Physical Review B

Physical Review B
American Physical Society · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Title	Physical Review B
Discipline	Condensed matter physics
Abbreviation	Phys. Rev. B
Publisher	American Physical Society
Country	United States
Frequency	Weekly
History	1970–present
Openaccess	Hybrid
Issn	2469-9950

Contents

Physical Review B is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in condensed matter and materials physics. Established to serve the American Physical Society publishing program alongside companion journals, the journal has published work by authors affiliated with institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Cambridge, ETH Zurich, and University of Tokyo. It is widely read by researchers connected with laboratories like Los Alamos National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, CERN, and industry groups including IBM Research, Bell Labs, and Intel.

History

Physical Review B was created from the division of the original Physical Review into specialized parts during editorial reorganizations that followed practices at publishers such as Nature Publishing Group and Elsevier. The journal's early editors and contributors included members from American Institute of Physics, American Association of Physics Teachers, and Nobel laureates associated with Harvard University and Princeton University. Key historical milestones intersect with conferences such as the American Physical Society March Meeting and awards like the Nobel Prize in Physics when landmark papers on superconductivity, magnetism, and semiconductors appeared. The evolution of the journal paralleled developments at centers including Bell Labs Research, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and national facilities such as National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.

The journal publishes original research articles, Rapid Communications, and Commentaries on subjects spanning experimental and theoretical studies. Typical topics reflect work from groups at California Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on themes like superconductivity, magnetism, electronic structure, low-dimensional systems, and quantum materials. Contributions often cite foundational results related to experiments at facilities such as Brookhaven National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Diamond Light Source, and MAX IV Laboratory. The scope includes computational studies employing methods developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and groups associated with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Authors often reference theoretical frameworks with roots in work by researchers affiliated with Cambridge University Press publications, institutes like Perimeter Institute, and collaborations involving Max Planck Society centers.

Editorial leadership is drawn from academic appointments at universities such as University of Oxford, University of California, Santa Barbara, Cornell University, University of Pennsylvania, and The University of Chicago. The peer review process engages referees from organizations including Royal Society, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, European Research Council, and professional societies like Institute of Physics. Manuscripts undergo initial editorial screening following guidelines influenced by standards at Science and Nature, and selected submissions enter double-anonymous or single-anonymous review managed by editors who are often members of American Physical Society divisions. Policies on conflicts of interest, data availability, and research ethics align with expectations communicated at meetings such as the APS March Meeting and in agreements with funding agencies like National Science Foundation, European Commission, and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Physical Review B appears on a frequent schedule and has historically issued weekly compilations and online continuous posting similar to practices used by Physical Review Letters and other journals from the American Physical Society. Article types include full Articles, Rapid Communications, Errata, and Editorials authored by staff from American Physical Society offices and guest editors from institutions like Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Institute for Advanced Study, and Niels Bohr Institute. The journal supports supplemental materials and data deposition consistent with repositories used by groups at Zenodo, Figshare, and discipline-specific archives maintained by arXiv categories such as Condensed matter physics submissions managed under institutional e-print policies at universities including Cornell University.

The journal is indexed in major services and databases used by researchers at Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, INSPIRE-HEP, and NASA ADS. It is listed in catalogs maintained by libraries at Library of Congress, British Library, and university systems such as University of California libraries and Oxford University Library. Abstracting entries appear in specialized indexes that serve communities connected to SPIE, American Chemical Society, and engineering departments at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Georgia Institute of Technology.

Physical Review B is cited frequently in literature produced by groups at Harvard University, University of Cambridge, Stanford University, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, and RIKEN. Its impact metrics are tracked alongside journals such as Journal of Applied Physics, Nature Materials, and Advanced Materials in evaluations by funding bodies like National Science Foundation and ranking services used by departments at Princeton University and Imperial College London. Reception among researchers is shaped by the journal's role in documenting major advances related to topics covered at conferences including the Materials Research Society meetings and symposia organized by European Materials Research Society.