More “Critical Mass”, Higher Quality and Visibility of Annalen der Physik

Abstract

Dear readers, The present regular issue of Annalen der Physik is a perfect example for the successful path that the journal has taken over the past five years: It contains two Rapid Research Letters on soliton transport 1 and aperiodic photonic crystals,2 one Review Article by Pedro David Garcia and Peter Lodahl on quantum photonics,3 and two Feature Articles by Sandro Wimberger et al.4 and David M. Weld et al.5, respectively, on ultracold atoms. These are accompanied by 14 further Original Papers presenting new results in various fields ranging from quantum physics over optics and magnetism to black holes, hence representing a snapshot of today's research and a broad spectrum of current activities in physics. In recent years we have seen a significant uptake in both quantity and quality of submissions, and a higher visibility of published articles as reflected by increased access numbers. Among the current download highlights we find Dmitriy Podolskiy's and stem-cell researcher Robert Lanza's considerations on quantum gravity and the “arrow of time” 6 as well as – no big surprise – the contribution on the physics of the first detected black hole merger by the LIGO/VIRGO collaborations.7 The latter are certainly on the express route to Stockholm now after the third gravitational wave detection – we have our fingers crossed for this year's Nobel Prize in Physics! More hot topics to feature in AdP are concerned with many-body localization 8 and – the soon to come – physics and technology of graphene,9 now a large-scale research endeavor in Europe and world-wide. Last but certainly not least, this positive development has also led to higher citation numbers and an increased Impact Factor now stably ranging above 3. The 2016 Impact Factor is 3.039, with an Immediacy Index (citations already within the year of publication) boosted by 36% to 0.964. Top-cited contributions since 2014 are Review Articles on quantum optics in chiral conductors,10 chameleon models for cosmology 11 and transition metal dichalcogenides,12 followed by topics such as super-resolution microscopy and high-temperature superconductivity. Annalen der Physik is now among the five best-cited journals publishing original research in general physics. All this would not be possible without you, our authors, numerous peer-reviewers, and readers, hence a growing community of contributors and supporters of our flagship Annalen der Physik. We are confident that this upward trend of more relevant “critical mass” in the journal will continue in the years to come. Stefan Hildebrandt Editor-in-Chief Several articles in this and forthcoming issues of the journal have been invited by our former author 13 Regine Frank, Bonn, and are partly related to the Europhysics Conference “From Photonics to Polaritonics – Non-Equilibrium Transport, Complex Media, Photonic Crystals and Disordered Nano-Structures” that took place in Les Houches in 2016. Her activities and the contributions from workshop presenters are gratefully acknowledged.