American Physical Society
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1899
- HeadquartersWashington, United States
- Headcount501–1,000
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
American Physical Society firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- American Physical Society
- Legal name
- American Physical Society
- Website
- https://aps.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1899
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 501–1,000 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
American Physical Society industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Scientific Publishing
- NAICS
- Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (541690)
- SIC
- Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Academic & Scholarly Journals Publishing (Peer-Reviewed) (MPAJABAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Scholarly Society & Association Publishing (EDAGAFAK), Academic & Scientific Conferences (MPAGAGAD), Scholarly Societies & Conference Proceedings Publishing (MPAJABAK)
Keywords
Where American Physical Society is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Washington
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices3 records
Markets served
American Physical Society business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Membership Dues: APS generates revenue through membership subscriptions with flexible pricing options including international pricing opportunities and student discounts. Members access exclusive resources, communities, connections, and career opportunities.
- Publication Fees (APCs): Article publication charges for open access publishing in APS journals. The organization launched its first fully open access journal in 1998 and offers both hybrid and gold open access options.
- Conference and Meeting Registrations: Revenue from scientific meetings including the Global Physics Summit, division meetings, and topical conferences. Includes registration fees, sponsorships, and exhibitor fees.
- Institutional Subscriptions: Journals available through institutional subscriptions and Read and Publish Agreements with participating research institutions worldwide.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Standard Membership |
| Subscription | Annual | Student Membership |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | Open Access Article Processing Charges |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels7 records
American Physical Society product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The American Physical Society publishes 19 peer-reviewed physics research journals, including the flagship Physical Review Letters, and operates large-scale scientific meetings such as the APS Global Physics Summit. It provides individual membership to physicists worldwide along with institutional subscription access, conference programming, awards and recognition, ethics standards, and science policy advocacy.
Product overview
The American Physical Society operates a comprehensive scientific publishing platform comprising 19 peer-reviewed journals under the Physical Review collection, spanning both hybrid and fully open-access models. The portfolio includes flagship journals (Physical Review Letters, Physical Review X, Reviews of Modern Physics), discipline-specific journals (Physical Review A through E covering atomic, condensed matter, nuclear, particle physics, and statistical physics), and specialized open-access topical journals (PRX Energy, PRX Intelligence, PRX Life, PRX Quantum, APS Open Science). APS also publishes Physics Magazine and APS News for broader communication, organizes the APS Global Physics Summit and other scientific meetings, offers a mobile app for meeting attendees, and provides webinar programming for professional development.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Physical Review Letters (PRL)
Companies that use American Physical Society
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
American Physical Society technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
Feature2 records
American Physical Society partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.
- Purpose-Led Publishing CoalitioncoreAPS is a founding member of Purpose-Led Publishing, a coalition formed along with AIP Publishing and IOP Publishing, which pledges to always put purpose above profit in support of researchers and ethical scholarly communications.
- Perimeter Institute for Theoretical PhysicsmajorPerimeter Institute co-managed the major APS physics survey involving around 1,660 respondents including scientists and science enthusiasts, covering topics including quantum mechanics interpretations, dark matter, dark energy, and cosmic inflation.
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)coreAPS partners with AIP on various initiatives including industrial physics studies and the co-management of physics surveys. AIP publishes Physics Today, which is available free to APS members.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves9 records
Expansion highlights7 records
American Physical Society competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Wiley: Global publisher of scientific, technical, and medical research with a sizable physics journal portfolio. Broad incumbent competing for the same institutional buyers and transformative agreement opportunities that anchor APS's subscription and APC revenue.
- IEEE: Largest technical professional organization with a major publishing operation spanning physics-adjacent fields like photonics, electron devices, and applied physics. Broad incumbent with comparable society-led publishing model and similar conference infrastructure.
- Springer Nature: Global commercial publisher with extensive scientific journal and book portfolios, including Nature-branded titles. A broad incumbent that competes with APS for institutional transformative agreements and high-impact physics submissions across Nature Physics and the Springer physics portfolio.
- Elsevier (RELX): Largest commercial scientific publisher, operating thousands of journals and a leading transformative agreement program. A broad incumbent that competes with APS for physics author submissions, institutional subscriptions, and Read and Publish deal share globally.
- American Chemical Society (ACS Publications): Society publisher for the chemistry community with a large peer-reviewed journal portfolio and similar membership-driven operating model. Comparable in scale and structure to APS but serving the adjacent chemistry discipline, making it a useful analogue for society publishing economics.
Others
- Cambridge University Press: University press publishing peer-reviewed scientific journals and conference proceedings including physics titles. An adjacent academic publisher that competes for society journal partnerships and institutional library budgets relevant to APS's journal portfolio.
- arXiv (Cornell University): Open-access preprint repository widely used by physicists for rapid dissemination prior to journal submission. An adjacent enabling platform that both feeds APS journal submissions and competes for authors' priority-establishment needs, particularly against Physical Review Letters.
Direct peers
- AIP Publishing: Publishing subsidiary of the American Institute of Physics, producing peer-reviewed journals across applied and computational physics. Direct US-based peer to APS with overlapping author communities and shared society mission; co-manages industry initiatives with APS.
- IOP Publishing (Institute of Physics): UK-based publishing arm of the Institute of Physics, operating a comparable portfolio of peer-reviewed physics journals (e.g., Journal of Physics series, New Journal of Physics) under a society-led nonprofit model. Most direct competitor to APS in physics journal publishing and a fellow Purpose-Led Publishing coalition member.
Emerging players
- eLife: Nonprofit open-access publisher focused on life sciences and increasingly interdisciplinary research. An emerging diamond OA peer that demonstrates alternative publishing economics APS must contend with as it expands APS Open Science and OA offerings.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
American Physical Society social profiles
Digital presenceAmerican Physical Society compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
American Physical Society financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
American Physical Society leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
American Physical Society funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
American Physical Society M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about American Physical Society
What does American Physical Society do?
The American Physical Society publishes 19 peer-reviewed physics research journals, including the flagship Physical Review Letters, and operates large-scale scientific meetings such as the APS Global Physics Summit. It provides individual membership to physicists worldwide along with institutional subscription access, conference programming, awards and recognition, ethics standards, and science policy advocacy.
Is American Physical Society a public or private company?
American Physical Society is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was American Physical Society founded?
American Physical Society was founded in 1899. It employs 501 to 1,000 people.
Where is American Physical Society based?
American Physical Society is headquartered in Washington, United States, in the North America region.
How does American Physical Society make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Membership Dues are the primary driver. The others are publication Fees (APCs), conference and Meeting Registrations and institutional Subscriptions.
Who are American Physical Society's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Wiley, IEEE, Springer Nature, Elsevier (RELX) and American Chemical Society (ACS Publications). Others are Cambridge University Press and arXiv (Cornell University). Direct peers are AIP Publishing and IOP Publishing (Institute of Physics). eLife is listed as an emerging player.
Does American Physical Society have an API?
No public API is recorded for American Physical Society.
What industry is American Physical Society in?
American Physical Society's product category is Scientific Publishing. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAJABAC, Academic & Scholarly Journals Publishing (Peer-Reviewed), with a secondary code of EDAGAFAK, Scholarly Society & Association Publishing. Its NAICS code is 54171 and its SIC code is 2721.