Optica Publishing Group (formerly OSA) provides LaTeX templates for many of its journals. Check this journal’s author guidelines, and we can convert your manuscript into its template.
LaTeX Template Conversion →Journals listed in Web of Science and JCR receive many submissions and desk reject a large share. A section-by-section audit by a PhD reviewer in your area shows what to fix first.
Manuscript Auditing →01Impact factor
Impact factor of Optics Express (2026)
The impact factor shown here is the 2-year mean citedness: citations received in a year by the papers Optics Express published in the two previous years, divided by the number of those papers. That is the same formula as the Journal Impact Factor, applied to the open citation data of OpenAlex. The journal is listed in JCR 2024, so it also has an official Journal Impact Factor published by Clarivate, which can differ because it counts citations from Web of Science journals only.
Rank in its subject categories
- Opticsrank 38 of 133 journals
Ranks here compare journals of the same Web of Science category in our data by 2-year citedness; they are not the official JCR rank.
Quartile of Optics Express
A journal's quartile (Q1 to Q4) is its position within a subject category: Q1 is the top quarter. The official quartiles are published by Clarivate in Journal Citation Reports (by Journal Impact Factor, in Web of Science categories) and by Scimago as the SJR quartile (in Scopus categories). Optics Express is listed in JCR 2024, so its JCR quartile is in Journal Citation Reports. It is indexed in Scopus, so Scimago shows its SJR quartile. ScholarsColab does not show a quartile until it can show the official one; the impact factor and rank above are calculated from open data.
Citations and papers per year
Open access (listed in DOAJ); article processing charge listed at about US$2,270.
02Review time
Review time of Optics Express
Each paper took a different time. The green box holds the middle half of the papers and the dark line is the median; the whiskers reach the fastest 10% and the slowest 10%. Plan with the whole spread, not only the median.
Half of the research articles Optics Express published between Oct 2026 were accepted within 65 days of submission, and the middle half took between 48 and 85 days. This time includes peer review and any revision rounds. Papers that were rejected are not counted, because only published papers carry these dates.
In Optics, Optics Express ranks 9 of 45 journals by review time (1 = fastest). See the fastest-review journals in Optics →
03Fee waivers
APC waivers and discounts for Optics Express
Optics Express follows the waiver policy of its publisher, Optica Publishing Group: full waiver for low-income countries in its main open access journals; 30% off in Optics Continuum for some middle-income countries. Only the corresponding author's affiliation counts. Co-authors from other countries do not change the waiver.
Authors affiliated in 90 countries qualify for a full waiver. See the countries →
Waivers apply to fully open access journals. If Optics Express is a hybrid journal, you can publish without any fee through the subscription route.
Checking the waiver rules for your country…
Retractions and research integrity at Optics Express
Retractions per year
Most common reasons (a retraction can have several):
Optics Express has 5 retracted papers in the Retraction Watch database, the latest in Sep 2023. A retraction count is not a verdict on a journal: large journals publish more and journals that investigate actively retract more. The trend and the reasons tell you more than the number.
Who funds research published in Optics Express
Funders named most often
A high share of funded papers usually means the journal is a common choice for grant-supported work in its field. If your funder pays article processing charges, or your country qualifies for a waiver, check what applies to your author team with the free APC waiver checker.
Submitting to Optics Express? See your rejection risk first.
Seven questions our reviewers ask in every audit, plus your abstract and the fit with this journal. Free, no sign-up, about 2 minutes.
04Indexing
Indexing of Optics Express
- ISSN
- 1094-4087
- Publisher
- Optica Publishing Group (formerly OSA) all its journals →
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Scopus source type
- Journal
- Web of Science categories
- Optics
From the indexing lists used on ScholarsColab, updated 1 March 2026. Indexing can change: confirm on the Web of Science Master Journal List or the Scopus source list before submitting. Official Journal Impact Factors and JCR quartiles are published by Clarivate; the impact factor and quartile on this page are calculated from OpenAlex open data (see how the impact factor works).
- Web of Science Master Journal List
- SCImago Journal Rank
- ISSN Portal (ISSN 1094-4087)
- DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals)
Each link opens the official record for this journal, searched by its ISSN where we have one.
05How to submit
How to submit to Optics Express
- Read the guide for authors. It sets the article types, word limit, reference style and file format that Optics Express accepts. You find it on the official website of the journal, usually under "For authors" or "Submit".
- Use the journal's template. Optica Publishing Group (formerly OSA) offers Word and LaTeX templates for many of its journals. If your manuscript is in Word and the journal wants LaTeX, our LaTeX Template Conversion moves it into the template.
- Check the fit. Compare your title and abstract with the papers it has published; papers outside the scope are the most common reason for a desk rejection. The Journal Finder shows journals that published the closest work.
- Plan the fee. Optics Express is fully open access, with an article fee of about US$2,270 after acceptance. See whether your author team qualifies for a waiver with the free APC waiver checker.
- Check your manuscript before you submit. The free Submission Readiness Check asks the seven questions our reviewers ask in every audit and takes about 2 minutes.
06What it publishes
What Optics Express publishes: real papers
07Published papers
Papers published in Optics Express
Papers from the publication records ScholarsColab tracks, with their year and citations. Author names are not shown.
08Reviewer comments
Reviewer comments and rejection reasons for Optics Express
No reviewer or editor comments have been shared for this journal yet. Did you submit here? Help other researchers by sharing the comments you received, anonymously.
Share reviewer comments for this journal →Across the reviewer comments researchers have shared with us, the points raised most often are figures, tables and equations (21%), literature and references (12%) and novelty and contribution (10%). Before you submit to Optics Express, a Manuscript Audit by a PhD reviewer in your area checks your paper against exactly these points.
Audit my paper before I submit →Not sure yet? Check if your paper is ready for this journal: free, no AI, under 5 secondsPreparing to submit here? Make sure reviewers don't stop at the issues they raise most often. A PhD reviewer in your area can audit your manuscript section by section, and we can convert it into the journal's LaTeX template.
09Similar journals
Journals similar to Optics Express
Journals that publish the closest work to the papers above, from the indexing lists:
- PLoS ONESCIEScopusJCR 20242 similar papers
- Journal Of OpticsSCIEScopusJCR 20242 similar papers
- Frontiers in PhysicsSCIEScopusJCR 20242 similar papers
- Iranian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical EngineeringScopus1 similar paper
- Frontiers in Energy ResearchSCIEScopusJCR 20241 similar paper
10Same subject
Optics journals with a similar impact factor*
The journals next to Optics Express when the 122 journals of Optics in our data are ranked by impact factor*:
| Rank | Journal | Impact factor* | Indexing | Open access |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | IET Optoelectronics | 3.66 | SCIE | Fully open access |
| 35 | Journal of Photonics for Energy | 3.65 | SCIE | Subscription |
| 36 | Journal of Biomedical Optics | 3.61 | SCIE | Fully open access |
| 37 | Microelectronic Engineering | 3.59 | SCIE | Subscription |
| 39 | Optics Letters | 3.54 | SCIE | Subscription |
| 40 | Biomedical Optics Express | 3.51 | SCIE | Fully open access |
| 41 | Results in Optics | 3.50 | ESCI | Fully open access |
| 42 | Displays | 3.49 | SCIE | Subscription |
*Impact factor calculated from OpenAlex open data (2-year citedness), not the official Clarivate value.
11Journal Finder
Find the right journal for your paper
Is Optics Express right for your paper? Compare journals
Paste your title, keywords or abstract. See the journals that published the closest papers, with indexing, impact factor, review time and APC.
No AI or language model is used. Your words are matched against the titles of 156,503 real published journal papers, by our mentors and by other researchers (shown without names); journals are ranked by how many closely matching papers they published. Indexing comes from the SCIE, SSCI, AHCI, ESCI, Scopus and JCR 2024 lists, matched by journal name; the impact factor is calculated from OpenAlex open data, not the official Clarivate value, and no quartile is shown until the official JCR or SJR quartile can be; review time comes from the dates publishers deposit in Crossref (not every publisher deposits them). Always check a journal’s scope and current indexing before submitting.
12Questions
Frequently asked questions
How long is the review time of Optics Express?
Based on 196 research articles Optics Express published from Oct 2026, the median time from submission to acceptance was 65 days, and half of them were accepted between 48 and 85 days. After acceptance, papers appeared online after a median of 10 days. Source: received and accepted dates deposited by the publisher in Crossref, retrieved October 2026. Individual papers can take longer, especially with major revisions.
What is the impact factor of Optics Express?
Based on OpenAlex citation data (October 2026), the 2-year impact factor of Optics Express is 3.57: papers it published in the two previous years were cited 3.57 times on average in a year. The journal is listed in JCR 2024, so Clarivate also publishes an official Journal Impact Factor, which can differ.
What is the h-index of Optics Express?
The h-index of Optics Express is 344 (OpenAlex, October 2026): 344 of its papers have each been cited at least 344 times. Its i10-index is 44,382.
What is the APC of Optics Express?
OpenAlex lists an article processing charge (APC) of about US$2,270 for Optics Express, an open access journal (data from October 2026). APCs change and can differ by article type, country or discounts, so confirm the current charge on the journal’s website before submitting.
What is the quartile of Optics Express?
A journal's quartile (Q1 to Q4) is its position within a subject category: Q1 is the top quarter. The official quartiles are published by Clarivate in Journal Citation Reports (by Journal Impact Factor, in Web of Science categories) and by Scimago as the SJR quartile (in Scopus categories). Optics Express is listed in JCR 2024, so its JCR quartile is in Journal Citation Reports. It is indexed in Scopus, so Scimago shows its SJR quartile. ScholarsColab does not show a quartile until it can show the official one; the impact factor and rank above are calculated from open data.
Is Optics Express indexed in Scopus?
Yes. Optics Express appears in the Scopus list, according to the indexing lists used on ScholarsColab (updated 1 March 2026). Always confirm the current status on the official list before submitting.
Is Optics Express an SCIE journal?
Yes. Optics Express is listed in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), according to the indexing lists used on ScholarsColab (updated 1 March 2026). Always confirm the current status on the official list before submitting.
Is Optics Express in Journal Citation Reports (JCR)?
Yes. Optics Express is listed in JCR 2024, so it has a Journal Impact Factor. For the current impact factor and quartile, check Journal Citation Reports.
How many papers published in Optics Express does ScholarsColab track?
We track 1 paper published in Optics Express in 2018, cited 0 times in total, with a median of 0 citations per paper.
Does Optics Express offer an APC waiver?
Optics Express follows the policy of Optica Publishing Group: full waiver for low-income countries in its main open access journals; 30% off in Optics Continuum for some middle-income countries. Only the corresponding author's affiliation counts. Co-authors from other countries do not change the waiver. Rules verified 27 October 2026; confirm on the publisher's page.
Has Optics Express retracted papers?
Yes. The Retraction Watch database lists 5 retracted papers in Optics Express, 5 of them in the last 10 years; the most common reasons are lack of approval from company/institution, plagiarism of image, taken from dissertation/thesis. A retraction count alone is not a verdict on a journal; look at the trend and the reasons. Data updated October 2026.
Who funds research published in Optics Express?
58% of 200 recent research articles in Optics Express name a funder in Crossref; the funders named most often are National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Research and Development Program of China, National Key R&D Program of China.
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