Physical Review Applied

Physical Review Applied. It is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Physical Society, focusing on the intersection of physics with engineering and technology. Launched in 2014, it aims to bridge the gap between fundamental research and practical applications across a wide array of fields. The journal is part of the prestigious Physical Review family, which includes titles like Physical Review Letters and Physical Review B.

History and scope

The journal was established in 2014 under the leadership of the American Physical Society to address a growing need for a dedicated venue for high-quality applied physics research. Its creation was influenced by the success of other specialized journals in the Physical Review series and the increasing interdisciplinary nature of modern physics. The scope encompasses the application of physical principles to advances in technology and engineering, covering areas such as photonics, spintronics, metamaterials, quantum information science, and energy harvesting. It serves a broad community of researchers from academia, national laboratories like Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and industrial R&D centers such as those at IBM and Intel.

Content and article types

The journal publishes a variety of article types, including original research Articles, shorter Letters, Comments, and Errata. Research Articles present comprehensive studies, while Letters report concise, significant findings requiring rapid dissemination. The content spans experimental, theoretical, and computational work, with frequent topics including nanotechnology, semiconductor device physics, optoelectronics, sensors, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Special issues and editorial collections often highlight emerging areas, such as applications of machine learning in physics or advances in quantum computing hardware, featuring work from institutions like MIT, Stanford University, and the Max Planck Institute.

Editorial process and peer review

The editorial process is overseen by a team of professional editors, led by the Editor, James T. (Jim) Dillion, who is supported by an international Editorial Board of active scientists. Manuscripts undergo a rigorous single-blind peer review process, where reviewers are selected for their expertise in specific subfields like condensed matter physics or applied optics. The journal emphasizes timely and constructive reviews, with editorial decisions often informed by the practices of its sibling publications, such as Physical Review A and Physical Review E. This system ensures the publication of work that is both scientifically sound and of high technical relevance to the applied physics community.

Abstracting, indexing, and impact

The journal is abstracted and indexed in major scientific databases including the Science Citation Index, Scopus, INSPEC, and Chemical Abstracts Service. Its Impact Factor, as reported by Clarivate's Journal Citation Reports, was 4.532 for the 2022 citation year, reflecting its influence within the applied physics landscape. The journal also participates in initiatives like CrossRef and ORCID to ensure proper citation and author identification. Its articles are regularly cited in high-impact journals such as Nature, Science, and Advanced Materials, and it is considered a key resource for researchers at institutions like the University of Cambridge and Caltech.

Related journals

It is part of the extensive Physical Review portfolio, which includes discipline-specific journals like Physical Review D (particles and fields) and Physical Review C (nuclear physics). Other closely related journals focusing on applied and interdisciplinary physics include Applied Physics Letters published by AIP Publishing, Journal of Applied Physics, and Nature Communications. Within the American Physical Society family, it complements the more fundamental research published in Physical Review Letters and the topical reviews in Reviews of Modern Physics, together providing a comprehensive publication ecosystem for the physical sciences.

Category:American Physical Society academic journals Category:Applied physics journals Category:Monthly journals Category:Academic journals established in 2014