Optics Letters is a semimonthly, peer-reviewed

Peer review

Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...

 scientific journal

Scientific journal

In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...

  published by the Optical Society of America

Optical Society of America

The Optical Society is a scientific society dedicated to advancing the study of light—optics and photonics—in theory and application, by means of publishing, organizing conferences and exhibitions, partnership with industry, and education. The organization has members in more than 100 countries...

. It was first published in July, 1977. The editor-in-chief is Alan Willner (University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

).

Scope

The focus of Optics Letters covers all topics pertaining to optics

Optics

Optics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...

 and photonics

Photonics

The science of photonics includes the generation, emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, detection and sensing of light. The term photonics thereby emphasizes that photons are neither particles nor waves — they are different in that they have both particle...

, and often the work is research in progress. Hence, the publishing format is short and rapid communications. Optics Letters articles are limited to three published journal pages.

Abstracting and indexing

The journal is indexed in the following databases:

• Science Citation Index Expanded
  Science Citation Index
  The Science Citation Index is a citation index originally produced by the Institute for Scientific Information and created by Eugene Garfield in 1960, which is now owned by Thomson Reuters. The larger version covers more than 6,500 notable and significant journals, across 150 disciplines, from ...
  
  
• Current Contents
  Current Contents
  Current Contents is a rapid alerting service database from the Institute for Scientific Information, now part of Thomson Reuters, that is published online and in several different printed subject sections.-History:...
  
  /Physical, Chemical & Earth Sciences
• Current Contents/Engineering, Computing & Technology
• Computer and Control Abstracts
• Electrical and Electronics Abstracts
• Physics Abstracts
  Inspec
  Inspec is a major indexing database of scientific and technical literature, published by the Institution of Engineering and Technology , and formerly by the Institution of Electrical Engineers , one of the IET's forerunners....
  
   - Series A: Science Abstracts
• SPIN
  SPIN bibliographic database
  SPIN bibliographic database is an indexing and abstracting service produced by the American Institute of Physics . The content focus of SPIN is described as the most significant areas of physics research. This type of literature coverage spans the major physical science journals and magazines...
  
  
• Chemical Abstracts - CASSI
  Chemical Abstracts Service
  Chemical Abstracts is a periodical index that provides summaries and indexes of disclosures in recently published scientific documents. Approximately 8,000 journals, technical reports, dissertations, conference proceedings, and new books, in any of 50 languages, are monitored yearly, as are patent...
  
  
• Current Physics Index
• Energy Research Abstracts
  Energy Citations Database
  The Energy Citations Database was created in 2001 in order to make scientific literature citations, and electronic documents, publicly accessible from U.S. Department of Energy , and its predecessor agencies, at no cost to the user. This database also contains all the unclassified materials...
  
  
• Excerpta Medica
  EMBASE
  Embase is an online information source of published literature designed to supportinformation managers and pharmacovigilance in complying with the regulatoryrequirements of a licensed drug. Through its unique and comprehensive content coverage,...
  
  
• International Aerospace Abstracts