Congrats to Prof. Mark Saffman on being named a 2026 Outstanding Referee of the American Physical Society journals!

The highly selective Outstanding Referee program annually recognizes about 150 of the roughly 56,000 referees who have been asked to review one or more papers in the last twelve months. Like Fellowship in the APS, this is a lifetime award.

In this year, 2026, 156 Outstanding Referees were selected. APS Editors select the honorees based on the quality, number, and timeliness of their reports, without regard for membership in the APS, country of origin, or field of research. Referees are rewarded for their work carried out since 1978, the earliest year for which we have accurate data on referee reports returned. The decisions are difficult and there are many excellent referees who are still to be recognized.

The Outstanding Referee program was instituted in 2008 to recognize scientists who have been exceptionally helpful in assessing manuscripts for publication in the APS journals. By means of the program, APS expresses its appreciation to all referees, whose efforts in peer review not only keep the standards of the journals at a high level, but in many cases also help authors to improve the quality and readability of their articles – even those that are not published by APS.

Other current UW–Madison physics department members who are recipients of this honor include Baha Balantekin (2024), Mark Friesen (2023), Lisa Everett (2021), Deniz Yavuz (2013), and Thad Walker (2009).