March 2012

Review Standards for Physical Review - Rapid Communications

The requirements for Rapid Communications are more stringent than those for regular articles and Brief Reports. The standards to be applied parallel those for Physical Review Letters but should be of interest to a more specialized readership. Material that meets these standards should be of sufficient importance to justify the priority handling given to Rapid Communications in both the editorial and production processes.

If a paper is not of sufficient interest or importance to be recommended for the Rapid Communications section, it may be suitable, perhaps after revision, as a short paper in the Brief Reports section, or expanded to be a full-length article. Please be specific about such recommendations. It is important, however, to avoid using this avenue as a means of softening a negative recommendation as a Rapid Communication. A paper must stand on its own right in the section in which it is published.

It is the editors' intention to provide adequate time for thorough reviews while keeping the overall processing time to a minimum. Therefore a recommendation to publish in a section other than Rapid Communications will be given considerable weight and an editorial decision to do so will not be subject to further review solely on that issue.