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

This program intends to provide an opportunity for early career scientists to enhance their editing, networking, and organizational skills and to work closely with our journal to gain more editorial experience. Early career scientists who have novel ideas for new Special Issues of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417) will act as Guest Editors under the mentorship of an experienced scientist; this mentor could be a member of the Applied Sciences Editorial Board or may be from other well-established research institutes or laboratories.

Early career scientist’s responsibilities:

• Providing a CV that includes a list of publications;
• Proposing a Special Issue title and preparing a short introduction;
• Writing a brief promotion plan for the Special Issue;
• Writing an editorial for the online Special Issue;
• Reviewing and making decisions for submissions under the mentorship of our Editorial Board Members.

Mentor’s responsibilities:

• Conducting a final check before the Special Issue is published online;
• Co-editing Special Issues with younger scholars and performing quality control for the publications in the SI;
• Providing suggestions to younger scholars if they have doubts or concerns regarding submissions;
• Organizing video calls with young scholars and the office regularly to discuss problems and improvement suggestions for the Special Issue.

Certificates and awards:

When the Special Issue is closed, the Editorial Office will provide official certificates for all of the mentors. The young scholars involved in the program will be prioritized as future candidates for the Applied Sciences 2022 Early Career Investigator Award (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci/awards).

If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your Special Issue proposal to the Applied Sciences Editorial Office ([email protected]) or complete and submit the form at the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journalproposal/sendproposalspecialissue/applsci. We will discuss the process (i.e., mentor collaboration, Special Issue topic feasibility analysis, etc.) in further detail after receiving your application.

In addition to the new Special Issue Mentor Program, Applied Sciences will continue to welcome all Special Issue proposals based on hot research topics as usual.

Applied Sciences Editorial Office