We outline in detail the properties of generalized parton distributions (GPDs), which contain new information on the structure of hadrons and which enter the description of hard exclusive reactions. We highlight the physics content of the GPDs and discuss the quark GPDs in the large Nc limit and within the context of the chiral quark-soliton model. Guided by this physics, we then present a general parametrization for these GPDs. Subsequently we discuss how these GPDs enter in a wide variety of hard electroproduction processes and how they can be accessed from them. We consider in detail deeply virtual Compton scattering and the hard electroproduction of mesons. We identify a list of key observables which are sensitive to the various hadron structure aspects contained in the GPDs and which can be addressed by present and future experiments.

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There has been much activity in the measurement of the elastic electromagnetic proton and neutron form factors in the last decade, and the quality of the data has been greatly improved by performing double polarization experiments, in comparison with previous unpolarized data. Here we review the experimental data base in view of the new results for the proton, and neutron, obtained at MIT-Bates, MAMI, and JLab. The rapid evolution of phenomenological models triggered by these high-precision experiments will be discussed, including the recent progress in the determination of the valence quark generalized parton distributions of the nucleon, as well as the steady rate of improvements made in the lattice QCD calculations.