Physical Review A
Physical Review A is a trusted journal for significant developments in atomic, molecular, and optical physics and quantum science.
Spotlighting Synergies
Established in 1970, PRA is the journal of choice for the publication of research in AMO physics and quantum science. Bridging these traditional and more recent research areas, PRA’s authors and readers benefit from the widespread synergies between these fields. PRA coordinates with other members of the Physical Review family of journals to serve new subspecialties as they develop.
PRA publishes detailed research articles as well as Letters, which are short accessible papers of particular importance. The journal has a flexible approach to article lengths and welcomes submission of longer papers that provide depth and authority in their subject areas.
By Scientists, For Scientists
Like all of the journals in the Physical Review family, PRA is shaped by researchers to serve the research community. This ensures that its mission, standards, and policies prioritize the needs of researchers and the broader scientific community; this commitment is reinforced by APS’s promise as a founding member of the Purpose-Led Publishing coalition.
PRA covers atomic, molecular, and optical physics, foundations of quantum mechanics, and quantum science, including:
- Fundamental concepts
- Quantum information science
- Quantum technologies
- Atomic and molecular structure and dynamics; high-precision experiments
- Light-induced processes in atomic-scale systems
- Ultracold systems and matter waves
- Photonics, nonlinear optics, and optomechanics
- Quantum optics
Submitted manuscripts should meet the following criteria:
- Add to the existing knowledge related to atomic, molecular, and optical physics and quantum science.
- Make a significant contribution in a specific research area and generate interest for PRA’s readers.
- Represent an authoritative and substantive addition to the body of literature.
At the core of APS's mission is a commitment to meeting the needs of physicists, a community that has been at the leading edge of open access. As a result, APS supports a variety of sustainable access options:
- Authors can pay an article publication charge (APC) to make accepted manuscripts immediately accessible on publication under a CC-BY (4.0 International) license. In keeping with APS's community orientation, this is the most permissive license available at this time and permits anyone to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt the work with proper attribution. APCs cover publishing costs and decrease the need for subscription revenue, helping to keep subscription prices low (current APS APCs).
- APS authors are free to post the final published version of their articles on their laboratory, departmental, or institutional web sites.
- APS makes its journals free to read at U.S. public libraries and high schools by application. Contact publisher@aps.org for more information.
- APS is a founding member of CHORUS, which enables distributed public access to published research articles reporting on U.S. federal government funded research.
- APS offers authors from lower income countries the opportunity to publish Open Access at no cost by automatically offering APC waivers for articles accepted into all Hybrid and Gold Open Access titles. Learn more here.
- APS provides free access to its subscription-based journals content for readers in lower income countries through partnerships with Research4Life and other programs. Learn more here.
Editorial Board
The PRA Editorial Board is a diverse, global group of active, distinguished scientists, selected by editors in consultation with APS units and appointed by the Executive Editor. Board members serve three-year terms. They may be requested by the editors to advise at any stage of the review process and they serve as adjudicators in formal appeals.
Editorial Team
PRA is managed by a professional editorial team of Ph.D. scientists with extensive research experience at major academic institutions and research laboratories around the world. All editorial decisions are based on PRA acceptance criteria.
High Visibility and Impact
PRA authors gain high visibility and achieve broad dissemination for their work in the journal of choice in AMO physics and quantum science. PRA editors bring attention to outstanding research and elucidate its importance through a number of features:
- Editors’ Suggestions: Selected papers are chosen as Editors’ Suggestions to direct readers to interesting, important, and well-written articles in areas of research beyond their usual interests. They garner, on average, more downloads and citations than other papers published in the journal and are more frequently covered by news outlets.
- Featured in Physics: Editors regularly notify Physics, APS’s daily online news and commentary publication, about important papers, resulting in coverage in the forms of Synopsis, Focus, or Viewpoint.
- Publicity: APS promotes press-worthy papers from its journals to journalists through a weekly Tip Sheet, resulting in frequent coverage in industry publications and the popular press, such as Physics World and Business Insider.
- Indexing: ISI (Science Citation Index®), Scopus, Inspec, Google Scholar
- Follow APS on Social Media:
- X: @PhysRevA
- LinkedIn: @APSPhysics
- Facebook: @APSPhysics
- Instagram: @APSPhysics
- WeChat: @APSPhysics
Editorial and Publishing Policies
All journals published by APS follow a common set of Editorial Policies and Practices, which cover Editorial Oversight and Decision Making, Authorship, Submissions, Resubmissions, and Transfers, Peer Review, Ethics and Research Integrity, Post Publication, and Open Access and Publications Rights.
PRA is published electronically one article at a time. Articles are identified by volume number and a six-digit article number, for example, Journal 1, XXXXXX (2020).
PRA editors can decide to accelerate the review process for a small number of manuscripts that report particularly important or groundbreaking research.