Physical Review C
Physical Review C (PRC) is a leading journal in theoretical and experimental nuclear physics, publishing more than two-thirds of the research literature in the field.
The Home of Nuclear Physics
Established in 1970, PRC is a trusted, essential resource for nuclear physics researchers, nuclear data aggregators and evaluators, and others who use nuclear science research results. PRC provides a collegial and proactive environment for researchers looking to publish in APS’s Physical Review family of journals. PRC coordinates with other members of APS’s Physical Review family of journals to serve new subspecialties as they develop.
PRC publishes detailed research articles as well as Letters, which are short accessible papers of particular importance. The journal has a flexible approach to article lengths and welcomes submission of longer papers that provide depth and authority in their subject areas.
By Physicists, For Physicists
Like all of the journals in the Physical Review family, PRC is shaped by researchers to serve the research community. This commitment ensures that its mission and standards prioritize the needs of researchers and authors, not commercial publishing interests. The journal is international, with approximately three-quarters of published articles originating from outside the U.S. Physical Review’s reach is far and wide, with authors and referees from over 130 countries.
PRC Scope
PRC covers experimental and theoretical results in all aspects of nuclear physics, including:
- Nucleon-nucleon interaction, few-body systems
- Nuclear structure
- Nuclear reactions
- Relativistic nuclear collisions
- Hadronic physics and QCD
- Electroweak interaction, symmetries
- Nuclear astrophysics
PRC Acceptance Criteria
Submitted manuscripts should meet the following criteria:
- Present important and novel physics.
- Make a significant contribution in a specific research area and generate interest for PRC's readers.
- Represent an authoritative and substantive addition to the body of literature.
- Explore the subject matter comprehensively and thoroughly.
Open Access
At the core of APS's mission is a commitment to meeting the needs of physicists, a community that has been at the leading edge of open access. As a result, APS supports a variety of sustainable access options:
- Authors can pay an article publication charge (APC) to make accepted manuscripts immediately accessible on publication under a CC-BY (4.0 International) license. In keeping with APS's community orientation, this is the most permissive license available at this time and permits anyone to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt the work with proper attribution. APCs cover publishing costs and decrease the need for subscription revenue, helping to keep subscription prices low (current APS APCs).
- APS authors are free to post the final published version of their articles on their laboratory and institutional web sites.
- APS makes its journals free to read at U.S. public libraries and high schools by application on a case-by-case basis. Contact [email protected] for more information.
- APS is a founding member of CHORUS, which enables distributed public access to published research articles reporting on U.S. federal government funded research.
- SCOAP3: As of 2018, PRC is part of the Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics. All high-energy physics articles published in PRC since January 1, 2018, and that are posted on arXiv under one of the four "hep" primary designations, are made open access under a Creative Commons Attribution license under the auspices of SCOAP3.
- APCs for open access publication are waived for authors from countries for which APS offers free online access to its subscription journals.
More on APS Open Access Policies, Processes & Partnerships
Editorial Board
The PRC Editorial Board is a diverse, global group of active, distinguished scientists, selected by editors in consultation with APS units and appointed by the Executive Editor. Board members serve three-year terms. They may be requested by the editors to advise at any stage of the review process and they serve as adjudicators in formal appeals.
Editorial Team
PRC is managed by a professional editorial team of Ph.D. scientists with extensive research experience at major academic institutions or research laboratories around the world. The team consists of both in-house and remote editors, who are active researchers in the array of topics published by the journal. All editorial decisions are based on PRC’s acceptance criteria.
High Visibility and Impact
PRC authors gain high visibility and achieve broad dissemination of their work in this leading nuclear physics journal. PRC editors bring attention to outstanding research and elucidate its importance through a number of features:
- Structured Abstracts: The journal fully supports structured abstracts for authors to articulate the background, purpose, methods, results, and conclusions of their research.
- Editors’ Suggestions: Selected papers are chosen as Editors’ Suggestions to direct readers to interesting, important, and well-written articles in areas of research beyond their usual interests. They garner, on average, more downloads and citations than other papers published in the journal and are more frequently covered by news outlets.
- Featured in Physics: Physics provides daily news and commentary about a selection of papers from the Physical Review collection, including those published in PRC, resulting in coverage such as Synopsis: Neutron Stars in a Petri Dish and Synopsis: Throwing Nuclei in the Ring.
- Publicity: APS promotes press-worthy papers from its journals to journalists through a weekly Tip Sheet, resulting in frequent coverage in industry publications and the popular press, such as the International Business Times.
- Social Media: Follow PRC on Twitter @PhysRevC
Editorial and Publishing Policies
All Physical Review journals, including Reviews of Modern Physics, follow a common set of Editorial Policies and Practices, which cover Editorial Oversight and Decision Making, Authorship, Submissions, Resubmissions, and Transfers, Peer Review, Ethics and Research Integrity, Post Publication, and Open Access and Publications Rights.
PRC is published electronically one article at a time. The print version of the journal is published monthly. Articles are identified by volume number and a six digit article number, for example, Phys. Rev. C 60, 015803 (1999).