Physical Review Letters
Template:Short description Template:Infobox journal Physical Review Letters (PRL), established in 1958, is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal that is published 52 times per year by the American Physical Society. The journal is considered one of the most prestigious in the field of physics. Over a quarter of Physics Nobel Prize-winning papers between 1995 and 2017 were published in it.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
PRL is published both online and as a print journal. Its focus is on short articles ("letters") intended for quick publication. The Lead Editor is Hugues Chaté. The Managing Editor is Robert Garisto.<ref name=about/><ref name=editor> Template:Cite web</ref>
History
The journal was created in 1958. Samuel Goudsmit, who was then the editor of Physical Review, the American Physical Society's flagship journal, organized and published Letters to the Editor of Physical Review into a new standalone journal, which became Physical Review Letters. It was the first journal intended for the rapid publication of short articles, a format that eventually became popular in many other fields.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Notable articles
- 1964 PRL symmetry breaking papers
- First report of a functional scanning tunneling microscope (1982)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Invention of the atomic force microscope (1986)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- First observation of gravitational waves (2016)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Scope
PRL covers all areas of physics. The journal is divided into the following sections:<ref name=about> Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=toc2009> Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=toc2010> Template:Cite journal</ref>
- General Physics: Statistical and Quantum mechanics, Quantum information, etc.
- Gravitation and astrophysics
- Elementary particles and fields
- Nuclear physics
- Atomic, molecular, and optical physics
- Nonlinear dynamics, Fluid dynamics, Classical optics, etc.
- Plasma and beam physics
- Condensed matter: Structure, etc.
- Condensed Matter: Semiconductor-Electronic properties, etc.
- Polymer, Soft matter, Biological, and Interdisciplinary physics
A section before the table of contents highlights a small number of particularly notable articles in each edition.<ref name=toc2009/><ref name=toc2010/>
Journal ranking summary
The following table presents the most recent journal ranking metrics for Physical Review Letters based on data from Scopus and Web of Science categories.
Journal ranking summary (2023) <ref>JRank: Physical Review Letters – https://jrank.net/journals/phys-rev-lett/metrics</ref>
| Source | Category | Rank | Percentile | Quartile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scopus | General Physics and Astronomy in Physics and Astronomy | 13/243 | 94.65 | Q1 |
| Web of Science (IF) | Physics, Multidisciplinary | 8/110 | 93.20 | Q1 |
| Web of Science (JCI) | Physics, Multidisciplinary | 8/110 | 92.73 | Q1 |
Abstracting, indexing, and impact factor
Physical Review Letters is indexed in the following bibliographic databases:<ref name=about/>
- Chemical Abstracts
- Computer & Control Abstracts
- Current Physics Index
- Electrical & Electronics Index
- Energy Research Abstracts
- GeoRef
- INSPEC
- International Aerospace Abstracts
- Mathematical Reviews
- Medline
- Metals Abstracts
- Nuclear Science Abstracts
- Physics Abstracts
- PubSCIENCE
- SPIN
- World Aluminum Abstracts
See also
References
External links
- Template:Official website
- All Volumes and Issues
- Collections of articles
- 50th Anniversary Milestone Papers
- "Physics"