Redesigned Website Merges Physics and Focus

The APS online publication Physics recently underwent a redesign and merged with another online APS publication, Physical Review Focus. With the newly upgraded website, readers can more easily navigate through the articles and find links to related content.

Physics was started about three years ago as a resource for physicists to keep up with the latest research developments across all fields covered by APS journals. The articles and commentary are written by current researchers to highlight important Physical Review papers to other physicists working in other fields.

“It is really targeted at those who are interested in what’s going on inside the journals but don’t have time to read the 20,000 pages per year,” said Physics editor Jessica Thomas.

Focus has traditionally had more of a journalistic feel to its articles. Since it was created in 1998, it has highlighted new and exciting research coming out of the journals, with an eye to appeal to a broader audience, including students, scientists in other fields, and engineers. That being the case, the two publications have a significant amount of reader crossover.

“We think current readers of Focus and current readers of Physics would be interested in reading the other publication,” said Focus editor David Ehrenstein. “It will allow Focus to be visible to a whole new readership.”

In October of last year, the editors of Physics took a survey of its readers looking for ways to improve the new website. The editors say that the new layout is easier to navigate between the Features, Trends and Synopsis sections of the website, and has a space to highlight important articles. The developers have updated the homepage and links to old Focus articles to redirect users to the article’s new home on Physics.

“I think this will expand the readership of Physics,” Thomas said. “Overall the idea is that for those who like to read the whole spectrum of content that the APS is offering, they can find it now on one website.”