After a two year hiatus following his annual Dutton anthologies, Dozois began a new series of year's best anthologies in 1984, at first for Bluejay and then for St. Martin's for over three decades. These were huge anthologies, and set the standard for the field: each blurbed as over 250,000 words of fiction (600 or more pages, 3 dozen or more stories), along with a lengthy summary of the year in publishing, magazines, novels, and movies, and a long list of honorable mentions at the end of the book. Each story was provided with a thorough introduction, including a summary of the author's career and status in the field and a piquant take on the story's theme and significance. The series has now ended with Dozois' death in 2018.
Most-reprinted authors: Nancy Kress and Robert Reed (26 each), Michael Swanwick (25), Greg Egan (22), Ian McDonald (21), Paul J. McAuley and Alastair Reynolds (19 each), Bruce Sterling (17), then Stephen Baxter, James Patrick Kelly, and Ian R. MacLeod (16 each).
Most frequent sources: Asimov's/IASFM (258), F&SF (108), Interzone (55), Analog (39), Omni (38), Clarkesworld (27). Of 997 stories, 260 stories came from books; 79 from websites.
The Year's Best Science Fiction: First Annual Collection, (Bluejay, 1984)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection, (Bluejay, 1985)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Third Annual Collection, (Bluejay, 1986)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 1987)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 1988)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 1989)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Seventh Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 1990)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 1991)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Ninth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 1992)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Tenth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 1993)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eleventh Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 1994)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twelfth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 1995)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirteenth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 1996)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourteenth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 1997)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifteenth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's Griffin, 1998)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixteenth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 1999)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Seventeenth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 2000)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighteenth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's Griffin, 2001)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Nineteenth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 2002)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twentieth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 2003)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-first Annual Collection, (St. Martin's Griffin, 2004)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-second Annual Collection, (St. Martin's Griffin, 2005)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-third Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 2006)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-fourth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's Griffin, 2007)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-fifth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 2008)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-sixth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's, 2009)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection, (St. Martin's Griffin, 2010)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-eighth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's Griffin, 2011)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-ninth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's Griffin, 2012)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirtieth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's Griffin, 2013)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-first Annual Collection, (St. Martin's Griffin, 2014)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Second Annual Collection, (St. Martin's Griffin, 2015)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-third Annual Collection, (St. Martin's Griffin, 2016)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-fourth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's Griffin, 2017)
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The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-fifth Annual Collection, (St. Martin's Griffin, 2018)
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