Physical Review X (PRX) is an online-only, fully open access journal that places a high value on innovation, quality, and long-term impact in the science it publishes. It seeks to publish a select set of papers from all areas of pure, applied, and interdisciplinary physics that have the potential to influence current and future research and to have a long-lasting and profound impact in their relevant fields.
Reflecting the diversity and dynamics of today’s physics research, PRX showcases research in established core areas of physics that achieves breakthroughs in technology, experiment, and theory, or that represents a paradigm shift in understanding. The journal also publishes creative, impactful research that brings together multiple physics fields, or bridges physics with other disciplines.
PRX is renowned for its highly personalized and responsive editorial process that brings together authors, editors, and referees in an interactive, reasoned dialog to guide each article through the rigorous selection process and produce the best possible outcome. PRX realizes that not all research can be adequately described in only a few pages. The journal therefore offers flexible article lengths and formats that allow authors to engage and inform a broad audience, while also providing the scientific substance sought by specialists.
Like all of the journals in the Physical Review family, PRX 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-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.
Submitted manuscripts should meet one or more of the following criteria:
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. Physical Review X is a fully open access journal that allows readers anywhere in the world access to its entire content free at the point of delivery.
The PRX editorial board is a diverse 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. PRX’s editorial board serves as a community-based sounding board for the ongoing evolution of the journal and its editorial policies.
PRX is managed by a professional editorial team of Ph.D. scientists with extensive research experience at major academic institutions and research laboratories around the world. All editorial decisions are based on PRX acceptance criteria.
PRX authors gain high visibility and achieve broad dissemination of their work by publishing in a high-impact, online-only publication that offers global free access. The editors bring attention to outstanding research and elucidate its importance through a number of features:
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.
PRX is published electronically one article at a time. Online issues of the journal are published quarterly. Articles are identified by volume number and a six digit article number, for example, Phys. Rev. X 7, 021045 (2017).
PRX editors accelerate the review process for a small number of manuscripts that report particularly important or groundbreaking research.