AN INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICAL REVIEW PHYSICS EDUCATION RESEARCH

Charles Henderson

(Professor of Physics, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA)



AN INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICAL REVIEW PHYSICS EDUCATION RESEARCH

Charles Henderson

(Professor of Physics, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA)

PhysicalReviewPhysicsEducationResearchis the archival research journal for the field of Physics Education Research. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the history and scope of the journal.

physical review; physics education research; PRPER introduction

Overview of PRPER

PhysicalReviewPhysicsEducationResearch(PRPER) is the archival research journal for the field of Physics Education Research (PER). The journal covers the full range of experimental and theoretical research related to the teaching and/or learning of physics. Unlike other journals that publish physics education research, PRPER is the only journal that has physics education researchers as its primary audience. As part of the American Physical Society’sPhysicalReviewseries, PRPER shares in and contributes to the reputation of thePhysicalReviewjournals as among the leading international journals in Physics.

PRPER is an online-only journal published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.*Sprouse, G. D. (2011). Editorial: Creative Commons and “Gold” Open Access for PRST-PER. Physical Review Special Topics-Physics Education Research, 7(1), 10002. http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.7.010002This allows authors and others the right to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt the work, provided that proper credit is given. In addition, because authors pay article-processing charges, the journal can be distributed without charge, thus making it easily accessible to researchers throughout the world.

Origins of PRPER

The decade of the 1990s saw a significant expansion of the field of PER in the United States. There was a growing number of research groups and PER graduate programs within physics departments. This work led to significant growth in understanding of the teaching and learning of physics as well as the development of many high-quality research-based instructional strategies. InSpring 1999 the American Physical Society (APS) Council adopted a Statement on Research in Physics Education*https://www.aps.org/policy/statements/99_2.cfmthat supported the inclusion of PER in physics departments. As the field’s acceptance expanded, an important limiting factor was the difficulty in finding suitable publication venues. There were a few journals that published some research on the teaching and learning of physics, but there was no one publication with that as its main focus. In addition to not allowing for the sharing of research findings this made it difficult for PER faculty to make a strong case for promotion or tenure. Conversations between founding Editor Bob Beichner and others about the need for a PER-specific journal led Beichner to write a proposal to the US National Science Foundation (NSF) that led to the creation of the APS journal as well as the PER-Central.org website. In addition to NSF funds, the project was supported by the APS, the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), and the APS Forum on Education (FEd). PRPER began publication in 2005 with Beichner as the founding Editor. In 2011 Beichner announced that he wished to step down as Senior Editor. He was replaced by Charles Henderson in 2012.*Henderson, C. (2012). Editorial: Physical Review in Physics Education Research 2.0. Physical Review Special Topics-Physics Education Research, 8(2), 20001. http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.8.020001

PRPER was originally published under the namePhysicalReviewSpecialTopics-PhysicsEducationResearch. APS once envisioned that the Physical Review family of journals would have “Special Topics” journals in many areas. However, that vision was never realized and the two Special Topics journals dropped that designation from their name in January 2016.*Henderson, C. (2016). Editorial: Renaming Physical Review Special Topics—Physics Education Research. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 12(1), 10001. http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.010001

Current Status of PRST-PER

Since its beginning, PRPER has grown significantly. This section discusses four important aspects of PRPER: finances, number of submissions (and acceptance rate), time to acceptance, and Impact Factor.

Finances

PRPER is currently funded in two important ways. Most funds are provided by article-processing charges. These charges are paid by authors or their institutions prior to publication of

an accepted article. In addition, the APS continues to cover operating expenses of the journal that exceed the article-processing payments from authors. As the journal grows, it is expected that the article-processing charges will eventually cover all of the operating expenses. The Physics Education Research Topical Group (PERTG) of AAPT and the APS Group on Physics Education Research (GPER) also both provide funds annually in recognition of the journal in supporting PER. These funds are used to support authors who are not able to pay the article-processing charges.

It is important that financial considerations do not limit thepublication of high-quality work in PRPER. Articles submitted to the journal first go through the peer review process to be judged for quality. Once accepted, authors may request a full or partial waiver of the article-processing charges.

Number of Submissions

The number of submissions to PRPER continues to increase (see Figure 1). Nearly half of the articles (44% three-year average) are submitted by authors based outside of the US.

Figure 1 Number of manuscripts received and accepted. Note that the number of manuscripts accepted is based on the year that the manuscript was received (even though the manuscript may have been accepted in the following year).

In 2015 there were 128 manuscripts submitted. Of those, 56 have been accepted for publication

so far (several remain under consideration). The acceptance rate for manuscripts has remained fairly constant between 45%～50% throughout the journal’s lifetime. The average acceptance rate for the last three years is 48%.

Time to Acceptance

One important goal of any scientific journalis to publish important scientific results as quickly as possible. PRPER continues to work on decreasing the time from article submission to acceptance. As Figure 2 shows the average time from submission to publication is just over 200 days. Most of the time to acceptance occurs while the article is with the referees or with the authors (for making revisions). Keep in mind that the author and referee times include all rounds of reviewing and revision.

Figure 2 Time from submission to acceptance. Office: time for processing and routing the manuscript as well as time with the editors. Referee: time that the article is with referees for review. Author: time with the author for making revisions.

Impact Factor

All articles published in PRPER are indexed on the Web of Science. The Impact Factor is a metric that identifies the number of times, on average, that an article published in the previous two years was cited (by another indexed journal)

in a particular year. For example, the 2015 Impact Factor of 1.32 means that, on average, articles published in 2013 and 2014 were each cited on average about 1.3 times in 2015. As Figure 3 shows, the Impact Factor for PRPER fluctuates around a long-term average of about 1.5. An Impact Factor of 1.00 is sometimes considered as a threshold for a high-quality journal.

Figure 3 Impact Factor of PRPER for each of the eight years available.

Focused Collections

Focused collections are a PRPER initiative announced early in 2014.*Henderson, C. (2014). Editorial: Announcing PRST-PER Focused Collections. Physical Review Special Topics-Physics Education Research, 10(1), 10001. http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.10.010001A focused collection is a set of articles on a particular topic of interest to the PER community. All articles are peer reviewed through the normal refereeing procedure. Focused collections serve to consolidate the PER knowledge about a particular topic in a single place, thus making these collections a useful resource for researchers both within PER and outside of PER. So far three focused collections have been published and a fourth is currently underway.

• Focused Collection 1: PER in Upper Division Physics Courses.*http://journals.aps.org/prper/collections/upper-division-physics-coursesGuest Editors: Michael Loverude and Bradley Ambrose.19 articles published: Sept 23, 2015.

• Focused Collection 2: Preparing and Supporting University Physics Educators.*http://journals.aps.org/prper/collections/preparing-and-supporting-university-physics-educatorsGuest Editors: Rachel Scherr and MacKenzie Stetzer. 9 articles published: Feb 22, 2016.

• Focused Collection 3: Gender in Physics.*http://journals.aps.org/prper/collections/gender-in-physicsGuest Editors: Eric Brewe and Vashti Sawtelle. 16 articles published: August 1, 2016.

• Focused Collection 4: Astronomy Education Research (forthcoming).*Henderson, C. (2016). Editorial: Call for Papers Focused Collection of Physical Review Physics Education Research Astronomy Education Research. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 12(2), 20002. http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.020002Guest Editors: Janelle Bailey and Julia Plummer. Article proposals were due November 30, 2016.

Future Directions of PRST-PER

As shown in Figure 1, PRPER is growing rapidly in terms of the number of submissions. This is an indicator that authors in the PER community see the journal as a high quality publication venue for their research. It is also notable that nearly half of the articles currently submitted are from authors outside of the US (up from approximately 25% during the first few years of the journal).

Although the trajectory of the journal is positive, there is still much to be done to ensure that this trajectory continues. As the journal grows and matures, it is important to maintain and in some cases formalize lines of communication between the journal and the various stakeholder groups. Towards this end the journal is seeking to strengthen the international vitality of PRPER through an increased participation of authors and readers with diverse international perspectives on the teaching and learning of physics.

Of course, PRPER can only be successful with the help of people like you. In order for PRPER to be the archival research journal for the field of PER, it is important for all research-based knowledge in physics education to be represented. When you see high-quality research in physics education that has not yet been published, encourage the researcher to develop an article and submit it to PRPER. And, of course, please consider submitting your own high quality work to the journal.

美国物理教育研究期刊PRPER介绍

关于本文的中文说明

20世纪90年代在美国的物理系中，“物理教育研究”作为一个研究领域开始成长壮大起来.1999年春，美国物理学会(APS)发表声明，确定物理教育研究(Physics Education Research ，简写PER)是物理研究领域的一部分.2005年Beichner等人创办了物理教育期刊——PhysicalReviewSpecialTopics-PhysicsEducationResearch；2011年，Henderson博士接替了Beichner担任编辑；2016年期刊改名为PhysicalReviewPhysicsEducationResearch(以下简称PRPER).

《物理与工程》编辑在今年10月北京大学举办的“2016物理教育” 会议上结识了Henderson博士.正好这两本期刊都致力于物理教育研究领域，因此双方表示希望今后有更多的合作.由此，我们约请了Henderson博士为本刊撰文介绍PRPER期刊，即这篇英文介绍的由来.

Henderson博士在这篇文章中介绍了PRPER的创办背景、过程及现在的期刊选题、发文时长、影响因子等.PRPER 是PhysicsReview系列期刊之一，只出版网络版，文章经过同行评议且为开放获取(OA期刊)；在美国它是唯一以物理教学研究者为主要读者的期刊.Focused Collection(专题)是PRPER的特色之一；已经出版了3期专题，当前正在进行第4期专题——Astronomy Education Research(天文学教育研究).

在这篇文章的最后，Henderson博士希望更多来自全世界的物理教育研究者向PRPER荐文和投稿.

(钱飒飒)

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2016-11-23

Charles Henderson, Editor,PhysicalReviewPhysicsEducationResearch

Charles Henderson. An introduction toPhysicalReviewPhysicsEducationResearch[J]. 物理与工程，2016，26(6)：21-24.