MDPI's Statement on the "Early Warning Journal List (Trial)" released by the National Science Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSLC) on 31 December 2021

According to the latest Early Warning Journal List (Trial) (hereinafter referred to as the "List", https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/dEIsgG3tCZRoWQBZ8UEJQA), released by the NSLC, 7 MDPI journals are included. How the multiple criteria considered have been applied to compile the list remains unclear.

MDPI is now among the largest academic publishers in the world, and we are supported by over 115,000 experts on our Editorial Boards who support the immediate and free availability of peer-reviewed research.

All MDPI journals are open access, and are supported by Article Processing Charges. We are committed to keeping our Article Processing Charges, which make our global open access readership possible, at a minimum level. Article Processing Charges enable us to publish, index, and permanently maintain published articles, as well as support our teams who, among other services, also manage the review process, handle coordination across editorial teams, copyedit, perform ethics checks, format manuscripts, handle marketing and promotion, and support the journals’ success. APCs are only charged to accepted papers after full peer review. Article acceptances can only be made by independent editorial board members and cannot be made by MDPI staff. 

Funds for open access, replacing subscription fees paid by university libraries, are often available from an author’s institute or a research funding body, and open access models are more affordable than journal subscriptions. 

Another criteria mentioned for inclusion on the list is volume of publications within a journal. As our publications have grown year on year [2], we have been working on ensuring that people and processes are in place to support peer-review along with volume submissions. We carefully monitor a range of impact metrics, including Web of Science Impact Factor, and observe that the Impact Factors of MDPI journals have increased at the same time as an increase in volume. We support transparency, and each MDPI journal has key statistics on journal development available. We do not find that increased volume leads to decreased impact. [4].

We are fully committed to helping outstanding Chinese scholars further enhance their global connections and international impact across the scholarly research community. In 2009, Molecules – Impact Factor 4.412 and MDPI’s first journal – launched a Special Issue to commemorate the discovery of artemisinin made by Prof. Youyou Tu, the winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine [3].

Other criteria are provided for potential inclusion on the list such as the number of retractions [1]. The industry has observed an increase in retractions in recent years and the reasons for retractions are complex. MDPI firmly upholds a rigorous editorial process together with ethical policies and standards, to support the prevention of problematic science entering the literature, with clear policies for addressing post-publication issues. 

Based on the aforementioned facts, we are disappointed to learn that several MDPI journals have been included in this list without a clear explanation of the criteria applied.

MDPI has been, and always will be devoted to providing an advanced Open Access forum for scholars to disseminate their research, enhancing the quality of academic publishing services, and leading a sustainable future for everyone in the publishing industry.

[1] The Scholarly Kitchen: https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2021/04/14/guest-post-an-early-look-at-the-impact-of-the-chinese-academy-of-sciences-journals-warning-list/

[2] MDPI publishes and updates Scilit Rankings on a monthly basis, reporting statistics on the development of academic journals around the world, including the development status of each publisher and each journal:
All Publishers, https://www.scilit.com/statistic-publishers
All Journals, https://www.scilit.com/statistic-journal

[3] Lin Shukun, Chairman of MDPI International Publishing Company, visits Tu Youyou, the new Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine:
https://www.mdpi.com/about/announcements/750
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules/special_issues/artemisinin

[4] Each MDPI journal publishes detailed key statistics on journal development and is updated monthly:
IJERPH Statistics, https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph/stats
IJMS Statistics, https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijms/stats
Sustainability Statistics, https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/stats
Applied Sciences Statistics, https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci/stats

Contact: MDPI Marketing Department China (comms@mdpi.com)