American Physical Society initiates recognition program for "Outstanding Referees" (March 10, 2008)

Ridge, NY, March 10, 2008 — The American Physical Society announces a highly selective award program to recognize scientists who have been exceptionally helpful in assessing manuscripts for publication in the APS journals. The program will annually recognize 130 of the 42,000 currently active referees, but in this inaugural year a larger group of 534 referees has been selected for the “Outstanding Referee” designation. Like Fellowship in the APS and other organizations, this is a lifetime award. By initiating the program, APS expresses its appreciation to all referees, whose efforts in peer review not only keep the standards of the journals at a high level, but in many cases also help authors to improve the quality and readability of their articles—even those that are not published by APS.

The selection of "Outstanding Referees" was made based on two decades of database records on over 50,000 referees (some no longer in active service) who have been called upon to review manuscripts, of which 33,000 were submitted in 2007. Most of the referees chosen in this inaugural year have given dedicated service for many years. The basis for choosing the 534 honorees was the quality, number and timeliness of their reports, without regard for membership in the APS, country of origin, or field of research. Individuals with current or very recent direct connections to the journals, such as editors and editorial board members, were excluded. The decision was difficult and there are many excellent referees that could not be recognized this year. In this first year of the program the lifetime of work contributed by a referee was emphasized. In future years, the focus will be on the more recent work of referees.

The honorees come from 33 different countries, with large contingents from the US, Germany, UK, Canada, and France. The names of this year's honorees are listed at http://publish.aps.org/OutstandingReferees, and will be printed in each APS journal. All have been notified, and have been sent a lapel pin and a certificate. Those honorees who attend the APS March meeting in New Orleans will be recognized at a simple ceremony during the meeting's prize and award session, and similar events are planned at other APS meetings during the year. The "Outstanding Referees" are to be congratulated and thanked for their outstanding service to the physics community.

About the APS: The American Physical Society is the world's largest professional body of physicists, representing over 45,000 physicists in academia and industry in the US and internationally. It has offices in Ridge, NY and College Park, MD. For more information: www.aps.org.

Contact: Amy Halsted, American Physical Society, halsted@aps.org, 631-591-4232