Publication Guide
Optica Publishing Group is the definitive society publisher for optics and photonics. It is the publishing division of Optica - the non-profit society founded in 1916 as the Optical Society of America (OSA) and rebranded to Optica on 20 September 2021. The portfolio spans roughly 20 journals: 13 house titles, from the highly selective flagship Optica to the high-volume Optics Express, plus partnered and co-published journals such as Journal of Lightwave Technology and Journal of Optical Communications and Networking (both with IEEE) and Photonics Research (with Chinese Laser Press). If your paper involves lasers, imaging, fiber optics, quantum optics, biophotonics, or optical materials, an Optica Publishing Group journal is almost certainly on your shortlist.
This guide covers how to pick the right journal in the family, open-access options and 2026 APCs, the peer-review workflow, and how to submit through Prism.
Which Optica Publishing Group journal fits your paper?
| You're most likely to... | Choose this route |
|---|---|
| Have a high-impact result with broad significance for optics | Optica - the society's selective flagship, fully open access, publishing top-tier research across all of light science. |
| Want a fast, broad-scope Gold OA venue | Optics Express - large, rapid-publication OA journal covering all of optics and photonics. |
| Have a short, urgent result (letter format) | Optics Letters - concise, rapid communications; subscription journal with an optional OA route. |
| Do applied or engineering-focused optics | Applied Optics - the long-running applied journal; subscription with optional OA. |
| Work in biomedical optics or imaging | Biomedical Optics Express - fully OA, the field's leading dedicated venue. |
| Work in quantum information science | Optica Quantum - Gold OA quantum-focused title launched in 2023. |
| Have solid, useful results that don't need a selective venue | Optics Continuum - the group's broad-scope, lowest-APC Gold OA journal. |
| Do fundamental theory or optical physics | JOSA A or JOSA B - the classic Journal of the Optical Society of America pair; JOSA B is piloting Subscribe to Open. |
What Optica Publishing Group actually publishes
- House journals (13) - including Optica, Optics Express, Optics Letters, Applied Optics, Biomedical Optics Express, Optical Materials Express, Optics Continuum, Optica Quantum, JOSA A, JOSA B, Advances in Optics and Photonics (reviews), and the member magazine Optics & Photonics News.
- Partnered / co-published titles - Journal of Lightwave Technology and Journal of Optical Communications and Networking (with IEEE), Photonics Research (with Chinese Laser Press), Chinese Optics Letters, Applied Spectroscopy, and others.
- Conference proceedings - papers from CLEO, Frontiers in Optics, OFC, and 1,200+ other events, all hosted on opg.optica.org alongside the journals (520,000+ items total).
- Optica Open - the society's free preprint server for optics and photonics, hosted on Figshare.
Open access & APCs (2026)
Seven journals are fully Gold OA; the subscription titles offer optional (hybrid) OA. Base fees below are from the 2026 price list (USD, articles up to 15 pages; $145 per additional page on OA titles). CC BY licensing costs slightly more than the standard license on most titles. Always check the live publication-charges page before submitting.
| Journal | Model | 2026 base APC |
|---|---|---|
| Optica | Gold OA | 3,460 (articles) |
| Optics Express | Gold OA | $2,300 |
| Photonics Research | Gold OA | $2,500 |
| Optica Quantum | Gold OA | $2,265 |
| Biomedical Optics Express | Gold OA | $1,775 |
| Optical Materials Express | Gold OA | $1,760 |
| Optics Continuum | Gold OA | $1,240 |
| Optics Letters / Applied Optics / JOSA A | Subscription + optional OA | $2,300 optional OA fee |
| JOSA B | Subscribe to Open pilot | OA at no author fee while the 2026 pilot holds |
Other routes and discounts:
- Green OA - self-archiving of the accepted manuscript is permitted; check per-title terms.
- Waivers - fee waivers for authors in low-income countries and for Ukraine-based authors (through 2026); Optics Continuum adds a 30% discount tier for qualifying middle-income countries.
- Institutional agreements - APC-coverage deals with roughly 45 institutions across Germany, the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Japan (including Oxford, Cambridge, ETH Zurich, TU Delft, and Trinity College Dublin). Ask your library whether your institution participates.
Peer review process
- Model: single-anonymized peer review is the default across the portfolio.
- Speed: the group is known for rapid handling - Optics Express and Optics Letters built their reputations on fast decisions - but turnaround varies by title, so check the journal's page for current statistics.
- Preprints: posting to Optica Open (or arXiv) before submission is permitted and encouraged.
How to submit
- Pick the journal. Match your paper's scope and selectivity tier using the table above.
- Prepare the manuscript. Use the universal Optica Publishing Group template (Word or LaTeX; also on Overleaf and SciSpace). References follow the Optica numbered citation style.
- Submit via Prism at prism.optica.org - the group's own submission and tracking system for authors, reviewers, and editors. LaTeX submissions are compiled through Overleaf at no charge.
- Track and revise. Prism handles status updates, reviewer reports, and revision uploads. Partnered titles like JLT may route through the partner's system - follow the journal's author page.
Ethics and integrity
Optica Publishing Group is a member of COPE, OASPA, and STM. Editorial policies follow COPE guidance on authorship, corrections, and retractions. As a non-profit society publisher, surplus from publishing supports Optica's grants, prizes, and community programs.
