Physical Review Letters

Top Research Topics at Physical Review Letters?

The journal tackles a plethora of topics, such as Condensed matter physics, Atomic physics, Quantum mechanics, Nuclear physics and Particle physics. The journal focuses on Condensed matter physics as well as the interrelated topic of Magnetic field. The research on Atomic physics tackled can also make contributions to studies in the areas of Ion, Scattering, Electron and Plasma.

The in-depth study on Quantum mechanics also explores topics in the intersecting field of Quantum electrodynamics. Pion, Nucleon and Nuclear reaction are all aspects of Nuclear physics research featured in the journal. Elementary particle, Hadron, Meson, Quantum chromodynamics and Quark are all topics related to Particle physics research discussed.

• Condensed matter physics (29.24%)
• Atomic physics (19.75%)
• Quantum mechanics (12.60%)

What are the most cited papers published in the journal?

• Generalized Gradient Approximation Made Simple (111315 citations)
• Atomic force microscope (11743 citations)
• Raman spectrum of graphene and graphene layers. (11309 citations)

Research areas of the most cited articles at Physical Review Letters:

Condensed matter physics, Atomic physics, Quantum mechanics, Optics and Particle physics are the main subjects of interest in the most cited papers. The journal publications explore issues in Condensed matter physics which can be linked to other research areas like Magnetic field and Magnetization. In addition to Atomic physics research, the most cited publications aim to explore topics under Ion, Plasma, Electron and Laser.

What topics the last edition of the journal is best known for?

• Quantum mechanics
• Electron
• Composite material

The previous edition focused in particular on these issues:

The journal covers a variety of subjects, including Condensed matter physics, Quantum, Atomic physics, Statistical physics and Quantum mechanics. Some problems in Condensed matter physics that were presented in the journal overlapped with concepts under Scattering and Magnetic field. Quantum entanglement, Quantum state and Quantum computer are all areas of Quantum tackled in it.

It explores topics in Atomic physics which can be helpful for research in disciplines like Electron and Laser.

The most cited articles from the last journal are:

• NANOGrav Data Hints at Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter. (87 citations)
• Test of Lepton-Flavor Universality in B →k∗ℓ+ℓ- Decays at Belle (81 citations)
• Did NANOGrav See a Signal from Primordial Black Hole Formation (71 citations)

Papers citation over time

A key indicator for each journal is its effectiveness in reaching other researchers with the papers published at that venue.

The chart below presents the interquartile range (first quartile 25%, median 50% and third quartile 75%) of the number of citations of articles over time.

Top authors and change over time

The top authors publishing in Physical Review Letters (based on the number of publications) are:

• F. Bedeschi (602 papers) published 7 papers at the last edition, 6 less than at the previous edition,
• J. G. Smith (547 papers) absent at the last edition,
• S. Playfer (539 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition, 15 less than at the previous edition,
• A. Beretvas (534 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition, 5 less than at the previous edition,
• G. Raven (530 papers) published 8 papers at the last edition, 11 less than at the previous edition.

The overall trend for top authors publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top authors.

Top affiliations and change over time

Only papers with recognized affiliations are considered

The top affiliations publishing in Physical Review Letters (based on the number of publications) are:

• Max Planck Society (5432 papers) published 151 papers at the last edition, 32 less than at the previous edition,
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (3874 papers) published 101 papers at the last edition, 7 less than at the previous edition,
• University of Tokyo (2938 papers) published 58 papers at the last edition, 61 less than at the previous edition,
• Princeton University (2782 papers) published 49 papers at the last edition, 21 less than at the previous edition,
• Centre national de la recherche scientifique (2685 papers) published 32 papers at the last edition, 22 less than at the previous edition.

The overall trend for top affiliations publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top affiliations.

Publication chance based on affiliation

The publication chance index shows the ratio of articles published by the best research institutions in the journal edition to all articles published within that journal. The best research institutions were selected based on the largest number of articles published during all editions of the journal.

The chart below presents the percentage ratio of articles from top institutions (based on their ranking of total papers).Top affiliations were grouped by their rank into the following tiers: top 1-10, top 11-20, top 21-50, and top 51+. Only articles with a recognized affiliation are considered.

During the most recent 2021 edition, 3.94% of publications had an unrecognized affiliation. Out of the publications with recognized affiliations, 24.91% were posted by at least one author from the top 10 institutions publishing in the journal. Another 8.51% included authors affiliated with research institutions from the top 11-20 affiliations. Institutions from the 21-50 range included 18.79% of all publications and 47.79% were from other institutions.

Returning Authors Index

A very common phenomenon observed among researchers publishing scientific articles is the intentional selection of journals they have already attended in the past. In particular, it is worth analyzing the case when the authors participate in the same journal from year to year.

The Returning Authors Index presented below illustrates the ratio of authors who participated in both a given as well as the previous edition of the journal in relation to all participants in a given year.

Returning Institution Index

The graph below shows the Returning Institution Index, illustrating the ratio of institutions that participated in both a given and the previous edition of the conference in relation to all affiliations present in a given year.

The experience to innovation index

Our experience to innovation index was created to show a cross-section of the experience level of authors publishing in a journal. The index includes the authors publishing at the last edition of a journal, grouped by total number of publications throughout their academic career (P) and the total number of citations of these publications ever received (C).

The group intervals were selected empirically to best show the diversity of the authors' experiences, their labels were selected as a convenience, not as judgment. The authors were divided into the following groups:

• Novice - P < 5 or C < 25 (the number of publications less than 5 or the number of citations less than 25),
• Competent - P < 10 or C < 100 (the number of publications less than 10 or the number of citations less than 100),
• Experienced - P < 25 or C < 625 (the number of publications less than 25 or the number of citations less than 625),
• Master - P < 50 or C < 2500 (the number of publications less than 50 or the number of citations less than 2500),
• Star - P ≥ 50 and C ≥ 2500 (both the number of publications greater than 50 and the number of citations greater than 2500).

The chart below illustrates experience levels of first authors in cases of publications with multiple authors.