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Applied Optics is Scopus-indexed (Q2, CiteScore 3.4), WoS SCIE. Published by Optica Publishing Group.
Checked against the index lists dated .
ISSN 1559-128XVerify ISSN ↗2155-3165Verify ISSN ↗
Publisher: Optica Publishing Group
Cost to publish: No APC data — check the publisher
| Subject area | Rank | Pctile | Q |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering (miscellaneous) | 125 / 300 | 58th | Q2 |
| Electrical and Electronic Engineering | 444 / 1030 | 56th | Q2 |
| Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics | 127 / 243 | 47th | Q3 |
Not listed in: DOAJ, ABDC, ABS / AJG, FT50, UT Dallas, ONOS (subscription), ONOS (APC covered)
Yes — actively indexed in Scopus, coverage 1962–present, best quartile Q2, CiteScore 3.4.
Applied Optics is Q2 in Engineering (miscellaneous) (rank 125 of 300), Q2 in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (rank 444 of 1030) and Q3 in Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics (rank 127 of 243), by CiteScore 2025.
Applied Optics is indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded, so it may have a Journal Impact Factor in Clarivate's Journal Citation Reports. JCR is paid, so check it for the current value. The closest free measure is its Scopus CiteScore 3.4, which places it in quartile Q2 at the 58th percentile of its subject. Its SCImago Journal Rank (SJR, a free Scopus-based metric) is 0.416, quartile Q2, with an H-index of 229.
Applied Optics is published by Optica Publishing Group. Its print ISSN is 1559-128X and its online ISSN is 2155-3165.
Yes — indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded.
No — it is not registered as an open-access journal in DOAJ or Scopus.
Applied Optics has an h-index of 319 and a 2-year mean of 1.68 citations per paper (OpenAlex). Its Scopus CiteScore is 3.4, quartile Q2. On 2-year citations it ranks #134 of 268 Scopus journals in Engineering (miscellaneous).
Applied Optics published 1,380 papers in 2025; its busiest recent year was 2020 with 1,617. 2026* is the year so far.
h-index, i10-index and 2-year mean citedness are open, licence-clear metrics from OpenAlex — not a proprietary impact factor. The subject rank counts only journals that OpenAlex has a figure for; it is not a Scopus or Clarivate ranking. Updated 2026-10-14.
Scopus status: Active. 11 retracted papers are recorded (0.2 per 1,000 papers). The Problematic Paper Screener flags none of its papers. These are indicators to check, not findings against the journal.
Retractions from OpenAlex; flags from the Problematic Paper Screener (Cabanac, Labbé & Magazinov, CC BY), 2026-09-21 export. A flag marks a paper for a closer look; it is not a finding against the journal.
Index data is curated from public sources (Scopus, Web of Science, ABDC, FT50, UT Dallas, DOAJ). CiteScore and quartiles reflect the latest available Scopus release. Always verify a journal's current status on its official source before submitting.
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