Journal profile · OPTICS
eLight
ISSN 2097-1710 · eISSN 2662-8643 · Springer Nature
eLight: CAS Zone 1 · Physics & Astronomy (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 31.4 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 2,590; median 111 days to acceptance (44 articles, last 24 months); 34 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
eLight is published by Springer Nature and is in Zone 1 of Physics & Astronomy in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications, Photonic and Optical Devices and Neural Networks and Reservoir Computing, together about 33.6% of its articles. Its main subfields are Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
eLight aims to attract the finest manuscripts, broadly covering all sub-fields of optics, photonics and electromagnetics. In particular, we focus on those emerging topics and cross-disciplinary researches related to optics.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): OPTICS
Editor-in-chief Aydogan OzcanPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 22 in mainland China (about 34%); most named Mainland China 22, United States 14, Australia 4, South Korea 3, France 3 (65 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Metamaterials and Metasurfaces ApplicationsMaterials Science13.4%
- Photonic and Optical DevicesEngineering10.3%
- Neural Networks and Reservoir ComputingComputer Science9.9%
- Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon ResearchEngineering7.6%
- Advanced Fiber Laser TechnologiesPhysics and Astronomy6.1%
- Orbital Angular Momentum in OpticsPhysics and Astronomy5.7%
- Topological Materials and PhenomenaPhysics and Astronomy4.2%
- Optical Network TechnologiesEngineering3.8%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Physics & Astronomy Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Physics & Astronomy | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Optics | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Physics & Astronomy Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Physics & Astronomy | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Optics | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
EI CompendexINSPECCASPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Astrophysics Data System, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS
As the journal's website lists them, not checked against each database; for Web of Science editions the records above apply.
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 31.4Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 27Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 50.8LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 7.42LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 5.81LetPub ·
- h-index
- 52OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 95OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 22.17OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 24LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 395,900Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 139 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 27 | 27 | 107 |
| 2025 | 34 | 34 | 571 |
| 2024 | 22 | 22 | 1,162 |
| 2023 | 24 | 24 | 2,751 |
| 2022 | 25 | 25 | 2,576 |
| 2021 | 7 | 7 | 1,050 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
Review time from article dates manuscript dates registered with Crossref · to
111 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 84 days – 128 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 45 days (44 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 150 days
- Sample
- 44 articles with submission and acceptance dates (65 in the window); the latest was accepted on
Only articles that were accepted and published are counted, not the time spent on rejected manuscripts, so this usually runs longer than a publisher's "time to first decision".
Other sources
- Submission to first decision
- 5 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 22 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Open peer reviewDOAJ
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Fully open accessDOAJ
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | EUR 2,090 / USD 2,590 / GBP 1,790 | No | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | USD 0 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 1,790 / USD 2,590 / EUR 2,090 / GBP 940 / USD 1,295 / EUR 1,090 | — | — |
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
What to prepare2 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- Numbered, in order of citation
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
Article types accepted5
- commentaryResearch Article Review Letter Tutorial CommentaryLength not stated
- letterResearch Article Review Letter Tutorial CommentaryLength not stated
- research articleResearch Article Review Letter Tutorial CommentaryLength not stated
- reviewResearch Article Review Letter Tutorial CommentaryLength not stated
- tutorialResearch Article Review Letter Tutorial CommentaryLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Authorship
Author-only submission Model summary
Please note that a manuscript can only be submitted by an author of the manuscript and may not be submitted by a third party.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Formatting the 'Availability of data and materials' section of your manuscript
Data sharing encouraged or required Model summary
The following format for the 'Availability of data and materials section of your manuscript should be used:
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Licensing and copyright
Open access under CC BY licence Model summary
Creative Commons licences Open access articles in Springer Nature journals are published under Creative Commons licences. These provide an industry-standard framework to support easy re-use of open access material. Under Creative Commons licences, authors retain copyright of their articles. eLight articles are published open access under a CC BY licence (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internatio…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Benefits of open access
Publishing open access (OA) offers a number of benefits, including greater reach and readership for your work: Cited more 1.6x more citations of OA articles than non-OA articles across all subjects Downloaded more 4x more downloads of OA articles than non-OA articles Greater impact 2.5x more Altmetric attention. OA articles attracted 1.9x more news mentions and 1.2x more policy mentions Open acces…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Reviewer suggestions allowed Model summary
Peer review is the process used to evaluate the quality of a manuscript before publication. Independent researchers in the relevant field assess submitted manuscripts to check their validity and robustness. Their feedback guides editors in making publication decisions. Typically, two or more experts evaluate each manuscript based on three main criteria: scientific robustness: is the research metho…
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- ISSN
- 2097-1710
- Electronic ISSN
- 2662-8643
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about eLight
What CAS zone is eLight in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, eLight is in Zone 1 of Physics & Astronomy, and in Zone 1 of the minor category Optics; it is a Top journal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Physics & Astronomy. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of eLight?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 31.4 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 50.8, h-index 52.
How long does peer review take at eLight?
Based on the dates recorded on 44 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 111 days (interquartile range 84–128 days). Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
What are the manuscript requirements of eLight?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Reference style: Numbered, in order of citation; Suggested reviewers: Optional. A model extracted these from the author guidelines and each was checked against the text; check the latest version on the journal's website before submitting.
Where are the editorial board members of eLight based?
Of the 65 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 22 (about 34%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Mainland China (22), United States (14) and Australia (4). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index eLight?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, eLight is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists EI Compendex, INSPEC and CAS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is eLight open access, and what is the APC?
eLight is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,590.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, Publisher website; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-26). Last updated: .