For information on manuscript preparation, style guidelines, and submission criteria, see the Information for Authors section of the relevant journal.
The receipt date indicates the date the manuscript was first received through the Submissions Server. This date is verified by the editor and appears in the published article. Manuscripts transferred between Physical Review journals usually retain the original receipt date. If authors make substantive changes to a manuscript, it may be given a revised date, which also appears if the paper is published. In cases of major delays or changes, a resubmitted manuscript may be given a new receipt date.
Previously published manuscripts or those being considered for publication elsewhere cannot be considered for publication in Physical Review journals.
Theses, dissertations, and conference proceedings. The Physical Review journals generally welcome manuscripts based on results published in a thesis or dissertation. Results previously reported in conference proceedings may also be acceptable; editors will weigh factors such as the degree of overlap, the audience and format for the proceedings, and whether the proceedings were peer reviewed.
Disclosing previous work. Authors should disclose recent, relevant unpublished work when submitting a manuscript. For example, authors should give code numbers of related manuscripts that are under consideration by a Physical Review journal, the title of a manuscript that is submitted elsewhere, or the e-print number of a manuscript deposited on a preprint server.
Reproduction of previously published figures, tables, and text should be kept to a minimum and must be properly referenced and comply with the copyright or licensing requirements of the paper’s publisher. Prior to publication, authors must show that they have complied with the publisher’s requirements, possibly including written agreement of both publisher and author of the originally published work. (If the original journal is published by APS, only the written agreement of the original author is required to reproduce a few figures or tables.)
The Physical Review portfolio provides many publishing options and welcomes the transfer of a manuscript between journals. If a manuscript is not suitable for publication at a given Physical Review journal, the editors aim to support authors by suggesting another journal or journals, provided a suitable option exists.
Transfers are considered resubmissions. Authors who wish to transfer their original manuscript should access it on the Submissions Server and resubmit to the new journal. The editors of the receiving journal will make their own editorial decisions about the transferred manuscript. When a manuscript is transferred between Physical Review journals its history is fully available to the new journal. This history includes all correspondence between authors, editors, and referees.
When transferring from one Physical Review journal to another, authors should submit a rebuttal to referees, when appropriate, along with the possibly revised manuscript.
Questions about the suitability of a manuscript for a given Physical Review journal should be directed to the editors of that journal (see Contact Information).
Readers benefit from complete referencing that communicates the precedents, sources, and context of the reported work. Authors should follow these guidelines when submitting or resubmitting a paper:
Supplemental Material (SM) is useful information that is not essential to understanding an article’s main results, such as multimedia, raw or analyzed data, parameters used in or produced by calculations, and computer codes as well as additional technical details on the work performed. All Physical Review journals provide a platform for Supplemental Material deposited as electronic files. For editorial policies and details about preparing Supplemental Material, see Supplemental Material Instructions.