"The American Physical Society (APS) has announced that the inaugural issue of its new journal – Physics – is now online. David Voss, formerly a senior editor of Science, serves as editor of the journal. Physics does not publish original research articles, but short pieces to highlight, explain and discuss important articles published in other APS journals.

The journal highlights exceptional papers from the Physical Review journals. To accomplish this, Physics features expert commentaries written by active researchers who are asked to explain the results to physicists in other subfields. These commissioned articles are edited for clarity and readability across fields and are accompanied by explanatory illustrations.

Each week, editors from each of the Physical Review journals choose papers that merit this treatment, aided by referee comments and internal discussion. The journal features three kinds of articles – Viewpoints, which are 1000–1500 word essays that focus on a single Physical Review paper or PRL letter and put this work into broader context; Trends, which are 3000-4000 word review articles that survey a particular area and look for interesting developments in that field; and Synopses, which are 200 word staff-written distillations of interesting and important papers each week. In addition, the journal intends to publish selected Letters to the Editor."

Source:  Knowledgespeak newsletter, July 28, 2008