The Rapid Communications section is devoted to the publication of short papers presenting highly original and significant material. Since its inception in 1981, it has focused on the speedy dissemination of important work in condensed matter and materials physics.
A Rapid Communication presents work that is notably important, interesting, or timely to those in a particular subfield. In 2013 about 38% of the 1484 papers submitted to the section were published as Rapid Communications, while the acceptance rate for PRB overall was about 50%.
While an Impact Factor and other bibliometric measures are traditionally associated only with an entire journal, it is possible to determine such a number for any subsection of a journal. Using data from the Web of Science, the 2013 'Impact Factor' and 'Immediacy Index' of the Rapid Communications section in PRB were estimated to be 5.1 and 1.3. These numbers should be compared to the overall 2013 PRB Impact Factor of 3.664 and Immediacy Index 0.994.
Every Rapid Communication receives prioritized handling by the referees. For a direct submission an initial decision, accompanied by referee comments, can be expected in about 25 days, and the current median time from receipt to acceptance is about 50 days.
In rapidly developing fields editors have accelerated peer review and accepted papers in as little as a week. We invite our authors to request such expedited handling at the submittal stage.
