Drones (ISSN: 2504-446X) is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal that focuses on the design and applications of drones (including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs), Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPASs), etc.) and also of unmanned marine/water/underwater drones, unmanned ground vehicles, fully autonomous driving, and space drones, and it is published monthly online by MDPI.

To help develop the journal, the Drones Editorial Office is recruiting interested and eligible researchers from academia to apply for Editorial Board membership.

The term of the Editorial Board membership is two years and can then be renewed.

Editorial Board vacancies in specific subject areas for each section are as follows:

• “Drone Design and Development” Section: drone design and manufacturing; fluid–structure interaction/aeroelasticity/hydroelasticity; flight dynamics and control;
• “Drone Communications” Section: standardization and international collaboration on UAV communication protocols; edge computing and cloud integration in UAV communication systems; energy efficiency and green communication technologies for UAVs; UAV communication applications in special environments; co-design of hardware and communication protocols for UAV systems;
• “Drones in Ecology” Section: UAV for biodiversity monitoring and species conservation; ecosystem health assessment; landscape ecology and land use change; marine ecology;
• “Drones in Agriculture and Forestry” Section: UAV for precision crop monitoring; intelligent pesticide and fertilizer application; forest resource inventory and management; soil and water conservation; pollination and seeding operations and climate adaptation;
• “Innovative Urban Mobility” Section: applications of UAVs for urban air quality monitoring and environmental protection; integration of UAVs with 5G/6G communication technologies in urban mobility; multimodal transportation systems involving UAV collaboration and interoperability; ethical and social impact studies of UAVs in urban transportation; real-time dynamic scheduling and intelligent decision-making systems for UAV urban traffic; energy management and endurance enhancement technologies for urban UAV operations and Emergency response and accident recovery mechanisms in urban UAV traffic safety;
• “Artificial Intelligence in Drones (AID)” Section: intelligent vision for drones; target recognition in UAV systems; swarm intelligence integration; obstacle avoidance algorithms; human-drone collaboration; embodied AI; pose estimation and perception for UAVs; intelligent UAV path planning, navigation;
• “Unmanned Surface and Underwater Drones” Section: underwater communication; imaging; navigation; environmental monitoring; unmanned surface vehicles (USVs).

Application eligibility:

• Researchers must have completed their doctorate/PhD in the past 10 years (considering exceptions for career interruptions, including medical and family leave);
• Researchers must have served as the first author/corresponding author on at least five peer-reviewed and published manuscripts in the last five years;
• Researchers must have published impactful work about laboratory management;
• Researchers must be actively engaged in their community (e.g., experienced at presenting at conferences or involved in professional organizations).

The main responsibilities of Editorial Board Members are as follows:

• Pre-screening and making decisions on new submissions related to their research interests;
• Setting up at least one Special Issue during their term on a topic related to their research interests (or supervising Special Issues related to their research field);
• Helping to garner suitable expert authors and invite young scholars to join Drones;
• Providing input or feedback regarding journal policies;
• Helping to promote the journal among their peers or at conferences;
• Attending Board meetings to suggest journal development strategies;
• Reviewing manuscripts.

The benefits of being an Editorial Board Member are as follows:

• The opportunity to publish one free paper per year in Drones;
• A certificate in recognition of your position;
• Additional sponsorships for conferences organized by the Editorial Board Members of Drones;
• Travel grants for conferences that you attend or organize.

If you are interested in becoming an Editorial Board Member or have potential candidates to recommend, please contact the Drones Editorial Office. We look forward to the chance to work with you in the future.