Optica Publishing Group Library Resource Center: FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions About Our New Brand: Optica Publishing Group

Now that you are Optica Publishing Group, do we need a new site license agreement?

Will your name change affect how institutions pay for their subscriptions or products?

Will your copyright terms change as part of your name change?

Are there any title changes for your journals?

Will any URLs change as part of the name change?

How will this name change affect our COUNTER reports?

Ordering and Customer Service

Where should I mail payment for my subscription(s)?

What forms of payment does Optica Publishing Group accept?

How can I get a copy of a subscription invoice?

Can I purchase single copies of articles and/or individual journal issues?

Can I purchase back issues/volumes?

What is Optica Publishing Group's refund policy?

What is Optica Publishing Group's post-cancellation policy?

Shipping and Missing Issues

How are Optica Publishing Group journals shipped?

What should I do if I am missing print issues?

Access and Usage

I forgot my password to access the Optica Publishing Group Library Resource Center. How can I retrieve it?

Do I need a user agreement?

We paid for an online institutional subscription but don't have access. What could be wrong?

Does Optica Publishing Group offer trial access?

What are the permitted and prohibited uses for Optica Publishing Group's content?

Is the Optica Publishing Group website accessible for people with disabilities?

Usage Reports

What is COUNTER?

How can I access my institution's COUNTER-compliant usage reports?

What is SUSHI and how does it relate to COUNTER Release 5?

Can I see turn-away data in my institution's COUNTER reports?

What date ranges are available for Optica Publishing Group's usage reports?

What are the available file types for Optica Publishing Group's COUNTER reports?

When will the COUNTER usage reports be ready for viewing each month?

How is usage activity assigned to an account?

General Questions

What is Optica Publishing Group's subscription period?

Where can I find the impact factors for Optica Publishng Group's Journals?

Do you provide author and subject indexes for your journals? If so, when?

What if I can't find the answer to my question in the list of Frequently Asked Questions?

Does Optica Publishing Group have a Digital Preservation policy?

Frequently Asked Questions About Our New Brand: Optica Publishing Group

  • Now that you are Optica Publishing Group, do we need a new site license agreement?

    The "Optical Society of America" remains the Society's legal name. "Optica Publishing Group," and "The Optical Society" are registered trade names (DBAs) under which we will continue to do business. As our new name is a DBA, our license agreement terms remain the same, and all signed agreements are valid as is. In other words, no changes are needed. For those looking to update their license agreements with our new name, we are happy to work with you to do so.

  • Will your name change affect how institutions pay for their subscriptions or products?

    While our upcoming renewal invoices will be from Optica Publishing Group, we recognize that some institutions may need to pay for 2022 subscriptions using “The Optical Society.” This is perfectly fine. Our bank will accept any payment sent to "OSA," "The Optical Society," "Optical Society of America," or "Optica Publishing Group." Please contact us at subscriptions@optica.org with any questions.

  • Will your copyright terms change as part of your name change?

    We have updated our author copyright terms to reflect our new name of Optica Publishing Group. See our updated form here

  • Are there any title changes for your journals?

    Our Open Access journal, OSA Continuum, changed to Optics Continuum as of 1 January 2022. The new journal's URL is https://opg.optica.org/optcon and the new ISSN is 2770-0208.

    In honor of their legacy, the Journal of the Optical Society of America A (JOSA A) and the Journal of the Optical Society of America B (JOSA B) will keep their names.

    Our high-impact, Open Access journal, Optica, will not change its name. Its new URL will be https://opg.optica.org/optica.

  • Will any URLs change as part of the name change?

    All our previous URLs will redirect to new URLs. Otherwise, our new URLs include:

    Type Old URL New URL
    Optica Publishing Group website www.osapublishing.org opg.optica.org
    Society website www.osa.org optica.org
    Optics Continuum (formerly OSA Continuum) www.osapublishing.org/optcon opg.optica.org/optcon
    Optica (the Journal) www.osapublishing.org/optica opg.optica.org/optica
  • If you need to update an EZproxy stanza, please see our Remote Access Options webpage.
  • How will this name change affect our COUNTER reports?

    To ensure that you are able to see a full year of COUNTER data for all of our titles for 2021, you will continue to see The Optical Society on your reports through December 2021. Starting in January 2022, we will replace The Optical Society with Optica Publishing Group on all COUNTER reports.

Ordering and Customer Service

Where should I mail payment for my subscription(s)?

Please mail your payment to:

Optica Publishing Group

Attn: Finance Department

2010 Massachusetts Ave. NW

Washington DC 20036 USA

Tel: +1 202.416.1901

Fax: +1 202.416.1450

Email: subscriptions@optica.org

Note: Our bank will continue to accept payment from customers that is made out to "OSA", "The Optical Society", and "Optical Society of America".

What forms of payment does Optica Publishing Group accept?

We accept three major forms of payment:

  1. Check or money order or bank draft: Note that all checks must be payable in U.S. dollars, be drawn on a U.S. bank, and be made payable to Optica Publishing Group. To ensure proper credit, please return a copy of your invoice with your payment.
  2. Credit card: Optica Publishing Group accepts a wide variety of credit cards including American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Diners, JCB, and Discover. When making payment by credit card, please be sure to complete all of the information at the bottom of the invoice and then sign and date the invoice. From there, simply fax the completed form to us at +1 202.416.1450, email us a PDF at accrec@optica.org, or call us at +1 800.766.4672 in the US or +1 202.416.1907 outside the US to make a payment by talking with one of our customer service associates.
  3. Bank wire transfer: We are happy to accept your wire payment. When paying by wire, please make sure that the wire transfer include the remitter's name, the invoice number, and/or a description of where to apply the payment, and then send the wire to:

    Bank of America

    1501 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

    Washington, DC 20013

    SWIFT—BOFAUS3N ABA# 0260-0959-3

    Optica Publishing Group Account Number 20 867 84 287

    If you have supporting documents, please fax them to Optica Publishing Group's Finance Department at +1 202.416.1450. Please be sure to include any bank fees associated with your wire transfer, as your bank may deduct their fees from the total sent to us. Note that we require that the remitter be responsible for bank fees related to their wire transfer.

How can I get a copy of a subscription invoice?

Please contact Susannah Lehman by telephone at +1.202.416.1901 or by email at subscriptions@optica.org.

Can I purchase single copies of articles and/or individual journal issues?

Single copies of articles appearing in Optica Publishing Group journals may be ordered via pay-per-view on https://opg.optica.org or through our customer service team at custserv@optica.org. Single issues are also available and may be ordered via the same method.

Can I purchase back volumes?

We offer back volumes for many of our titles. For pricing and availability, please contact us at subscriptions@optica.org.

What is Optica Publishing Group's refund policy?

Requests for refunds will be handled on an individual basis, and if approved, will be prorated, based on the number of unfulfilled issues in the calendar year. Cancellation requests must be received 90 days from receipt of the order (whether direct or via subscription agent). Refunds are subject to a $100.00 cancellation fee per title.

What is Optica Publishing Group's post-cancellation policy?

Should you cancel your subscription, you may (for a minimal fee) receive digital files of the journal(s) that you subscribed to for the time during which you paid for online access. If interested, please contact us with your request at subscriptions@optica.org.

Shipping and Missing Issues

How are Optica Publishing Group journals shipped?

Print journal subscriptions shipped within the U.S. and its territories are the only subscriptions that are eligible for the U.S. print rate. For print journal subscriptions outside of the United States, journals are sent via airfreight, except for Canada where they are sent via ground transportation to Canada Post for final delivery. Note that additional rates are charged for shipping outside the U.S. Please see our pricing sheet to determine the applicable shipping rates for your country. Additionally, all back issues, regardless of country, will be sent by surface mail.

What should we do if we are missing print issues?

Missing issue claims will only be honored if they are received within four months of the publication date for a specific issue of an individual journal. Please allow 10-to-12 weeks for print copies to arrive at your library before submitting a claim to Optica Publishing Group at claims@optica.org.

Access and Usage

I forgot my user name and/or password to access the Optica Publishing Group Library Resource Center. How can I retrieve it?

Your user name is your e-mail address. For your password, please visit our Forgot Password page where you will be asked to enter your email address. From there, a message with instructions on how to reset your password will be sent to you via email. Alternatively, you can contact elec@optica.org to set a user name and/or receive instructions to access your library’s account.

Do I need a license/user agreement?

All institutional subscribers must agree to and sign Optica Publishing Group's License Agreement. If you have not yet filled out a license agreement, please find our most recent license agreements on the home page of the Librarian Resource Center.

We paid for an online institutional subscription but don't have access. What could be wrong?

In order to gain access, you must first return a signed license to Optica Publishing Group. If you have not yet filled out a user agreement, please find our most recent license agreements on the home page of the Librarian Resource Center.

If you have submitted a user agreement and are still experiencing problems, you may be attempting to access content from an Internet Protocol (IP) address that Optica Publishing Group does not have in your record. Please send a full list of your institution's current IP addresses along with relevant screen shots to subscriptions@optica.org for help.

Do you offer trial access to Optica Publishing Group?

Yes! Please contact us at subscriptions@optica.org to request a free trial.

What are the permitted and prohibited uses for Optica Publishing Group content?

Please see Optica Publishing Group's License Agreement on the Librarian Resource Center home page for complete details on permissible uses of our online journals and conference papers

Is the Optica Publishing Group website accessible for people with disabilities?

We strive to provide an accessible web presence to all people, regardless of disabilities. To support this commitment, we follow the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level A as the enterprise Web Accessibility objective.

If you require assistance or wish to report an issue related to the accessibility of any content on the Optica Publishing Group website, please contact custserv@optica.org. Please specify the nature of the accessibility issue and the assistive technology you use.

Usage Reports

What is COUNTER?

Project COUNTER is an industry initiative that provides guidelines for the measurement, creation, and distribution of online usage reports to institutional subscribers. See http://projectcounter.org for more information. Optica Publishing Group is committed to providing usage reports to our subscribers and is compliant with COUNTER Release 5.

How can I access my institution's COUNTER compliant usage reports?

We are pleased to provide all institutional subscribers with access their counter compliant reports via our Library Resource Center. Registered users may download their COUNTER reports. Please contact subscriptions@optica.org should you require any assistance accessing your usage reports.

What is SUSHI and how does it relate to COUNTER Release 5?

SUSHI stands for Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative. This protocol has been incorporated into the COUNTER Code of Practice and has been developed by NISO (National Information Standards Organizations) in cooperation with COUNTER. SUSHI allows for the automated retrieval of the COUNTER usage reports into local systems, making the harvesting and aggregating of usage reports much less time-consuming for the librarian or library consortium administrator.

Can I see turn-away data in my institution's COUNTER reports?

Yes, the new COUNTER 5 reports include turn-away data for subscribing institutions.

What date ranges are available for Optica Publishing Group's COUNTER reports?

All COUNTER-compliant usage data are available beginning January 2010. COUNTER Release 5 reports are available back to January 2019. COUNTER Release 4 reports will be available for now while the library community adjusts to the COUNTER Release 5 reports.

When will the COUNTER usage reports be ready for viewing each month?

Monthly usage reports will be available within four weeks of the end of the month as per COUNTER standards. You can log in to view your reports or an email notification will be sent out each quarter to remind you that usage reports are available on the Optica Publishing Group Library Resource Center.

How is usage activity assigned to an account?

Usage activity is assigned by IP address to each account that contains that IP address. Activity will be assigned to each account if the IP address falls under multiple accounts. Summary reports for groups or consortia with overlapping IP addresses in sub-accounts will have the duplicate usage removed.

General

What is Optica Publishing Group's subscription period?

All journal subscriptions run from January–December of each year and are for a one-year term only. No multiple-year subscriptions are offered. Back issues are available for subscriptions placed later during the current year.

Where can I find the impact factors for Optica Publishing Group's journals?

You can find the most recent journal impact factors in the Author Resource Center.

Do you provide author and subject indexes for your journals? If so, when?

We publish an annual author and subject index in the last print issue of each volume of Applied Optics, Journal of the Optical Society of America A, Journal of the Optical Society of America B, Optics Letters, Journal of Optical Communications and Networking, Journal of Display Technology, Journal of Lightwave Technology, Journal of Optical Technology, and Chinese Optics Letters.

What if I can't find the answer to my question in this FAQ?

Please consult our Library Resource Center. If you still require assistance, please feel free to contact us directly by e-mailing your question to us at subscriptions@optica.org or by calling us at +1.202.416.1901.

Do you have a Digital Preservation policy?

We are committed to the long-term preservation of our online publications. The publisher has an agreement with Portico, a third party, to preserve our published content.