The purpose of COL is to promote the generation, application and archiving of knowledge in optics and to disseminate it worldwide. Its subject coverage includes Fiber Optics and Optical Communications, Lasers and Laser Optics, Nonlinear Optics, Image Processing, Instrumentation, Measurement and Metrology, Integrated Optics, Materials, Quantum Optics, Ultrafast Optics, etc. COL is indexed by SCI-E, EI, CA, etc.

The journal is sponsored by the Chinese Optical Society (COS) and Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Their information can be found on their website: www.cncos.org, and www.siom.cas.cn.