Optics Letters, Optics Express Top-Rated Journals in 2007

The Optical Society (OSA) is pleased to announce that based on “impact factor,” or the number of citations compared to the number of papers published, its journals Optics Letters and Optics Express are the most heavily cited journals in optics and photonics. According to the 2007 Journal Citation Report®, the Thomson Reuters rankings for journal citations, these two publications received the highest impact factor rankings of all optics journals. Optics Letters was the first ranked journal, followed by Optics Express. Thomson Reuters announces these rankings annually, and they serve as an industry standard in gauging the notability of research published in peer-reviewed journals.

OSA publishes three other journals that ranked in the top 20 overall. These include Journal of the Optical Society of America B (10), Journal of the Optical Society of America A (15) and Applied Optics (17). The Journal of Lightwave Technology (9) is co-published with the IEEE. The rankings in the optics category evaluate a total of 64 journals, up from 56 in the category last year.

ISI rankings validate the impact OSA’s journals have on the field,” said Rod C. Alferness , president, OSA. “Year after year, our journals lead the field in providing critical, high-quality, peer-reviewed research, and based on the citations of the papers published, it’s clear that the community looks to them to set the standard of excellence. We are proud to provide these important resources and to deliver unparalleled technical content to those in optics and photonics.”

The Journal Citation Report provides quantitative tools for ranking, evaluating, categorizing and comparing journals. Created by ISI®, the impact factor is one of these tools; it is a measure of the frequency with which the “average article” in a journal has been cited in a particular year or period. The annual Journal Citation Report impact factor is a ratio between citations and recent citable items published. Thus, the impact factor of a journal is calculated by dividing the number of current year citations to the source items published in that journal during the previous two years.

These impact factor rankings have become an increasingly important tool for librarians and educators in the last several years as a way to differentiate between many journals on the same subject. The rankings are often used to select which journals to include in library collections and to assist in academic evaluation of researchers.

About OSA

Uniting more than 70,000 professionals from 134 countries, the Optical Society (OSA) brings together the global optics community through its programs and initiatives. Since 1916 OSA has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing educational resources to the scientists, engineers and business leaders who work in the field by promoting the science of light and the advanced technologies made possible by optics and photonics. OSA publications, events, technical groups and programs foster optics knowledge and scientific collaboration among all those with an interest in optics and photonics. For more information, visit www.osa.org.

About Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets, powered by the world’s most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people in 93 countries. For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.