We would like to extend our congratulations to Dr. Andrei Mocan and Dr. Simone Carradori who won the 2023 MDPI Topics Award for their Topic “Antioxidant Activity in Plants, Plant-Derived Bioactive Compounds and Foods”.

Name: Dr. Andrei Mocan
Affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, “Iuliu Hațieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Research interests: plant-derived secondary metabolites; antimicrobials; antioxidants; enzyme inhibition

Name: Dr. Simone Carradori
Affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy
Research interests: natural compounds; medicinal chemistry; food chemistry; antioxidants; antimicrobials; anti-inflammatory; anticancer; extraction; bioactive compounds; nutraceutical; well-being; food supplement; functional food

The following is a short interview with Dr. Simone Carradori:

1. Could you please briefly introduce your winning Topic to our readers? What inspired you to lead this Topic?

The research and development of food- and plant-based products/components have brought advantages to all aspects of life, not only as a part of a healthy diet but also as functional foods and pharmaceutical ingredients. Their historical use and long-standing recognized safety, especially as antioxidants, have not been largely explored for the prevention and treatment of several pathological conditions. Less is known about their content variability during ripening and harvesting, chemical stability and biological effects after administration in vivo (e.g., metabolic pathways and bioactivity/toxicity of their metabolites, bioavailability, food–drug interactions, etc.).

2. What has been your impression of the publishing experience with MDPI Topics? Do you have any suggestions for improving its development?

MDPI publisher offers you continuous support and provides you with a user-friendly website to accomplish tasks with minimal effort and a high degree of communication.

3. What advice would you offer to young investigators who aspire to achieve similar recognition in their research careers?

Achieving this award is only possible after continued efforts in leading Special Issues in different journals, with the aim of learning the proper editorial process and having a recognized role in the Topic field.

4. Which research topics do you think will be of particular interest to the research community in the coming years?

This topic continues to be a “hot topic” not only in research and development, but also in the general community. We will propose a new edition of this Topic, widening the number of MDPI journals.

5. What are your thoughts on the evolution of open access publishing in academia? How do you see it impacting the dissemination of future research?

As is also requested by those participating in European projects, all papers and conference abstracts should be made available in open access repositories for all citizens, research communities and industrial stakeholders, according to the principles of Open Science and Fair Data.