About Reports on Progress in Physics

Published monthly and covering all branches of physics, Reports on Progress in Physics™ is a prestigious journal for the publication of reviews surveying the development of selected topics, typically over the previous decade, within a wider context. Articles combine a critical evaluation of the field for established workers with a reliable and accessible introduction for newcomers and specialists in other fields.

The journal has traditionally published review articles. Recently two other article types have been introduced to deal with subjects that have not reached a level of maturity necessary for a full review: Reports on Progress and Key Issues Reviews.

Reports on Progress in Physics welcomes submissions of the following article types:

• Review Articles: present the mature development of an area of physics that has resulted in significant advances of wide interest to physics and related disciplines. Interpretations and conclusions of the research reviewed have achieved broad consensus, and the intent of the article is to organize and clearly present these accomplishments to a broader scientific community. The review is a scholarly work and should be reasonably exhaustive in citations and bibliography, but should not be considered a monograph intended for a restricted community of specialists. Review articles are typically about 30 journal pages in length.
• Reports on Progress: a report on progress recounts the present status of a rapidly evolving field of intense interest but whose final contours have not yet fully developed. A report on progress provides an accurate and well-organized presentation of the present status of research results even if these results and their interpretation are not in universal accord. Indeed, one of the essential features of a report on progress is to identify significant disagreements whose resolution would lead to further advances. Citations and bibliography should provide key entry points into the field but need not be as exhaustive as a review article. Reports on progress are typically about 20 journal pages in length.
• Key Issues Reviews: a key issues review identifies critical questions in a line of physics research that continues to develop, where important advances are widely acknowledged, but whose ultimate significance and goals have not yet been realized or are in dispute. The key issues review is a scientific report with supporting arguments, citations and bibliography but is written from a personal standpoint Reports on Progress in Physics may publish more than one key issue review on the same physics from widely different perspectives or that frankly disagree. Key issues reviews are typically about 10 journal pages in length.

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 enquiries should be sent to the Publisher.

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.

Overlap with published material

All submissions are screened to assess for overlap against previously published material. Overlap is more likely in review articles, but we ask that you are aware of this when writing your article. Therefore, please ensure that overlap is kept to a minimum and is sufficiently referenced.

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)