2023 Journal Citation Reports (JCR)® Data for Optica Publishing Group Journals

Optica Publishing Group is proud that its collection of 15 flagship, partnered and co-published peer-reviewed journals continues to publish the most articles (32%) and receive the most citations (36%) among 100 titles in the JCR Optics category.

The JCR includes an EigenfactorTM score for each journal. Optica Publishing Group's Optics Express and Optics Letters are among the top five journals in the Optics category based on Eigenfactor. See more information about Eigenfactor in the Journal Metrics section below.

Journal 2022 Impact Factor 2022 Total Citations 2022 Eigenfactor Score 2022 Journal Citation Indicator Rank by Impact Factor Rank by Total Cites Rank by Eigenfactor Rank by Journal Citation Indicator Google Scholar h5-index Median Time to First Decision
Adv Opt Photon 27.1 3,995 0.00442 3.46 2 48 40 3   76
Optica 10.4 17,580 0.03826 3.05 9 15 7 6 102 10
Photonics Research 7.6 9,609 0.01631 2.14 11 30 17 8 67 18
J Opt Commun Netw+ 5.0 3,575 0.00454 1.25 18 51 39 18 50 40
J Lightwave Technol++ 4.7 34,051 0.03020 1.27 22 6 9 17 87  
Opt Express 3.8 141,373 0.11061 1.19 30 1 1 20 105 27
Opt Lett 3.6 76,873 0.05434 1.16 31 3 4 22 76 25
Chin Opt Lett 3.5 3,914 0.00335 0.87 34 49 48 38 30  
Biomed Opt Express+++ 3.4 14,699 0.01758 0.98 36 19 14 28 58 26
Opt Mater Express^ 2.8 9,428 0.00959 0.76 46 31 24 44 50 30
Appl Optics 1.9 53,706 0.02358 0.59 69 5 11 53 55 31
J Opt Soc Am A 1.9 14,447 0.00502 0.65 69 20 37 62 35 38
J Opt Soc Am B 1.9 14,764 0.00921 0.64 69 17 26 51 40 36
OSA Continuum 1.6 1,693 0.00335 0.55   70 49 65 26  
Curr Opt Photonics 0.6 300 0.00042 0.21 93 111 96 106 12  
J Opt Technol 0.4 748 0.00034 0.12 100 92 102 114 13  
Optics Continuum   69       118     7 30

+The Journal of Optical Communications and Networking (JOCN) is also included in the Computer Science, Hardware ↦ Architecture category. Its 2022 rankings in that category are #9 of 54 journals by Impact Factor and #22 by Total Cites. In addition, it is listed in the Computer Science, Information Systems category, where it is ranked #53 out of 158 journals by Impact Factor and #63 by Total Cites. Finally, JOCN is also listed in the Telecommunications category, where it is ranked #26 out of 88 journals by Impact Factor and #42 by Total Cites.

++The Journal of Lightwave Technology (JLT) is also included in the Engineering, Electrical & Electronic category. Its 2022 ranking in that category are #76 of 275 journals by Impact Factor and #26 by Total Cites. In addition, it is listed in the Telecommunications category, where it is ranked #29 out of 88 journals by Impact Factor and #6 by Total Cites.

+++Biomedical Optics Express is also included in the Biochemical Research Methods category. Its 2022 rankings in that category are #28 of 77 journals by Impact Factor and #20 by Total Cites. In addition, it is listed in the Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging category, where it is ranked #43 out of 135 journals by Impact Factor and #22 by Total Cites.

^Optical Materials Express is also included in the Materials Science, Multidisciplinary category. Its 2022 ranking in that category is #200 of 342 journals by Impact Factor and #124 by Total Cites.

NOTE: Applied Spectroscopy (AS), published by the Society of Applied Spectroscopy and available on Optica Publishing Group, has a 2022 Impact Factor of 3.5. It is included in the Spectroscopy category with rankings of #6 out of 41 journals by Impact Factor, #9 by Total Cites, and #13 by Eigenfactor score. In addition, it is listed in the Instruments and Instrumentation category, where it is ranked #22 out of 63 journals by Impact Factor, #19 by Total Cites, and #30 by Eigenfactor score.

NOTE: Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy (JNIRS), published by SAGE Publishing and available on Optica Publishing Group, has a 2022 Impact Factor of 1.8. It is included in the Spectroscopy category with rankings of #26 out of 41 journals by Impact Factor, #31 by Total Cites, and #36 by Eigenfactor score. In addition, it is listed in the Chemistry, Applied category, where it is ranked #44 out of 72 journals by Impact Factor, #46 by Total Cites, and #55 by Eigenfactor score.

Journal Metrics

  1. OverviewThere are many different journal evaluation metrics produced by several companies, each using different sets of data and time periods for their calculations. Most metrics, and all the metrics discussed below, focus on value for scientific and academic research (citations) and do not take into account other ways content is used (e.g. industrial and commercial applications). The below guide is meant to help authors and readers better understand some of the common metrics used to evaluate journal content.

  2. Clarivate Analytics's Journal Citation Reports (JCR) Metrics:

    Date range: varies

    Data source: journals indexed in Clarivate Analytics's Web of Science.

    • Impact Factor: A metric meant to indicate the number of times the "average" article in the journal is cited. This number is the most widely used metric to evaluate a journal's content. The metric is based on citations in a particular year to articles published over the previous two years. An example of how an Impact Factor is calculated is below.

      Source: Clarivate Analytics Journal Citation Reports—Optics Express 2012 Impact Factor calculation

    • Total Citations: This is the number of total citations in a given year to all content ever published in a specific journal.
    • Immediacy Index: a measure of how quickly the "average article" in a journal is cited. The Immediacy index will tell you how often articles published in a given year are cited within the same year.
    • Cited Half-life: This figure is the median age of the articles cited in the given year. For example, in JCR 2012, Optics Letters has a cited half-life of 6.5 years. That means that articles published in Optics Letters between July 2006 and December 2012 account for 50% of all citations to Optics Letters articles in 2012.
    • Eigenfactor Score: a metric based on the number of times articles from the journal published in the past five years have been cited in the current year, but it also considers which journals have contributed these citations so that highly cited journals will influence the network more than lesser cited journals. References from one article in a journal to another article from the same journal are removed, so that Eigenfactor Scores are not influenced by journal self-citation.
    • Article Influence: determines the average influence of a journal's articles over the first five years after publication. It is calculated by dividing a journal's Eigenfactor Score by the number of articles in the journal, normalized as a fraction of all articles in all publications. The mean Article Influence Score is 1.00. A score greater than 1.00 indicates that each article in the journal has above-average influence. A score less than 1.00 indicates that each article in the journal has below-average influence.
    • Journal Citation Indicator (JCI): The average Category Normalized Citation Impact (CNCI) of citable items (articles & reviews) published by a journal over a recent three year period. The average JCI in a category is 1. Journals with a JCI of 1.5 have 50% more citation impact than the average in that category. It may be used alongside other metrics to help you evaluate journals.

  3. Google Scholar Metrics:

    Date range: articles published between 2018 and 2022 and citations as of July 2023.

    Data source: all articles indexed in Google Scholar.

    • h-index: The h-index of a publication is the largest number h such that at least h articles in that publication were cited at least h times each. For example, a publication with five articles cited by, respectively, 17, 9, 6, 3, and 2, has the h-index of 3.
    • h-core: The h-core of a publication is a set of top cited h articles from the publication. These are the articles that the h-index is based on. For example, the publication above has the h-core with three articles, those cited by 17, 9, and 6.
    • h-median: The h-median of a publication is the median of the citation counts in its h-core. For example, the h-median of the publication above is 9. The h-median is a measure of the distribution of citations to the articles in the h-core.
    • Finally, the h5-index, h5-core, and h5-median of a publication are, respectively, the h-index, h-core, and h-median of only those of its articles that were published in the last five complete calendar years.