Journal profile · Optics

JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA A-OPTICS IMAGE SCIENCE AND VISION

ISSN 1084-7529 · eISSN 1520-8532 · The Optical Society · UNITED STATES · Monthly

JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA A-OPTICS IMAGE SCIENCE AND VISION: CAS Zone 4 · Physics & Astronomy (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.53; subscription journal; median 72 days to acceptance (95 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 279 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.

Impact factor1.53Latest value listed by LetPub

CAS zoneZone 4 · Physics & Astronomy2025 upgraded edition, major category · 2026 Xinrui edition Zone 3 · Physics & Astronomy

Review time72 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · 95 articles, last 24 months · Crossref

APC—No source gives fee information

AcceptanceEasyCommunity average

Articles per year2792025 · OpenAlex count

Scope

Aims, scope and focus

JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA A-OPTICS IMAGE SCIENCE AND VISION is published by The Optical Society and is in Zone 4 of Physics & Astronomy in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Photonic and Optical Devices, Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics and Optical Coatings and Gratings, together about 23.6% of its articles. Its main subfields are Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)

The Journal of the Optical Society of America A (JOSA A) is devoted to developments in any field of classical optics, image science, and vision. JOSA A includes original peer-reviewed papers on such topics as: * Atmospheric optics * Clinical vision * Coherence and Statistical Optics * Color * Diffraction and gratings * Image processing * Machine vision * Physiological optics * Polarization * Scattering * Signal processing * Thin films * Visual optics Also: j opt soc am a.

Source: LetPub

Research area (LetPub): Optics

Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate

Photonic and Optical DevicesEngineering8.3%
Orbital Angular Momentum in OpticsPhysics and Astronomy8%
Optical Coatings and GratingsMaterials Science7.2%
Visual perception and processing mechanismsNeuroscience7.1%
Optical measurement and interference techniquesComputer Science6.2%
Optical Polarization and EllipsometryEngineering6.1%
Color Science and ApplicationsPhysics and Astronomy5.1%
Adaptive optics and wavefront sensingPhysics and Astronomy4.7%

Rankings & indexing

CAS ranking and database indexing

CAS Journal Ranking

CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Physics & Astronomy Zone 4

Level	Category	Zone
Major	Physics & Astronomy	Zone 4
Minor	Optics	Zone 4

Top journal: noReview journal: no

CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Physics & Astronomy Zone 3

Level	Category	Zone
Major	Physics & Astronomy	Zone 3
Minor	Optics	Zone 4

Top journal: noReview journal: not marked

CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Physics & Astronomy Zone 3

Level	Category	Zone
Major	Physics & Astronomy	Zone 3
Minor	Optics	Zone 4

Top journal: noReview journal: no

Database indexing

SCIEScopusLetPub

International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub

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: 1.53LetPub · 2026-09-13
CiteScore 2026-06: 3.1LetPub · 2026-09-13
SJR 2026-06: 0.41LetPub · 2026-09-13
SNIP 2026-06: 0.76LetPub · 2026-09-13
h-index: 144LetPub · 2026-09-13
h-index: 242OpenAlex · 2026-10-01
i10-index: 7,500OpenAlex · 2026-10-01
2-year mean citedness: 2.06OpenAlex · 2026-10-01
Self-citation rate: 6.7%LetPub · 2026-09-13
Share of gold OA articles: 3.34%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Volume

Articles per year: 273LetPub · 2026-09-13

Articles by year OpenAlex count · 17,888 in total · the current year is incomplete

Year	Articles	Open access	Citations
2026	192	18	108
2025	279	42	379
2024	319	48	1,139
2023	293	58	1,407
2022	327	79	2,055
2021	228	55	1,764

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 · 2024-10-05 to 2026-10-05

72 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 55 days – 97 days

Acceptance to online: median 23 days (95 articles)
Submission to online: median 99 days
Sample: 95 articles with submission and acceptance dates (585 in the window); the latest was accepted on 2026-09-18

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

Average review time (community reports): about 3 monthsLetPub · 2026-09-13
Average acceptance (community reports): EasyLetPub · 2026-09-13

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

Subscription journalLetPub

A subscription journal: articles are read by subscription or purchase, and authors usually pay no publication charge.

No source has fee information yet; check the journal's website.

The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.

Profile

Publication details and official links

Publisher: The Optical Society
Country or region: UNITED STATES
Language: English
Frequency: Monthly
ISSN: 1084-7529
Electronic ISSN: 1520-8532
Official links: Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex

FAQ

Frequently asked questions about JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA A-OPTICS IMAGE SCIENCE AND VISION

What CAS zone is JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA A-OPTICS IMAGE SCIENCE AND VISION in?

In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA A-OPTICS IMAGE SCIENCE AND VISION is in Zone 4 of Physics & Astronomy, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Optics. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Physics & Astronomy. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.

What is the impact factor of JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA A-OPTICS IMAGE SCIENCE AND VISION?

The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.53; CiteScore 3.1, h-index 242.

How long does peer review take at JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA A-OPTICS IMAGE SCIENCE AND VISION?

Based on the dates recorded on 95 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 72 days (interquartile range 55–97 days); authors report an average review time of about 3 months; the community-reported acceptance is “Easy”. 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.

Which databases index JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA A-OPTICS IMAGE SCIENCE AND VISION?

According to LetPub and DOAJ records, JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA A-OPTICS IMAGE SCIENCE AND VISION is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.

Is JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA A-OPTICS IMAGE SCIENCE AND VISION open access, and what is the APC?

JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA A-OPTICS IMAGE SCIENCE AND VISION is a subscription journal. Fee information is not available yet; check the journal's website.

Sources and updates

The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex; 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 2026-08-25). Last updated: 2026-10-01.