American Physical Society Public Library Site License

Last updated: July 10, 2014

U.S. Public Libraries may request access to the journals published by the American Physical Society by visiting https://librarians.aps.org/account/public_access_new. Such access is governed by the following Terms and Conditions:

Terms and Conditions

The Public Library (“Library”) agrees to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement. In turn, the American Physical Society ("APS") grants the Library and its Authorized Users the right to access APS Online Journals for Permitted Use only. Access is provided only at the Authorized Sites of the Library and controlled by valid Internet Protocol (“IP”) address(es). Remote access is not permitted under this License.

Journals and publications published and copyrighted by the American Physical Society that are covered by this agreement, including ISSN & CODEN information, are listed below.

For the purposes of this agreement, a public library is a library, located in the United States, whose patrons are the general public in a particular community or region, which is provided essentially as a public service and financed largely out of public money. Public libraries are distinct from research libraries, school libraries, university libraries, or other special libraries in that their mandate is to serve the public's information needs generally (rather than serve a particular school, institution, or research population).

  1. Authorized Site. An Authorized Site is a localized site (one geographical location) or a single public library system (regional or branch libraries) that is governed under a single administration.
  2. Authorized User. An Authorized User is any individual who is a patron of the public library with legal access to the library's collections. An Authorized User must be physically present in one of the Library's Authorized Sites while accessing the journals.
  3. Permitted Use.
    • Authorized Users may:
      1. browse, search, retrieve, and view APS Online Journals;
      2. make one hard copy of the output of any search; such copies may not be sold and may not be distributed to anyone who is not an Authorized User; and
      3. download individual articles, or discrete items or portions of such articles, provided that such data is used solely for their personal use or educational research.
    • Authorized Users shall claim no ownership by reason of their use of or access to APS Online Journals.
    • All copies of material from an APS Online Journal must bear proper copyright notice.
  4. Copyright. APS Online Journals and their contents, including abstracts, are copyrighted by the APS (except where explicitly stated otherwise) and are subject to all applicable copyright, database protection, and other rights of the APS as copyright owner and publisher under laws of the United States and other countries. Library is responsible for taking reasonable measures to prevent prohibited uses, and for promptly notifying APS of any infringement of copyright or prohibited use.
  5. InterLibrary Loan. Licensee may download and print individual articles that are then faxed, mailed or hand-delivered to a requester under Licensee’s interlibrary loan procedures, so long as the requesting institution is another public library located in the United States. No other form of electronic transmission or forwarding of material is permitted.
  6. Duration of Agreement. This Agreement shall become effective upon acceptance by the APS and shall remain in effect until notification of termination to the Library by APS. These terms and conditions may be updated by APS at any time without prior notification. APS will notify the Library by email when the terms and conditions are updated.
  7. Prohibition on Certain Uses. In the event that excessive usage (such as robotic or systematic downloading) threatens the integrity and effectiveness of the APS online distribution system, the APS has the right, at its sole discretion, to discontinue access immediately and inform the Library of the abuse. Online access will be restored as soon as practical after the abuse is corrected.

Journals and publications published and copyrighted by the American Physical Society that are covered by the Public Library agreement

  • Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
    • ISSN 1094-1622 Online
    • CODEN: PLRAAN
  • Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
    • ISSN 1550-235X Online
    • CODEN: PRBMDO
  • Physical Review C - Nuclear Physics
    • ISSN 1089-490X Online
    • CODEN: PRVCAN
  • Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation, and Cosmology
    • ISSN 1550-2368 Online
    • CODEN: PRVDAQ
  • Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
    • ISSN 1550-2376 Online
    • CODEN: PLEEE8
  • Physical Review Letters
    • ISSN 1079-7114 Online
    • CODEN: PRLTAO
  • Physical Review Special Topics - Accelerators and Beams
    • ISSN 1098-4402 Online
    • CODEN: PRABFM
  • Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research
    • ISSN 1554-9178 Online
    • CODEN: PRSTCR
  • Physics
    • ISSN 1943-2879 Online
    • CODEN: PHYSGM
  • Reviews of Modern Physics
    • ISSN 1539-0756 Online
    • CODEN: RMPHAT
  • Physical Review (1893 - 1969)
    • ISSN 1536-6065 Online
  • Physical Review Applied
    • ISSN 2331-7019
    • CODEN: PRAHB2