |42/3 & 4|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |42/5 & 6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |42/7 & 8 || colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |42/9 & 10 || colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |42/11 & 12 ||
|-
!2019
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|43/1 & 2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |43/3 & 4|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |43/5 & 6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |43/7 & 8 ||colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |43/9 & 10 || colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |43/11 & 12
|-
!2020
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|44/1 & 2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |44/3 & 4|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |44/5 & 6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |44/7 & 8 || colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |44/9 & 10 || colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |44/11 & 12 ||
|-
!2021
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|45/1 & 2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |45/3 & 4|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |45/5 & 6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |45/7 & 8 || colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |45/9 & 10 || colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |45/11 & 12 ||
|-
!2022
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|46/1 & 2|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |46/3 & 4|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |46/5 & 6|| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |46/7 & 8 || colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |46/9 & 10 || colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;" |46/11 & 12 ||
|-
!2023
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|47/1 & 2
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|47/3 & 4
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|47/5 & 6
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|47/7 & 8
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|47/9 & 10
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|47/11 & 12
|
|-
!2024
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|48/1 & 2
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|48/3 & 4
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|48/5 & 6
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|48/7 & 8
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|48/9 & 10
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|48/11 & 12
|
|-
!2025
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffff99;"|49/1 & 2
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|colspan="14" style="font-size: 8pt; text-align:left"|Issues of Asimov's from 1983 to 2022, showing volume and issue number. The editors were Shawna McCarthy through the end of 1985 (blue), Gardner Dozois through November 2004 (green), and Sheila Williams (yellow).
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Circulation had declined from its first-year peak to about 80,000 by the time Dozois became editor. The 1987 recession caused Davis Publications financial problems, and Davis decided to sell all four fiction magazines. While he searched for a buyer, changes were made to increase profitability: two issues per year were doubled in size and increased in price. The magazines were bought in January 1992 by Bantam-Doubleday-Dell, and became part of Dell Magazines. The title was shortened that November to Asimov's Science Fiction. The schedule returned to monthly and the October and November issues were combined, so that only eleven rather than thirteen issues appeared per year. The page count was cut, and prices increased. In June 1998 the size was increased from a standard digest size of to to match other Penny Press magazines, which made printing and binding more efficient. The page count dropped at the same time, but the changes were announced as an increase in total text of 10%, with no change in price. However, a year later the price rose again. Circulation dropped over 30% over the first four years of Penny Press's ownership, from about 46,000 to under 32,000, probably partly because of these changes. Most of the decline was in subscription sales, though profitability was helped by subscribers who came through the magazine's website, which had been started in 1998, instead of through a third party that took a commission from the subscription price.
Dozois gave up the editorship in 2004, and was succeeded by Sheila Williams, whose first issue was dated December of that year. The number of issues per year was reduced to ten starting in 2004, with the April and May issues combined into a double-sized issue. From January 2017, the schedule was changed to six bimonthly double-sized issues per year.
Contents and reception
Scithers (1977–1982)
upright=2|alt=An advertisement with the following text: You'll never see it in Galaxy. Jets blasting, Bat Durston came screeching down through the atmosphere of Bbllzznaj, a tiny planet seven billion light years from Sol. He cut out his super-hyper-drive for the landing…and at that point, a tall, lean spaceman stepped out of the tail assembly, proton gun-blaster in a space-tanned hand. "Get back from those controls, Bat Durston," the tall stranger lipped thinly. "You don't know it, but this is your last space trip." Hoofs drumming, Bat Durston came galloping down through the narrow pass at Eagle Gulch, a tiny gold colony 400 miles north of Tombstone. He spurred hard for a low overhang of rim-rock…and at that point a tall, lean wrangler stepped out from behind a high boulder, six-shooter in a sun-tanned hand. "Rear back and dismount, Bat Durston," the tall stranger lipped thinly. "You don't know it, but this is your last saddle-jaunt through these here parts." Sound alike? They should—one is merely a western transplanted to some alien and impossible planet. If this is your idea of science fiction, you're welcome to it! YOU'LL NEVER FIND IT IN GALAXY! What you will find in Galaxy is the finest science fiction...authentic, plausible, thoughtful...written by authors who do not automatically switch over from crime waves to earth invasions; by people who know and love science fiction...for people who also know and love it.|thumb|The rear cover of the October 1950 first issue of Galaxy Science Fiction, featuring a sardonic parody of bad science fiction. This was the basis for a parody by G. Richard Bozarth that appeared in Asimov's in 1978.
Asimov and Scithers agreed at the launch of the magazine on their goals for the magazine. In an editorial in the first issue, Asimov said "we will lean toward hard science fiction, and toward the reasonably straightforward in the way of style... We will have humorous stories and we will have an occasional unclassifiable story". Asimov's soon became known for humorous stories. The only touch of humor in the first issue was Clarke's story, "Quarantine", which was a very short story originally written to fit on a postcard, but more quickly appeared. Two stories by Asimov based on puns appeared in the second issue, and the third issue saw the re-appearance of Reginald Bretnor's "Feghoot" series of punning stories that had appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and Venture Science Fiction decades earlier. More "spoofs or parodies and occasional limericks" appeared which "threatened to overshadow the more serious fiction", according to science fiction historian Mike Ashley.|group=note
Scithers bought the first published stories of many writers over his tenure, and his habit of announcing in the magazine when a story was a first sale may have encouraged more submissions from new writers.
Asimov's readership included many who were new to the field, and many more who had given up on the other major science fiction magazines. This combination was a good fit for Scithers's approach: traditional stories, without sex or profanity: "nothing too challenging or revolutionary", in Ashley's words.|group=note Some veteran science fiction writers such as L. Sprague de Camp, Hal Clement, and Jack Williamson fit in well with Scithers's constraints, producing material that could have been printed in a 1950s magazine, but Frederik Pohl's "Like unto the Locust", which appeared in 1979, did not. Letters poured in objecting to the profanity that appeared in the story. Brown was replaced by Baird Searles in May 1979. Other stories from McCarthy's first year in charge included Dozois's "The Peacemaker", in the August 1983 issue, which won the Nebula Award.
Dozois (1986–2004)
alt=A headshot of a smiling man wearing glasses|thumb|Gardner Dozois
When Dozois took over the editorship of Asimov's, McCarthy's work had changed the image of the magazine, and Dozois worked to solidify the impression that, in Ashley's words, "Asimov's was where the 'cutting edge' work in the field was appearing, so that authors would be eager to appear there". Dozois's tenure began as cyberpunk (a subgenre of science fiction focused on the consequences of virtual reality and computer technology) was becoming more popular, and cyberpunk fiction soon appeared: in January 1986, Dozois serialized William Gibson's Count Zero, the sequel to Gibson's debut novel, Neuromancer, and he also printed Pat Cadigan's "Pretty Boy Crossover". Asimov's did not focus solely on cyberpunk, though; Dozois printed a wide variety of speculative fiction. Stories from Dozois's first year include Lucius Shepard's "R&R", which won the Nebula; Orson Scott Card's "Hatrack River", which won the World Fantasy Award; and Kate Wilhelm's "The Girl Who Fell From the Sky", which won a Nebula. Pat Murphy and Kim Stanley Robinson began selling regularly to Dozois; Murphy's "Rachel in Love", in the April 1987 issue, about a teenage girl's personality in a chimpanzee's body, won a Nebula and a Locus Award, and Robinson's "The Blind Geometer", in the August issue, also won a Nebula.
Paul DiFilippo and Peter Heck took over the book reviews from Baird Searles in 1994, and Spinrad began contributing critical essays. A column on role-playing games, by Matthew Costello, began in 1996 and lasted for four years.
Dozois's editorship was well regarded in the field. Dozois won the Hugo Award for best professional editor every year from 1988 to 2004 with only two exceptions, in 1994 and 2002,
Williams (2004 – present)
In Williams' first editorial, in the January 2005 issue, she made it clear she did not plan to make dramatic changes to the approach established by McCarthy and Dozois. Williams reinstated the letter column, and began an intermittent non-fiction column, "Thought Experiments", starting with a reminiscence by Roger Ebert of his involvement in science fiction fandom. To mark the 30th anniversary of the magazine in 2007, she published a 30th Anniversary Anthology.
She won the Hugo Award for short-form editor in 2011 and 2012.
Bibliographic details
alt=Graph showing circulation falling from over 100,000 in 1977–1978 to under 20,000 by 2020, with digital subscriptions accounting for over half of the total by 2020.|right|thumb|upright=2.5|Paid circulation figures. No data is available for 1979–1980. The first few years of digital subscription numbers are estimated.The editorial succession at Asimov's is as follows:
- George H. Scithers, Spring 1977 – February 15, 1982
- Dell Magazines (1992–1996) – owned by Dell Publishing
- Dell Magazines (1996–2025) – owned by Penny Publications in Connecticut.
- 1 Paragraph, Inc. (2025–present) – Also owns Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Anthologies
A series of five anthologies was issued under the series title Asimov's Choice, selected from the 1977 and 1978 issues. All were edited by Scithers: the titles were Astronauts & Androids, Black Holes & Bug-Eyed Monsters, Comets & Computers, Dark Stars & Dragons, and Extraterrestrial & Eclipses.
Martin Gardner's puzzles from the first few years of the magazine were collected in three volumes: Science Fiction Puzzle Tales, Puzzles from Other Worlds: Fantastical Brainteasers from Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, and Riddles of the Sphinx and Other Mathematical Puzzle Tales. Some of Spinrad's critical essays for Asimov's, along with a couple of essays from other sources, were collected in Science Fiction in the Real World (1990).
Overseas editions
There have been multiple overseas editions of Asimov's.
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|Israel
|Cosmos
|Atid
|D. Kol
|1979
|6
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|Italy
|La Rivista di Isaac Asimov
|Mondadori
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|Spring 1978 – November 1980
|11
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|Italy
|La Rivista di Isaac Asimov
|SIAD Edizione
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|September 1981 – February 1983
|16
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|Italy
|La Rivista di Isaac Asimov
|Telemaco
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|January 1993 – September 1993
|6
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|Italy
|La Rivista di Isaac Asimov
|Phoenix Enterprise
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|May 1994 – July 1995
|15
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|Japan
|SF Hoseki
|Kobunsha
|Hisanori Tanaguchi
|August 1979 – June 1981
|12
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|Norway
|Isaac Asimovs science fiction-serie
|Nordisk forlag
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|1979 – 1981
|14
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|Poland
|Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
|Temark
|Anna Calikowska, Michał Wroczyński, & Adam Zembrzycki
|December 1991 – November 1992
|10
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|Spain
|Isaac Asimov's revista de ciencia ficción
|Ediciones Picazo
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|December 1979 – March 1981
|12
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|Spain
|Isaac Asimov – Revista de Ciencia Ficción
|Planeta-Agostini
|Carlo Frabetti (first 11 issues)
Domingo Santos (last four issues)
|February 1986 – April 1987
|15
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