Announcements

We are pleased to share that Big Data and Cognitive Computing (BDCC, ISSN: 2504-2289) has received its first Impact Factor of 3.7 in the Journal Citation Reports™ (Clarivate) in June 2023.

Big Data and Cognitive Computing continues to be indexed in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) within the Web of Science Core Collection. This is the first time that Clarivate has awarded Impact Factors to journals outside of the core flagship indices, SCIE and SSCI, creating greater transparency around the citedness of ESCI-indexed journals.

The 2022 Journal Impact Factor is calculated by dividing the number of citations of publications in a journal in the Web of Science records in 2022 by the number of citable publications published in the journal in 2020 and 2021.

For further journal data, please visit https://www.mdpi.com/journal/BDCC/stats.

With the first issue released in June 2023, five new MDPI journals disseminating multi-disciplinary science are due to launch, which will cover the subjects of medicine & pharmacology, biology and physical sciences.

The newly launched journals will be overseen by professional Editorial Board Members and Editors to ensure an accurate and rapid publication, rigorous peer review and broad visibility.

Please feel free to browse and discover more about the new journals below.

Journal	Founding Editor-in-Chief	Journal topics (selected)
	Prof. Dr. Jun Ma, Peking University, China| Editorial | view inaugural issue	growth and development; diet and nutrients; school health promotion policies and practices; child health and care; adolescent health and wellbeing | view journal scope | submit an article
	Prof. Dr. Bernd Rehm, Griffith University, Australia | Editorial | view inaugural issue	DNA and gene synthesis; synthetic transcription factors; protein engineering; viral engineering; metabolic engineering | view journal scope | submit an article
	Prof. Dr. Varsha Gandhi, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA | Editorial | view inaugural issue	lymphatics; cancers associated with lymphocytes and lymphoblasts; lymphatic tissues; lymphoma; lymphoid leukemia | view journal scope | submit an article
	Dr. Bradley Turner, University of Melbourne, Australia | Editorial | view inaugural issue	multiple sclerosis; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; primary lateral sclerosis; atherosclerosis; systemic sclerosis | view journal scope | submit an article
	Prof. Dr. Clemens Burda, Case Western Reserve University, USA | Editorial | view inaugural issue	Gamma ray, X-ray, and UV–Vis spectroscopies; NIR/mid-infrared/Raman spectroscopy; microwave and THz spectroscopy; high-resolution gas-phase atomic, molecular, and cluster spectroscopy; MS, NMR, and EPR spectroscopy | view journal scope | submit an article

We wish to thank everyone who has supported the development of open access publishing. You are welcome to submit an application to the New Journal Committee (newjournal-committee@mdpi.com) if you would like to create more new journals.

On 10 July 2023, MDPI and the journals AI, Algorithms, Big Data and Cognitive Computing, Computers, Educational Sciences, Future Internet, Informatics, Information, Languages and Publications organized the webinar AI Chatbots: Threat or Opportunity? II.

Webinar summary from Dr. Hossein Hassani, the webinar Chair:

The highly anticipated webinar AI Chatbots: Threat or Opportunity?, provided valuable insights on a crucial subject. The event shed light on the various advantages of AI chatbots, such as enhanced learning experience, scalability and accessibility, continuous availability, and consistency in teaching. it also addressed concerning issues, including the lack of human interaction, limited adaptability, technical limitations, and ethical considerations.

During the webinar, the broader implications of these advancements, particularly in relation to the SDG 4 goal of education for all, were discussed. The participants recognized the rapid progress of technology in developed countries while acknowledging the significant disparities in access to the internet and electricity in regions like Africa and Asia, as emphasized in SDG 4 and SDG 7. It was emphasized that taking appropriate action and addressing the existing gaps in SDGs are vital to ensuring that no one is left behind.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the panellists, Dr. Chung Kwan Lo and Dr. Jaime Cárdenas-García, my colleagues at MDPI, Marisa Zalabak for the great comments and suggestions, and the various MDPI journals for their invaluable support and for driving this timely and important initiative.

Please note that this webinar is associated with the Topic “AI Chatbots: Threat or Opportunity?”. The abstract submission deadline is 29 February 2024.

In addition, the first webinar of the series was held on 27 June 2023, 3 p.m. (CEST). For more information, or to watch the recording of the first webinar, please visit the webpage via the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/about/announcements/6047.

You can watch the recorded webinar at the following link: https://youtu.be/X5oTzdG5z70.

Webinar Chair and Keynote Speakers:

• Hossein Hassani, Webster Vienna Private University, Vienna, Austria;
• Chung Kwan Lo, Department of Mathematics and Information Technology, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China;
• Jaime F. Cárdenas-García, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, United States.

The 2022 citation metrics have been released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), and we’re pleased to announce the following results for MDPI journals:

We are thrilled to announce that 90% of our ranked MDPI journals, specifically 86 out of 96 (captured in the table below), are performing above average in Q1 or Q2. This year, Clarivate has expanded its Impact Factor (IF) awards to include journals in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), providing greater transparency for the full set of journals indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. As a result, 111 of MDPI journals have received their first IF in 2023, with 37 journals surpassing an IF of 3.0. In total, 208 MDPI journals have been honored with an IF.

Clarivate explains that by "expanding the coverage but holding to highly selective standards, the [Impact Factor] is now a reliable indicator of trustworthiness, as well as a measure of scholarly impact, at the journal level."

Please visit our blog post where we discuss the release of the latest citation metrics with our Indexing Manager, Dr. Constanze Schelhorn, to find out what's different this time around and how to make use of different metrics available.

Note: The Journal of Personalized Medicine's Impact Factor was omitted in the original release and will be assigned separately. Please find the data on the journal webpage in due course.

Source: 2022 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports ^TM (Clarivate, 2023)

ChatGPT is a language model launched by OpenAI in November 2022. It has many uses, including chatbots, text summarization, language translation, and content creation. Educators view it as potentially concerning, as it offers powerful opportunities for students to produce work for assessment. Some have experimented with ChatGPT and are amazed by the quality of outputs; however, there are calls for a pause in AI development due to concerns about its impact. We hope that the established MDPI Topic “AI Chatbots: Threat or Opportunity?” will provide a suitable communication platform.

“AI Chatbots: Threat or Opportunity?”
by Antony Bryant
Informatics 2023, 10(2), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/informatics10020049 

“SAPBERT: Speaker-Aware Pretrained BERT for Emotion Recognition in Conversation”
by Seunguook Lim and Jihie Kim
Algorithms 2023, 16(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/a16010008

“Challenges and Limitations of ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence for Scientific Research: A Perspective from Organic Materials”
by Hao-Wen Cheng
AI 2023, 4(2), 401-405; https://doi.org/10.3390/ai4020021

“The Role of ChatGPT in Data Science: How AI-Assisted Conversational Interfaces Are Revolutionizing the Field”
by Hossein Hassani and Emmanuel Sirmal Silva
Big Data Cogn. Comput. 2023, 7(2), 62; https://doi.org/10.3390/bdcc7020062

“Can ChatGPT Help in Electronics Research and Development? A Case Study with Applied Sensors”
by Zoltán Tafferner, Illés Balázs, Olivér Krammer and Attila Géczy
Sensors 2023, 23(10), 4879; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23104879  

“ChatGPT Challenges Blended Learning Methodologies in Engineering Education: A Case Study in Mathematics”
by Luis M. Sánchez-Ruiz, Santiago Moll-López, Adolfo Nuñez-Pérez, José Antonio Moraño-Fernández and Erika Vega-Fleitas
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(10), 6039; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13106039  

“ChatGPT for Education and Research: Opportunities, Threats, and Strategies”
by Md. Mostafizer Rahman and Yutaka Watanobe
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(9), 5783; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13095783

“Info-Autopoiesis and the Limits of Artificial General Intelligence”
by Jaime F. Cárdenas-García
Computers 2023, 12(5), 102; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers12050102

“ChatGPT in Supply Chains: Initial Evidence of Applications and Potential Research Agenda”
by Guilherme Francisco Frederico
Logistics 2023, 7(2), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/logistics7020026

“What Is the Impact of ChatGPT on Education? A Rapid Review of the Literature”
by Chung Kwan Lo
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(4), 410; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13040410

Topics Webinar | AI Chatbots: Threat or Opportunity?
Date and time: 27 June 2023 at 3:00 p.m. (CEST)

Topics Webinar | AI Chatbots: Threat or Opportunity? II
Date and time: 10 July 2023 at 3:00 p.m. (CEST)
This is a free webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar

On 27 June 2023, MDPI, and the journals AI, Algorithms, Big Data and Cognitive Computing (BDCC), Future Internet, Informatics, Information, Languages and Publications, organized the webinar AI Chatbots: Threat or Opportunity?.

The first presentation, delivered by Dr. Ibrahim Demir, tackled “AI Chatbots: Opportunities and Challenges in Engineering Research, Education and Practice”. Dr. Demir is the Director of the UI Hydroinformatics Lab and serves as an Associate Professor in both the Civil and Environmental Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering departments at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA.

The second presenter was Dr. Haridimos Kondylakis, who presented his paper on “SummaryGPT: Leveraging ChatGPT for Summarizing Knowledge Graphs”. He is a researcher with FORTH-ICS in Greece.

Please note that this webinar is associated with the Topic titled “AI Chatbots: Threat or Opportunity?”. The abstract submission deadline is 29 February 2024.

In addition, the second webinar of the series will be held on 10 July 2023, 3 p.m. (CEST). For more information, or to register for the webinar, please visit the webpage via the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/about/announcements/6117.

You can watch the recorded webinar at the following link: https://youtu.be/lWEDnfGObzI.

Keynote Speakers:

• Ibrahim Demir, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA;
• Haridimos Kondylakis, Institute of Computer Science, FORTH, Greece.

The purpose of the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day is to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide. 17 May marks the anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention and the creation of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

This year, World Telecommunication and Information Society Day focuses on “Empowering the least developed countries (LDCs) through information and communication technologies.” As the world becomes increasingly adept at leveraging the Internet for value creation, LDCs risk falling further behind. To further explore the information about digital transformation in these LDCs and communication technologies in the rest of the world on the 2023 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, we have gathered academic research from several journals on the topic of digital communication, all of which are open access, enabling practitioners, policymakers and people around the world to access and share up-to-date scientific knowledge.

Let us celebrate the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day together.

As a leading open access publisher, MDPI provides scholars with a high-quality and rich academic exchange platform by continuously expanding into new and exciting research areas.

In December 2022, MDPI launched five new journals, covering multiple subjects such as life sciences, biology, medicine and pharmacology, social sciences and humanities. These new journals are being edited by established scholars across the world.

If you are interested in creating more open access journals with us to publish cutting-edge research, please send your journal proposal application to newjournal-committee@mdpi.com.

MDPI is pleased to announce that we now display the co-authors’ email addresses in addition to the corresponding author’s email address on the webpage of published papers, protected by Captcha. For more information about this change, please visit the journal’s instructions for authors page. 

We believe this change will facilitate academic discussions and advance our cause of open science and research. The corresponding authors are responsible for communicating with their co-authors and indicating in our system (https://susy.mdpi.com/) if co-authors would prefer for their email addresses not to be displayed.