International Journal of Molecular Sciences | Special Issue Mentor Program

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new initiative—the International Journal of Molecular Sciences Special Issue Mentor Program.

This program enables early career researchers (who must hold a PhD in a related field) to gain experience in editing a Special Issue in MDPI Journals under the mentorship of our experienced Editorial Board Members or other experienced scientists. The mentor program provides an excellent opportunity for early career scientists to gain editorial experience and to cultivate their ability to edit scientific research. It is important to note that, within this program, the mentor will hold the title of Guest Editor (GE), while the mentee will be recognized as the Guest Editor Assistant (GEA).

Guest Editor assistant’s responsibilities:

Proposing a Special Issue title and assisting with the GE Mentor to prepare a summary (around 200–400 words) and 3–10 keywords describing the background, importance, and goal of the Special Issue;
Writing a brief promotion plan for the Special Issue;
Preparing a list of scholars that may be interested in the Special Issue and personally e-mailing the invitations on behalf of the GEs;
Writing an editorial for the online Special Issue together with mentor;
Providing opinions and suggestions to the GE mentor to assist them with making their final decisions (but they cannot make decisions during paper processing, and the GE Assistant will not be listed in the published papers as an Academic Editor).

Guest Editor mentor’s responsibilities:

Conducting a final check before the Special Issue is published online;
Performing editorial control of the Special issue and quality control of the publications in a timely manner;
Providing suggestions to the GE Assistant if they have any doubts or concerns regarding submissions;
Regularly organizing video calls with the GE Assistant and the Editorial Office to discuss problems and suggestions for improvement for the Special Issue.
Making and submitting decisions for the submissions with the assistance of the mentees.

Certificates and awards:
After the Special Issue closes, the Editorial Office will provide official certificates for all the GE Mentors and GE Assistants.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your Special Issue proposal to the IJMS Editorial Office (ijms@mdpi.com), and we will discuss the process (i.e., mentor collaboration, Special Issue topic feasibility analysis, etc.) in further detail.

In addition to the new Special Issue Mentor Program, International Journal of Molecular Sciences (IJMS, ISSN: 1422-0067) will continue to welcome all Special Issue proposals focusing on hot research topics.