Physical Review E

Physical Review E (PRE) is a broad and interdisciplinary journal focusing on collective phenomena of many-body systems. As the premier journal in the interrelated areas of statistical, nonlinear, biological, and soft matter physics, PRE covers recent developments in complex fluids, polymers, liquid crystals, and granular materials. The journal also includes sections on solid mechanics, fluid dynamics, plasma physics, computational physics, networks, and complex systems.

Expansive Scope and Readership

Established in 1993, PRE is distinguished by the breadth of the subject areas it covers and its wide distribution and readership. PRE provides an authoritative venue for high-quality work in traditional and emerging research areas, making it an essential resource for multiple disciplines. PRE coordinates with other members of the Physical Review journal family to serve new subspecialties as they develop.

PRE 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 Scientists, For Scientists

Like all of the journals in the Physical Review family, PRE 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 four-fifths 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.

Editorial Board

The PRE Editorial Board is a diverse, global group of active, distinguished scientists, selected by editors 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

PRE 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 PRE’s acceptance criteria.

Visibility and Excellence

PRE authors gain high visibility and achieve broad dissemination of their work in this interdisciplinary journal. PRE editors bring attention to outstanding research and elucidate its importance through a number of features:

• Irwin Oppenheim Award: This best paper award recognizes outstanding contributions to physics by early career scientists who publish in Physical Review E.
• 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 PRE, resulting in coverage such as Synopsis: Sandy Scaling Law, Synopsis: Straying from the Norm in Pedestrian Movements, and Focus: Wikipedia Articles Separate into Four Categories.
• Spotlight: A small selection of articles reporting on a specific research area is featured on the journal homepage, bringing to the foreground emerging or established subject matter published in PRE.
• 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 Science Magazine, Live Science, and The Atlantic.
• Social Media: Follow PRE on Twitter @PhysRevE

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.

PRE 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. E 69, 026113 (2004).