Applied Optics' 2026 Journal Metrics Score is 1.6, ranking Q3 in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and 2 other subfields. Two-year citation average from OpenAlex data, updated August 2026.
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Journal Metrics Score 2026 · 2021–2024 window citedness 1.85.
Not available — there are not enough recent PubMed records with both received and accepted dates.
No journal-level APC is available in the current OpenAlex snapshot. Cost is excluded from scoring.
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Each spoke is a 0–100 percentile within a comparable journal cohort—not a percentage grade or a single black-box rating.
80 of 5,479 works · same type, year & subfield
1 works · same type, year & subfield
Below field-year expectation
of 1,202 topic-associated OpenAlex sources by lifetime output
FWCI compares papers with the same publication year, type, and field. 1.0 is the world average; above 1.0 is above expectation. This journal's median is 0.36, so its typical recent paper runs about 64% below its field benchmark.
1.5% of recent papers rank in the global top 10% after field normalization. This is easier to compare across specialties than raw citation totals.
Volume is separated from citation accumulation so newer papers are not presented as weaker simply because they are newer.
OpenAlex source records · 2016–2025
5,479 OpenAlex works · 2021–2024
OpenAlex topics show research communities; MeSH keeps the medical taxonomy recognizable.
Select a MeSH signal to see how much Applied Optics publishes on it, from PubMed counts for the last five complete years.
Candidates share at least one OpenAlex subfield (or field, if too few do) with this journal's main research topics, ignoring generic catch-all topics, and are ordered by topic overlap, then current Journal Metrics Score.
* Cost is indicative only. APCs, taxes, waivers, and member discounts can change—always verify on the journal's official website.
| Category | Quartile |
|---|---|
| Electrical and Electronic Engineering | Q3 |
| Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition | Q3 |
| Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics | Q3 |
A mid-ranked Q3 journal by citation data
By citation data, Applied Optics is a mid-ranked journal: it is Q3 in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and 2 other subfields, the third quarter of journals by score, below the subfield median, and ranks #2,313 of 3,811 Engineering journals by Journal Metrics Score (top 61%). Applied Optics' 2026 Journal Metrics Score is 1.6. OpenAlex classifies its papers in subfields including Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, and Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, so check that your topic fits its scope.
Verdict from citation data only: quartile and field rank by Journal Metrics Score (OpenAlex), publisher-reported acceptance rates, and PubMed submission and acceptance dates. See how we rank journals and how to verify indexing.
Confirm the exact title and ISSNs against the publisher homepage before a high-stakes submission decision.
Source: the current OpenAlex source record. OpenAlex works can include multiple work types. Fully Open Access is a source-level flag. Recent OA Works is summed from OpenAlex's counts_by_year series (up to the latest ten years); it is not a lifetime OA percentage. Any APC shown here is an indicative OpenAlex value—verify current charges on the journal's official website.
OpenAlex classifies Applied Optics' papers in subfields including Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, and Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics. Read the aims and scope page and a few recent papers close to your topic before you prepare the manuscript.
Article types, word and figure limits, reference style, and the required statements (data availability, ethics, conflicts of interest, author contributions) are set by the journal. Prepare the cover letter and files to match them.
Use the submit link in Applied Optics' author guidelines; Optica Publishing Group runs the submission site. Every author usually needs an ORCID iD, and the corresponding author needs an account on the submission site.
OpenAlex has no article processing charge on record. Check the journal website for page charges or an optional open-access fee.
Applied Optics does not publish an acceptance rate.
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See what the report coversBy citation data, Applied Optics is a mid-ranked journal: it is Q3 in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and 2 other subfields, the third quarter of journals by score, below the subfield median, and ranks #2,313 of 3,811 Engineering journals by Journal Metrics Score (top 61%). Applied Optics' 2026 Journal Metrics Score is 1.6. OpenAlex classifies its papers in subfields including Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, and Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, so check that your topic fits its scope.
Applied Optics' 2026 Journal Metrics Score is 1.6, from the August 2026 data release. The score is a two-year citation average computed from OpenAlex (CC0) data: citations received in the most recent complete year to works published in the two prior years, divided by the number of those works.
We have not found an official acceptance rate published by Applied Optics or its publisher, and Journal Metrics does not estimate one because submission counts are not public. To judge selectivity, compare Applied Optics' quartile and score with similar journals, or ask the editorial office.
Applied Optics' best quartile is Q3. By OpenAlex subfield: Q3 in Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Q3 in Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition; Q3 in Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics. Quartiles rank journals by Journal Metrics Score within each subfield.
No. Journal Metrics computes the score independently from OpenAlex open data. Other providers use different citation databases, document types, and counting rules, so their published figures for Applied Optics will not match this score exactly. Compare journals using one source at a time.
Comparable journals include Optics Continuum, Acta Optica Sinica, Optical Engineering, and Chinese Optics. Compare their scores, acceptance times, and costs in the recommended alternatives on this page before choosing where to submit.
Submit online through the link in Applied Optics' author guidelines. Before submitting, check the scope, follow the author guidelines for article type, length, and required statements, and prepare a cover letter.