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Reports on Progress in Physics

About Reports on Progress in Physics

Scope

Reports on Progress in Physics is a highly selective journal with a mission to publish ground-breaking new research and authoritative invited reviews of the highest quality and significance across all areas of physics and related areas. Articles must be essential reading for specialists, and likely to be of broader multidisciplinary interest with the expectation for long-term scientific impact and influence on the current state and/or future direction of a field.

 

Reports on Progress in Physics (ROPP) has a long history of serving the entire physics community. It is established as one of the world’s most authoritative journals for the field, boasting an archive of seminal and influential review content. The introduction of original research as a new option for authors means that ROPP will be a home for even more essential research content for the benefit of its multidisciplinary audience. The original research content will reinforce the journal’s long-standing reputation as one of the most important resources for physicists at all career stages.”

 

Subir Sachdev, Editor-in-Chief

Subir Sachdev, Editor-in-Chief

 

In addition to all fundamental areas of physics, Reports on Progress in Physics encourages interdisciplinary and applied research at the interface of established disciplines across the physical sciences. Core areas of coverage include (but are not limited to):

  • Astrophysics, cosmology and space science
  • Atomic and molecular physics
  • Biophysics and soft matter
  • Computational science and machine learning
  • Condensed matter and materials science
  • Environmental science, energy and sustainability
  • Nuclear and high energy particle physics
  • Mathematical physics
  • Measurement and instrumentation
  • Medical physics
  • Nanotechnology
  • Optics, photonics and imaging
  • Physical chemistry
  • Plasma science
  • Quantum science and technology
  • Statistical physics and complex systems

Article types

Building on the journal’s long-standing reputation as a source of landmark seminal reviews in all areas of physics, Reports on Progress in Physics is now open for original research submissions with an open access option for all authors. The journal welcomes submissions of the following article types.

Type Purpose Typical Length Requirements
Letters Concise, high-urgency reports of new advances with broad relevance ≤ 4,500 words (~8 pages) Cover letter with Justification Statement
Research Papers In-depth original research with long-term impact across disciplines ~12,000 words (flexible) Cover letter with Justification Statement
Review Articles Comprehensive overviews of mature fields with broad consensus ~30 journal pages Scholarly, exhaustive citations
Reports on Progress State-of-the-art updates on fast-evolving fields and current debates ~20 journal pages Key citations; less exhaustive than reviews
Key Issue Reviews Focused discussions on unresolved or emerging questions, often personal point of view ~10 journal pages May include contrasting perspectives

Special requirements

Letters and Research Papers:

To be publishable in Reports on Progress in Physics a Letter or Research Paper must report a new advance that is essential reading for specialists, and likely to be of broader multidisciplinary interest with the expectation for long-term scientific impact and influence on the current state and/or future direction of a field. An essential requirement for publication is for the work to have the potential to significantly advance a specific field and/or report on a fundamental new discovery/concept with envisaged long-term importance.

Submissions that do not meet the journal’s strict acceptance criteria may be transferred for consideration to another more editorially suitable journal within the IOP Publishing portfolio (subject to the peer review process and author approval).

Cover Letter and Justification Statement

Authors are required to provide a cover letter that includes a Justification Statement as part of their submission to Reports on Progress in Physics. This material is intended to help convey the significance of the work to the journal’s Editors and will be influential as part of the initial editorial assessment process. Specifically, the Justification Statement should concisely (in less than 150 words):

  1. Summarise the main scientific result/advance being reported;
  2. Outline the expected long-term influence of the work on the current state and/or future direction of the immediate field;
  3. Highlight any broader implications of the research for other disciplines.

 

Review Articles:

Review articles are normally commissioned on behalf of the Editorial Board from leading international authorities in their respective fields. Submitted proposals to write review articles are considered by the Editorial Board, but authors are strongly advised to contact the editorial office before writing reviews because of the special requirements of this journal and because similar articles may already be in preparation. All inquiries should be sent to the journal team.

 

Medical research involving human or animal subjects

Manuscripts reporting studies of humans or animals should pay due attention to the ethical aspects of the study. Such studies must conform with local statutory requirements. Reports on Progress in Physics endorses fully the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects. Where appropriate a statement should be made that the study has been carried out with ethical committee approval. Studies involving experimental animals must attend to the welfare of the animals; the guidelines of the United Kingdom Coordinating Committee on Cancer Research (UKCCCR) provide a basis for welfare considerations. Authors should also be aware of Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals by the Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources. Please state if the work has been subject to animal ethics committee approval.

Peer review

The following summary describes the peer review process for Reports on Progress in Physics, using the ANSI/NISO Standard Terminology for Peer Review:

  • Identity transparency: single-anonymous, double-anonymous (author choice)
  • Reviewer interacts with: Editor

Our Publishing Support website provides more information on our reviewing process as well as checklists in both English and Chinese language to help authors prepare their manuscripts for submission.

If an article is not accepted for publication, we may offer the author the opportunity to transfer their submission to other suitable journals we publish.

Ethics

Reports on Progress in Physics maintains the highest standards of publication and research ethics and is a member of the Committee for Publication Ethics (COPE). Authors and reviewers are expected to comply with IOP Publishing’s Ethical Policy.

Inclusivity and diversity

IOP Publishing recognises that there are inequalities within the scientific publishing and research ecosystems. We are committed to a progressive approach to inclusivity and diversity, and are working hard to eliminate discrimination to foster an equitable and welcoming publishing environment for all.

IOP Publishing follows Guidelines on Inclusive Language and Images in Scholarly Communication to ensure that journal articles use bias-free and culturally sensitive communication. We ask authors to please follow these guidelines in their manuscript submissions.

More information about our work on inclusivity is available on our Open Physics hub.

Research data

Reports on Progress in Physics has adopted IOP Publishing’s research data policy. Please check that your article complies with the policy before submission.

Please note that this policy requires authors to include a data availability statement in their article.

For any questions about the policy please contact the journal.

Many research funders now require authors to make all data related to their research available in an online repository. Please refer to the policy for further information about research data, data repositories and data citation.

Open access

Reports on Progress in Physics is a hybrid open access journal. Authors have the option to pay an article publication charge (APC) to publish their article on a gold open access basis under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. Articles published on a gold open access basis are freely available to everyone to read and reuse immediately upon publication, provided the terms of the licence are followed and clear attribution to the author is given.

Alternatively, authors who do not select the gold open access option can choose a green open access route to publication.

For more information on IOP Publishing’s open access policies please see our Open access page. For our author rights policies please see our Author rights page.

Publication charges

Reports on Progress in Physics has now introduced a gold open access option for all authors. Publication on a subscription-access basis is free of charge.

Authors have the option to pay the following article publication charge (APC) to publish their article on an open access basis under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence.

 

GBP EUR USD
Article publication charge* £3425 €3940 $4680
Reduced article publication charge* for Group B countries** £0 €0 $0
Reduced article publication charge for Group A countries** £0 €0 $0

*excluding VAT where applicable

**eligibility criteria can be found here

APCs only apply to articles accepted for publication; there are no submission charges.

 

Transformative Agreements

Letters and Research Papers published in Reports on Progress in Physics are included in our transformative agreements which allow authors from some institutions to publish open access without paying an APC. Review articles published in the journal are currently not included in transformative agreements.

Find out if you’re covered by an agreement

 

If you are covered by an agreement, use our author guide to help you submit your paper.

 

Paying for open access

Various discounts, waivers and funding arrangements are available to support our authors. Visit our Paying for open access page for further details.

Abstracting and indexing services

We work with our authors to help make their work as easy to discover as possible. Reports on Progress in Physics is currently included in the following abstracting and discovery services:

  • ISI (Science Citation Index®, SciSearch®, ISI Alerting Services, Index to Scientific Reviews®, Current Contents®/Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences)
  • Scopus
  • Inspec
  • Chemical Abstracts Service
  • GeoRef
  • INIS Atomindex (International Nuclear Information System)
  • MathSciNet
  • NASA Astrophysics Data System
  • VINITI Abstracts Journal (Referativnyi Zhurnal)

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