Published by The Optical Society of America
JOSA articles published by early OSA presidents
Reprint of the very first issue of JOSA
John Howard's History of JOSA, 1961-1983
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JOSA 90th Anniversary
The Journal of the Optical Society of America (JOSA) began publication in January 1917. JOSA quickly became regarded as the world's best optics journal. In addition to providing reputable peer-reviewed scientific articles, JOSA served as an archival record of OSA activities for nearly 50 years before OSA's second journal, Applied Optics, was introduced. The early JOSAs included abstracts from OSA Annual Meetings, highlights from topical meetings, Ives lectures, book reviews, and society news.
JOSA continued its legacy as the premiere source of optics research when it divided into JOSA A: Optics and Image Science and JOSA B: Optical Physics in 1984. The two journals were better able to capture the depth and breadth of the expanding field of optics.
In celebration of JOSA's 90th Anniversary in 2007, OSA is sharing treasures from the JOSA archives with you.
50 Most-Cited JOSA Articles
Many notable papers are included among the 50 most-cited papers from JOSA, JOSA A and JOSA B, including works from J. B. Keller, R. C. Jones, D. W. Berreman, E. N. Leith, E. H. Land, and A. W. Lohmann.
Visit the list of most-cited articles to discover, or perhaps rediscover, many of the important papers published in JOSA.
OSA has made all top-cited articles from the original JOSA open access for everyone to enjoy (31 articles). These articles are marked with an open access icon 
in the list.
The History of JOSA
Read OSA Historian John N. Howard's history of JOSA 1917-1961 to learn about JOSA's origins, early editors. Future postings to this webpage will include other JOSA-related articles from Howard's OPN column. Howard's history of JOSA, 1961-1983 is now posted.
JOSA A and JOSA B
Stephen A. Burns and Henry M. Van Driel continue the tradition of excellence as the current Editors-in-Chief of JOSA A and JOSA B, respectively. High-quality submissions from authors throughout the world are welcomed for consideration. Submission instructions.
See the impressive listing of important special issues that have been published in JOSA A and JOSA B.