Editorial: RMP: Looking Forward

Ninety years! As the first spinoff of the Physical Review launched in 1929, Reviews of ModernPhysics (RMP) has tracked the progress of physics during a time of explosive growth of the field.Originally one journal, the Physical Review has not only split into the more specialized journals weknow today, but the scope, breadth, and depth of topics covered could hardly have been imagined byJohn Tate, Sr., the editor in chief who started RMP. Yet RMP is still published quarterly. So whyhasn’t RMP grown at the same prodigious rate? The research that informs these reviews isprogressing faster, but writing a review that is broadly accessible and that will remain relevant fordecades has therefore become more difficult. RMP’s role is to find authors who are up to thischallenge.At the April 2019 editorial board meeting we resolved to reaffirm our mission of providing thecommunity with articles that capture the essence of the field, with introductions and conclusions thatare accessible to students (our most junior colleagues who will carry science into the future) and thatcommunicate how and why the topic has fascinated scientists and provided an arena for newparadigms, theories, and connections between subfields. To this end, we will implement even higherstandards for our submissions: not only will submitted manuscripts be reviewed by experts, they willalso be reviewed by qualified non-experts from nearby subfields to ensure broad accessibility.Though this is, of course, a greater burden on our referees and authors, we believe that it is necessaryto publish “classic” articles and keep RMP vital for many years to come.We look forward to continuing to serve the community