shortpapers-rf
                                                           revised 3/01

                Information for Referees: SHORT PAPERS

The Physical Review publishes Articles, Rapid Communications, Brief
Reports, and Comments.  Except for Articles, these are limited in
length.  Each paper must have an abstract.  Announcements of planned
research and progress reports are not suitable for publication.  A
series of short papers by the same authors on a particular subject is
discouraged; a comprehensive single regular article is preferred.

We ask you as referee to consider if the material submitted as a Rapid
Communication or a Brief Report would be more appropriately presented
in a different short-paper section or (possibly in expanded form) as a
regular Article.  For Rapid Communications you should consider whether
the paper is of sufficient general interest to justify consideration
for Physical Review Letters.

                      Short Regular ARTICLES

Articles in the Physical Review} may be short; there is no minimum
length limit.

                       RAPID COMMUNICATIONS

Rapid Communications are intended for important new results which
deserve accelerated publication, and are therefore given priority in
editorial processing and production to minimize the time between
receipt and publication.  We request that you also give them priority
treatment.  Rapid Communications are similar to Letters; the principal
difference is that Letters are of broad interest and are accessible to
a general audience of physicists and allied scientists, while Rapid
Communications are primarily for a more specialized audience, the usual
readers of a particular Physical Review journal (A, B, C, D, or E).

                          BRIEF REPORTS

Brief Reports are accounts of completed research which do not warrant
regular Articles or the priority handling given to Rapid
Communications; however, the same standards of scientific quality
apply.  (Addenda are included in Brief Reports.)

                            COMMENTS

Comments criticize or correct specific papers of other authors
previously published in the Physical Review. Each Comment should state
clearly to which paper it refers and should not contain polemics.