physical-review-x
Physical Review X (physical-review-x)
Journal positioning
Physical Review X is APS's fully open-access flagship for physics results that rank among the most significant advances in the field but require more space than the Letter format allows. PRX publishes longer articles across all of physics, with an editorial bar calibrated to cross-subfield importance: referees are asked not only whether the work is correct but whether it will be read and cited widely beyond the author's home subfield. PRX sits above the archival Physical Review family (PRB, PRD, PRC, PRE) in selectivity and alongside PRL in cross-subfield ambition, but without PRL's strict length constraint. Open-access publication under a Creative Commons license is mandatory.
This skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool. It does not replace the journal's current official submission guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live author instructions on the APS site and the PRX submission system.
When to trigger
- The author has a high-significance physics result that exceeds PRL's length limit but would be arbitrarily truncated by fitting it into a Letter.
- A paper spans subfields (e.g., condensed matter + quantum information, or AMO + quantum computing) and cross-subfield importance is articulable.
- An author is deciding between PRX and
physical-review-letters,nature-physics, or the subfield PRs, and needs to map significance level and length requirements. - The open-access requirement is a factor and the author needs to understand PRX's licensing model before committing.