Physical Review A (also known as PRA) is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Physical Society (APS). It covers atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) physics, as well as quantum information. As of 2021, the editor was Jan M. Rost of the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems.
History
The journal traces its origins to the Physical Review, which was established in 1893 at Cornell University and taken over by the American Physical Society in 1913. In 1970, Physical Review was subdivided into sections A, B, C, and D. At that time, section A was subtitled Physical Review A: General Physics. In 1993, Physical Review E was created from a split of section A, and Physical Review A changed its scope to atomic, molecular, and optical physics. In January 2007, the classical optics section of Physical Review E was merged back into Physical Review A, unifying classical and quantum optics in a single journal. In 2016, the journal formally broadened its coverage to explicitly include quantum information, which had been a section within the journal since 1998.
Publication Details
- Publisher: American Physical Society (United States)
- Frequency: Monthly
- Open access: Hybrid
- Impact factor: 2.9 (2024, according to Journal Citation Reports)
- ISSN: 2469-9926 (print), 2469-9934 (web)
- CODEN: PRAHC3
- ISO 4 abbreviation: Phys. Rev. A
Features
- Rapid Communications (introduced in 1981): A venue for quick publication of high-impact articles for a specialized audience.
- Editors' Suggestions (introduced in August 2013): Selected papers marked by editors as being of particular interest, importance, or clarity.
Abstracting and Indexing
The journal is abstracted and indexed in major scientific databases including Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), Inspec, and Scopus, among others.
