Journal rankings · indicator year 2015
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Subfield ranking · 2015
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics journal rankings 2015
87 ranked journals · Subfield in Physics and Astronomy
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics has 87 ranked journals in 2015. The median journal has an OJR of 0.81, below the world average of 1.00, down 0.01 on 2014; Q1 starts at OJR 1.24. The top three are Reviews of Modern Physics, Reports on Progress in Physics, and Nature Photonics.
Ranks and citation indicators: 2015. Journal access status and listed APC: source snapshot September 23, 2026.
Journals whose main subfield sits in this category and that published at least 30 citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) in 2012–2014, the window the 2015 score is computed on.
The OpenJournalRank Indicator (OJR) is a free, publicly available metric of a journal’s field-normalized citation impact, computed from open OpenAlex citation data. It compares citations to a journal’s papers from the previous three years with the world average for papers of the same subfield, year and type, so 1.00 is the world average and values can be compared across fields. It is computed with the NCI3 method.
The middle OJR among ranked journals in this category: half score higher, half lower. 1.00 is the world average for papers of the same subfield, year and type.
The dot is this category, the solid tick is the median of all ranked journals and the dashed line is the world average.
Share of ranked journals in this category that are fully open access, so every paper is free to read. Hybrid journals, which sell subscriptions and open single papers for a fee, are not counted.
Median list price of the article processing charge, in US dollars, among ranked journals in this category that list a price above zero. Journals with a listed APC of $0 and journals with no known price are left out of this median. The At a glance table below gives a second median that includes the $0 prices.
Subfields of Physics and Astronomy (8)
87 ranked journals
Filters
Rank is the position by OJR within the list on screen; 1 is the highest. | OJR is field-normalized 3-year citation impact: 1.00 is the world average for papers of the same subfield, year and type, so values compare across fields. The badge is the journal’s quartile in this list. | Citations per paper over a two-year window, counted from OpenAlex. It is not field-normalized, so compare it only between journals of the same field. ▲ or ▼ is the change from 2014. This is OpenJournalRank’s own count, not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor. | Citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) published in 2012–2014, the window the 2015 OJR is computed on. A journal needs at least 30 to be ranked. | Share of the journal’s 2012–2014 papers that are free to read in any open-access form. The green OA tag next to a title marks a fully open-access journal. | List price of the article processing charge in US dollars. “$0 listed” means the listed price is zero; a dash means no price is listed. | The line is the journal’s OJR from 2006 to 2015. | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Reviews of Modern PhysicsAmerican Physical Society · United States | 19.40Q1 | 37.02 2.40 up from 2014 | 127 | 63% | — | ||
2Reports on Progress in PhysicsIOP Publishing · United Kingdom | 10.54Q1 | 18.03 7.70 down from 2014 | 186 | 81% | $4,680 | ||
3Nature PhotonicsNature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 8.08Q1 | 15.01 0.42 up from 2014 | 1,023 | 35% | $12,690 | ||
4Light Science & ApplicationsOASpringer Nature · United Kingdom | 7.67Q1 | 16.58 0.06 down from 2014 | 111 | 100% | $4,190 | ||
5Nature PhysicsNature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 5.19Q1 | 8.19 1.00 down from 2014 | 956 | 43% | $12,690 | ||
6Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Computational Molecular ScienceWiley · United States | 4.75Q1 | 11.11 2.10 up from 2014 | 111 | 33% | $5,230 | ||
7OpticaOAOptica Publishing Group · United States | 4.09Q1 | 7.76no 2014 value | 75 | 100% | $3,208 | — | |
8Physical Review LettersAmerican Physical Society · United States | 3.80Q1 | 8.07 0.13 up from 2014 | 10,739 | 83% | $3,750 | ||
9Physical Review XOAAmerican Physical Society · United States | 3.46Q1 | 6.54 0.36 down from 2014 | 396 | 100% | $4,200 | ||
10Progress in Surface ScienceElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 3.03Q1 | 7.90 1.61 up from 2014 | 32 | 46% | $4,130 | ||
11International Reviews in Physical ChemistryTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 2.85Q1 | 6.13 2.18 down from 2014 | 47 | 27% | — | ||
12Physical Review AppliedAmerican Physical Society · United States | 2.31Q1 | 4.60no 2014 value | 118 | 55% | — | — | |
13Journal of Chemical Theory and ComputationAmerican Chemical Society · United States | 2.15Q1 | 5.53 0.65 down from 2014 | 1,617 | 38% | $4,500 | ||
14New Journal of PhysicsOAIOP Publishing · United Kingdom | 1.94Q1 | 3.83 0.05 down from 2014 | 2,639 | 100% | $2,610 | ||
15Photonics ResearchOptica Publishing Group · United States | 1.81Q1 | 3.80 0.30 down from 2014 | 85 | 7% | — | ||
16Physics-UspekhiInstitute of Physics · United Kingdom | 1.69Q1 | 2.52 2.57 down from 2014 | 399 | 12% | — | ||
17BiointerphasesAmerican Institute of Physics · Germany | 1.54Q1 | 2.54 1.99 down from 2014 | 151 | 44% | — | ||
18Journal of Computational ChemistryWiley · United States | 1.45Q1 | 3.74 0.51 up from 2014 | 791 | 31% | $4,520 | ||
19Color and Imaging ConferenceUnited States | 1.42Q1 | 0.45 0.09 down from 2014 | 149 | 95% | — | ||
20Atomic Data and Nuclear Data TablesElsevier BV · United States | 1.42Q1 | 2.49 0.03 up from 2014 | 90 | 48% | $3,030 | ||
21Physical Review BAmerican Physical Society · United States | 1.33Q1 | 3.99 0.05 down from 2014 | 15,435 | 76% | $2,675 | ||
22Annals of PhysicsElsevier BV · United States | 1.24Q1 | 2.46 0.10 up from 2014 | 616 | 59% | $3,160 | ||
23The Journal of Physical Chemistry AAmerican Chemical Society · United States | 1.23Q2 | 2.93 0.04 down from 2014 | 4,214 | 19% | — | ||
24Physical Review AAmerican Physical Society · United States | 1.22Q2 | 2.97 0.05 down from 2014 | 8,362 | 75% | $2,675 | ||
25Frontiers of PhysicsHigher Education Press · China | 1.22Q2 | 2.76 0.83 up from 2014 | 196 | 39% | $3,890 | ||
26Comptes Rendus PhysiqueOAAcadémie des sciences · France | 1.21Q2 | 2.27 0.01 down from 2014 | 231 | 56% | — | ||
27Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative TransferElsevier BV · Netherlands | 1.17Q2 | 3.13 0.09 up from 2014 | 976 | 20% | $2,870 | ||
28Laser Physics LettersIOP Publishing · Germany | 1.14Q2 | 2.65 0.14 down from 2014 | 797 | 55% | $3,325 | ||
29The Journal of Chemical PhysicsAmerican Institute of Physics · United States | 1.11Q2 | 2.99 0.12 down from 2014 | 8,256 | 43% | $3,500 | ||
30Annalen der PhysikWiley · Germany | 1.11Q2 | 2.18 0.09 up from 2014 | 382 | 63% | $3,840 | ||
31Europhysics Letters (EPL)Institute of Physics · France | 1.10Q2 | 2.21 0.23 down from 2014 | 2,629 | 75% | $1,895 | ||
32Frontiers in PhysicsOAFrontiers Media · Switzerland | 1.09Q2 | 2.00 1.13 up from 2014 | 111 | 100% | $3,077 | ||
33Journal of Physics A Mathematical and TheoreticalInstitute of Physics · United Kingdom | 1.07Q2 | 1.86 0.15 up from 2014 | 2,179 | 89% | $3,325 | ||
34Conference on Colour in Graphics Imaging and VisionSociety for Imaging Science and Technology | 1.04Q2 | —no 2014 value | 58 | — | — | ||
35Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical PhysicsIOP Publishing · United Kingdom | 1.00Q2 | 2.04no change | 1,212 | 72% | $3,325 | ||
36Journal of OpticsIOP Publishing · United Kingdom | 0.99Q2 | 2.13 0.51 down from 2014 | 892 | 62% | $3,325 | ||
37Annual Review of Physical ChemistryAnnual Reviews · United States | 0.98Q2 | 14.54 2.67 down from 2014 | 95 | 32% | — | ||
38Annual Review of Condensed Matter PhysicsAnnual Reviews · United States | 0.96Q2 | 14.72 2.02 up from 2014 | 30 | 95% | — | ||
39Physics Letters AElsevier BV | 0.94Q2 | 1.71 0.08 down from 2014 | 1,987 | 35% | $2,150 | ||
40Journal of the Optical Society of America BOptica Publishing Group · United States | 0.92Q2 | 1.98 0.21 down from 2014 | 1,395 | 29% | — | ||
41The European Physical Journal PlusSpringer Science+Business Media · Germany | 0.91Q2 | 1.83 0.21 up from 2014 | 593 | 25% | $3,890 | ||
42Applied Physics BSpringer Science+Business Media · Germany | 0.86Q2 | 1.90 0.03 up from 2014 | 1,137 | 18% | $4,090 | ||
43Journal of the Optical Society of America AOptica Publishing Group · United States | 0.82Q2 | 1.79 0.07 down from 2014 | 1,063 | 16% | — | ||
44Journal of the European Optical Society Rapid PublicationsOASpringer Nature | 0.81Q2 | 1.67 0.04 down from 2014 | 195 | 100% | $1,921 | ||
45Advances in Physical ChemistryHindawi Publishing Corporation · United Kingdom | 0.81Q3 | 0.86 0.78 down from 2014 | 50 | 100% | — | ||
46The European Physical Journal BSpringer Science+Business Media · France | 0.80Q3 | 1.42 0.25 down from 2014 | 1,236 | 44% | $3,490 | ||
47Molecular PhysicsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 0.79Q3 | 1.95 0.30 up from 2014 | 1,091 | 26% | — | ||
48Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related PhenomenaElsevier BV · Netherlands | 0.78Q3 | 1.72 0.03 down from 2014 | 412 | 31% | $3,170 | ||
49Science China Physics Mechanics and AstronomySpringer Science+Business Media · China | 0.75Q3 | 1.63 0.38 up from 2014 | 966 | 23% | $3,590 | ||
50SPINWorld Scientific · Singapore | 0.74Q3 | 0.93 1.47 down from 2014 | 93 | 29% | — |
Subfields of Physics and Astronomy, with Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics highlighted.
- Astronomy and Astrophysics102
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics87
- Nuclear and High Energy Physics67
- Statistical and Nonlinear Physics37
- Radiation24
- Condensed Matter Physics7
- Acoustics and Ultrasonics0
- Instrumentation0
Journals
Citations made in 2015. Corpus-wide, 78.1% of core-journal articles and reviews published that year have at least one matched reference; the share varies by journal and field.
18 additional Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics journals with metrics are unranked under this release’s eligibility rules: a journal needs at least 30 citable documents in 2012–2014, at least 80% of them with a subfield, and a positive world-average expectation. Ranks are within the whole category; filters hide rows without re-ranking. OJR excludes self-citations.
At a glance
Indicator year: 2015. Publication window: 2012–2014. How these summaries are calculated
- Ranked journals
- 87
- Window papers (baseline)
- 117,514 +3.5% from indicator year 2012
- Median OJR
- 0.813 -2.1% from indicator year 2012
- Rising journals (2025)
- 5
Window papers are the baseline paper population: citable papers (articles, reviews and conference papers) from 2012–2014 in all journals of the world-average baseline, including non-core journals, counted by each paper’s own subfield. They are not the papers of the ranked journals alone.
| Measure | Year series | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranked journals | 57 | 64 | 62 | 65 | 65 | 66 | 68 | 70 | 70 | 73 | 72 | 71 | 78 | 81 | 85 | 87 | 89 | 91 | 92 | 97 | 105 | 103 | 103 | 108 | 107 | 105 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 84,695 | 86,753 | 86,412 | 89,035 | 91,151 | 95,706 | 100,546 | 106,715 | 110,735 | 112,436 | 112,382 | 112,245 | 113,539 | 114,815 | 116,212 | 117,514 | 117,344 | 117,182 | 115,527 | 113,962 | 112,377 | 111,323 | 110,326 | 106,860 | 103,126 | 100,852 | |
| Median OJR | 0.710 | 0.60 | 0.59 | 0.642 | 0.640 | 0.77 | 0.807 | 0.783 | 0.89 | 0.86 | 0.84 | 0.95 | 0.83 | 0.778 | 0.82 | 0.813 | 0.79 | 0.80 | 0.76 | 0.75 | 0.706 | 0.67 | 0.662 | 0.68 | 0.657 | 0.70 |
How to read these rankings
- OJR, the OpenJournalRank Indicator
- A field-normalized 3-year citation impact, computed from OpenAlex with the NCI3 method. It divides the citations a journal’s papers received by the world average for papers of the same subfield, year and type, so 1.00 is the world average and 2.00 means twice as many citations as expected. Because it is normalized, it can be compared across fields. Read the methodology
- Quartiles
- Q1 to Q4 split the ranked journals of the list you are viewing into four equal groups by OJR. A journal’s quartile depends on the list: the same journal can be Q1 in its subfield and Q2 among all journals.
- Impact factor (2-year)
- Citations per paper over a two-year window, counted from OpenAlex. It is easy to compare with familiar impact factors but is not field-normalized, so compare it only within a field. It is not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor. Why it differs from the Journal Impact Factor
- Rank ranges
- Each rank in the latest year carries a likely range from 1,000 resamples of the journal’s papers. Where two journals’ ranges overlap, the data cannot tell them apart, so treat neighbouring ranks as ties.