Journal profile · Optics
Optics Letters
ISSN 0146-9592 · eISSN 1539-4794 · The Optical Society · UNITED STATES · Semimonthly · Founded 1977
Optics Letters: CAS Zone 2 · Physics & Astronomy (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.32; subscription journal; median 53 days to acceptance (136 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: 87%; 1,892 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Optics Letters is published by The Optical Society and is in Zone 2 of Physics & Astronomy in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies, Photonic and Optical Devices and Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications, together about 34.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics and Electrical and Electronic Engineering. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Optical Society (OSA) publishes high-quality, peer-reviewed articles in its portfolio of journals, which serve the full breadth of the optics and photonics community. Optics Letters offers rapid dissemination of new results in all areas of optics with short, original, peer-reviewed communications. Optics Letters covers the latest research in optical science, including optical measurements, optical components and devices, atmospheric optics, biomedical optics, Fourier optics, integrated optics, optical processing, optoelectronics, lasers, nonlinear optics, optical storage and holography, optical coherence, polarization, quantum electronics, ultrafast optical phenomena, photonic crystals, and fiber optics. Criteria used in determining acceptability of contributions include newsworthiness to a substantial part of the optics community and the effect of rapid publication on the research of others. This journal, published twice each month, is where readers look for the latest discoveries in optics.
Source: LetPub
Research area (LetPub): Optics
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Advanced Fiber Laser TechnologiesPhysics and Astronomy15.6%
- Photonic and Optical DevicesEngineering13.2%
- Laser-Matter Interactions and ApplicationsPhysics and Astronomy5.9%
- Advanced Fiber Optic SensorsEngineering5.5%
- Photorefractive and Nonlinear OpticsPhysics and Astronomy5.2%
- Optical Network TechnologiesEngineering4.8%
- Solid State Laser TechnologiesEngineering4.8%
- Photonic Crystal and Fiber OpticsEngineering4.7%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Physics & Astronomy Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Physics & Astronomy | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Optics | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Physics & Astronomy Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Physics & Astronomy | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Optics | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Physics & Astronomy Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Physics & Astronomy | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Optics | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview 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
- 3.32LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.9LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.85LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.1LetPub ·
- h-index
- 244LetPub ·
- h-index
- 349OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 31,065OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.53OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 9.1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 3.13%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 1,728LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 46,127 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1,327 | 168 | 481 |
| 2025 | 1,892 | 215 | 5,525 |
| 2024 | 1,896 | 222 | 12,043 |
| 2023 | 1,630 | 270 | 16,922 |
| 2022 | 1,630 | 328 | 21,838 |
| 2021 | 1,604 | 362 | 28,899 |
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
53 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 36 days – 71 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 18 days (136 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 72 days
- Sample
- 136 articles with submission and acceptance dates (3,887 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
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 1.5 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- 87%LetPub ·
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
- Semimonthly
- Founded
- 1977
- ISSN
- 0146-9592
- Electronic ISSN
- 1539-4794
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗LetPub
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Optics Letters
What CAS zone is Optics Letters in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Optics Letters is in Zone 2 of Physics & Astronomy, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Optics. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Physics & Astronomy. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Optics Letters?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.32; CiteScore 5.9, h-index 349.
How long does peer review take at Optics Letters?
Based on the dates recorded on 136 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 53 days (interquartile range 36–71 days); authors report an average review time of about 1.5 months; the community-reported acceptance is “87%”. 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 Optics Letters?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Optics Letters is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Is Optics Letters open access, and what is the APC?
Optics Letters 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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .