APS Format
Treat APS format as a publisher-plus-journal workflow. Start with the exact journal, then use the current APS guide for common manuscript, reference, notation, table, figure, number, and style conventions. Do not freeze one Physical Review journal’s exception into a universal APS rule.
For American Physical Society journals, use the current APS Journals Style Guide for Authors together with the target journal’s live publishing instructions. The current general guide is dated February 2026, and APS explicitly notes that individual journals can have differences or exceptions.
Key details
Important caveats
Exceptions
Where the target journal gives a different instruction, follow that journal-specific requirement rather than assuming the general guide is identical everywhere.
Further guidance
General Style
Use the current APS style guide for common rules on manuscript parts, references, notation, tables, figures, grammar, punctuation, abbreviations, units, and numbers.
Journal First
Identify the exact APS journal and article type. Its information-for-authors page is the operational source for journal-specific requirements.
Worked Example
A Physical Review B submission should be checked against both the February 2026 APS general guide and the current PRB author page; a requirement specific to PRB should not automatically be applied to PRL or PRX.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- APS Journals Style Guide for Authors (opens in a new tab)American Physical Society · Current February 2026 APS author style guide establishes association-level manuscript/style conventions and states that individual journals may have exceptions.
- Physical Review B — Information for Authors (opens in a new tab)American Physical Society · Current journal instructions point authors to APS templates/style guidance while retaining journal-specific requirements.