Physical Review D

Physical Review D
source
Title	Physical Review D
Discipline	Physics
Abbreviation	Phys. Rev. D
Publisher	American Physical Society
Country	United States
History	1970–present
Frequency	24/year
Issn	1550-7998

Physical Review D is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in particle physics, field theory, gravitation, and cosmology. Published by the American Physical Society, the journal forms part of a family that includes journals such as Physical Review Letters and Physical Review A. Its pages have hosted influential work connected to experiments at facilities like CERN, Fermilab, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

History

Physical Review D originated from a division of the original Physical Review series after editorial reorganizations led by figures associated with the American Physical Society and editorial boards during the mid-20th century. Its formation paralleled developments at laboratories including Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborations emerging from projects such as the Large Electron–Positron Collider and later the Large Hadron Collider. Editors and contributors have included researchers affiliated with institutions like Princeton University, Harvard University, California Institute of Technology, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The journal’s evolution reflects milestones such as the establishment of computerized submission workflows influenced by initiatives at Los Alamos National Laboratory and cross-disciplinary engagement with groups linked to the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.

Scope and content

The journal covers original research on topics ranging from theoretical frameworks like quantum chromodynamics and string theory to experimental analyses from collaborations such as ATLAS (particle detector), CMS (detector), and BaBar (experiment). Article types include full-length articles reporting results from projects at sites such as RHIC and Tevatron (particle accelerator), review articles addressing themes explored at meetings like the International Conference on High Energy Physics and the Strings Conference, and technical notes on techniques developed at centers including CERN and DESY. Disciplines represented in its pages intersect with work by researchers from institutions like University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Stanford University, and University of California, Berkeley. The journal routinely publishes studies involving theoretical constructs such as supersymmetry, inflation (cosmology), black hole thermodynamics, and experimental searches for phenomena predicted by proposals from groups at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Editorial structure and publication practices

Editorial oversight is provided by an editorial board appointed through processes tied to the American Physical Society governance and often includes editors with affiliations to universities such as University of Chicago and laboratories like Argonne National Laboratory. Peer review follows standards familiar to journals such as Journal of High Energy Physics and Nuclear Physics B, with referees drawn from communities represented by societies including the Institute of Physics and collaborations like LIGO Scientific Collaboration. Production workflows have adopted platforms used in alignment with repositories such as arXiv; submission, revision, and copyediting reflect practices established through consortia involving libraries at Cornell University and publishers cooperating with groups such as CrossRef. The journal’s publication cadence and special issues have often been coordinated with conference schedules including the American Physical Society March Meeting.

Abstracting, indexing, and impact

Physical Review D is indexed in major services alongside journals like Nature, Science (journal), and Journal of High Energy Physics; indexing services include databases operated by entities linked to Clarivate Analytics and platforms associated with Scopus. Its impact factor and citation metrics are typically compared with titles such as Physical Review Letters and Classical and Quantum Gravity in assessments used by funding bodies including the National Science Foundation and academic evaluators at universities such as Yale University and Columbia University. Metrics derived from citations to landmark papers have influenced hiring and grant decisions at institutions like Imperial College London and research programs funded by the European Research Council.

Notable papers and contributions

The journal has published influential work connected to theoretical advances that built on foundations laid by researchers associated with Albert Einstein-related topics, studies that clarified predictions of quantum electrodynamics and quantum chromodynamics, and analyses central to experimental results reported by collaborations such as ATLAS (particle detector) and CMS (detector). Noteworthy contributions include papers that intersect with results from experiments at CERN, theoretical proposals developed within groups at Princeton University and Harvard University, and methodological innovations later applied in projects involving LIGO and Planck (spacecraft). Landmark results in perturbative calculations, renormalization techniques, and lattice computations have tied into broader research programs led by teams at Fermilab and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Access and licensing

Access to the journal follows models employed by the American Physical Society including subscription-based access and open-access options that mirror policies used by journals such as Physical Review X and Physical Review Letters. Authors can select licensing consistent with mandates from agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the European Commission, and archived preprints are commonly deposited in arXiv. Institutional subscriptions held by libraries at organizations such as University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins University provide campus-wide access, while individual articles may be available under Creative Commons licenses when authors elect open-access publication.

Category:Physics journals