Instituted in 2008, the Outstanding Referee program expresses appreciation for the essential work that anonymous peer reviewers do for our journals. Each year a small percentage of our 57,000 active referees are selected and honored with the Outstanding Referee designation. Selections are made based on the number, quality, and timeliness of referee reports as collected in a database over the last 30 years. A full listing and further details on the program are available at the following link.

The 2017 honourees come from 29 different countries, with large contingents from the U.S., Germany, U.K., Canada, and France. All recipients of this distinction have been notified, and sent a lapel pin and a certificate to commemorate their achievement. The selection for this achievement is always difficult and APS expresses its appreciation to all referees that help make the Physical Review collection some of the most cited physics journals in the world. 

The efforts of these individuals not only keep the standards of the journals at a high level, but in many cases also help authors improve the quality and readability of their articles—even those that are not published by APS. The Outstanding Referees are to be congratulated and thanked for their outstanding service to the physics community.