Journal of Applied Physics Formatting Requirements: Complete Author Guide

JAP is relatively flexible on length, but editors expect focused, concise manuscripts.

The absence of a hard word cap for Research Articles reflects AIP's philosophy that paper length should be determined by content. That said, JAP reviewers commonly request that authors tighten their writing or move secondary results to supplementary material. A 12,000-word manuscript is likely to face pushback unless the content genuinely requires that length.

Communications are intended for rapid dissemination of particularly novel results. They receive expedited review and are shorter, typically fitting within 4 published pages. The results must stand on their own without requiring extensive supplementary data.

JAP allows abstracts of up to 500 words, which is significantly more generous than most journals. Despite this, most published abstracts run 150-250 words.

The abstract should cover:

• The physical phenomenon or problem being addressed
• The approach (experimental, computational, or theoretical)
• Main results with quantitative data
• Physical significance and implications

JAP abstracts are unstructured (no headings). The journal explicitly encourages authors to include specific results in the abstract rather than vague statements about "investigating" or "studying" a topic.

One JAP-specific consideration: because the journal covers such a broad range of applied physics topics, your abstract needs to be accessible to physicists outside your subfield. Define specialized terms and avoid jargon that's only understood within your specific community.

JAP doesn't limit the number of figures, but every figure should present data that's discussed in the text.

Figure requirements:

• Minimum resolution: 300 DPI for photographs, 600 DPI for line art
• Accepted formats: EPS (strongly preferred), TIFF, PNG, PDF, or JPEG
• Column widths: 3.37 inches (single column) or 6.69 inches (double column)
• Font in figures: Times New Roman, Arial, or Helvetica, minimum 6-point
• Panel labels: (a), (b), (c) in lowercase, placed inside or just outside the panel
• Axis labels must include units in parentheses or brackets
• Color figures are free for both online and print
• Scale bars on microscopy images are mandatory

Specific to physics figures:

• Energy band diagrams should include clear electron energy axis labels
• Circuit diagrams should follow standard IEEE/AIP conventions
• Crystallographic data should label axes and include Miller indices
• Simulation results should clearly state the method in the caption

Table formatting:

• Tables must have headers for every column
• Use horizontal rules only (top, header separator, bottom)
• No vertical lines or shading
• Units in column headers, not repeated in cells
• Footnotes use lowercase superscript letters

EPS is AIP's preferred figure format. If you're using LaTeX with REVTeX, EPS files integrate seamlessly. For Word users, TIFF at 600 DPI is the safest choice for line art and graphs.

JAP uses AIP's numbered reference style, which is slightly different from APS style despite the close relationship between the organizations.

Key formatting rules:

• References numbered in order of first appearance
• Superscript numbers in text, placed after punctuation
• All authors listed (no "et al." truncation in the reference list for most cases)
• Journal names abbreviated using standard physics abbreviations
• Volume number in bold, page number follows
• Year in parentheses at the end

Example journal article:

1. Y. Zhang, T. Liu, and W. Chen, "Enhanced piezoelectric response in BaTiO3 thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition," J. Appl. Phys. 139, 024501 (2026).

Example book reference:

1. C. Kittel, Introduction to Solid State Physics, 9th ed. (Wiley, New York, 2025).

Example conference proceedings:

1. S. Patel, "Magnetic domain wall dynamics in nanostripes," in Proceedings of the APS March Meeting (American Physical Society, 2026), p. A12.005.

Note the AIP style details: article titles are included in quotes (unlike some physics styles that omit titles), the year appears in parentheses at the end, and there's no "pp." before page numbers for journal articles. The aipnum4-2.bst BibTeX style file handles all of this automatically for LaTeX users.

AIP calls it "supplementary material" and it's hosted online alongside the published article.

Acceptable supplementary content:

• Additional figures and data tables
• Extended derivations or mathematical proofs
• Raw data files
• Multimedia files (videos up to 10 MB, animated GIFs)
• Computer code or input files

Supplementary material is submitted as separate files through the submission system. Each file needs a brief description. Figures in supplementary material should be numbered as Figure S1, Table S1, etc., and must be cited in the main text.

JAP editors and reviewers have access to supplementary material during review, so it should be well-organized and clearly labeled. Don't use it as a dumping ground for tangential results.

LaTeX is the preferred format for JAP, and the majority of submissions use it.

LaTeX submissions (preferred):

• Use REVTeX 4.2, the standard document class for AIP and APS journals
• Command: \documentclass[aip,jap,reprint]{revtex4-2}
• The "jap" option configures REVTeX for Journal of Applied Physics specifically
• BibTeX with aipnum4-2.bst handles reference formatting
• Submit compiled PDF plus all source files (.tex, .bib, .bst, figures)
• Use standard LaTeX packages; avoid custom macros

Word submissions:

• AIP provides a Word template with pre-set styles
• Times New Roman, 12-point, double-spaced
• Number all pages
• Include line numbers
• Equations should be created using Word's equation editor, not pasted as images

REVTeX 4.2 is available from CTAN and is included in most TeX distributions (TeX Live, MiKTeX). It's also available on Overleaf with AIP journal templates pre-configured. For first-time users, the REVTeX documentation includes a sample JAP manuscript that shows correct usage.

1. The journal scope is broad, so choose your section carefully. JAP organizes content into topical sections (Semiconductor Physics, Magnetism, Thin Films, Dielectrics, Acoustics, Plasma Physics, etc.). Selecting the correct section at submission ensures your paper reaches appropriate editors and reviewers. Misrouted papers get reassigned, which adds time.

2. Article titles use sentence case. Unlike some physics journals that capitalize all major words, JAP uses sentence case for titles: "Enhanced magnetoresistance in epitaxial Fe3O4 thin films at room temperature." Only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.

3. Equations are numbered. All displayed equations should be numbered sequentially, and referenced in the text as "Eq. (1)" not "Equation 1" or "equation (1)." REVTeX handles this automatically with the \equation environment.

4. SI units are required. JAP follows AIP style, which mandates SI units throughout. Non-SI units (Gauss, Oersted, erg) should be avoided or, if used for historical comparison, converted to SI equivalents in parentheses.

5. Author ORCIDs are strongly encouraged. AIP now requires the corresponding author to provide an ORCID. Co-author ORCIDs are encouraged but not mandatory. In REVTeX, use the \orcid command in the author block.

6. Data availability policy. JAP requires a data availability statement. The standard options range from "Data sharing is not applicable" to providing repository links. This statement appears at the end of the manuscript, before acknowledgments.

A standard JAP Research Article follows this structure:

1. Title (sentence case, no abbreviations unless standard)
2. Author names and affiliations (with ORCID for corresponding author)
3. Abstract (up to 500 words, unstructured)
4. Body text with numbered sections:

• I. Introduction
• II. Experimental Details (or Theoretical Framework / Computational Methods)
• III. Results and Discussion
• IV. Conclusions

1. Data Availability Statement
2. Acknowledgments
3. Author Declarations (conflicts of interest)
4. References
5. Figure captions
6. Figures and Tables
7. Supplementary Material (separate files)

Sections are numbered with Roman numerals (I, II, III) in AIP style. Subsections use letters (A, B, C). REVTeX handles this numbering automatically. In Word, use the AIP template styles.

The Introduction should end with a clear statement of what this paper does. The Results and Discussion can be combined or separate. Conclusions should be a brief paragraph, not a numbered list.

JAP uses single-blind peer review (reviewers are anonymous, authors are identified). The typical timeline from submission to first decision is 4-8 weeks. Communications receive faster handling, usually 2-4 weeks.

Authors can suggest and oppose reviewers during submission. JAP editors consider these suggestions but aren't bound by them. Providing 3-4 qualified suggested reviewers who don't have conflicts of interest can speed up the editorial process.

These errors cause the most delays at JAP:

• Using APS (Physical Review) formatting instead of AIP formatting (they're close but not identical)
• Non-SI units without conversion
• Equations not numbered or referenced inconsistently
• Figures in low-resolution JPEG when EPS or high-res TIFF is needed
• Missing data availability statement
• Reference style errors (especially missing article titles, which AIP requires)
• Section headings not following the Roman numeral convention

For authors comparing physics journal options, see our Science formatting requirements guide for a very different formatting system. If you're working in materials science and considering a chemistry-focused venue, our Nature Methods formatting requirements page covers another common cross-disciplinary target.

For the official author instructions, visit the Journal of Applied Physics author resources.