Meet the new lead editor of Physical Review Letters

Rafael Fernandes earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in quick succession, all from the University of Campinas Brazil, all in physics.

Still, he says, his research career has felt like a meandering journey. From black holes to iron-based superconductors to quantum paraelectrics, Fernandes’ research interests have led him in many directions. Today, he is a condensed matter theorist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he studies quantum materials.

“Physics is nice because you don't need to have a linear career,” he says. “You don't know what you really enjoy, I think, until you start working on a problem and start digging deeper. It's a bit of a self-discovery process.”

That exploratory approach now shapes his work as the new lead editor of Physical Review Letters, where he’s focused on deepening the connections between the global physics community and one of its premier journals. Like any good scientist, he’s starting with observation and questions. Lots of questions.

Fernandes spoke with APS News about these questions, the future of the field, and what prospective authors should know about the journal.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

What was the spark that first brought you into physics?

I was fascinated by astronomy when I was a teenager. I was really interested in books about stars and black holes. I remember reading A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking and being fascinated by the idea of working on these big questions. Then I did my undergrad studies, and the first astronomy class that I took, I said, “This is not what I expected. I do not want to pursue a career in astronomy, but I do like physics.”

Were you drawn to theory?

Oh yeah. I always knew that I was born with two left hands, so I can't be in a lab. I was always interested in the theory part. The nice thing is that the theories can (and should) be verified experimentally, so I’ve gotten to work with many experimentalists in my life, too.

When did you get involved in editing?

For a year, I was an editor of the journal Physica B. Other than that, I have never had an editing position. But what I'm doing as a lead editor for Physical Review Letters is different from what most people think. I’m not handling papers. I’m not deciding whether a paper should be published or not. Our editors do that very, very, very well.

As lead editor, I’m trying to create connections between the community and the journal. I always say Physical Review Letters is our journal. We created it as a community many years ago, and we collectively made it successful. Now, I'm just trying to continue that legacy. The idea is to build bridges, open doors, establish a vision, strategize, and prioritize.

What are some of your priorities for the journal?

The question that is most important to ask is how Physical Review Letters can serve our communities. Are the formats or the restrictions on length or figures meeting the needs of different research communities? Are we missing out on developments or fields that are becoming more interdisciplinary? Are we making sure we are embracing topics that, twenty years ago, wouldn't appear in our journal, but might now make sense here?

There are lots of things to consider, but this is what I do. I am a scientist. I ask questions.

It sounds like the Lead Editor role requires a scientific approach — observing, asking questions, experimenting.

Very much so. In research, you never want to reinvent the wheel. This position at Physical Review Letters is the same. Right now, I'm learning how the process works, learning what other people have done, understanding their impressions, and seeing what has worked and what hasn’t. I'm one cog in a big and complex but successful machine.

If you could meet with every prospective author for Physical Review Letters, what would you say to them?

Do you have results that you find extremely interesting or truly exciting? If so, send them to Physical Review Letters, because that's our journal. We want your enthusiasm in your cover letter. We want people not only in your field but also in adjacent fields to understand and appreciate why we chose to publish your Letter.

Physical Review Letters also has a lot of different ways to publish. You can include End Matter, which is essentially an appendix where you can add more details about your work. You can also publish a short paper with us and a longer paper with one of our sister journals at the same time. We don't want format restrictions to prevent people from reporting their great ideas. If there's an obstacle, I would like to know about it.

How do you perceive the pace of physics research today?

There's a feeling of things happening much faster, because it's much easier these days to communicate results and make them available. At the same time, I believe research groups are operating in different ways, and balancing each other out.

There are groups that move quickly and seem to be driving the train, and other groups that say, “Wait, let's be skeptical, let's go back and check.” I think this is the balance we need to move things forward, because reproducibility is key. Science has this inherent self-correction. That’s why it's so important to have referees and to have the community involved in publishing.

When you’re not working, what are your hobbies?

I'm a good Brazilian, so I’m a big soccer fan. That is probably where a lot of my free time and energy goes. My daughter loves to watch games with me. At first, she would watch for five minutes and then she’d get bored. But she’s learning. Whenever I can, if I ever get free time in Brazil, I try to go to the stadium of my team, São Paulo Futebol Clube. Now I drag my daughter with me so she can appreciate that and ‘enter the cult.’