Announcements
30 November 2023
MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter #6 - MDPI Spain Summit and ResearchGate
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
MDPI Spain Summit
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI) gives the opening speech at the MDPI Spain Summit.
On Friday 10 November 2023 I was in Barcelona, Spain, to deliver the opening presentation and participate in a panel at MDPI’s Spain Summit, a two-day event, inspired by our salon events in China.
With 16 Editors-in-Chief (EiCs) and 20 Editorial Board Members (EBMs) in attendance, the event, organized by our conference team and Barcelona office, featured presentations on open access (OA), MDPI, and publishing market trends in Spain.
The event provided a great opportunity to engage with stakeholders from various MDPI journals, including Nutrients, Vaccines, Buildings, IJMS, and others. We were able to gather feedback and have open conversations around manuscript quality, the peer-review process, and journal development, as well as accreditation agencies.
Connecting with Editorial Board Members
Stefan Tochev in conversation with Summit participants: "Our EBMs are passionate about the journals they serve."
Interacting with our EBMs in person provides a valuable opportunity to show how important it is to us to connect with them, hear their perspectives on their journals and learn more about their own experience collaborating with MDPI.
From my conversations, it was clear that our EBMs are passionate about the journals they serve. I know the advice they provide may sometimes involve just small tweaks, but these can lead to important improvements. As the saying goes, small hinges swing open big doors.
As at November 2023, MDPI has over 6,300 EBMs affiliated with Spanish institutions, with more than 30 of them serving as EiCs or section EiCs. Furthermore, over 68,000 Spanish scholars have contributed as reviewers in MDPI journals.
Open Access in Spain
In 2023, Spain implemented legislation mandating immediate OA for all publicly funded research, aligning with the EU’s Plan S initiative to expedite the transition to OA. The Spanish government also approved a four-year, €23.8 million annual budget for the first national OA strategy, aiming to make publicly funded research freely accessible upon publication. This strategy aims to strengthen the quality and transparency of research in Spain, and to help promote movement towards a digital, low-carbon economy.
For further details of Spain's OA policy and the history of government mandates, click here.
Spain has already seen a notable decline in subscription-only articles, decreasing by 62% over a 10-year period, while gold OA increased by 42%. Green OA slightly decreased, suggesting a shift towards publishing in gold OA journals rather than traditional subscription-based ones. Here are some statistics from Scopus.
A big thank-you to the various MDPI teams, including our conference team and the Barcelona office, for organizing this very successful event!
MDPI colleagues from various offices gathered to host and support the first MDPI Spain Summit, in Barcelona, Spain.
I think this type of gathering has the potential to become an annual event in various locations. For example, Manchester could be an option, as we have over 30 EiCs and over 3,000 EBMs in the UK, a top market for MDPI that publishes high-quality research.
Impactful Research
769 Editorial Board Members of MDPI Journals Recognized as Highly Cited Researchers in 2023
Congratulations to our 769 Editorial Board Members from 40 countries/territories who have been awarded Highly Cited Researcher status for 2023 by Clarivate. This recognition is based on their outstanding scientific research contributions and significant influence in various fields, as evidenced by Web of Science data.
Click here to view the full list of 769 Editorial Board Members.
Clarivate's Highly Cited ResearchersTM list identifies individuals with exceptional impact in scientific and social science domains over the past decade. Their papers rank in the top 1% of citations in 21 fields analysed in ‘Essential Science Indicators,’ showcasing their substantial influence.
This year, 7,125 Highly Cited Researcher 2023 designations were issued to 6,849 individuals from 67 countries, representing just 1 in 1,000 researchers worldwide.
These researchers demonstrate exceptional influence, representing a small fraction of contributors pushing the boundaries of knowledge, contributing to global well-being, sustainability, and security.
Congratulations to these scholars for their remarkable achievement: we are honoured to have them on board with our journals!
Inside MDPI
Corporate Marketing and Communications Strategy Session
Members of MDPI’s Corporate Marketing & Communications team.
For the past few years, I have led the Corporate Marketing & Communications department in our annual strategy session.
This typically involves 2–3 days of focused sessions covering key topics including budgeting, hiring targets, campaign reviews, and planning for the upcoming year, department strategy, and structure.
We are constantly exploring ways to optimize the Corporate Marketing & Communications department to support MDPI’s primary objectives and better convey the MDPI story while serving the scholarly community.
The strategy session also serves as a team-building activity, during which the team voted on bowling!
Strategy Session
In this strategy session, we looked at how to align our teams in order to better streamline our content with our campaigns, build a dedicated marketing team to strategically support our core MDPI products, expand our communications teams and functionalities to focus on company-critical campaigns and press releases, align our new brand design system with our marketing initiatives, set up a community and engagement team to support various teams with their outreach and communication efforts, and increase our use of data in the evaluation of campaign performance.
To grow in these areas, we will be hiring for various positions, including those of Public Relations Manager, Communications Manager, Internal Communications Manager, Campaign Manager, Marketing Associate, and Editorial Engagement Manager.
I am grateful for the way our Corporate Marketing & Communications department has grown and gelled over the years, and I look forward to supporting the department teams and their ideas for the future.
Coming Together for Science
ResearchGate and MDPI Partner to Boost the Visibility of Open Access Content through Journal Home
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI) and Sören Hofmayer (Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, ResearchGate) meet in Berlin, Germany to take their ongoing discussion further.
When I assumed the role of CEO at MDPI, my primary focus was to initiate the building of essential partnerships and collaborations within our industry. After all, I am a firm believer in achieving our goals by helping others achieve theirs and focusing on co-opetition wherever there is an opportunity. I first touched on the notion of co-opetition in MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter #3, particularly when discussing collaborations with Elsevier.
In light of this, Sören Hofmayer (Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at ResearchGate) and I connected recently to continue a discussion that had been ongoing for months. I was quickly brought up to speed and felt there was an opportunity for MDPI journals to pilot the Journal Home service that ResearchGate had launched. This would provide a new way for MDPI to engage with authors and readers and amplify the visibility of our journals.
While I receive many offers and opportunities for discussions with vendors, I am a firm believer that timing is everything, and in this case, the time for us is now. Sören and I met in person during my recent visit to Berlin and decided to proceed with piloting ten MDPI journals with the Journal Home service.
The press release below provides further details.
Press Release: Berlin (Germany) and Basel (Switzerland), 15 November 2023
ResearchGate, the professional network for researchers, and MDPI, the largest open access publisher in the world and a pioneer in open access publishing, today announced a partnership that will see ten of MDPI’s open access journals benefit from an enhanced presence on ResearchGate through its innovative Journal Home offering.
This new partnership will expand the reach and visibility of MDPI’s participating flagship journals with ResearchGate’s highly relevant community of more than 25 million researchers globally.
Around 210,000 version-of-record articles from these 10 titles will be readily available on ResearchGate, including the full archive material and all new articles as they are published. These journals also benefit from enhanced brand visibility, with dedicated journal profiles, prominent representation on all associated article pages and all relevant touchpoints across the ResearchGate network – keeping the journals top-of-mind with their reader and author audiences. All articles covered by the new partnership will automatically be added to the authors’ publication records in ResearchGate. This not only reduces MDPI authors’ needs for direct management but also offers them valuable insights into the impact of their work, including data about readership and citations.
Closing Thoughts
November is Men’s Health Awareness Month
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI) listening to music as he writes at a coffee shop in Basel, Switzerland.
November is dedicated to raising awareness of various men’s health issues. I have been fortunate to have positive male role models in my life, and I strive to share my experiences with others.
I used to take part in Movember, growing my moustache throughout November to raise awareness and funds and to help “change the face of men’s health.” With male family and friends impacted by physical and mental health issues, I have recently become more interested in men’s overall well-being.
Men often face stigma involving the perceived need always to be strong and have things figured out. Recently, I’ve had meaningful conversations with male friends and colleagues about issues we rarely discuss, and it was a positive experience.
Various factors impact men’s health and well-being, all too easily leading to risky health behaviours including a lack of health awareness, poor health education, and negative, culturally induced, behaviour patterns in our work and personal lives. I hope we can break down these barriers in our work environment.
Healthy men help build healthy families and a healthy society
Men are less likely than women to seek help with their physical and mental health struggles. This is a reminder to prioritize your overall well-being. I hope that as men, we will continue to open up to one another, becoming vulnerable in order to share what we are going through. By sharing and by supporting each other, we can learn and grow together. You are not alone, and when you fall, you can still get up and stand tall.
From one broski to another, you are loved and appreciated. I hope this mindset carries into December and beyond.
Mindfulness
Our content team recently released a handful of articles on mindfulness, a practice that I believe provides a good opportunity for stress release and self-reflection:
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
21 November 2023
769 Editorial Board Members of MDPI Journals Achieve Highly Cited Researcher Recognition in 2023
3 November 2023
Meet Us at the 10th International Horticulture Research Conference, 10–15 November 2023, Guangzhou, China
1 November 2023
MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter #5 - OA Week, UK, and Strategy
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
Open Access Week 2023 – the Global Drive to Open Continues
As the world's largest open-access (OA) publisher, we believe that unrestricted access to research findings is the cornerstone of transparency, efficiency, and quality control across scientific disciplines. At MDPI, we provide free, immediate access to scientific papers, empowering scientists to examine, validate, replicate, and build upon existing results. This minimizes redundancy, optimizes resources, and fosters innovative approaches.
International OA Week, held from 23 to 29 October 2023, provided a unique opportunity to link the global movement toward open sharing and open science with the progress of policy changes at the local level. Our mission, during OA Week and all the year round, is to offer educational resources highlighting the benefits of open-access publishing. The MDPI Blog is a valuable resource for information on open access and open science.
Core principles of OA publishing
Accessibility, transparency, and collaboration are core principles of OA publishing. OA aims to break down barriers that have traditionally restricted research access, ensuring that knowledge is available to all, regardless of financial situation or institutional affiliations. Our commitment to diverse pathways for OA publishing worldwide includes discounts for researchers. You can learn more about how MDPI supports scientific communities here.
One of the key strengths of OA publishing is its ability to facilitate interdisciplinary research. By removing paywalls and promoting knowledge-sharing across disciplines, OA encourages collaboration and innovation. Researchers from various fields can access and build upon each others’ work, fostering a holistic approach to addressing complex global challenges.
OA holds the potential to democratize knowledge, advance science, and drive positive societal change.
Policy driving change
Governments, institutions, and funding agencies have recognized the transformative potential of OA and have implemented policies to promote it. These policies often require publicly funded research to be made openly accessible, accelerating the growth of OA repositories and journals. Check out our spotlights on OA policies in the US, EU and China.
OA publishing is continuously evolving, with community-driven models and technologies shaping its future. Initiatives such as “Plan S” and “cOAlition S” promote OA publishing from the perspective of national funders, requiring grantees to publish their research openly. A new policy announced by the US administration last year mandates that, with effect from January 2026, all US federally funded research should be freely and immediately available after publication.
Additionally, preprint servers such as MDPI's Preprints.org, which allow researchers to share their findings before formal peer review, have gained popularity, enhancing the speed at which new knowledge is disseminated. The rise of blockchain technology is also being explored to ensure transparency and authenticity in scholarly publishing.
For more than two decades, OA publishing has been revolutionizing academic publishing by promoting accessibility, transparency, and collaboration. Its support for interdisciplinary research, evolving policies, and innovative practices all contribute to its growing influence in the global research community. As OA continues to expand, it holds the potential to democratize knowledge, advance science, and drive positive societal change.
MDPI is proud to lead the transition to open access.
Read more:
Impactful Research
Spotlight on Smart Cities
Smart cities will serve as a cornerstone for future human development. Their implementation will help us tackle many of the significant challenges we are facing – climate change, ageing populations, waste management, public safety, travel, and so on. Recognising the importance of this multifaceted field, MDPI launched the inaugural issue of Smart Cities in 2018 to provide an advanced forum for research into smart technology and society. Here we take a look at how this journal has developed, and its impact in this exciting field.
As at 30 October, 2023, Smart Cities has published 421 papers and has an Impact Factor of 6.4. It also has a CiteScore of 8.5, and more than one quarter of its published papers – 124 – have been cited 10 times or more.
Highly cited papers in Smart Cities
Below are several highly cited papers recently published in Smart Cities. Citation metrics are current as at 31 October 2023.
1. “Introducing the “15-Minute City”: Sustainability, Resilience and Place Identity in Future Post-Pandemic Cities”
Authors: Carlos Moreno, Zaheer Allam, Didier Chabaud, Catherine Gall and Florent Pratlong
Smart Cities 2021, 4(1), 93-111; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities4010006
Citations: Crossref (338), Scopus (366), Web of Science (270), Google Scholar (710)
The paper discusses the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 on cities, including increasing inequalities and rising unemployment. It introduces the concept of the "15-Minute City," a form of "chrono-urbanism," as a response to the challenges posed by the pandemic.
2. “A Review on Electric Vehicles: Technologies and Challenges”
Authors: Julio A. Sanguesa, Vicente Torres-Sanz, Piedad Garrido, Francisco J. Martinez and Johann M. Marquez-Barja
Smart Cities 2021, 4(1), 372-404; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities4010022
Citations: Crossref (359), Scopus (363), Web of Science (268), Google Scholar (558)
This paper provides an overview of the progress in Electric Vehicles (EVs), focusing on battery technology, charging methods, and emerging research challenges. It also analyzes the global EV market and its future outlook.
3. “IoT in Smart Cities: A Survey of Technologies, Practices and Challenges”
Authors: Abbas Shah Syed, Daniel Sierra-Sosa, Anup Kumar and Adel Elmaghraby
Smart Cities 2021, 4(2), 429-475; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities4020024
Citations: Crossref (121), Scopus (151), Web of Science (91), Google Scholar (215)
This paper gives an overview of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the context of Smart Cities, discussing the fundamental components, technologies, architectures, networking technologies, and artificial algorithms that underpin IoT-based Smart City systems.
4. “Artificial Intelligence Techniques in Smart Grid: A Survey”
Authors: Olufemi A. Omitaomu and Haoran Niu
Smart Cities 2021, 4(2), 548-568; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities4020029
Citations: Crossref (76), Scopus (94), Web of Science (57), Google Scholar (120)
This survey paper reviews the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques in the context of the smart grid. It covers various applications of AI in load forecasting, power grid stability assessment, fault detection, and security issues in the smart grid and power systems.
5. “The Metaverse as a Virtual Form of Smart Cities: Opportunities and Challenges for Environmental, Economic, and Social Sustainability in Urban Futures”
Authors: Zaheer Allam, Ayyoob Sharifi, Simon Elias Bibri, David Sydney Jones and John Krogstie
Smart Cities 2022, 5(3), 771-801; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities5030040
Citations: Crossref (72), Scopus (75), Web of Science (43), Google Scholar (176)
This paper discusses the concept of the Metaverse, a virtual world introduced by Meta (formerly Facebook), and its potential impact on urban life. It explores how emerging technologies such as AI, Big Data, IoT, and Digital Twins could reshape urban design and services in the context of the Metaverse.
Testimonial
“It was indeed a great and pleasant experience with MDPI regarding our recent publication. The submission process was very straightforward and less time-consuming than the norm. The review process was very fast compared to many other open access journals, which is praiseworthy. The support from the Editorial Office during the revision process was highly useful as well. We look forward to publishing with MDPI in the future, and I will most definitely recommend MDPI to my colleagues and collaborators.” – Dr. Luís Rosa, University of Minho
Article in Smart Cities: Mobile Networks and Internet of Things Infrastructures to Characterize Smart Human Mobility
Inside MDPI
MDPI Manchester office, UK Visit
Allie Shi (Editorial Director, MDPI), Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI), Jamie Anderson (Manchester Office Manager, MDPI), Michael O’Sullivan (Senior Scientific Officer, MDPI), Hushneara Akhtar, and Becky Castellon (IOAP Team Lead, MDPI), dining out in Manchester, UK.
In October, I visited MDPI’s new office in Manchester. During the visit, I connected with our English Editing (EE) managers, Scientific Officer, members of the Editorial team, the Marketing team, and IOAP Team Lead.
Our Manchester office focuses primarily on EE services and provides local support for the UK market. Additionally, we regularly visit Editorial Board members and participate in local conferences.
I would like to thank Jamie Anderson, Manchester Office Manager, and her team, for their deep commitment to our Manchester staff and to MDPI’s impact on the UK market.
The UK by numbers
The UK is a hub for the world’s top universities, making it a key market for MDPI and the publishing world in general. It is home to two of the top-five-ranked universities globally, 11 in the top 100, and 15 in the top 200.
As a result, the UK plays a key role in MDPI’s global market. As at October 2023, it ranks as the seventh-largest contributor to the total number of papers published by MDPI. We have 3,500 Editorial Board members affiliated with UK institutions, including 34 serving as Editors-in-Chief (EiCs). Our commitment to collaboration with institutions is evident in the UK, where we have successfully established some 60 Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) agreements with esteemed institutions, such as the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, the University of Edinburgh, and more.
According to InCites Dataset + ESCI for the period 2018–2022, as at October 2023, nearly 65% of UK papers are now published as OA. Just over 10% of total OA publications are by UK authors. UK papers are known for their high quality, with an average of 11 citations per paper. Furthermore, 2.16% of UK papers are in the top 1% of cited papers, and 14.61% are in the top 10% of cited papers, showcasing their impact.
We are currently hiring EEs in various locations worldwide.
English Editing at MDPI
Our English Editing (EE) department consists of two main branches, Quality Control and Learning and Development, reflecting our priorities. We are continuously enhancing the quality of our English Editing services and have raised the relevant standards, which now extend to company-wide communications. English editors participate in international interviews, conduct English assessments, and provide colleagues with presentations on ways to improve their use of written and spoken English.
While expanding, the EE department has proactively refocused its efforts on the quality of our work and how the English Editing department can benefit the company more broadly. We currently have approximately 140 full-time English Editors based across five offices worldwide, supplemented by over 700 freelance English editors.
Our Manchester office serves as the hub for the EE Department, with EE Managers situated there, except for Kurtis Jackson, who serves as the Head of EE and is located in our Basel office. Manchester EEs play a critical role in establishing and developing EE teams in our other offices, overseeing management and recruitment. The EE department plays a vital role in MDPI’s operations, as it is the department that touches every published paper. If this work interests you, I encourage you to explore our available EE positions, whether you are seeking full-time or freelance opportunities.
Testimonials
“MDPI provides an excellent service compared to any other previously used services. It delivers fast and high-quality results but at an affordable price.” – Ardha Apriyanto, University of Potsdam
“In my role as a professor, I consider that MDPI Author Services offer an excellent quality in the editing of Western academic writing while maintaining the required standards of clarity, precision and rigor. Additionally, delivery times are fast compared to other available services.” – Jesus Insuasti, University of Nariño
Read more:
Coming Together for Science
STM and Frankfurt Book Fair
Attending STM
MDPI has been a proud sponsor of the STM Conference for several years. The STM Conference is a dynamic event featuring interactive sessions, expert panellists, idea-sharing, and ample networking opportunities. On 16 October, the event kicked off with arrival drinks, sponsored by MDPI, followed by a welcoming dinner, providing a great chance to connect and network with industry professionals. The following day was filled with speakers, sessions, and further opportunities to connect. STM exemplifies the collaborative spirit of the scientific community, with session topics including achieving open, visible, and impactful research at scale; maintaining research integrity in a rapidly changing world; and exploring the impact of ever-evolving technology in the scholarly community.
Meeting with Web of Science
On a personal note, one of the highlights of STM was a candid and productive conversation with Nandita Quaderi, Editor-in-Chief and SVP at Web of Science. During our discussion, we talked about MDPI, Web of Science, the IJERPH delisting, and ways of moving forward. This open conversation aimed at fostering better collaboration for the future.
“We discussed ways to improve our communication and collaboration.”
I appreciated our frank discussion and felt that Nandita wholeheartedly supports open access. She also expressed her appreciation for the monthly CEO Letter, which she sees as a way to add personality to the MDPI brand and provide insight into the great work we do at MDPI. While we highlighted the positives, we also discussed ways to improve our communication and collaboration moving forward. This meeting alone made the trip worthwhile, and I hope Nandita doesn’t mind my sharing that she found our chat to be “the most honest and constructive discussion” she’s had with someone from MDPI in recent years.
75th Frankfurt Book Fair
Jelena Milojevic (Book Editor, MDPI), Jovana Dubajic (Book Editor, MDPI), Evan Escamilla (Project Manager, MDPI), Laura Wagner (Head of Books, MDPI), and Jenny Knowles (Commissioning Editor, MDPI), at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
For the 75th time, the Frankfurter Buchmesse opened its doors in October to celebrate exciting stories and their authors. If you haven’t yet had the chance to visit the Frankfurt Book Fair, I highly recommend it. It’s the largest book fair in the world, attracting thousands of visitors from around the globe. This is the place to gain valuable industry insights from top-class publishing professionals, connect with publishers directly, and learn about the latest trends in publishing.
MDPI Books
Our Books team was also present at the Frankfurt Book Fair, networking and learning from various panels. Did you know that our MDPI Books department publishes OA Books?
The book publishing program includes monographs, book series, edited books and reprints of special issues and topical collections, among other book types.
If you have a book proposal you would like to discuss, please feel free to contact our Books team to understand the benefits and methods of publishing your next book with the OA model.
Closing Thoughts
MDPI Strategy Meeting
As the newly appointed CEO, this is my first year leading the MDPI Senior Management Strategy session. I saw it as an opportunity to explore what MDPI has the potential to become in the next five years. Guided by the vision of its founder and President, Dr. Shu-kun Lin, the company has accomplished remarkable feats over the past 27 years and currently holds the position as the world’s third-largest academic publisher, following Springer Nature and Elsevier.
Our primary objective is to build upon the milestones of the past decades and consolidate MDPI’s position as well-established publishing brand. The two-day meeting emphasized the importance of communicating MDPI’s values more actively via its brand and adopting a straightforward yet impactful approach to managing MDPI as a mature academic publisher.
“Our primary objective is to consolidate MDPI’s position as well-established publishing brand”
As the world’s number one open-access publisher, MDPI has long been a game-changer in the scholarly community, serving millions of authors. The challenge in being a trailblazer is the need to continuously improve and at the same time explore the next blue-ocean strategy, while also maintaining the smooth operation of the business. Our collection model, featuring guest-curated thematic topics in the form of Special Issues, has disrupted the industry. Other publishers closely study us and attempt to replicate our models. The future of this collection model is something we are actively addressing – while, of course, looking ahead to what comes next!
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
19 October 2023
Open Access Week 2023 – the Global Drive to Open Continues
2 October 2023
MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter #4 - MDPI Presence in China
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
Open Access in China
It is Saturday, 23 September, and I have just returned from an unforgettable 12-day trip to China, visiting our main offices in Beijing and Wuhan. In the wake of a packed and very enjoyable agenda of internal and external meetings, I would like to use this edition of the CEO Letter to showcase how MDPI supports the scholarly community in China.
Coincidentally, Jack McKenna, Communications Associate from MDPI’s corporate content team, has just released a blog article discussing China’s open access (OA) policy. It is a timely read, providing a concise overview of the development of the OA movement in China and reflecting on its future. I shall draw some content from Jack’s piece and use this edition of the CEO Letter to highlight the various ways in which MDPI is involved in this market. And it would be remiss of me not to include some pictures and highlights from my travels!
Open Access Policy in China
As per Jack’s post, in 2020, China became the world’s leading producer of research articles. Today, China is experiencing a “substantial growth rate in OA [Open Access] publication”. This growth is supported by the State’s commitment to research & development and its policy “requiring the promotion of open science”.
Over the past two decades, there have been gradual developments in China’s OA framework, with repositories and platforms being developed in a consistent manner. Currently, key institutions across China – including the National Science Library, the National Science and Technology Library, and the Natural Science Foundation of China – support OA. The State aims to establish consistent policies across government agencies – a framework for a more encompassing embrace of OA across institutions.
In China, the number of subscription-only articles decreased by nearly 30% over the 10-year period of 2011–2021, while gold OA increased by 22%. Between 2017 and 2020 alone, China published 800,921 academic papers in an OA format.
In 2023, as the leading publisher of academic research, China is pursuing “self-reliance”. Therefore, the State will be establishing consistent policies across government agencies, including those related to OA. Additionally, it will want to ensure that Chinese people can access the research that is supported by Chinese funding and produced by Chinese academics. For this reason, “Open Access is a matter of priority in China”.
MDPI Offices in China
While the history of MDPI begins in Basel, Switzerland, the story of MDPI’s founder is very much rooted in China. Dr. Shu-kun Lin, Founder and President of MDPI, graduated with a BSc from Wuhan University in 1982. He also studied physical chemistry at the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (1982–1986; MSc in 1985), and at the University of Louisville, USA (1987–1989). Dr. Lin completed his doctorate in organic chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH-Zürich) in 1992.
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI) at MDPI’s Wuhan office.
In 2002, MDPI’s Basel headquarters moved to Matthäusstrasse 11, 4052 Basel, and Dr. Lin opened an editorial office in Qingdao, China, which launched the journal Marine Drugs in the following year. Below is a list of MDPI’s current offices in China and their respective dates of inauguration:
- 2008: Beijing (Tongzhou, Haidian)
- 2013: Wuhan (Hankou, Guanggu)
- 2019: Tianjin
- 2021: Dalian
- 2021: Nanjing
Our Strength is in Our People
With over 6,000 MDPI staff, across 20 offices in 11 countries, MDPI is able to offer authors responsive and efficient round-the-clock support, enabling a rapid publication process.
In my experience, stakeholders are genuinely surprised when they realize the extent of our global operations. My response is to reiterate that our people are our strength. This is why we have fast and efficient processes and top-notch responsiveness. Our global presence ensures that your manuscript is constantly attended to, rather than sitting on someone’s desk. We prioritize our authors’ needs and act quickly to move things through the various stages of publication. MDPI is built on speed, convenience, and competence, which I believe are core pillars for success in any industry. We continually strive to improve our systems and processes on the basis of these core strengths. We literally have over 6,000 staff worldwide dedicated to serving your needs. It’s not magic: it’s people; it’s real.
Impactful Research
MDPI Awards
To support the academic community, and especially young researchers, and also to enhance communication among scientists, MDPI journals offer various awards in specific fields. We serve the scientific community by funding research to facilitate the development of sustainable global solutions through our annual World Sustainability Award and Emerging Sustainability Leader Award.
In 2022, MDPI made awards totalling over US$1 million in recognition and support of researchers worldwide.
Across our journal catalogue, we have granted over 2,000 awards to recognize and support researchers from all disciplines. Since 2016, these awards have served as a source of recognition, acknowledging the impact of research by heightening the influence of talented individuals. The award types mainly include the Young Investigator Award, the Best PhD Thesis Award, the Best Paper Award, and the Outstanding Reviewer Award.
To learn more about MDPI Awards and to find out which are currently available, please click here.
MDPI Awards to Scholars from China
Since 2021, there have been 23 Best Paper Awards granted to authors affiliated with Chinese institutions, identifying their papers as having high-quality scientific impact. A total of 45 Chinese scholars have received awards such as the Young Investigator Award, the Best PhD Thesis Award, the Outstanding Reviewer Award, and the Tu Youyou Award, among others. Prizes for these awards include MDPI grants for paid publications, totalling over CHF 70,000 for scholars affiliated with Chinese institutions.
MDPI’s Tu Youyou Award
Prof. Tu Youyou (left), Dr. Shu-Kun Lin (President, MDPI).
In 2015, Professor Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria.” In order to commemorate Professor Tu’s contributions to human health and to promote the passion and spirit conveyed by her experiences, MDPI in 2016 established the ‘Tu Youyou Award’, which runs biennially to recognize outstanding scholars dedicated to the research of natural products and medicinal chemistry.
The 2022 Tu Youyou Award was granted to Prof. Dr. Xiaoguang Lei of Peking University. Click here to access the interview with the winner.
2015 Nobel Prize for Medicine Awarded to Professor Youyou Tu
Professor Tu’s work was celebrated in a Special Issue from Molecules on the occasion of her 80th birthday. The Special Issue: 'Artemisinin (Qinghaosu): Commemorative Issue in Honor of Professor Youyou Tu on the Occasion of her 80th Anniversary” was created five years before she won the Nobel Prize, highlighting the visibility MDPI provides researchers and their work.
Highly Cited Articles by Chinese Scholars Published in MDPI
Click here to access the most cited MDPI papers published by scholars affiliated with Chinese institutions. This list presents the most influential research from the more than 287,000 MDPI papers published by Chinese scholars. With over 9 million total citations, I encourage you to maximize your visibility and impact by publishing with MDPI, the number one most cited open access publisher.
Read more:
- Tu Youyou Award
- World Sustainability Awards
- Available Awards
Inside MDPI
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI) with the Beijing Marketing team.
Marketing Department in China
During my visit to our offices in Beijing and Wuhan, I had the opportunity to meet with, and to present to, our local marketing teams. These teams are responsible for various journal-related and corporate promotional activities, including newsletters, conferences, seminars, author training, journal awards, content creation, digital marketing, and social media.
I was pleased by the ambition and curiosity of our marketing colleagues. They showed a strong desire to collaborate and acquire knowledge and tactics to effectively market and promote MDPI-journal-related activities. I presented some of the principles and objectives that we apply in the Corporate Marketing and Communications department, and used the opportunity to strengthen our collaborative communications across offices.
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI) with the Wuhan Marketing team.
Coming Together for Science
Collaborations, Scholarships and Meetings
MDPI maintains partnerships with nearly 190 learned societies and over 800 institutions and consortia, helping to facilitate the transition to OA publishing. Our commitment to working with institutions is evident in China, where we have successfully established over 35 Institutional Open Access Programs (IOAP) with esteemed institutions such as the Tsinghua University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Our institutional partnerships, waiver programs, and article processing cost discounts create diverse pathways to OA publishing for researchers worldwide.
Scholarships in China
Since 2021, several MDPI journals (Sensors, Photonics, Coatings, Materials, Energies, and Journal of Fungi) have funded full scholarships for four Master’s and five Ph.D. projects in China. These scholarships align with Tianjin University, Wuhan University of Technology, Central South University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the China University of Petroleum (Beijing).
Meeting with the Society of Chinese University Journals (CUJS)
Prof. Tieming Zhang (President of CUJS, centre) and MDPI colleagues at CUJS office.
I am pleased to have participated in some highly productive meetings during my visit to China, including one with the Society of Chinese University Journals (CUJS). The meeting involved Prof. Tieming Zhang (President of CUJS), Assoc. Prof. Xin Zhang (Vice President and Secretary General), and Dr. Fei Gao (Executive Member of CUJS). Alongside my colleagues Dr. Guoshi Liu, Dr. Giulia Stefenelli, and Anita Sun, I represented MDPI and held an open discussion to address any questions regarding OA and MDPI.
We discussed several methods for collaboration, including a workshop on the future of peer review, MDPI sponsoring a funding grant for early-career researchers, and transitioning journals from diamond to gold OA. I am thankful for the opportunity to have met our colleagues at CUJS in person and feel very confident about our future collaborations in support of OA publishing in China.
MDPI hosts free academic seminars, author training sessions, and academic conferences as part of its commitment to enrich and support the scholarly community. CUJS often stages academic events (e.g., conferences, editor training, and editor competitions), and I believe there are great opportunities for CUJS and MDPI to collaborate accordingly.
Meeting with National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSLC)
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI), Dr. Giulia Stefenelli (Chair of Scientific Officers, MDPI), Anita Sun (PR Manager, MDPI) and Dr. Guoshi Liu (Managing Director, MDPI) at the National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
We also visited the NSLC Director, Xiwen Liu, and colleagues Ying Jin, Zhesi Shen, and Sichao Tong. Following our introductions, we gave a presentation on the history and editorial process at MDPI, discussing specific details related to MDPI’s business and data. We highlighted the status of our IOAP collaborations in China and the makeup of our author base, specifically in China, and drew attention to the fact that MDPI has published research by authors from every country in the world. We then discussed the design indicators, calculation methods and implementation purposes of the ‘Early Warning Journal List’ and how we can have open communication to provide any data regarding MDPI journals. I am pleased to report that we reached a consensus on future communications, and am grateful to NSLC for hosting us in their offices.
In-person meetings with stakeholders provide an invaluable opportunity to communicate what MDPI is about and the various ways in which we serve the scholarly community. While digital marketing and online communication are essential, they are no replacement for the understanding and trust that come about through in-person interactions.
The Numbers
As at September 2023, China holds the largest position in MDPI’s global market, ranking as the largest contributor to the total number of papers published by MDPI.
At this point in time, there were more than 847,000 China mainland scholars who have published with MDPI, 51 of whom are Section-Editors-in-Chief (SEiC) of MDPI journals, with seven serving as Editors-in-Chief (EiCs) for journals such as Air, Big Data and Cognitive Computing, Blockchains, Future, Nanoenergy Advances, and Targets.
Our growth and presence in China are a true testament to the service we provide to the scholarly community, and to the relationships we foster through collaborative activities. We look forward to continuing to support the growth of the scholarly community in China, providing a valuable and trusted experience with MDPI.
Closing Thoughts
Final Reflections on our MDPI Offices in Beijing and Wuhan
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI), Dr. Constanze Schelhorn (Indexing Manager, MDPI), Jiale Shang (Admin, Tongzhou, MDPI) at Beijing Capital International Airport, Beijing.
I spent approximately two weeks visiting some of our offices in China, and the first word that comes to mind when describing my experience is ‘hospitality.’ My colleagues and I were met with enthusiasm and delight at the airport by the Tongzhou Admin team (thank you, Jiale Shang, and thank you, Eric Wang, for keeping us organized on this trip!) and were taken care of with great attention. From hotels to transportation, dinners, and meetings, our stay was catered for perfectly.
Perhaps this is where MDPI’s focus on customers and service originates. At our core, we are a service company that provides a publishing platform for its authors. It’s therefore no surprise that authors consistently rate their experience with MDPI very highly.
95% of submitting authors rate their overall experience with the MDPI publication process as Excellent or Good (Springer Nature report 90%).
91% of submitting authors rate their overall experience with the MDPI peer review process as Excellent or Good.
Speed/Efficiency and Editorial Relationship are two key reasons underlying this high satisfaction score. ‘Editorial Relationship’ can be further explored, but in the past month, the most commonly noted aspects were the professionalism, kindness, availability, communicativeness, and personalized assistance provided by our editorial staff throughout the process. These attributes are at the core of our work across all our offices and continents.
Hospitality and Service
Just as our Chinese colleagues strove to keep us engaged by showing us the city sights (thank you, Thea Pan, and Jason Wu from the Wuhan Marketing team!) and sharing a variety of wonderful meals, our editorial staff are committed to serving our authors throughout their publishing journey. Our aim is to place the author at the centre of everything we do, eager to welcome our ‘guests’ and provide them with a pleasant publishing experience.
I asked my colleague Francis Wu (Senior Publisher, Wuhan office) where this hospitality originates. He responded that it is part of Chinese culture. I reflected long and deep on this answer. China is a vast country, and when visitors arrive, hosts want to ensure they feel welcomed and taken care of in order to maximize their time and visit. I can’t think of a better analogy for how I would want our authors to feel when they visit MDPI for their publishing needs. A company culture that prioritizes service, something that goes beyond products and productivity, and focuses on the overall experience. Over 6,000 people, across all MDPI offices, are ready, willing and able to go the extra mile for their colleagues and their customers. This is something I am truly proud of.
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
18 September 2023
Combined Workshop of European Federation of World’s Poultry Science Association (EF WPSA)
6 September 2023
Recap of Awards Granted to Scholars in 2022
30 August 2023
MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter #3 - Sustainability and Co-opetition
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
Our Commitment to Sustainability
As a pioneer in academic open access publishing since 1996, MDPI has always been dedicated to facilitating scientific exchange across all disciplines. Our approach to open science is guided by principles such as Open Access (OA), Timeliness and Efficiency, Simplicity, High-Quality Service, Flexibility, and a commitment to Sustainability. This commitment involves preserving published papers for the long term and supporting the future of science through partnerships, sponsorships, and awards.
In this edition of the CEO Letter, I will delve into MDPI’s various sustainability initiatives. As a leader in OA publishing, we are able to provide the public with a significant amount of environment-related content at no cost.
MDPI and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
In 2020, the SDG Publishers Compact was launched to accelerate implementation of the SDGs by promoting content that informs, develops, and inspires action. MDPI joined this initiative in 2021 and subsequently launched the MDPI SDG Hub in 2022, offering free access to recent research within the scope of each of the 17 SDGs. We also support authors from underrepresented communities by waiving publication charges for selected SDG-related papers. Detailed sustainability practices and supported publications are available in the report under each Goal page.
“More than 80% of MDPI articles and reviews published in 2022 relate to the Sustainable Development Goals.” [source: InCites, Accessed on 21.08.2023]
As at August 2023, MDPI boasts 14 journals dedicated to sustainability-related topics. Our first journal in this area, Sustainability, has published over 29,000 articles on the SDGs, accumulating over 240,000 citations (source: InCites, as at 1 January 2023). These journals serve as vital platforms for researchers to share insights and address environmental challenges. In addition:
MDPI journals specializing in sustainability-related topics:
- 2009: Sustainability
- 2012: Resources
- 2013: Climate
- 2014: Environments
- 2016: Recycling
- 2019: Clean Technologies
- 2020: Sustainable Chemistry
- 2021: Wind, Biomass, Conservation, Pollutants, Solar
- 2022: Waste, Microplastics
Read more:
Impactful Research
Highly Cited Articles in Sustainability
In 2022, content published in Sustainability and indexed in Journal Citation Reports (JCR) received nearly 190,000 citations. This highlights the fact that Sustainability publishes highly cited research articles related to environmental sciences and SDG-related topics such as climate action.
We are pleased to share that Sustainability received a 2022 CiteScore of 5.8, marking a 16% increase from the 2021 metric. Specifically, the CiteScore positions Sustainability as follows: Q1 (27 out of 163) in the “Environmental Science (miscellaneous)” category, and Q1 (101 out of 779) in the “Geography Planning and Development” category. For additional journal statistics, please visit here.
“Sustainability received a 2022 CiteScore of 5.8”
While MDPI journals such as Climate and Atmosphere have a distinct focus on atmosphere pollution and its impact on climate processes, journals like Sustainability, Environments, Water, Remote Sensing, and IJERPH publish content related to climate change. These journals have published over 32,300 articles related to SDG 13: Climate Action.
Highly Cited Papers in Sustainability
Below are several highly cited papers published in Sustainability over the past three years. Citation metrics are current as at 15 August 2023.
1. “A Global Assessment: Can Renewable Energy Replace Fossil Fuels by 2050?”Authors: Jerry L. Holechek, Hatim M. E. Geli, Mohammed N. Sawalhah, and Raul Valdez
Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4792; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084792
Citations: Crossref (97), Scopus (91), Web of Science (82), Google Scholar (125)
This paper addresses one of the most significant challenges of climate change – achieving Net Zero Carbon by 2050. The meta-analysis suggests that while difficult, this transition is possible through the concerted application of pathways, lifestyle changes, and global cooperation.
2. “Anxiety and the Ecological Crisis: An Analysis of Eco-Anxiety and Climate Anxiety”Author: Panu Pihkala
Sustainability 2020, 12(19), 7836; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12197836
Citations: Crossref (144), Scopus (121), Web of Science (159), Google Scholar (382)
This paper has received substantial media attention, including coverage by The Guardian, BBC, Vice, and CNBC. An interview with Dr. Panu Pihkala, a leading interdisciplinary researcher on the topic, can be found on MDPI’s podcast: Insight Faster, Episode 1.
3. “Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture and Its Mitigation Strategies: A Review”Authors: Gurdeep Singh Malhi, Manpreet Kaur, and Prashant Kaushik
Sustainability 2021, 13(3), 1318; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031318
Citations: Crossref (207), Scopus (221), Web of Science (186), Google Scholar (355)
This paper reviews literature on climate change, addressing its causes, future projections, impact on agriculture, including plant physiology, growth, productivity, pest infestation, and the economic implications of mitigation strategies.
4. “Impacts of Plastic Pollution on Ecosystem Services, Sustainable Development Goals, and Need to Focus on Circular Economy and Policy Interventions”Authors: Rakesh Kumar, Anurag Verma, Arkajyoti Shome, Rama Sinha, Srishti Sinha, Prakash Kumar Jha, Ritesh Kumar, Pawan Kumar, Shubham, Shreyas Das, Prabhakar Sharma, and P. V. Vara Prasad
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9963; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179963
Citations: Crossref (134), Scopus (136), Web of Science (113), Google Scholar (184)
This review aims to assess the adverse effects of plastic pollution on ecosystems, link the management of plastic with the SDGs, and propose policy measures using transdisciplinary approaches. Empowering communities to reduce plastic use is crucial. Addressing global plastic pollution is a priority.
Sustainability is an international, cross-disciplinary, open access journal that explores environmental, cultural, economic, and social sustainability of human beings. It provides a forward-looking platform for research on sustainability and sustainable development, and is published semi-monthly online by MDPI. Sustainability is affiliated with The Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC) and The International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB).
Read more:
- Testimonials: See what our editors and authors say about Sustainability.
Inside MDPI
President of Ireland Authors Editorial in MDPI Journal Sustainability
It’s a very special occasion when the president of a country takes the initiative to write an editorial for a journal. Michael D. Higgins, President of the Republic of Ireland, has contributed his insights to a forthcoming Special Issue in Sustainability:
This Special Issue, focusing on “making sustainable development happen” at grassroots levels, allows for perspectives from, and on, the major world faiths, exploring how challenges have been conceptualised and addressed, in addition to case studies of faith-based sustainability initiatives in practice.
The experience of faith institutions and communities in translating theological and moral commitments to sustainable development into action is now a topic we must examine with urgency; one on which I am so glad this Special Issue focuses.
As President of Ireland, I very much support this Special Issue of Sustainability. It is my great hope that the contents of the papers contained herein will assist in making sustainable development happen at grassroots levels across the world so that we can cooperate together, people of faith and of none, to ensure a just, inclusive and sustainable future for all on our fragile planet.
Read the completed editorial here:
Special Issue “Faith and Sustainable Development: Exploring Practice, Progress and Challenges among Faith Communities and Institutions”: Foreword by the President of Ireland
Author: Michael D. Higgins
Sustainability 2023, 15(12), 9683; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129683
Coming Together for Science
The World Sustainability Forum 2023
The World Sustainability Forum (WSF) is a biennial MDPI event focused on sustainability. WSF 2023 marks the tenth anniversary of the conference series, taking place on 14 September. For the first time, the event will be hosted as a 24-hour conference across three locations – Singapore, Basel in Switzerland, and Toronto in Canada – alongside virtual streaming.
This unique format allows us to span three time zones, providing live coverage of critical sustainability-related topics throughout the day:
- The Singapore Hub, chaired by Professor Horn Mun Cheah and Associate Professor Renee Tan, will explore “Sustainability for Social and Community Impact”.
- The Basel Hub, chaired by Prof. Dr. Anet Režek Jambrak and Dr. Lela Mélon, will delve into “Sustainability in the industry, and at university and corporate settings”.
- The Toronto Hub, led by Dr. Umberto Berardi, will discuss “The Sustainable Built Environment”.
MDPI Sustainability Foundation: Recognizing Excellence in Sustainability Research
The MDPI Sustainability Foundation supports researchers through two sustainability-focused awards:
- The World Sustainability Award, amounting to USD 100,000, is given to senior researchers.
- The Emerging Sustainability Leader Award, valued at USD 20,000, sponsored by the journal Sustainability, is presented to early-career researchers.
The winners of the Sustainability Foundation will be formally awarded during the WSF2023 on 14 September. Interviews with the award winners and finalists are available below.
2023 World Sustainability Award Winners
Interviews with 2023 Emerging Sustainability Leader Award Finalists
- Dr. Bahareh Kamranzad
- Dr. Youjin Kim
- Dr. Julia Lohmann
As a hybrid event, WSF23 provides scholars with the option to attend in person at one of the conference sites or, for a more sustainable approach, virtually. All sessions will be recorded and archived for future access. Registration is open until 3 September 2023, with in-person and virtual tickets available here.
Read more:
Closing Thoughts
“Co-opetition”: Collaboration Plus Healthy Competition – A Visit to Elsevier
I firmly believe in fostering collaboration and at the same time promoting healthy competition within the academic publishing industry. The market offers ample room for publishers and related companies to provide valuable services and products that enrich the academic community. While MDPI is recognized for its efficient and streamlined processes –thanks to our over 6,000 colleagues, in-house tools, and initiatives that support the author journey – our ethos has always involved learning from and collaborating with other organizations.
MDPI’s Interaction with Elsevier
In January 2023, I had a brief conversation with Judy Verses, President of Global Academic and Government Markets at Elsevier, following her participation in a panel discussion at the Academic Publishers Europe event in Berlin. One of the highlights for me was Judy’s insight into the impact of research, particularly her emphasis on the role of collaboration, including policy and showing the impact of research to influence on funding decisions.
“Such collaborations drive forward-looking strategies to elevate our support for the scholarly community”
Judy and I resumed our discussion in August, when I visited Elsevier's office to review current projects, such as our recent agreement with Science Direct and the continued indexing of MDPI journals in Scopus (indexing database owned by Elsevier). We also explored possible opportunities for the future, including a potential collaboration to expand MDPI’s Scilit data infrastructure. This endeavour aims to aggregate and provide access to scholarly metadata encompassing journal articles, conference papers, books, preprints, and more. While these discussions are ongoing, the underlying principle remains that such collaborations drive forward-looking strategies to elevate our services and support for the scholarly community.
It was great that Judy and I acknowledged the merits of 'co-opetition,' a concept based of the belief that fostering cooperation alongside healthy competition can lead to shared advancements for both individual companies and the industry at large.
‘Fully OA’ Organizations Dedicated to Open Access
MDPI proudly aligns with the ‘Fully OA’ group, a collaborative initiative comprising nine organizations dedicated to Open Access. Our monthly meetings, including an OASPA representative, serve as platforms to share non-confidential information, resources, and projects. These gatherings also facilitate discussions on topics relevant to fully OA organizations. Occasionally, joint actions spring from these interactions, such as collaborative blog posts on pertinent subjects and joint statements, such as a recent response to the House Appropriations Committee.
This display of cooperation among competing entities forms a strategic alliance focused on nurturing the best interests of the OA publishing model.
As I wrap up this third edition of the CEO Letter, I encourage you to seize opportunities for collaboration and contribute to advancing our shared academic culture. As the African proverb has it, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
28 August 2023
Meet Us at the 2023 ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting, 29 October–1 November 2023, St. Louis, USA
28 August 2023
Meet Us at the 1st European Symposium on Animal Reproduction (ESAR), 21–23 September 2023, Nantes, France
14 August 2023
MDPI’s 2022 Young Investigator Awards in Biology and Life Sciences—Winners Announced
14 August 2023
MDPI’s 2022 Travel Awards in Biology and Life Sciences—Winners Announced
14 August 2023
MDPI’s 2022 Outstanding Reviewer Awards in Biology and Life Sciences—Winners Announced
14 August 2023
MDPI’s 2022 Best PhD Thesis Awards in Biology and Life Sciences—Winners Announced
14 August 2023
MDPI’s Best Paper Awards in Biology and Life Sciences—Winners Announced in 2022
11 August 2023
Meet Us at the XII Iberian Congress on Agroengineering, 4–6 September 2023, Seville, Spain
The XII Iberian Congress on Agroengineering is organized by the University of Seville, Spain and supported by the Spanish Society of Agroengineering and by the Specialised Secção de Engenharia Rural of the Sociedade de Ciências Agrárias de Portugal.
From 4 to 6 September 2023, Seville will host this biennial event designed as a meeting point for researchers and technicians linked to Agroengineering in Spain, Portugal and the entire Ibero-American community. For three days, the Iberian Congress on Agroengineering will analyze, update and discuss the latest advances and scientific developments produced in the area of knowledge of agroforestry engineering.
European agriculture faces major challenges, such as protecting biodiversity, limitations on the use of pesticides, degradation of soil quality, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global challenge of climate change. To overcome these challenges, scientific and industrial research and development in agricultural and biosystem engineering must work together to offer strategic pathways and technological solutions. The XII Iberian Congress on Agroengineering brings together these skills and knowledge to offer a scenario to connect and promote solutions for these global problems.
Thematic areas:
- Mechanization, safety and health at work;
- Soils and water;
- Animal production/aquaculture technology;
- Rural buildings and infrastructure;
- Energy;
- Information technology/process control/automation;
- Projects, environment and territory;
- Educational innovation in agroengineering;
- Post-harvest technology;
- Greenhouse technologies;
- Precision agriculture.
28 July 2023
Meet Us at the 118th Congress of the Italian Botanical Society, 13–16 September 2023, Pisa, Italy
27 July 2023
MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter #2 - Open Peer-Review and IJERPH
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
Open Peer Review Reports
Continuing the topic of openness from my inaugural monthly CEO letter, in these Opening Thoughts, I highlight the growth and importance of open peer-review reports at MDPI. Open peer reports align with the principles of open science, making the publishing process more transparent and facilitating rigorous peer review.
MDPI journals operate an open peer-review option by default, allowing authors to publish review reports and author responses (often referred to as open reports) together with the published paper. Publishing the reviewer reports and author responses together with the article provides greater transparency and trust for readers, as this allows them to track the editorial decision-making process. Open peer-review also encourages reviewers and editors to provide high-quality comments, as these will be made public if the article is accepted for publication.
Start and Growth of Open Peer Review at MDPI
The MDPI journal Life was a pioneer in offering this opportunity to its authors in 2014. The first MDPI article with peer-review reports openly published was a review by the Nobel Laureate Werner Arber, in which the review reports were published as supplementary material. By 2018, open peer-review was available across all MDPI journals. As such, MDPI authors have embraced the open peer-review model, providing a steady increase in the number of MDPI articles. As of 2023, approximately one-third (34.0%) of MDPI articles were published with open review reports.
As at July 2023, the percentage of MDPI articles published with open peer review has increased to 36.2% of the total papers published in 2023 so far, indicating ongoing growth in adoption.
Open peer review continues to play a critical role in the assessment of the peer-review process in Life. For further insights, please see the recent editorial by Dr. Pabulo Henrique Rampelotto, the former Editor-in-Chief of Life, who spearheaded the implementation of the open peer-review process.
Benefits of Open Peer Review
The benefits of open peer review include increased transparency, trust and constructive feedback. To promote open communication further and increase the robustness of the peer-review process, we encourage reviewers to sign their reports so that their name appears on the review report (this process is referred to as open identity). The default option is for reviewers to remain anonymous; however, by signing the reports, reviewers receive direct credit for their contribution to the peer-review process and show their commitment towards open science.
As the leading open access publisher, MDPI remains committed to promoting open peer-review and encourages authors to choose this approach. Our goal is to provide a rigorous and transparent peer-review process that benefits the scientific community, and we believe that open peer-review is a vital step in fostering openness and collaboration in scientific communication.
Impactful Research
MDPI Papers Cited in the News – IJERPH edition
Every month, our corporate marketing team compiles data from Altmetrics to create a list of MDPI papers that have been cited in the news. This list continues to grow as renowned news outlets regularly reference research published by MDPI in their articles.
During 2022, a total of 111,965 MDPI research papers were mentioned in prominent news outlets such as National Geographic, The Washington Post, Forbes, The Guardian, the BBC, CNN, Time, and Harvard Business Review.
Highly Cited Journal Publications
IJERPH, known for publishing impactful research, received the most news mentions among all MDPI journals in 2022, based on Altmetrics data:
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: 3509 mentions
- Nutrients: 2698 mentions
- International Journal of Molecular Sciences: 1701 mentions
- Journal of Clinical Medicine: 1131 mentions
- Viruses: 1111 mentions
These numbers show the recognition and impact of the articles published in IJERPH. For a more detailed view of the journal’s most cited and viewed papers, you can visit here. In total, IJERPH has garnered over 28,000 mentions in prominent news outlets, and as at July 2023, an impressive count of over 17,000 papers cited 10 times or more. These figures highlight the impactful contribution of IJERPH publications to the scientific community.
Example of Recent Mentions
During May and June 2023, a noteworthy selection of articles from IJERPH was cited in news articles, including:
The Washington Post: “Bringing nature inside can improve your health. Here’s how to do it.”
IJERPH paper: “Physiological Benefits of Viewing Nature: A Systematic Review of Indoor Experiments”
Harvard Business Review: “How to Take Better Breaks at Work, According to Research”
IJERPH paper: “Canine-Assisted Therapy Improves Well-Being in Nurses”
National Geographic: “Lyme disease is spreading fast—but a vaccine may be on the way”
IJERPH paper: “Range Expansion of Tick Disease Vectors in North America: Implications for Spread of Tick-Borne Disease”
Inside MDPI
MDPI Develops an Artificial Intelligence Tool to Enhance the Peer-Review Process
At MDPI, we believe that rigorous peer-review is the corner-stone of high-quality academic publishing. We are grateful to the scholars who generously dedicate their time to peer-review articles submitted to MDPI journals. Their contributions are invaluable to the advancement of science.
Peer-review is a critical part of the publication process, ensuring that MDPI upholds the highest quality standards for the papers we publish. Every manuscript submitted to our journals undergoes a comprehensive peer-review process conducted by subject-matter experts.
To further enhance our peer-review process, our Data Analytics team has developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool designed to support the selection of reviewers. This proprietary tool utilizes Natural Language Processing (NLP), a specially designed AI language model, to extract information from the title and abstract of submitted papers. It then searches our database for similar manuscripts and suggests potential reviewers based on this analysis. Integrated with MDPI's submission system (SuSy), the AI tool cross-references the suggested candidates with our reviewer database to verify their invitation status and availability.
The goal of this tool is to provide better targeted peer-review invitations, reducing the number of emails sent for each paper and increasing the efficiency of our editorial staff.
In the near future, our Data Analytics team plans to deploy similar AI projects to improve other critical aspects of our services, offering an enhanced experience to our authors and readers.
Click here to learn about MDPI’s review process, including procedures, responsibilities, and benefits.
Read more:
Coming Together for Science
The Future of IJERPH
On 5 July 2023, Prof. Dr. Paul B. Tchounwou, the founding Editor-in-Chief of IJERPH, along with five Section Editors in Chief (Prof. Dr. Germán Vicente-Rodríguez, Prof. Dr. Karl Goodkin, Prof. Dr. William A. Toscano, Prof. Dr. Jimmy T. Efird, and Prof. Dr. William Douglas Evans), gathered in Basel to discuss the future of the journal. The meeting provided an opportunity to address the recent decision by The Web of Science to delist IJERPH due to the journal failing the Content Relevance criterion, and propose best strategies that will ensure high scientific rigor as well as a clear scope and aim of IJERPH, going forward.
While the delisting is disappointing for IJERPH, as well as for our authors, academic editors, and the entire scientific community supporting our journal, we see it as an opportunity to reflect and prepare for the future direction of the journal.
Since its launch in 2004, IJERPH’s vision and mission have evolved to be more complete and comprehensive in engaging scientific communities. In light of this, we will refresh the journal’s aims and scope, ensuring they align with the organic expansion of IJERPH. Additionally, we will restructure the journal sections into broader categories, encouraging collaborative research and transdisciplinary approaches for authors. This is designed to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange among diverse fields, contributing to a holistic understanding of health promotion and disease prevention. We are confident that these next steps will enhance the scientific strength and societal impact of our journal.
Journal Achievements
In addition to the productive discussions, we took the time to celebrate some of the remarkable achievements of IJERPH, which I highlight below:
- Founded by Prof. Dr. Paul B. Tchounwou in 2004
- Indexed in PubMed in 2008
- Received its first Impact Factor in 2012
- Published its 5000th paper in 2017
- Over 60,000 papers published as at June 30, 2023
- 131,628,173 paper views in 2018–2022
- Over 28,000 mentions in prominent news outlets
- 17,000 papers cited 10 times or more as at June 30, 2023
- No.1 journal in the 2022 Google Scholar Metrics in the category of Public Health
- Awarded several editions of Young Investigator Awards, Travel Awards, and Outstanding Reviewer Awards since 2018.
These achievements showcase the journal’s significant contributions to the field and its impact on global health. We are proud of the exceptional work accomplished by the IJERPH team and look forward to building upon this success in the years to come.
Closing Thoughts
MDPI’s Impact in Spain
During the past month, I had the opportunity to visit our new office building in Barcelona, where I met with our local colleagues to discuss the ways we serve the scholarly community, particularly in Spain. The multi-functional office plays a vital role in supporting various business needs, including editorial, design, conference management, data analytics, journal relationship management, publishing partnerships, and collaborations with societies.
Spain holds a significant position in MDPI’s global market, ranking as the fourth-largest contributor to the total number of papers published by MDPI as at July 2023, ranking next to Italy, the USA, and China, with Germany completing the top five.
The Numbers
Out of the 1,680,000 total MDPI articles published as at 25 July, almost 80,000 articles are contributed by Spanish authors, representing nearly 40,000 unique authors affiliated with Spanish institutions. Remarkably, over 6,300 of these authors hold editorial board member (EBM) positions within MDPI journals, with 30 of them serving as Editors-in-Chief (EiCs).
Our commitment to working with institutions is very evident in Spain, where we have successfully established over 40 Institutional Open Access Programs (IOAP) with esteemed institutions such as the University of Barcelona, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Pompeu Fabra University, the University of Navarre, and Complutense University of Madrid.
Over the past five years, we have successfully organized eight in-person conferences in Barcelona, attracting over 1,150 registrations, with two forthcoming events scheduled for 2024. Barcelona's excellent connectivity to international airports makes it easily accessible to participants from around the world. Its welcoming atmosphere provides us with the perfect environment for knowledge-sharing, networking, and contributing to the local economy.
Our growth and presence in Spain are a true testament to the incredible service we provide to the scholarly community and the relationships we foster through responsive and collaborative communication. We look forward to continuing to support Spanish scholars, providing them a valuable and trusted experience with MDPI, the leader in open access publishing.
Testimonials
I close this letter as I did in the first edition, by sharing testimonials from our stakeholders. Here are a few IJERPH testimonials from a Spanish guest editor and an author:
Guest Editor
“I want to thank the kindness, attention and professionalism of the MDPI team throughout the editorial process of the Special Issue. I believe that it is a very professional and quality editorial process.”
- Professor Víctor Arufe-Giráldez, University of A Coruña
Special Issue in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: Physical Activity in Childhood and Adolescence
Special Issue in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: Physical Education: Present and Future
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Author
“I want to thank the rigor of the revisions made to the manuscripts to improve their quality, the support to the authors for the editor assignment system they have and the follow-up they carry out, for the speed in answering and in carrying out the entire process of the revision, and for doing all this at an affordable price.”
- Dr. María Paz García-Caro, University of Granada
Article in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: Factors Associated with Suicide Attempts and Suicides in the General Population of Andalusia (Spain)
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
26 July 2023
Meet Us at the 69th International Congress of Meat Science and Technology, 20–25 August 2023, Padova, Italy
20 July 2023
Meet Us at the 2023 National Plant Biology Congress, 2–6 August 2023, Lanzhou, China
19 July 2023
Meet Us at the 12th International Congress of Plant Pathology, 20–25 August 2023, Lyon, France
19 July 2023
Meet Us at Behaviour 2023, 14–20 August 2023, Bielefeld, Germany
11 July 2023
MDPI’s Newly Launched Journals in June 2023
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) |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 ([email protected]) if you would like to create more new journals.
7 July 2023
Meet Us at the 8th China Plant Protein Research Conference, 28–31 July 2023, Guiyang, China
3 July 2023
MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter #1 - Open Access and Impactful Research
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
The Future is Open, and MDPI is Leading the Way
I strongly believe in a future that embraces openness, where open source, open information, and open access (OA) take center stage. This belief that led me to join MDPI in 2020, and I am honored to have recently been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In this capacity, and operating in close liaison with Dr. Lin and MDPI’s senior management, I shall work to build on Dr. Lin’s achievements of the past quarter-century. In this role, I will focus on communication initiatives to promote MDPI's remarkable work and continue to build our company as a trusted leader in OA publishing. For over two decades, MDPI has been at the forefront of reshaping the academic publishing landscape, with OA surpassing subscription-based publishing in 2020. This trajectory is deeply rooted in our history and reflects our unwavering commitment and vision for an open future.
1 Million Published Articles
2023 began with a remarkable achievement for MDPI, as we became the first OA publisher to reach the milestone of 1 million published articles. This represents 2.7 million unique authors who have trusted us with their work, or about a third of all researchers worldwide. As the world's most cited OA publisher, we are proud in sharing these significant milestones.
Our mission remains unchanged: to make science open and accessible to all. We understand the importance of knowledge access, empowering researchers to stay at the forefront of a rapidly changing world. Our diverse range of journals covers a wide spectrum of disciplines, offering cutting-edge insights, trusted tools, and crucial knowledge to address global challenges.
Liberating Science
As the world’s leading OA publisher, MDPI is actively liberating science. We are committed to eliminating the frustrations researchers and the general public face when accessing information, ensuring it is not locked behind paywalls. We firmly believe that everyone has a right to information, and our commitment to open access publishing drives our work.
In this inaugural edition of Insights: The CEO's Letter, I draw inspiration from the upcoming 20th anniversary of the Berlin Declaration on Open Access. Its stated mission reminds us that true impact is achieved when knowledge is widely and readily available to society:
"Our mission of disseminating knowledge is only half complete if the information is not made widely and readily available to society”
Impactful Research
MDPI Publishes Impactful Research: Recognized by Leading Indexing Databases
MDPI journals are indexed in every single top database in the world.
As of June 2023, we have 214 journals indexed within Web of Science, 223 indexed within Scopus, 87 indexed within PubMed and PMC, and 17 indexed within MEDLINE, and these numbers increase every month. We constantly strive to expand the coverage of our journals within leading multi-disciplinary and scope-specific databases, resulting in an incredibly broad range of journals that are indexed within a variety of databases. MDPI has active relationships with approximately 65 well-known databases around the world, and we continue to expand our portfolio every year so that your work can be found, cited, and referenced with ease.
Continued Growth of MDPI Journals
The 2022 Scopus and Web of Science journal citation metrics were officially released in June, and I am pleased to report that 31 MDPI journals received their first CiteScore, taking the total number of journals with a CiteScore to 216. The number of MDPI journals receiving an Impact Factor (IF) also continues to grow with 111 receiving their first, by being covered in the ESCI, bringing our total number of journals with an IF to 208 of which 41 journals received an IF above 4.0. Looking at 2022 CiteScores in the Scopus database, 80% of MDPI journals have a score that ranks them in Q1 or Q2 in at least one subject category.
Publishing impactful science would not be possible without all of our authors, editors and reviewers. Thank you for your contribution and continued support! Together we share the latest scientific insights faster and ensure that your work is accessible to all.
Read more
Inside MDPI
Preprints.org: Clarivate adds the Preprint Citation Index to the Web of Science
At MDPI, we are dedicated to driving the advancement of science. Through our initiative, Preprints.org, researchers can publish their work and gain valuable feedback from the broader research community, ensuring rapid progress in their respective fields. This is particularly crucial during times of health and climate challenges, where timely dissemination of findings is essential.
Increased Visibility for Preprints
I am pleased to share that Clarivate recognizes the significance of preprints and has taken a crucial step to enhance their visibility. Clarivate has added the Preprint Citation Index to the Web of Science, encompassing preprints published not only on Preprints.org but also on other reputable repositories.
Looking ahead, the future of preprints appears promising, bolstered by the recent indexing announcement from the Web of Science. As a result, preprints will receive increased visibility, serving as a valuable resource for staying informed about the latest research developments.
Read more
What are Preprints?
The Pros and Cons of Preprints
Preprints and COVID-19
Preprints—The Future of Open Access Publishing?
Coming Together for Science
The First International Conference on Antioxidants: Sources, Methods, Health Benefits and Industrial Applications
In this edition of ‘Coming Together for Science,’ I am pleased to highlight the First International Conference on Antioxidants organized by our conference team in the beautiful city of Barcelona, Spain. The conference attracted over 130 attendees, who engaged in 42 talks, and 89 poster presentations spread across several sessions.
Working Together
Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Alessandra Napolitano (Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples ‘Federico II’, Naples, Italy) and Prof. Dr. Rosa M. Lamuela Raventos (Department of Nutrition, Food Sciences and Gastronomy, University of Barcelona, Spain) as chairs, and supported by the committee members, 10 invited keynote speakers, poster presenters, and all the attendees, this dedicated group of academics came together to discuss the natural sources, methodologies, health benefits, and industrial applications of antioxidants.
Especially noteworthy is the positive feedback received from attendees, with 94% rating the overall organization of the conference as good or excellent. I particularly love the picture above, capturing the gathering of some of the participants. You can browse through more photos in the event gallery located here.
Managing Events With Sciforum
If you are considering hosting your own academic event, I highly recommend checking out Sciforum, MDPI's event management platform. Sciforum simplifies the entire process, making it easy to host your own event by allowing you to focus on what really matters: Science!
Read more
Closing Thoughts
Stefan Tochev, Dr. Shu-Kun Lin, Dr. Eric O. Freed, Peter Roth, Wynne Wang, Allison Yang
Viruses and Editorial Quality: Acknowledging the Dedication of our Viruses Journal Team
During a June meeting with Dr. Eric O. Freed, the founding and current Editor-in-Chief of our journal Viruses, I was reminded of the exceptional dedication of our editorial board. Meeting with Eric is a pleasure, as he has a strong commitment and clear vision for the journal. Over the course of two days, we gained a deep understanding of the journal’s expectations and focus on strategic growth, editorial board representation, and engagement.
I am pleased to share that Viruses holds a CiteScore of 7.1 (an increase of 7.57% versus the 2021 metric) and an Impact Factor of 4.7. You can view the journal statistics here. Viruses publishes highly cited papers, and is indexed in renowned databases such as Scopus, SCIE (Web of Science), PubMed, and others, and maintains affiliations with prestigious societies. Moreover, the Viruses team has recently announced an exciting upcoming event titled ‘Viruses 2024 – A World of Viruses,’ scheduled to take place in Barcelona, Spain, from 14–16 February 2024.
Testimonials
If you notice my enthusiasm regarding our editorial service, it’s because the surveys and testimonials we receive speak volumes about the experiences of our authors, reviewers, and guest editors who collaborate with MDPI. The purpose of these letters is to highlight the exceptional work that we do and the experiences we create for the scholars – thus, let me end with this testimonial from an author:
“It was a great pleasure to publish in Viruses Special Issue [Emerging Viruses in Aquaculture]. The submission process was easy. Guest editors were very helpful and provided all the guidance and support as needed. The handling of the manuscript by the Editorial Team was very fast, efficient, and professional. The reviewer’s comments were insightful, and the publication processes were remarkably rapid.”
– Ms. Magdalena Stachnik, Państwowy Instytut Weterynaryjny | PIWet
Article in Viruses: Emerging Viral Pathogens in Sturgeon Aquaculture in Poland: Focus on Herpesviruses and Mimivirus Detection
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
28 June 2023
2022 Impact Factors for MDPI Journals
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.
| Journal | Impact Factor | Rank Quartile | Category |
| Vaccines | 7.8 | Q1 | Immunology |
| Medicine, Research & Experimental | |||
| Antioxidants | 7.0 | Q1 | Food Science & Technology |
| Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | |||
| Chemistry, Medicinal | |||
| Cells | 6.0 | Q2 | Cell Biology |
| Nutrients | 5.9 | Q1 | Nutrition & Dietetics |
| International Journal of Molecular Sciences | 5.6 | Q1 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
| Q2 | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research | 5.6 | Q2 | Business |
| Biomolecules | 5.5 | Q1 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
| Biosensors | 5.4 | Q1 | Chemistry, Analytical |
| Instruments & Instrumentation | |||
| Q2 | Nanoscience & Nanotechnology | ||
| Fractal and Fractional | 5.4 | Q1 | Mathematics, Interdisciplinary Applications |
| Marine Drugs | 5.4 | Q1 | Chemistry, Medicinal |
| Pharmacology & Pharmacy | |||
| Pharmaceutics | 5.4 | Q1 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
| Nanomaterials | 5.3 | Q1 | Physics, Applied |
| Q2 | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Nanoscience & Nanotechnology | |||
| Cancers | 5.2 | Q2 | Oncology |
| Foods | 5.2 | Q1 | Food Science & Technology |
| Polymers | 5.0 | Q1 | Polymer Science |
| Remote Sensing | 5.0 | Q1 | Geosciences, Multidisciplinary |
| Q2 | Remote Sensing | ||
| Imaging Science & Photographic Technology | |||
| Environmental Sciences | |||
| Antibiotics | 4.8 | Q1 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
| Q2 | Infectious Diseases | ||
| Drones | 4.8 | Q2 | Remote Sensing |
| Journal of Functional Biomaterials | 4.8 | Q2 | Engineering, Biomedical |
| Materials Science, Biomaterials | |||
| Biomedicines | 4.7 | Q1 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
| Q2 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | ||
| Medicine, Research & Experimental | |||
| Journal of Fungi | 4.7 | Q2 | Mycology |
| Microbiology | |||
| Viruses | 4.7 | Q2 | Virology |
| Bioengineering | 4.6 | Q2 | Engineering, Biomedical |
| Gels | 4.6 | Q1 | Polymer Science |
| Molecules | 4.6 | Q2 | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary |
| Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | |||
| Pharmaceuticals | 4.6 | Q2 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
| Chemistry, Medicinal | |||
| Toxics | 4.6 | Q1 | Toxicology |
| Q2 | Environmental Sciences | ||
| Biomimetics | 4.5 | Q1 | Engineering, Multidisciplinary |
| Q2 | Materials Science, Biomaterials | ||
| Microorganisms | 4.5 | Q2 | Microbiology |
| Plants | 4.5 | Q1 | Plant Sciences |
| Biology | 4.2 | Q2 | Biology |
| Chemosensors | 4.2 | Q2 | Instruments & Instrumentation |
| Chemistry, Analytical | |||
| Electrochemistry | |||
| Membranes | 4.2 | Q2 | Engineering, Chemical |
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Chemistry, Physical | |||
| Polymer Science | |||
| Toxins | 4.2 | Q1 | Toxicology |
| Q2 | Food Science & Technology | ||
| Metabolites | 4.2 | Q2 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
| Batteries | 4.0 | Q2 | Electrochemistry |
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Q3 | Energy & Fuels | ||
| Catalysts | 3.9 | Q2 | Chemistry, Physical |
| Journal of Clinical Medicine | 3.9 | Q2 | Medicine, General & Internal |
| Land | 3.9 | Q2 | Environmental Studies |
| Sensors | 3.9 | Q2 | Instruments & Instrumentation |
| Chemistry, Analytical | |||
| Engineering, Electrical & Electronic | |||
| Sustainability | 3.9 | Q2 | Environmental Sciences (SCIE) |
| Environmental Studies (SSCI) | |||
| Q3 | Green & Sustainable Science & Technology (SCIE) | ||
| Green & Sustainable Science & Technology (SSCI) | |||
| Buildings | 3.8 | Q2 | Construction & Building Technology |
| Engineering, Civil | |||
| Agronomy | 3.7 | Q1 | Agronomy |
| Q2 | Plant Sciences | ||
| Fermentation | 3.7 | Q2 | Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology |
| Pathogens | 3.7 | Q2 | Microbiology |
| Agriculture | 3.6 | Q1 | Agronomy |
| Diagnostics | 3.6 | Q2 | Medicine, General & Internal |
| Genes | 3.5 | Q2 | Genetics & Heredity |
| Journal of Intelligence | 3.5 | Q2 | Psychology, Multidisciplinary |
| Lubricants | 3.5 | Q2 | Engineering, Mechanical |
| Processes | 3.5 | Q2 | Engineering, Chemical |
| Coatings | 3.4 | Q2 | Materials Science, Coatings & Films |
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Q3 | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | ||
| ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information | 3.4 | Q2 | Geography, Physical |
| Q3 | Computer Science, Information Systems | ||
| Remote Sensing | |||
| Materials | 3.4 | Q2 | Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering |
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Physics, Condensed Matter | |||
| Q3 | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Chemistry, Physical | |||
| Micromachines | 3.4 | Q2 | Instruments & Instrumentation |
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Chemistry, Analytical | |||
| Q3 | Nanoscience & Nanotechnology | ||
| Water | 3.4 | Q2 | Water Resources |
| Environmental Sciences | |||
| Brain Sciences | 3.3 | Q3 | Neurosciences |
| Energies | 3.2 | Q3 | Energy & Fuels |
| Fire | 3.2 | Q1 | Forestry |
| Q2 | Ecology | ||
| Life | 3.2 | Q2 | Biology |
| Current Issues in Molecular Biology | 3.1 | Q3 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
| Horticulturae | 3.1 | Q1 | Horticulture |
| Animals | 3.0 | Q1 | Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science |
| Veterinary Sciences | |||
| Insects | 3.0 | Q1 | Entomology |
| Atmosphere | 2.9 | Q3 | Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences |
| Environmental Sciences | |||
| Electronics | 2.9 | Q2 | Engineering, Electrical & Electronic |
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Q3 | Computer Science, Information Systems | ||
| Forests | 2.9 | Q1 | Forestry |
| Inorganics | 2.9 | Q2 | Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear |
| Journal of Marine Science and Engineering | 2.9 | Q1 | Engineering, Marine |
| Q2 | Oceanography | ||
| Engineering, Ocean | |||
| Metals | 2.9 | Q2 | Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering |
| Q3 | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease | 2.9 | Q2 | Tropical Medicine |
| Parasitology | |||
| Q3 | Infectious Diseases | ||
| Universe | 2.9 | Q2 | Astronomy & Astrophysics |
| Physics, Particles & Fields | |||
| Healthcare | 2.8 | Q2 | Health Policy & Services (SSCI) |
| Q3 | Health Care Sciences & Services (SCIE) | ||
| Applied Sciences | 2.7 | Q2 | Engineering, Multidisciplinary |
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Q3 | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Crystals | 2.7 | Q2 | Crystallography |
| Q3 | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Entropy | 2.7 | Q2 | Physics, Multidisciplinary |
| Magnetochemistry | 2.7 | Q2 | Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear |
| Q3 | Chemistry, Physical | ||
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Symmetry | 2.7 | Q2 | Multidisciplinary Sciences |
| Actuators | 2.6 | Q2 | Instruments & Instrumentation |
| Engineering, Mechanical | |||
| Aerospace | 2.6 | Q1 | Engineering, Aerospace |
| Behavioral Sciences | 2.6 | Q2 | Psychology, Multidisciplinary |
| Current Oncology | 2.6 | Q3 | Oncology |
| Machines | 2.6 | Q2 | Engineering, Mechanical |
| Q3 | Engineering, Electrical & Electronic | ||
| Medicina | 2.6 | Q3 | Medicine, General & Internal |
| Separations | 2.6 | Q3 | Chemistry, Analytical |
| Minerals | 2.5 | Q2 | Mining & Mineral Processing |
| Mineralogy | |||
| Geochemistry & Geophysics | |||
| Children | 2.4 | Q2 | Pediatrics |
| Diversity | 2.4 | Q2 | Biodiversity Conservation |
| Q3 | Ecology | ||
| Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease | 2.4 | Q3 | Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems |
| Mathematics | 2.4 | Q1 | Mathematics |
| Photonics | 2.4 | Q3 | Optics |
| Veterinary Sciences | 2.4 | Q1 | Veterinary Sciences |
| Fishes | 2.3 | Q2 | Marine & Freshwater Biology |
| Fisheries | |||
| Axioms | 2.0 | Q2 | Mathematics, Applied |
| Systems | 1.9 | Q2 | Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary |
| Tomography | 1.9 | Q3 | Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging |
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)
30 May 2023
Meet Us at the IX Iberian Congress and XVII National Congress of Horticultural Sciences 2023, 5–9 June 2023, Mérida, Spain
19 May 2023
2023 International Day for Biological Diversity
The International Day for Biological Diversity will be celebrated on 22 May 2023, under the theme “From Agreement to Action: Build Back Biodiversity”, which aims to raise awareness and understanding of biodiversity issues. Biodiversity refers to the diversity of all life forms on Earth, including genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity. Biological diversity resources are the pillars upon which we build civilizations; however, the loss of biodiversity threatens everything, including our health. We hope that the established MDPI journals on life sciences and biology, including Biology, Diversity, Fishes, Birds, Insects, Water, Forests, Grasses, Life, Seeds, Agriculture, and Agronomy, will provide suitable communication platforms. The aim is to strengthen scientific cooperation in response to the International Day for Biological Diversity and to embrace the potential to promote sustainable development.
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“Avifaunal Diversity and Abundance in the Proposed Sarasalai Mangrove Reserve, Jaffna, Sri Lanka”
by Nitharsan Aloysius, Shashi Madhushanka and Chathuri Chandrika
Birds 2023, 4(1), 103-116; https://doi.org/10.3390/birds4010009
“Perils of Underestimating Species Diversity: Revisiting Systematics of Psammocambeva Catfishes (Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae) from the Rio Paraíba do Sul Basin, South-Eastern Brazil”
by Wilson J. E. M. Costa, José Leonardo Mattos, Paulo J. Vilardo, Pedro F. Amorim and Axel M. Katz
Taxonomy 2022, 2(4), 491-523; https://doi.org/10.3390/taxonomy2040032
“Environmental DNA Metabarcoding: A Novel Contrivance for Documenting Terrestrial Biodiversity”
by Shahnawaz Hassan, Sabreena, Peter Poczai, Bashir Ah Ganai, Waleed Hassan Almalki, Abdul Gafur and R. Z. Sayyed
Biology 2022, 11(9), 1297; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11091297
“Dam Construction Impacts Fish Biodiversity in a Subtropical River Network, China”
by Xiongjun Liu, Julian D. Olden, Ruiwen Wu, Shan Ouyang and Xiaoping Wu
Diversity 2022, 14(6), 476; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14060476
“Human Communities in Protected Natural Areas and Biodiversity Conservation”
by Elizabeth Olmos-Martínez, Heidi Leticia Romero-Schmidt, María del Carmen Blázquez, Camilo Arias-González and Alfredo Ortega-Rubio
Diversity 2022, 14(6), 441; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14060441
“Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on the Population Structure and Genetic Diversity of Erythroneurini in the Typical Karst Rocky Ecosystem, Southwest China”
by Chen Xiaoxiao, Jia Jiang, Ni Zhang, Xiao Yang, Yongkuan Chi and Yuehua Song
Insects 2022, 13(6), 499; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13060499
“Application of Ecological Restoration Technologies for the Improvement of Biodiversity and Ecosystem in the River”
by Li Pushuang, Dan Li, Xiaoqing Sun, Zhaosheng Chu, Ting Xia and Binghui Zheng
Water 2022, 14(9), 1402; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14091402
“Conservation-Status Gaps for Marine Top-Fished Commercial Species”
by Imanol Miqueleiz, Rafael Miranda, Arturo Hugo Ariño and Elena Ojea
Fishes 2022, 7(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes7010002
| Special Issue: “Elasmobranch Biodiversity, Conservation and Management” Edited by: Dr. Fabrizio Serena and Dr. Fabio Fiorentino |
Special Issue: “Systematics, Evolution, and Diversity of Dance Flies (Diptera, Empidoidea)” Edited by: Dr. Christophe Daugeron |
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| Special Issue: “Taxonomy, Biodiversity and Ecology of Mediterranean Plants” Edited by: Dr. Saverio Sciandrello, Dr. Carmelo Maria Musarella and Dr. Ricardo Quinto-Canas |
Special Issue: “Macro-Ecology, Macro-Evolution and Conservation of Animals and Plants” Edited by: Prof. Dr. Youhua Chen, Prof. Dr. Kaiwen Pan and Prof. Dr. Xiaohong Chen |
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International Day for Biological Diversity
Date and time: 22 May 2023, 9–11 a.m. (CEST)
This is a free webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
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12 May 2023
Meet Us at the International Workshop “Combating Antimicrobial Resistance Using Bacteriophages for Eco-Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems (ECOPHAGE)”, 12–13 September 2023, Valencia, Spain
4 April 2023
Meet Us at the 11th AOHUPO and 7th AOAPO Congress, 8–10 May 2023, Singapore
13 March 2023
MDPI’s Newly Launched Journals in December 2022
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.
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Journal |
Founding Editor-in-Chief |
Journal Topics (Selected) |
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Prof. Dr. Fabio Gresta, University of Messina, Italy| Editorial | view inaugural issue |
grass/forage/turf production; grassland management; pasture monitoring; grazing and livestock; grass agro-ecosystems| view journal scope | submit an article |
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Prof. Dr. Christos G. Athanassiou, University of Thessaly, Greece| Editorial | view inaugural issue |
pesticides; fungicides; herbicides; fertilizers; soil conditioners| view journal scope | submit an article |
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Prof. Dr. Stephen H. Safe, Texas A&M University, USA| Editorial | view inaugural issue |
receptor structure; receptor function; receptor signaling; receptor expression and regulation; receptor interactions with drugs| view journal scope | submit an article |
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Dr. Jean Jacques Vanden Eynde, University of Mons-UMONS, Belgium| Editorial | view inaugural issue |
drug discovery; medicinal chemistry; preclinical and clinical research; marketed drugs; intellectual property and regulatory affairs| view journal scope | submit an article |
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Prof. Dr. Heather Kanuka, University of Alberta, Canada| Editorial | view inaugural issue |
higher education; tertiary education; policy and practice in higher education; educational leadership in higher education; educational administration and management in higher education| view journal scope | submit an article |
If you are interested in creating more open access journals with us to publish cutting-edge research, please send your journal proposal application to [email protected].
7 March 2023
Displaying Co-Authors’ Email Addresses on the Webpage of Published Papers
16 February 2023
Increasing Visibility for Preprints.org – Clarivate adds the Preprint Citation Index to the Web of Science
29 December 2022
Welcoming Prof. Dr. Bernhard Huchzermeyer to the Editorial Board of Agriculture
We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Bernhard Huchzermeyer has been appointed as an Editorial Board Member of the Section “Crop Production” in Agriculture (ISSN: 2077-0472).
Prof. Dr. Bernhard Huchzermeyer is a retired professor of plant biochemistry and physiology. His team’s research focused on (i) primary reactions of photosynthesis including reaction mechanisms of herbicides, and (ii) plant response to abiotic stress. In cooperative research projects, the team tested the significance of biochemical markers to evaluate the degree of perceived stress and the correlation between stress perception and the reduction of biomass production.
He is the speaker of the Biotechnology chapter of the German Association of Engineers (VDI) in Hannover and is a board member of the association, which involves coordinating activities in Life Sciences, including editing technical and laboratory (good practice) guidelines. The second focus of the VDI and its more than 130,000 members lies in outreach activities to improve teaching quality and attract the interest of children to aspects of natural sciences.
The VDI was founded as a national association 150 years ago, fostering the transfer of knowledge, developing quality standards, and making working places in the industry safer. Today, the VDI is active in the triangle of education, research, and industrial application. This includes the integration of international guests and linking companies (employers) to students (future employees).
We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Bernhard Huchzermeyer to the Editorial Board of the Section “Crop Production”, and we look forward to his contributions to the continued success of the journal.
A complete list of publications can be found at:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wxTK4c8AAAAJ&hl=en
ORCID: 0000-0002-7738-7464
Homepages:
https://www.botanik.uni-hannover.de
https://www.vdi-hannover.de
Short CV:
Doctoral Degree
1975 - Dr. rer. nat., Botany, Technical University of Hannover
Habilitation (teaching and examination admittance)
1990 - Dr. rer. nat. habil., Botany, Hannover University of Veterinary Medicine
Chair of Botany
2005 - Leibniz Universitaet Hannover
adj. Professor of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry
2006 - Northeastern University Boston
2017 - retired professor
Currently:
Board member, German Association of Engineers (VDI)
Reviewer and consultant of the Senior Expert Service Bonn (curriculum development in Life Sciences)
Contact:
VDI – Biotechnology
Hanomag Str. 12, 30449 Hannover, Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 511 169 799 - 30
E-mail: [email protected]
Home office:
Lothringer Str. 54 A, 30559 Hannover, Germany
E-mail: [email protected]
22 December 2022
Special Issue Mentor Program
21 December 2022
Editorial Board Members from Agriculture Featured in the 2022 Highly Cited Researchers List Published by Clarivate
19 December 2022
Prof. Dr. Xin Chen Appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of Section “Agricultural Systems and Management” in Agriculture
We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Xin Chen has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Agricultural Systems and Management” in Agriculture (ISSN: 2077-0472, IF 3.408).
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Prof. Dr. Xin Chen is a professor of ecology at Zhejiang University, China, and is currently the Chair of the Department of Ecology, College of Life Sciences. She holds a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in farming systems and agroecology from Nanjing Agriculture University (1996). Her research interests are (i) the utilization of biodiversity in modern agriculture to achieve ecological intensification and sustainability; (ii) the ecological effects of plant–plant interactions and plant–animal interactions in agricultural systems; and (iii) the ecological principles behind the Globally Important Agriculture Heritage System (GIAHS).
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She has published more than 60 papers in the field of ecology and agricultural systems in international journals including Science (2014), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2011, 2018), Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (2014), Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment (2004, 2013, 2016), Journal of Ecology (2017), etc.
She is participating as a proposer of several projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, focusing on mechanisms underlying the effects of interspecific interactions on ecosystem functions in the integrated rice–fish system.
The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Xin Chen, who shared her vision for the journal with us, as well as her views of the research area and Open Access publishing:
| 1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take the role as its Section Editor-in-Chief? |
| Global intensive agriculture is facing the challenge of how it can maintain or increase its productivity while not negatively impacting the environment. The Section “Agricultural Systems and Management” in Agriculture publishes excellent works around the world focusing on how global sustainable agriculture can be developed, which attracted me towards a role in this Section. |
| 2. Can you briefly introduce your current research work in agricultural water management? |
| I am currently leading a group working on the ecological principle and ecosystem functions of crop species coculture; we are also focusing on technology for the development of sustainable species coculture systems. |
| 3. What is your vision for the journal? |
| For Agriculture to become one of the most important international journals related to global sustainable agriculture development. |
| 4. What does the future of this field of research look like? |
| Interdisciplinary scientists involved in crop science, soil science, agroecology, agro-economy, management, etc., have been working in this field from the aspects of theories, policies, models, and technologies. So, I think that a lot of excellent original research will be presented in the future. |
| 5. What do you think of the development of Open Access in the publishing field? |
| I think Open Access is a good way for readers to easily download and read papers, which helps to exchange and spread scientific findings. |
We wish Prof. Dr. Xin Chen every success in her new position, and we look forward to her contributions to the journal.
14 December 2022
"Thanks a Million!" – One Million Articles Published in MDPI Journals
MDPI has just become the first open access (OA) publisher to reach the milestone of one million articles published. That is one million articles freely available to all, to circulate and build upon! We are proud to share this special moment with the global scientific community.
This landmark has been reached thanks to the immeasurable support of more than 600,000 expert reviewers, 66,000 editorial board members and 6700 hard-working colleagues across MDPI’s global offices.
Within more than 25 years of publishing, our journals received 2.1 million manuscripts and generated 4.6 million peer review reports to get to one million papers published.
Reaching the milestone of one million articles published reinforces our mission to remove any existing barriers and to make scientific research accessible to all. Since its inception, MDPI’s goal has been to create reliable processes to make science open. This is a path towards facilitating the dissemination of novel insights in scientific communities.
Regular feedback from authors and reviewers shows that our service is greatly appreciated and needed. At the same time, the feedback helps us identify areas for further improvement.
As it stands, a significant share of published research findings remain closed access. More than half of the content published with the most well-known legacy publishers stays behind a paywall, and that is not including articles published in hybrid OA journals, or made available months or years after publication.
A new policy announced by the US administration in August 2022 requires that, as of January 2026, all US federally funded research be made freely and immediately available after publication. While the new policy does not mandate articles be published under an open access license, it is aligned with the open access movement in removing all barriers to research. Similarly, some of the most advanced research institutions in the world intend to have all funded research articles published in open access by 2025.
MDPI is proud to be the leading agent of the transition to open access.
"Thanks a Million" to all the contributors!
8 December 2022
MDPI Sustainability Foundation: New Look and Nominations for the 2023 Sustainability Awards Now Open
We are pleased to announce that the website of the MDPI Sustainability Foundation has been revamped! For the past couple of months, our UX UI team and front-end developers have been working hard to launch the website in time for the opening of the Sustainability Awards nominations.
The website is not the only thing that has had a remodeling. Indeed, the format of the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award (ESLA) has been updated. ESLA is now a competition open to individual researchers or start-ups founded by researchers under the age of 35. Nominee applications will go through 2 rounds of selection until the final 3 are decided. The finalists will then be invited to give pitch presentations during the Award Ceremony to win either first place (10,000 USD) or runner-up (2 x 5000 USD).
The World Sustainability Award, on the other hand, remains the same: a total prize money of 100,000 USD is up for grabs by senior individual researchers or groups of researchers from the international research community.
Nominations for both the World Sustainability Award and the Emerging Sustainability Leader award are now open! Check out our new website for more information on how to nominate.
28 September 2022
Peer Review Week 2022 – Research Integrity: Creating and Supporting Trust in Research
27 September 2022
Agriculture Webinar | Impacts of Pesticides on Soil and Environment, 11 October 2022
Date: 11 October 2022
Time: 9:00 a.m. CEST | 3:00 a.m. EDT | 3:00 p.m. CST Asia
Webinar ID: 834 6228 4639
Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/7116617710050/WN_bjmRM2yATiWVbwMJk9N7jA
Participation fee: None
Language: English
Webinar keywords: soil; environmental toxicology; environmental fate; pollution; pesticide; perfluorocarbons
Related Special Issues:
“Impacts of Pesticides on Soil and Environment”
Webinar Chair and Speakers:
Chair:
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Prof. Dr. Xingang Liu |
Speakers:
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Dr. Yue Geng Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Tianjin, China |
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Dr. Zongsu Wei Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark |
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Dr. Lizhen Zhu Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China |
If you have any questions about this webinar, please contact [email protected].
We look forward to your participation in this event.
Agriculture Editorial Office
27 September 2022
Meet Us at the 2022 Joint Annual Meeting, 13–16 November 2022, Vancouver, Canada
21 September 2022
Agriculture Webinar | Use of Genetics and Genomics to Improve the Productivity and Profitability of Smallholder Livestock Farmers, 12 October 2022
Date: 12 October 2022
Time: 1:00 p.m. CEST | 7:00 a.m. EDT | 7:00 p.m. CST Asia
Webinar ID: 865 5114 7095
Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/5816617754981/WN_A4_3W3nVQ4K20lpQ5JsYmg
Participation fee: None
Language: English
Webinar keywords: genomic selection; productive and adaptive traits; livestock reference populations; multi-disciplinary and multi-national collaborations; capacity-building opportunities
Related Special Issue: “Application of Genetics and Genomics in Livestock Production”
Webinar Chairs and Speakers:
Chairs:
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Prof. Dr. Heather Burrow Faculty of Science, Agriculture, Business and Law, University of New England, Armidale, Australia |
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Prof. Dr. Mike Goddard University of Melbourne and Agriculture Victoria, Australia |
Speakers:
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Prof. Dr. Ben Hayes Centre for Animal Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, University of Queensland, Australia |
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Dr. Fernando Cardoso Embrapa South Livestock, Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Bagé, Brazil |
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Dr. Okeyo Mwai International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya |
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Prof. Dr. Appolinaire Djikeng Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health |
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Dr. David Harvey Land O’Lakes International Development, Chipping Norton, UK |
If you have any questions about this webinar, please contact [email protected].
We look forward to your participation in this event.
Agriculture Editorial Office
25 July 2022
Meet Us at the International Horticultural Congress (IHC2022), 14–20 August 2022, Online or On-Site in Angers, France
28 June 2022
2021 Impact Factors - Released
The 2021 citation metrics have been released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), and we’re pleased to announce the following results for MDPI journals:
| Journal | Impact Factor | Rank | Category |
| Antioxidants | 7.675 | Q1 | Food Science & Technology |
| Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | |||
| Chemistry, Medicinal | |||
| Cells | 7.666 | Q2 | Cell Biology |
| Nutrients | 6.706 | Q1 | Nutrition & Dietetics |
| Cancers | 6.575 | Q1 | Oncology |
| Pharmaceutics | 6.525 | Q1 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
| International Journal of Molecular Sciences | 6.208 | Q1 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
| Q2 | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Marine Drugs | 6.085 | Q1 | Chemistry, Medicinal |
| Pharmacology & Pharmacy | |||
| Biomolecules | 6.064 | Q2 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
| Batteries * | 5.938 | Q2 | Electrochemistry |
| Energy & Fuels | |||
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Viruses | 5.818 | Q2 | Virology |
| Biosensors | 5.743 | Q1 | Chemistry, Analytical |
| Instruments & Instrumentation | |||
| Q2 | Nanoscience & Nanotechnology | ||
| Journal of Fungi | 5.724 | Q1 | Mycology |
| Q2 | Microbiology | ||
| Nanomaterials | 5.719 | Q1 | Physics, Applied |
| Q2 | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Nanoscience & Nanotechnology | |||
| Metabolites | 5.581 | Q2 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
| Foods | 5.561 | Q1 | Food Science & Technology |
| Drones * | 5.532 | Q2 | Remote Sensing |
| Remote Sensing | 5.349 | Q1 | Geosciences, Multidisciplinary |
| Imaging Science & Photographic Technology | |||
| Q2 | Remote Sensing | ||
| Environmental Sciences | |||
| Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research | 5.318 | Q2 | Business |
| Antibiotics | 5.222 | Q1 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
| Q2 | Infectious Diseases | ||
| Pharmaceuticals | 5.215 | Q1 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
| Q2 | Chemistry, Medicinal | ||
| Biology | 5.168 | Q1 | Biology |
| Fermentation | 5.123 | Q2 | Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology |
| Toxins | 5.075 | Q1 | Toxicology |
| Q2 | Food Science & Technology | ||
| Bioengineering * | 5.046 | Q2 | Engineering, Biomedical |
| Polymers | 4.967 | Q1 | Polymer Science |
| Journal of Clinical Medicine | 4.964 | Q2 | Medicine, General & Internal |
| Vaccines | 4.961 | Q2 | Immunology |
| Medicine, Research & Experimental | |||
| Molecules | 4.927 | Q2 | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary |
| Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | |||
| Microorganisms | 4.926 | Q2 | Microbiology |
| Journal of Functional Biomaterials * | 4.901 | Q2 | Engineering, Biomedical |
| Materials Science, Biomaterials | |||
| Biomedicines | 4.757 | Q2 | Medicine, Research & Experimental |
| Pharmacology & Pharmacy | |||
| Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | |||
| Plants | 4.658 | Q1 | Plant Sciences |
| International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health | 4.614 | Q1 | Public, Environmental & Occupational Health (SSCI) |
| Q2 | Public, Environmental & Occupational Health (SCIE) | ||
| Environmental Sciences (SCIE) | |||
| Membranes | 4.562 | Q1 | Polymer Science |
| Q2 | Engineering, Chemical | ||
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Chemistry, Physical | |||
| Pathogens | 4.531 | Q2 | Microbiology |
| Catalysts | 4.501 | Q2 | Chemistry, Physical |
| Toxics | 4.472 | Q2 | Toxicology |
| Environmental Sciences | |||
| Gels | 4.432 | Q1 | Polymer Science |
| Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease | 4.415 | Q2 | Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems |
| Chemosensors | 4.229 | Q1 | Instruments & Instrumentation |
| Q2 | Chemistry, Analytical | ||
| Q3 | Electrochemistry | ||
| Genes | 4.141 | Q2 | Genetics & Heredity |
| Diagnostics | 3.992 | Q2 | Medicine, General & Internal |
| Agronomy | 3.949 | Q1 | Agronomy |
| Plant Sciences | |||
| Land | 3.905 | Q2 | Environmental Studies |
| Sustainability | 3.889 | Q2 | Environmental Sciences (SCIE) |
| Environmental Studies (SSCI) | |||
| Q3 | Green & Sustainable Science & Technology (SCIE) | ||
| Q4 | Green & Sustainable Science & Technology (SSCI) | ||
| Sensors | 3.847 | Q2 | Instruments & Instrumentation |
| Chemistry, Analytical | |||
| Engineering, Electrical & Electronic | |||
| Materials | 3.748 | Q1 | Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering |
| Q2 | Physics, Applied | ||
| Physics, Condensed Matter | |||
| Q3 | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Chemistry, Physical | |||
| Biomimetics * | 3.743 | Q2 | Engineering, Multidisciplinary |
| Q3 | Materials Science, Biomaterials | ||
| Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease * | 3.711 | Q1 | Tropical Medicine |
| Q2 | Parasitology | ||
| Q3 | Infectious Diseases | ||
| Lubricants * | 3.584 | Q2 | Engineering, Mechanical |
| Fractal and Fractional | 3.577 | Q1 | Mathematics, Interdisciplinary Applications |
| Water | 3.530 | Q2 | Water Resources |
| Q3 | Environmental Sciences | ||
| Micromachines | 3.523 | Q2 | Instruments & Instrumentation |
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Chemistry, Analytical | |||
| Q3 | Nanoscience & Nanotechnology | ||
| Journal of Personalized Medicine | 3.508 | Q2 | Medicine, General & Internal |
| Health Care Sciences & Services | |||
| Agriculture | 3.408 | Q1 | Agronomy |
| Processes | 3.352 | Q2 | Engineering, Chemical |
| Separations | 3.344 | Q2 | Chemistry, Analytical |
| Magnetochemistry | 3.336 | Q2 | Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear |
| Q3 | Chemistry, Physical | ||
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Brain Sciences | 3.333 | Q3 | Neurosciences |
| Buildings | 3.324 | Q2 | Construction & Building Technology |
| Engineering, Civil | |||
| Forests | 3.282 | Q1 | Forestry |
| Energies | 3.252 | Q3 | Energy & Fuels |
| Life | 3.251 | Q2 | Biology |
| Coatings | 3.236 | Q2 | Materials Science, Coatings & Films |
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Q3 | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Animals | 3.231 | Q1 | Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science |
| Veterinary Sciences | |||
| Journal of Intelligence * | 3.176 | Q2 | Psychology, Multidisciplinary |
| Fishes | 3.170 | Q1 | Marine & Freshwater Biology |
| Q2 | Fisheries | ||
| Healthcare | 3.160 | Q2 | Health Policy & Services (SSCI) |
| Health Care Sciences & Services (SCIE) | |||
| Inorganics * | 3.149 | Q2 | Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear |
| Insects | 3.139 | Q1 | Entomology |
| Atmosphere | 3.110 | Q3 | Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences |
| Environmental Sciences | |||
| Current Oncology | 3.109 | Q3 | Oncology |
| ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information | 3.099 | Q2 | Geography, Physical |
| Q3 | Computer Science, Information Systems | ||
| Remote Sensing | |||
| Diversity | 3.029 | Q2 | Biodiversity Conservation |
| Ecology | |||
| Tomography | 3.000 | Q3 | Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging |
| Current Issues in Molecular Biology | 2.976 | Q3 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
| Medicina | 2.948 | Q3 | Medicine, General & Internal |
| Symmetry | 2.940 | Q2 | Multidisciplinary Sciences |
| Horticulturae | 2.923 | Q1 | Horticulture |
| Machines | 2.899 | Q2 | Engineering, Mechanical |
| Engineering, Electrical & Electronic | |||
| Systems * | 2.895 | Q2 | Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary |
| Applied Sciences | 2.838 | Q2 | Engineering, Multidisciplinary |
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Q3 | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Children | 2.835 | Q2 | Pediatrics |
| Minerals | 2.818 | Q2 | Mining & Mineral Processing |
| Mineralogy | |||
| Geochemistry & Geophysics | |||
| Universe | 2.813 | Q2 | Astronomy & Astrophysics |
| Q3 | Physics, Particles & Fields | ||
| Journal of Marine Science and Engineering | 2.744 | Q1 | Engineering, Marine |
| Q2 | Oceanography | ||
| Engineering, Ocean | |||
| Entropy | 2.738 | Q2 | Physics, Multidisciplinary |
| Fire * | 2.726 | Q2 | Forestry |
| Q3 | Ecology | ||
| Metals | 2.695 | Q2 | Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering |
| Q3 | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Electronics | 2.690 | Q3 | Engineering, Electrical & Electronic |
| Computer Science, Information Systems | |||
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Crystals | 2.670 | Q2 | Crystallography |
| Q3 | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Aerospace | 2.660 | Q1 | Engineering, Aerospace |
| Mathematics | 2.592 | Q1 | Mathematics |
| Photonics | 2.536 | Q3 | Optics |
| Actuators | 2.523 | Q2 | Instruments & Instrumentation |
| Q3 | Engineering, Mechanical | ||
| Veterinary Sciences | 2.518 | Q2 | Veterinary Sciences |
| Behavioral Sciences * | 2.286 | Q3 | Psychology, Multidisciplinary |
| Axioms * | 1.824 | Q2 | Mathematics, Applied |
For more information on Impact Factors and what it means to index academic journals, please visit our related blog posts.
* Journals given their first Impact Factor in 2022
Source: 2021 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports TM (Clarivate, 2022)
20 June 2022
Meet Us at the 15th International Conference on Precision Agriculture (ISPA2022), 26–29 June 2022, Minneapolis, USA
20 June 2022
Meet Us Virtually at the 2022 International Conference on Agricultural and Food Science (6th ICAFS2022), 28–30 September 2022
9 June 2022
2021 CiteScores - Released
2 June 2022
MDPI’s 2021 Outstanding Reviewer Awards in “Biology & Life Sciences”—Winners Announced
2 June 2022
MDPI’s 2021 Young Investigator Awards in “Biology & Life Sciences”—Winners Announced
2 June 2022
MDPI’s 2021 Travel Awards in “Biology & Life Sciences”—Winners Announced
2 June 2022
MDPI’s 2021 Best Paper Awards in “Biology & Life Sciences”—Winners Announced
18 April 2022
Welcoming New Editorial Board Members of Agriculture
12 April 2022
Dr. Robert J. Lascano Appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Agricultural Water Management” in Agriculture
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Robert J. Lascano has been appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Agricultural Water Management” in Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472, IF 2.925).
Dr. Robert J. Lascano is a Research Leader for the Wind Erosion and Water Conservation Unit, Cropping Systems Research Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Lubbock, TX. He holds a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in soil physics from Texas A&M University (1983). Prior to joining the USDA-ARS in 2008, he was a Professor of Soil Physics at the Texas A&M University. He currently directs a research program for a unit with seven scientists working towards the development of agronomic management practices that mitigate the effects of wind-induced soil erosion and limited water availability on crop yield under variable weather conditions. He is the author of more than 150 papers and has supervised 8 post-doctoral Research Associates and the graduate studies of more than 20 students. His teaching activities included courses on soil-plant-water relationships and soil physics. He has held numerous editorial positions within the Agronomy and is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy.
The following is a short Q&A with Dr. Robert J. Lascano, who shared his vision for the journal with us, as well as his views of the research area:
- What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take the role as its Section Editor-in-Chief?
A new model for the dissemination of research results in peer-reviewed journals includes open access to the readers and a rapid turnaround of the submitted manuscripts while maintaining a high standard of review in the publication process. The journal Agriculture has all of these attributes, and thus, my decision to assume the role of Section Editor-in-Chief was facilitated.
- Can you briefly introduce your current research work in agricultural water management?
Water is the common denominator in many phases of crop production and the management of this resource is key to maximizing crop yield. The Texas High Plains is in a unique position where the two sources of water, irrigation, and rain, are variable. Irrigation water from aquifers is diminishing, rainfall is highly variable, and droughts are common. This semiarid region provides us with a large-scale landscape where we can conduct multidisciplinary research to characterize the energy and water balance of dryland and limited-irrigation cropping systems. Our current research aims to develop crop management strategies that enhance water use efficiency; to develop a framework of methods and models to quantify and study the risks associated with water from rainfall for dryland agriculture, and to evaluate management practices to increase soil water availability and to contribute to higher water and nutrient use efficiencies.
- What is your vision for the journal?
My vision is to maintain the rigorous standard of the review process and to support the general scope of Agriculture. This journal provides a platform whereby an author knows that they have access to a journal that will reach a wide audience and do not have to wait for an extended period of time to publish submitted manuscripts. Furthermore, speeding up the review process does not compromise the quality of the published articles. Agriculture is an international journal and of interest to readers is to see how problems in one region are approached and solved and the transferability of those solutions to other locations. Problems in agriculture are general, but solutions are site-specific.
- What does the future of this field of research look like?
Agricultural research is using digital technologies to collect experimental data at an unprecedented rate at the spatial and temporal scales. This trend will continue, and authors will need to share collected data while maintaining ownership. Additionally, we have gravitated from traditional small plot replicated to large-scale landscape experiments. This transition includes the application of precision agriculture methods, data collection using drones, data analysis using spatial statistics, the application of three-dimensional simulation models, and metadata analysis. The future of this research will continue to involve a multi-disciplinary approach, incorporating and adopting the many tools that are available to measure in situ soil and plant variables to characterize the fate of water in soil-plant systems.
- What do you think of the development of open access in the publishing field?
Open access is the future of the publishing field. Nowadays, with access via the Internet to databases such as Scopus, SCIE, PubAg, Google Scholar, and others, readers have access to any article that has a Digital Object Identifier (doi). The tools that a reader needs to access a published article are simply a smartphone, tablet, or computer with Internet access.
We warmly welcome Dr. Robert J. Lascano as the Section Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Agricultural Water Management”, and we look forward to achieving many milestones under his leadership.
For further information on the journal's Sections, please visit the following link:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/agriculture/sections.
28 February 2022
Prof. Dr. Martin Weih Appointed Editor-in-Chief of Section “Crop Production” in Agriculture
We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Martin Weih has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Crop Production” in Agriculture (ISSN: 2077-0472).
Prof. Dr. Martin Weih is a professor of plant ecology and eco-physiology of agricultural crops at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Department of Crop Production Ecology.
He holds a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in ecological botany from Uppsala University (1998) and is currently the Chair of Plant Ecology at the SLU in Uppsala, Sweden. His major research activities focus on the improvement of the yield and ecological sustainability (e.g., resource use efficiency) of agricultural crops and trees grown for food, feed, and biomass (e.g., wheat for food and feed; Salix and Populus for biomass).
He is the author of more than 140 papers indexed by Scopus. His teaching activity includes courses on sustainable crop production, experimental approaches in plant growth analysis and phenotyping, plant nutrient use efficiency, and the production of biomass for energy.
He is participating as a proposer or as a scientific partner for several R&D projects funded by various national and international research funding organizations, including the framework of the European Union (e.g., DIVERSify, Dendromass4Europe).
We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Martin Weih as the Section Editor-in-Chief of “Crop Production”, and we look forward to achieving many milestones under his leadership. For further information on the journal's Sections, please visit the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/agriculture/sections.
21 December 2021
Welcoming Prof. Dr. Jun-Yi Gai to the Editorial Board of Agriculture
Name: Prof. Dr. Jun-Yi Gai
Affiliation: College of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Interests: genetics and plant breeding; quantitative genetics; experimental statistics; germplasm population; cropping system; soybean science
Prof. Dr. Jun-Yi Gai, from the Nanjing University, is a professor of crop genetics and breeding, Director of the National Soybean Improvement Center, and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He is engaged in soybean genetic breeding and quantitative genetic research. So far, he has collected and studied 12,000 soybean landrace resources in southern China, revealed the genetic potential of the main economic traits of the population, and established 10 traits in terms of yield, disease and insect resistance, quality, and fertility, cooperatively established a soybean genetic map, marked and located 6 linked SMV resistance genes, completed a pedigree map and genetic basis analysis of Chinese soybean varieties, proposed the maturity group division method and variety ecological zoning of Chinese soybean varieties, and proposed a molecular genetics argument to support the origin of cultivated soybeans in wild populations in the south. He has also extended the polygene hypothesis of quantitative inheritance to the major gene + polygene mixed inheritance model and has achieved a breakthrough, from the sole study of the overall effect of multiple genes to the ability to identify 1–3 major gene effects and the overall effect of multiple genes at the same time. Finally, he has won 17 national, provincial, and ministerial awards and published more than 430 books.
22 November 2021
722 MDPI Editorial Board Members Receiving "2021 Highly Cited Researchers" Distinction
16 November 2021
Topical Advisory Panel Established to Support Editorial Board
25 October 2021
Open Access Week 2021 | It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity, 25–31 October
Founded in 1996, MDPI was one of the first fully Open Access publisher. Over 25 years MDPI has grown to become the largest Open Access publisher globally, publishing over 160,000 articles across more than 350 journals in 2020. At the core, MDPI was founded in response to a pressing need of fast publication and inclusion. The scholar was set at the centre of the publication process for the first time. Acting as a service provider, rather than a product provider, MDPI exists to help scientists achive their objective to disseminate research results. At MDPI, we believe scientists deserve a better service from the publishing world.
The International Open Access Week (Open Access Week), founded by the SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) Alliance and student partners in 2008, has been successfully running for 13 years. As an advocate and pioneer of open access publishing, MDPI actively responds to the call of International Open Access Week. This year’s theme of “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity” highlights the Recommendation’s call for equitable participation from all authors and readers.
For the last 25 years, MDPI has been committed to disseminating open research. Here is a video showing MDPI’s Commitment to Equity, Inclusion and Diversity for More than 25 Years.
International Open Access Week is an important opportunity to catalyze new conversations, create connections across and between communities that can facilitate this co-design, and advance progress in the building of more equitable foundations for opening knowledge—discussions and actions that need to be continued, year in and year out. MDPI has always aimed to provide professional and efficient publishing services to scholars around the world.
Our mission is to make scientific research accessible to everyone; this year, we interview and hold discussions with open science ambassadors on how to build an equal and inclusive environment for open science. Academic editors help us collaborate with more institutions to advocate for open access ideas.
Besides this, our scientific community is a key driver of our success and MDPI’s remarkable growth. Despite the pandemic, we have prepared online conferences and workshops to gather scholars from different communities.
The Basel Sustainable Publishing online forum provides an equal opportunity for stakeholders and researchers from multi-cultural environments to exchange ideas and eliminate barriers to participation.
Conference date: 25 October 2021, online
Conference website: https://bspf2021.sciforum.net/
Main topics: MDPI discusses the current dilemma of open access science from various perspectives such as governments, libraries, and publishers, and related measures on how to change the status quo of discrimination from a global perspective.
We aim to support equality, inclusion, diversity, and accessibility in scholarly communications. We collaborate with universities and key laboratories and have scholarly communications with researchers, teachers, and students on open access workshops.
- 25 October 2021
Energies journal and Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- 28 October 2021
Machines journal and State Key Laboratory of Traction Power, Southwest Jiaotong University
- 29 October 2021
Processes journal and Beijing Institute of Technology
- 29 October 2021
Coatings journal and Wuhan University of Technology
MDPI is committed to providing open access and high-quality publishing services for scholars and promoting rapid dissemination of academic achievements. We hope to promote the practices and policies of open access publishing and diversify the dissemination of academic achievements.
23 September 2021
2020 MDPI Top Reviewer Award—Winners Announced
22 September 2021
MDPI Joins SDG Publishers Compact
UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. In 2020 the SDG Publishers Compact was launched, aimed to inspire publishers and accelerate progress to achieve the 17 goals by 2030. Members of the programme are committed to support the publication of materials that will promote and inspire actions towards SDGs.
MDPI is an eager advocate of SDGs and has already been supporting the programme by creating Special Issues and publishing a series of books on SDGs prior to joining the Compact in 2021. MDPI's Sustainability Foundation initiated the World Sustainability Awards in 2016. We fully support UN's goals to promote sustainable actions that make the world a better place for all and, as part of its commitment, we will focus our actions on SDG10: Reduced Inequalities whilst promoting all 17 SDGs. For more details, please visit the programme’s website: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sdg-publishers-compact/.
Joining this initiative was a unanimous decision. MDPI has in its core values the dissemination of science for all, breaking the wall between research access and under-represented members of the scientific community and the general population. To support this initiative further and continue to support under-represented scientists, MDPI will take a series of actions that will be announced once ready.
The first action MDPI takes is to nominate Dr. Liliane Auwerter as the coordinator of the programme. Dr. Auwerter studied Environmental Process Technology (UTFPR, Brazil), obtained her MSc degree in Water and Environmental Engineering (University of Surrey, UK) and in 2020 completed her PhD in self-healing low-friction materials for water transport (Imperial College London, UK), always focusing on diverse scientific projects that would potentially bring sustainability to industrial processes. As a student in Brazil, she engaged in volunteering activities focused on environmental education and took part in the Millennial Development Goals meetings held at the university.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Liliane Auwerter
Scientific Officer
[email protected]
18 September 2021
Topic “Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition for Sustainable Agriculture”—Open for Submission
3 August 2021
Announcement on Japanese Consumption Tax (JCT)
30 June 2021
2020 Impact Factors - Released
21 June 2021
Welcoming New Members to the Editorial Board of Agriculture
28 April 2021
Book Builder—Compile a Customized E-Book from Your Favorite MDPI Open Access Content
MDPI Books recently released Book Builder, a new online tool to conveniently arrange, design and produce an eBook from any content published in MDPI journals. Book Builder offers two functions: on the one hand (1) Selections, available to every registered user of MDPI; on the other hand (2) Special Issue Reprints, which can be used exclusively by Guest Editors of Special Issues.
Selections
In just a matter of a few clicks, all users are now able to assemble books from MDPI articles and receive instantaneous feedback in the form of a fully produced and compiled book (PDF), which can be downloaded or ordered as print copy. Selections can include any paper published with MDPI, picking and combining content from different journals and special issues.
This way, the user may for example choose to compile an ebook focusing around a particular topic, or assemble articles from a group of others.
We invite you to make yourself familiar with the new tool! The Book Builder can be found here: https://www.mdpi.com/books/book_builder.
Special Issue Reprints
The Book Builder allows Guest Editors of MDPI journals to create a reprint from a successfully completed Special Issue or Topical Collection in book format. If you are a Guest Editor for an MDPI journal, you can use the new tool to create an PDF document which includes all articles published in the Special Issue as well as a book cover and table of contents.
For Special Issues containing a minimum of 5 articles, the Guest Editor can request its publication on the MDPI Book platform. Published reprints are assigned an ISBN and DOI.
In addition to the PDF copy of the Reprint Book, as a token of our gratitude, MDPI offers every Guest Editor one (1) complimentary print copy (via print-on-demand). All contributors benefit from a discount on orders of any additional print copies, to share with colleagues or libraries or others.
Why choose MDPI Books?
In line with our organization's values, MDPI Books publishes all content in open access, promoting the exchange of ideas and knowledge in a globalized world. MDPI Books encompasses all the benefits of open access—high availability and visibility, as well as wide and rapid dissemination. MDPI Books are distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License, meaning as an author you retain the copyright for your work. In addition, with MDPI Books you can complement the digital version of your work with a high-quality printed counterpart.
If you are interested in editing a book volume or series, or have a monograph manuscript to be considered for publication, please submit your proposal online and look at our Information for Authors.
Contact: Laura Wagner, MDPI Books Manager (email)
15 April 2021
MDPI Celebrates Company Milestone With 25th Anniversary Page
"We exist to help scientists achieve their own objectives"
2 April 2021
Recruiting Editorial Board Members for Agriculture
25 March 2021
Welcoming New Editorial Board Members of Agriculture
10 March 2021
Journal Selector: Helping to Find the Right MDPI Journal for Your Article
5 February 2021
Dr. Carlos Guzmán | Winner of the Agriculture 2021 Young Investigator Award
We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Agriculture 2021 Young Investigator Award is Dr. Carlos Guzmán.
Dr. Carlos Guzmán defended his Ph.D. in 2011 at the University of Cordoba, Spain. His Ph.D. was focused on wheat genetic resources for wheat quality improvement and was granted the Outstanding Thesis Award by his university. In 2012, Dr. Guzmán joined the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico, as a post-doc to work in the Wheat Chemistry and Quality Laboratory within the Global Wheat Program. In 2014, he obtained a scientist position to lead the laboratory and the activities related to grain quality improvement. After working for eight years at CIMMYT, he returned to the University of Cordoba in Spain in 2019 with a researcher position (Ramon y Cajal Program grant).
His work has engaged everything related to wheat quality, from better understanding the genetic control and environmental effects on the traits that determine wheat processing and end-use quality, to the development of novel methodologies that allow a more efficient integration of grain quality in wheat breeding programs. Dr. Guzmán has also participated in research projects related to the implementation of novel technologies such as genomic selection in breeding programs or to the enhancement of wheat grain nutritional quality.
Dr. Guzmán has published more than 70 articles in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, five book chapters, and two books. He has also participated in numerous international seminars and conferences (as an invited speaker, organizer, or chair) and has participated in several international initiatives related to wheat breeding and quality. He has obtained, in grants and in contracts with the private sector, close to USD 1 million. His ongoing work is focused on all aspects of wheat quality and breeding, with a special focus on understanding the relations between the phenotypic and genetic variability and on transferring quality traits of interest to commercial wheat varieties.
Dr. Carlos Guzmán in field and lab
As the awardee, Dr. Guzmán will receive an honorarium of 2000 CHF, an offer to publish a paper free of charge before 31 December 2022 in Agriculture after peer-review, and an engraved plaque.
We would like to thank all the nominators from various fields of study for their participation and all the Award Committee Members for their evaluation of the abundant excellent nominations.
25 December 2020
Welcoming New Members to the Editorial Board of Agriculture
15 December 2020
MDPI adopts C4DISC principles to improve diversity and inclusion in scholarly communications
MDPI is proud to adopt the principles of the Coalition for Diversity & Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC) to support building equity, inclusion, diversity, and accessibility in scholarly communications.
The C4DISC represents organizations and individuals working in scholarly communications and is focused on addressing issues of diversity and inclusion within the publishing industry.
MDPI’s Managing Editors encourage the Editors-in-Chief and Associate Editors to appoint diverse expert Editorial Boards. This is also reflective in our multi-national and inclusive workplace. We are proud to create equal opportunities without regard to gender, ethnicity, geographic location, sexual orientation, age, disability, political beliefs, religion, or socio-economic status. There is no place for discrimination in our workplace and editors of MDPI journals are to uphold these principles in high regard.
Representatives from C4DISC meet monthly, and have started to implement initiatives to shed light and improve on the lack of diversity in scholarly communications. Some of the initiatives include developing a joint statement of principles; conducting market research; providing training resources, best practices, toolkits, and documentation for our collective memberships; and establishing outreach programs, curricula, events, and publications.
The Coalition is committed to:
- eliminating barriers to participation, extending equitable opportunities across all stakeholders, and ensuring that our practices and policies promote equitable treatment and do not allow, condone, or result in discrimination;
- creating and maintaining an environment that respects diverse traditions, heritages, and experiences;
- promoting diversity in all staff, volunteers, and audiences, including full participation in programs, policy formulation, and decision-making;
- raising awareness about career opportunities in our industries to groups who are currently underrepresented in the workforce;
- supporting our members in achieving diversity and inclusion within their organizations.
14 December 2020
Article Layout and Templates Revised for Future Volumes
At MDPI we have slightly revised the layout for articles to be published in the 2021 Volume, starting at the end of December 2020. As of today, the article templates available for download on ‘Instructions for Authors’ pages have been updated.
The most noticeable change can be found on the first page of the article, where a left-hand column has been created to include the following front matter elements: (i) the recommended citation style for the article, (ii) the publishing history, (iii) as well as the Creative Commons Attribution license used (iv) a standard note regarding affiliations. At the same time, the extra spacing on the left means the authors’ affiliations are now more clearly set apart than before. Other front matter key elements such as journal logo, article type, article title, authors, abstract and keywords remain unchanged.
The blank column on the left runs through all pages in an article; as a result, the main text is slightly more condensed, which improve reader friendliness for smaller screens. Small figures/tables are aligned on the left with standard indenture, while large figures/tables are centered and covering the full width of the page. The revised layout was applied in the article pictured below, to serve as an example:
1) Information is displayed in the left information bar.
2) In the main text, there is a blank column on the left.
3) Small tables/figures are aligned on the left, large tables/figures are centered.
11 December 2020
2020 "Highly Cited Researchers" on MDPI Journal's Editorial Boards
30 September 2020
Dr. Francesco Marinello Appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Digital Agriculture” in Agriculture
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We are pleased to announce that Dr. Francesco Marinello has been appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Digital Agriculture” in Agriculture. Dr. Francesco Marinello is a researcher at the University of Padova (Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, Padova, Italy) and an adjunct professor at the University of Georgia (Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Athens, USA). |
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He holds an MSc from the University of Padova in Mechanical Engineering and in 2006, he completed a PhD in Industrial Production Engineering at the University of Padova, in joint supervision with the Technical University of Denmark. He has more than 10 years of experience in measurement and sensing technologies applied for the monitoring and enhancement of agricultural operations.
He is the author of four patents and more than 120 papers indexed by Scopus, published in the field of proximal and remote sensing and in precision agriculture. His teaching activity includes courses on applied statistics, agricultural engineering, precision farming, and unmanned aerial vehicles for agriculture.
He is participating as a proposer or as a scientific partner for several projects funded in the framework of the European rural development program and of the European Regional Development Fund, focused on vineyard sustainability, greenhouse sensing, and agricultural machinery improvement. He is also participating in two other H2020 funded projects (Varcities, Echo-Mac).
We warmly welcome Dr. Francesco Marinello as the Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Digital Agriculture”, and we look forward to achieving many milestones under his leadership. For further information on the journal section, please visit the following link.
26 September 2020
Welcoming New Members to the Editorial Board of Agriculture
9 July 2020
Open Access Agreement Between Jisc Collections and MDPI
We are delighted to announce the establishment of our Open Access agreement with Jisc Collections, which will allow UK institutions to benefit from access to article processing charge (APC) discounts and streamlined payment workflows.
All institutions participating in the agreement will also gain access to the MDPI online submission system where they can find full article metadata and pricing information for easy identification and additional transparency.
Eligible authors affiliated with the participating institutions are prompted to choose the corresponding Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) when they submit an article via our online submission system.
About Jisc
Jisc's vision is for the UK to be the most digitally advanced education and research nation in the world. At its heart is the super-fast national research and education network, Janet, with built-in cyber security protection. Jisc also provides technology solutions for its members (colleges, universities and research centres) and customers (public sector bodies), helps members save time and money by negotiating sector-wide deals and provides advice and practical assistance on digital technology. Jisc is funded by the UK higher and further education and research funding bodies and member institutions.
For more information, contact [email protected].
About MDPI
MDPI is a publisher of fully peer-reviewed, Open Access journals with a focus on thorough and rapid editorial processing. Its aim is to ensure that high-quality research is verified and made available to the research community as quickly as possible. MDPI stands at the forefront of the Open Access movement, having launched its first online journal Molecules in 1996. Today, MDPI is a leader in Open Access publishing with over 250 journals across all research disciplines, and all content published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).
For any questions about this agreement, please contact the MDPI IOAP team at [email protected].
29 June 2020
Updated Impact Factors Released in the Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate)
The updated citation metrics have been released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), published by Clarivate. The recent release of the JCR includes seventy-one MDPI titles. Out of these, 18 titles are newcomers, receiving a first Journal Impact Factor which is based on citation activity in 2019: Actuators, Agriculture, Biology, Biomedicines, Biosensors, Chemosensors, Children, Healthcare, Journal of Fungi, Journal of Personalized Medicine (JPM), Land, Life, Magnetochemistry, Membranes, Pharmaceuticals, Photonics, Separations and Toxics.
- Out of the previously listed journals, a total of 72 percent boast an increased Impact Factor.
- 25 journals are ranked among the top 25% of journals in at least one of the categories they are ranked for.
- Articles published in 2019 in MDPI journals account for approximately 17 percent of of articles published in gold Open Access journals covered in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI).
First Impact Factors
| Journal | Impact Factor | Rank | Category | Details |
| Actuators | 1.957 | 31/64 (Q2) | • Instruments & Instrumentation | Link |
| Agriculture | 2.072 | 25/91 (Q2) | • Agronomy | Link |
| Biology | 3.796 | 19/93 (Q1) | • Biology | Link |
| Biomedicines | 4.717 | 30/138 (Q1) 36/270 (Q1) |
• Medicine, Research & Experimental • Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
Link |
| Biosensors | 3.240 | 24/86 (Q2) | • Chemistry, Analytical | Link |
| Chemosensors | 3.108 | 16/64 (Q1) 27/86 (Q2) 13/27 (Q2) |
• Instruments & Instrumentation • Chemistry, Analytical • Electrochemistry |
Link |
| Children | 2.078 | 50/128 (Q2) | • Pediatrics | Link |
| Healthcare | 1.916 | 62/102 (Q3) 45/87 (Q3) |
• Health Care Sciences & Services (SCIE) • Health Policy & Services (SSCI) |
Link |
| Journal of Fungi | 4.621 | 5/29 (Q1) 31/135 (Q1) |
• Mycology • Microbiology |
Link |
| Journal of Personalized Medicine | 4.433 | 24/165 (Q1) 10/102 (Q1) |
• Medicine, General & Internal • Health Care Sciences & Services |
Link |
| Land | 2.429 | 58/123 (Q2) | • Environmental Studies (SSCI) | Link |
| Life | 2.991 | 26/93 (Q2) 109/267 (Q2) |
• Biology • Microbiology |
Link |
| Magnetochemistry | 1.947 | 22/45 (Q2) 109/159 (Q3) 201/314 (Q3) |
• Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear • Chemistry, Physical • Materials Science, Multidisciplinary |
Link |
| Membranes | 3.094 | 53/143 (Q2) 129/314 (Q2) 23/89 (Q2) |
• Engineering, Chemical • Materials Science, Multidisciplinary • Polymer Science |
Link |
| Pharmaceuticals | 4.286 | 49/270 (Q1) | • Pharmacology & Pharmacy | Link |
| Photonics | 2.140 | 48/97 (Q2) | • Optics | Link |
| Separations | 1.900 | 53/86 (Q3) | • Chemistry, Analytical | Link |
| Toxics | 3.271 | 32/92 (Q2) 92/265 (Q2) |
• Toxicology • Environmental Sciences |
Link |
Updated Impact Factors
| Journal | Impact Factor | Rank | Category | Details |
| Agronomy | 2.603 | 18/91 (Q1) 65/234 (Q2) |
• Agronomy • Plant Sciences |
Link |
| Animals | 2.323 | 10/63 (Q1) 14/142 (Q1) |
• Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science • Veterinary Sciences |
Link |
| Antibiotics | 3.893 | 23/93 (Q1) 64/270 (Q1) |
• Infectious Diseases • Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
Link |
| Antioxidants | 5.014 | 10/139 (Q1) 56/297 (Q1) 7/61 (Q1) |
• Food Science & Technology • Biochemistry & Molecular Biology • Chemistry, Medicinal |
Link |
| Applied Sciences | 2.474 | 161/314 (Q3) 32/91 (Q2) 88/177 (Q2) 62/154 (Q2) |
• Materials Science, Multidisciplinary • Engineering, Multidisciplinary • Chemistry, Multidisciplinary • Physics, Applied |
Link |
| Atmosphere | 2.397 | 48/93 (Q3) | • Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences | Link |
| Biomolecules | 4.082 | 98/297 (Q2) | • Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | Link |
| Brain Sciences | 3.332 | 113/271 (Q2) | • Neurosciences | Link |
| Cancers | 6.126 | 37/244 (Q1) | • Oncology | Link |
| Catalysts | 3.520 | 65/159 (Q2) | • Chemistry, Physical | Link |
| Cells | 4.366 | 70/195 (Q2) | • Cell Biology | Link |
| Coatings | 2.436 | 10/21 (Q2) | • Materials Science, Coatings & Films | Link |
| Crystals | 2.404 | 10/26 (Q2) 165/314 (Q3) |
• Crystallography • Materials Science, Multidisciplinary |
Link |
| Diagnostics | 3.110 | 39/165 (Q1) | • Medicine, General & Internal | Link |
| Diversity | 1.402 | 119/168 (Q3) | • Ecology | Link |
| Electronics | 2.412 | 125/266 (Q2) | • Engineering, Electrical & Electronic | Link |
| Energies | 2.702 | 63/112 (Q3) | • Energy & Fuels | Link |
| Entropy | 2.494 | 33/85 (Q2) | • Physics, Multidisciplinary | Link |
| Foods | 4.092 | 27/139 (Q1) | • Food Science & Technology | Link |
| Forests | 2.221 | 17/68 (Q1) | • Forestry | Link |
| Genes | 3.759 | 53/177 (Q2) | • Genetics & Heredity | Link |
| Insects | 2.220 | 18/101 (Q1) | • Entomology | Link |
| International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) | 2.849 | 58/193 (Q2) 32/170 (Q1) 105/265 (Q2) |
• Public, Environmental & Occupational Health (SCIE) • Public, Environmental & Occupational Health (SSCI) • Environmental Sciences (SCIE) |
Link |
| International Journal of Molecular Sciences (IJMS) | 4.556 | 74/297 (Q1) 48/177 (Q2) |
• Biochemistry & Molecular Biology • Chemistry, Multidisciplinary |
Link |
| ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (IJGI) | 2.239 | 31/50 (Q3) 18/30 (Q3) |
• Geography, Physical • Remote Sensing |
Link |
| Journal of Clinical Medicine | 3.303 | 36/165 (Q1) | • Medicine, General & Internal | Link |
| Journal of Marine Science and Engineering | 2.033 | 31/66 (Q2) | • Oceanography | Link |
| Marine Drugs | 4.073 | 16/61 (Q2) | • Chemistry, Medicinal | Link |
| Materials | 3.057 | 132/314 (Q2) | • Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | Link |
| Mathematics | 1.747 | 28/324 (Q1) | • Mathematics | Link |
| Medicina | 1.205 | 107/165 (Q3) | • Medicine, General & Internal | Link |
| Metabolites | 4.097 | 95/297 (Q2) | • Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | Link |
| Metals | 2.117 | 18/79 (Q1) 185/314 (Q3) |
• Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering • Materials Science, Multidisciplinary |
Link |
| Micromachines | 2.523 | 56/92 (Q3) 23/64 (Q2) |
• Nanoscience & Nanotechnology • Instruments & Instrumentation |
Link |
| Microorganisms | 4.152 | 37/135 (Q2) | • Microbiology | Link |
| Minerals | 2.380 | 6/21 (Q2) 11/30 (Q2) |
• Mining & Mineral Processing • Mineralogy |
Link |
| Molecules | 3.267 | 70/177 (Q2) 141/297 (Q2) |
• Chemistry, Multidisciplinary • Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
Link |
| Nanomaterials | 4.324 | 89/314 (Q2) 42/103 (Q2) |
• Materials Science, Multidisciplinary • Nanoscience & Nanotechnology |
Link |
| Nutrients | 4.546 | 17/89 (Q1) | • Nutrition & Dietetics | Link |
| Pathogens | 3.018 | 65/135 (Q2) | • Microbiology | Link |
| Pharmaceutics | 4.421 | 44/270 (Q1) | • Pharmacology & Pharmacy | Link |
| Plants | 2.762 | 58/234 (Q1) | • Plant Sciences | Link |
| Polymers | 3.426 | 16/89 (Q1) | • Polymer Science | Link |
| Processes | 2.753 | 59/143 (Q2) | • Engineering, Chemical | Link |
| Remote Sensing | 4.509 | 9/30 (Q2) | • Remote Sensing | Link |
| Sensors | 3.275 | 22/86 (Q2) 77/266 (Q2) 15/64 (Q1) |
• Chemistry, Analytical • Engineering, Electrical & Electronic • Instruments & Instrumentation |
Link |
| Sustainability | 2.576 | 120/265 (Q2) 26/41 (Q3) 53/123 (Q2) 6/8 (Q3) |
• Environmental Sciences (SCIE) • Green & Sustainable Science & Technology (SCIE) • Environmental Studies (SSCI) • Green & Sustainable Science & Technology (SSCI) |
Link |
| Symmetry | 2.645 | 29/71 (Q2) | • Multidisciplinary Sciences | Link |
| Toxins | 3.531 | 21/92 (Q1) 34/139 (Q1) |
• Toxicology • Food Science & Technology |
Link |
| Universe | 1.752 | 18/29 (Q3) 42/68 (Q3) |
• Physics, Particles & Fields • Astronomy & Astrophysics |
Link |
| Vaccines | 4.086 | 57/158 (Q2) 50/138 (Q2) |
• Immunology • Medicine, Research & Experimental |
Link |
| Viruses | 3.816 | 12/37 (Q2) | • Virology | Link |
| Water | 2.544 | 31/94 (Q2) | • Water Resources | Link |
Source: Clarivate 2020, InCites Journal Citation Reports®.
29 June 2020
Agriculture Receives First Journal Impact Factor of 2.072
13 May 2020
COVID-19 Academic Resources Center
13 April 2020
Recruiting Topic Editors for Agriculture
9 April 2020
Free Open Platforms to Support Academics During the COVID-19 Pandemic
25 March 2020
MDPI Comment on the COVID-19 Virus
18 March 2020
MDPI Co-Signed Position Statement on Transformative Agreements
16 March 2020
Encyclopedia Outstanding Contributor Awards 2020 - Open for Application
We are pleased to announce that Encyclopedia will be awarding five Outstanding Contributor Awards for researchers in 2020. The nominations and applications will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee consisting of senior scholars from the Encyclopedia Editorial Board.
Prize for Winners
- An official certificate;
- A cash award of 500 CHF or an MDPI discount voucher of 800 CHF.
Application Deadline
31 December, 2020 (Please send your application email with a list of all entries you contributed to our office before the deadline: [email protected])
Candidate Requirements
- Have a Ph.D. degree;
- Have more than three qualified entries published in Encyclopedia in 2020.
Evaluation Standards
- Number of entries published in Encyclopedia in 2020;
- Quality of entries online (including length, figure quality, and novelty);
- Impact of entries (including the number of likes, discussion contents, views, and downloads).
If you are a researcher and have not yet contribute entries to Encyclopedia, please do not miss this chance to highlight your research results.
12 March 2020
Meet us at the 8th International Crop Science Congress, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, 21–25 June 2020
11 October 2019
Introducing SciProfiles, an Academic Social Network
MDPI is pleased to announce the release of SciProfiles, its social network platform for researchers and scholars.
The purpose of SciProfiles is aligned with MDPI’s broad mission to accelerate discovery and innovation by facilitating immediate access to research results and to serve scholars and communities by providing opportunities for academic networking.
SciProfiles also ambitions to serve as a sustainable, transparent and community-driven research evaluation system aligned with the DORA principles (https://sfdora.org/). Through their scientific profiles, academics can highlight their contribution to research communities, and measure their impact on their field, beyond publication numbers and impact factors. SciProfiles is currently a beta version and will enrich to give researchers the possibility to highlight all of their contributions to science and their scientific communities as authors, reviewers, editors, conference organizers, conference panelists, conference keynote speakers, or even as lecturers or student mentors at their University.
The classic components of popular community social networks, including follower/following, classical metrics, endorsements and recommendations (https://www.mdpi.com/about/announcements/1690), comments (https://www.mdpi.com/about/announcements/1397) are or will be very soon highlighted in SciProfiles as open science contributions.
To help increase the impact and visibility of articles and their authors to an appropriate audience, the platform offers a NewsFeed that includes recommendations of relevant content based on interests, publication history, saved searches or colleagues’ recommendations.
SciProfiles’ avatars are now being integrated on several MDPI platforms, meaning that you will directly access researchers’ profiles from any of the MDPI platforms:
MDPI's journal publishing website: www.mdpi.com
MDPI's conference hosting and management website: www.sciforum.net
MDPI's pre-print website : www.preprints.org
MDPI's knowledge sharing website : www.encyclopedia.pub
MDPI's books store: www.mdpi.com/books
MDPI's literature database : www.scilit.net
SciProfiles aims to serve scientific communities at large. It can be embedded into third-party websites and also welcomes integration of data from third-parties.
Dr. Shu-Kun Lin: https://sciprofiles.com/profile/2
Dr. Franck Vazquez: https://sciprofiles.com/profile/FranckVazquez
Dr. Martyn Rittman: https://sciprofiles.com/profile/martynrittman
2 October 2019
Winners of the 2019 MDPI Writing Prize
We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2019 MDPI Writing Prize. Entrants were asked to write on the theme "Judging research: How should research and researchers be evaluated and rewarded?" We received a large number of excellent essays from PhD students and postdocs, and the process of shortlisting and choosing winners was not an easy one. The winners demonstrated excellent writing skills alongside interesting and thought-provoking ideas.
As last year, we will begin the process of collating all entries into a book that will be available in open access format. Alongside promoting good writing skills, we see the prize as a way to promote the voices of early career researchers within broader debates and policy discussions.
Congratulations to all of the participants and especially the winners. The winners are:
1st Prize (500 CHF):
Albin Nilsson (National Centre for Nuclear Research, Warsaw, Poland)
[Read here]
2nd Prize (250 CHF):
Qi Zhang (Shandong University, Jinan, China)
[Read here]
Igor Ogashawara (Indiana University, Indianapolis, US)
[Read here]
3rd Prize (100 CHF):
Margaret Sivapragasam (Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Perak, Malaysia)
[Read here]
Arvind Sharma (The University of Queensland, Gatton, Australia)
[Read here]
Jose Flores-Guerrero (University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands)
[Read here]
The MDPI Writing Prize is an annual award supported by MDPI Author Services, which provides services including language editing, reformatting, plagiarism checks, and image editing.
20 September 2019
MDPI Now Gives Scholars the Possibility to Endorse and Recommend Articles
MDPI is pleased to announce the release of a new functionality giving the possibility for researchers and scholars to endorse, and formally recommend articles to their colleagues.
MDPI was an early signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (https://sfdora.org/read/) which calls for improvement in how quality and impact of scholarly research outputs are evaluated, especially in moving beyond journal-based citation metrics (journal Impact Factor, Scopus Citescore, etc.).
MDPI supports the establishment of article-level impact metrics, including citations, views, downloads, and Altmetric scores. These measures serve as an impact indicator for research articles on a case–by-case basis, assessing paper on its own merit. However, these metrics are also subjective and can give a biased picture of the article impact: they do not directly reflect the quality or the intrinsic scientific value of the article.
In our view, community engagement with publications based on community-driven metrics can help to overcome this limitation. We have therefore launched an option for scholars to endorse articles, indicating their own assessment of its content and making a recommendation to their community. This follows our implementation of the open source Hypothesis commenting tool, which has been available for all articles published by MDPI for over a year (https://www.mdpi.com/about/announcements/1397). Both endorsement and commenting are available for all previously published and forthcoming MDPI articles.
In addition to potentially serving as a sustainable solution to article assessment, endorsements will help scientific communities to identify the most relevant articles, independently of the journal in which it was published.
The code for the endorsing functionality, which relies on DOIs and ORCIDs, will be made available on GitHub with an open source license.
Dr. Shu-Kun Lin, President and Founder
Dr. Franck Vazquez, Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Martyn Rittman, Publishing Director
11 September 2019
Create an Entry in Encyclopedia to Get a 100 CHF Voucher in Publishing in MDPI Journals
Encyclopedia is a free online reference created and curated by active scholars. It aims to highlight the latest research results as well as provide a comprehensive record of scientific development. If you have any suggestions or questions, please feel free to contact us via [email protected].
6 August 2019
Preprints Reaches 10,000 Posted Articles Milestone
We are pleased to announce that Preprints has passed the milestone of 10,000 posted preprints. We are delighted to have reached this after just over three years of operation. Our congratulations and thanks go to our authors and advisory board who have supported growth of the platform and been crucial to its operation.
You can find further details at https://www.preprints.org/announcement/show/37.
2 August 2019
DeepGreen Partnering with Publishers and Universities in Distributing Open Access Content to Institutional Repositories
Last week, the DeepGreen initiative in Germany started into an advanced test phase with the publishing partners S. Karger AG, SAGE Publishing, MDPI, Frontiers and De Gruyter, as well as 27 universities from all over Germany, from Hamburg University of Applied Sciences to University of Konstanz.
DeepGreen aims at lowering the barriers for open access publishing by automatically delivering metadata and full text publications from participating publishers to authorized repositories at German universities.
In preparation for a later live operation, the advanced test phase serves to gain experience with extensive data deliveries from publishers and also handling different repository software (including OPUS4, DSpace, EPrints, MyCoRe). DeepGreen thereby acts as a sophisticated platform, receiving articles published by authors affiliated with German universities and depositing these articles to respective university repositories, based on the affiliation metadata. For more information about DeepGreen: https://deepgreen.kobv.de
Karger AG has been a close cooperation partner of the DeepGreen consortium since 2016. S. Karger has more than 80 subscription-based and around 20 open access journals covering a wide spectrum in health science. DeepGreen will assign S. Karger articles to authorized institutions on the legal basis of German alliance and national licenses.
SAGE Publishing was founded by Sara Miller McCune in 1965 to support the dissemination of usable knowledge and educate a global community. SAGE publishes more than 1,000 journals and over 600 new books each year, spanning a wide range of subject areas. Our growing selection of library products includes archives, data, case studies and video. SAGE remains majority owned by our founder and after her lifetime will become owned by a charitable trust that secures the company’s continued independence. Principal offices are located in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC and Melbourne. SAGE Publishing has been a close cooperation partner of DeepGreen since 2016.
MDPI is a scientific open access publisher and has been a partner of DeepGreen since 2017. MDPI comprises 205 peer-reviewed journals of various disciplines. All articles are published under a CC-BY license and are freely available without embargo period.
Frontiers is a scientific open access publisher with 61 journals of over 600 academic disciplines. All articles are peer-reviewed and published freely available under CC-BY license.
De Gruyter is an academic publisher with more than 700 subscription-based and open access journals of 29 disciplines. Articles provided by De Gruyter will be assigned to institutions with German alliance and national licenses.
There is promising communication with other publishers.
DeepGreen is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the consortium comprises six institutions: the Cooperative Library Network Berlin-Brandenburg, Bavarian State Library, Bavarian Library Network, University Library of the Technische Universität Berlin, University Library of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Helmholtz Open Science Coordination Office at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences.
If you would like to know in more detail which institutions take part in the advanced test phase of DeepGreen, you can find more information here.
17 July 2019
First Basel Sustainable Publishing Forum
The University of Basel and the MDPI Sustainability Foundation are organizing the First Basel Sustainable Publishing Forum on 9th September 2019.
The aim of this event is to provide background and perspectives on Plan S to Learned Societies, which have to make well-informed decisions to transition their journals to Open Access (OA).
The BSPF will bring together several representatives of Learned societies, Plan S architects as well as representatives from various publishers and publishing platforms. After getting the big picture from cOAlition S, panel discussions will allow to better understand the diverse challenges that Learned societies are facing to transition their journals to OA as well as to identify sustainable, implementable and scalable solutions for successful Open Access transition.
For program details and registration, please follow the link below:
https://sciforum.net/conference/SustainableSolutionsToOpenAccess
16 July 2019
Agriculture Added into SCIE in the Web of Science
We are pleased to inform the title Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472) has been accepted for inclusion in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) in the Web of Science Core Collection, as well as "Current Contents - Agriculture, Biology & Environmental Sciences". From June 2020 Agriculture is going to be added in the Journal Citation Reports, published by Clarivate Analytics.
Agriculture continues to be edited by Founding Editor-in-Chief Les Copeland, who is a Professor at Sydney Institute of Agriculture, along with Associate Editors Prof. Bin Gao (University of Florida) and Prof. em. Urs Feller (University of Bern). The Editorial Board for Agriculture currently consists of eighty-six members, covering crop and animal production, soil and water, environmental impact and agricultural development and technology, among other areas of interest.
Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Web of ScienceTM, Current Contents and Journal Citation Reports are Clarivate Analytics products.
20 March 2019
Fostering Open Access Publishing Worldwide: New IOAP Participants in February and March 2019
We are pleased to welcome more universities from Poland, Italy, Germany, Brazil and other parts of the world to MDPI's Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP). A warm welcome to the institutions listed below, who have joined the Program in February and March this year.
Authors affiliated with these institutions can now enjoy a discount on the APC for papers accepted for publication in any MDPI journal. If you would like to learn more about our program, please visit: https://www.mdpi.com/about/ioap or email us at [email protected].
5 March 2019
MDPI Joins Jisc’s Publications Router Service
1 February 2019
2018 MDPI Top Reviewer Award—Winners Announced
Rigorous peer-review is the cornerstone of high quality academic publishing. Over 97,000 scholars served as reviewers for MDPI journals in 2018. We are extremely appreciative of all those who made a contribution to the editorial process in this capacity. At the beginning of every year, journal editorial offices publish a list all reviewers’ names to express our gratitude. In addition, this year the “MDPI Top Reviewer Awards” are announced, to recognize the very best reviewers for their expertise, dedication, high quality, and timely review reports. We are pleased to announce the following winners of the 2018 MDPI Top Reviewer Awards:
- Ali Behnood
- Andrea Pezzuolo
- Angela Gorgoglione
- Anna D'Auria
- Antonio D'Andrea
- Azhar Abbas
- Bogdan Zagajewski
- Chunhui Chen
- Dominika Głąbska
- Dominika Guzek
- Dragan Pamucar
- Francisco J. G. Silva
- Frank Li
- Gianluca Serafini
- Gyorgy Szekely
- Haozhi Pan
- Helvi Heinonen-Tanski
- José Manuel Gómez-Soberón
- Kathy Lewis
- Klara Kosova
- Luis N. López De Lacalle
- M. Z. Naser
- Malwina Tytła
- Masoume Amirkhani
- Matteo Ghidelli
- Moretti Laura
- Petra Schneider
- Roberto Cerchione
- Spyros Papaefthymiou
- Ştefan Cristian Gherghina
24 January 2019
JAMS Journals: A Low-Cost Publishing Platform
24 January 2019
Popularity of Preprints Continues to Grow
2018 was a great year for preprints, with increasing numbers of authors looking to make their papers available online before peer review. Along with other preprint servers, our platform Preprints.org saw an increase in the uptake from authors, and more than double the number of announced papers compared to 2017. In fact, we recently passed two important milestones: 8000 preprints online and 30,000 authors.
We believe that the whole research community has the opportunity to benefit from work being available online as early as possible. We thank and congratulate our authors for supporting us to make this goal a reality.
In 2019, we will be looking carefully at how to provide better value for authors, maintain efficiency while growing in size, and make sure we remain well-connected with the research community.
If you want to participate, you can consider screening preprints or joining our advisory board. And, of course, posting your own work.
9 January 2019
Open Access Agreement between the Austrian Academic Library Consortium (KEMÖ), the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), and MDPI
We are delighted to announce the establishment of our national Open Access agreement with the Austrian Academic Library Consortium (KEMÖ) and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Through this national agreement, the Austrian institutions listed below as well as FWF will cover the Article Processing Charges (APC) of manuscripts published by eligible corresponding or funded authors in MDPI journals as long as central funds are available.
All participating institutions have gained access to the MDPI online submission system where they can find full article metadata and pricing information as well as Funder and Grant ID details for easy identification and additional transparency. At the same time eligible authors are benefited from an APC discount which comes at no cost for the institutions.
Eligible corresponding authors affiliated with the participating institutions are prompted to choose the corresponding Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) when they submit an article via our online submission system. The program will be selected automatically if authors submit their papers using their institutional email address. To claim their discount, FWF funded authors should choose the particular funder and add their Grant ID upon online submission of their manuscript. The institutions will then crosscheck the information and confirm the APC funding.
Eligible authors that have their APC covered by their institution or funder are advised to include the following sentence in their acknowledgments: "Open Access Funding by the [name of the institution/funder]".
The full text of the agreement is openly available online at: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2536007
For any questions about the agreement, please contact the KEMÖ Consortium at [email protected], FWF at Ka[email protected], or the MDPI IOAP team at [email protected].
The Austrian institutions participating in this agreement are:
- Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
- University for Continuing Education Krems
- University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna
- University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
- University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien
- Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
- Institute of Science and Technology Austria
- MCI Management Center Innsbruck
- University of Graz
- University of Linz
- University of Salzburg
- Graz University of Technology
- TU Wien
- University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna
- University of Vienna
This is our first collective agreement with a national library consortium, while the individual institutions around the world participating in our IOAP are now more than 500 - see details here: https://www.mdpi.com/about/ioap. We would be mostly interested in discussing about possible collaborations with other consortia, funders, and institutions in our mutual efforts to accelerate Open Access.
2 January 2019
Encyclopedia—the Scholarly Community Encyclopedia
5 November 2018
Blog │ Funders Push for a Full Transition to Open Access: Plan S
30 October 2018
Institutional Open Access Agreement between Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and MDPI
2 October 2018
MDPI Welcomes Plan S
Recently, it was announced that a group of European funders supported 10 principles that will help to expand open access, known as Plan S. MDPI warmly welcomes this move as a step towards achieving more open and accessible communication of research across all disciplines. Some aspects remain to be clarified, however the details given so far match the aims and values that MDPI has held over the past two decades.
We believe that open access publishers should be active participants in discussions around Plan S, particularly regarding potential new business models and practical aspects of implementation. MDPI supports APCs as a transparent unit of payment for article publishing, however we are committed to exploring other measures and recently signed the Jussieu Call. Sustainability is a key value for MDPI, and future funding models should have at their heart the sustainability of knowledge and research dissemination. Plan S provides an opportunity for funders and publishers to directly discuss funding of open access journals in ways that are beneficial to all parties involved.
7 September 2018
Three Poster Award Winners Announced at ENFC 2018 in Stockholm, Sweden
The 13th European Nitrogen Fixation Conference (ENFC 2018) was held in Stockholm, Sweden, 18–21 August 2018. This European-based biennial congress brings together scientists focused on biological N2 fixation (BNF) from the diverse research topics of biochemistry, microbiology, plant physiology, and, more recently, genetic engineering and aquatic microbiology.
At the conference three Postdocs were announced winners of the Best Poster Awards (pictured above): Dr. Carmen Sánchez Cañizares (University of Oxford, United Kingdom), Dr. Marcin Nadzieja (Aarhus University, Denmark) and Dr. Kira Gysel (Aarhus University, Denmark). The prizes are sponsored by the academic open-access journals Agriculture, Agronomy and Nitrogen.
30 August 2018
MDPI establishes Open Access agreement with Qatar National Library
We are happy to announce the establishment of an Open Access (OA) agreement with Qatar National Library (QNL). QNL is committed to supporting and helping Qatar authors publish OA at no cost. Through this national agreement, QNL will cover the Article Processing Charges (APC) of manuscripts published by Qatar-based corresponding authors in MDPI journals.
Eligible corresponding authors affiliated with Qatar research centers and universities are prompted to choose QNL as part of our Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) when they submit an article via our online submission system. The program will be selected automatically if authors submit their papers using their institutional email and/or a computer registered with the institution’s IP range. QNL will then crosscheck the information and confirm the APC funding.
Qatar authors that have their APC covered by QNL are advised to include the following sentence in their acknowledgments: "The publication of this article was funded by Qatar National Library".
For more information, please visit Open Access at QNL or email the QNL Open Access team at [email protected].
19 June 2018
Meet us at the 15th European Society for Agronomy Congress in Geneva, Switzerland, 27–30 August 2018
19 June 2018
Meet us at the 2018 ASA and CSSA Annual Meeting
31 May 2018
Agriculture 2017 CiteScore™ Announced - 1.93
We are pleased to report Agriculture received a CiteScore of 1.93 for 2017. The metric reflects citation activity in 2017 in Scopus for papers published in the period 2014‒2016.
For the full details in the current CiteScore release, please see the journal's Source profile. To check the full list of MDPI journals receiving CiteScores, please see here.
31 May 2018
2017 CiteScore™ Metrics Released
30 April 2018
Winners of the First MDPI Writing Prize
27 April 2018
Meet Us at the 2018 ESA, ESC, and ESBC Joint Annual Meeting
23 March 2018
Check for Updates: A New Function in the Article PDF Version
At MDPI, we always want to keep you up to date. Even for already published articles, some corrections or minor changes may occur. To prevent you from missing any updates, from now on you will be able to access the latest version of any manuscript by clicking on the “check for updates” logo that you can find in the PDF file, even if you have saved the file on your computer.
13 March 2018
MDPI Becoming a Member of UKSG
We are proud to announce that MDPI is now a member of UKSG, the UK´s largest scholarly communications community. Through UKSG, different stakeholders share their knowledge and experience in order to improve the knowledge and information environment for researchers. UKSG´s members include universities, publishers, content providers, intermediaries, and other similar organisations. Members participate in discussions and events on issues around scholarly communications.
The UKSG Annual Conference and Exhibition is a flagship initiative from the UKSG and one of the most stimulating events in the scholarly communications calendar. It is held annually and attracts a large number of delegates. More information is available at https://www.uksg.org/events/annualconference
MDPI is delighted to be a part of this active community and we look forward to making our own contribution. We will continue to support organisations and initiatives that boost collaboration and vision within scholarly communication.
More information about UKSG can be found at https://www.uksg.org/. The full membership list is available at: https://www.uksg.org/members.
1 February 2018
MDPI Signed the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA)
The DORA initiative addresses the need for advanced approaches in the evaluation and measurement of the quality of scientific research outputs. It is a worldwide initiative covering all scholarly disciplines. MDPI proudly joins a list of more than 400 organizations around the world which support DORA’s recommendations for improving the way the quality of research results is evaluated.
More info can be found at http://www.ascb.org/dora/
19 December 2017
Announcing the MDPI English Writing Prize
15 December 2017
UCL Press Adopts the MDPI Editorial Platform JAMS
23 November 2017
New Participants in the Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP)
10 November 2017
Available Journal Awards at MDPI
7 November 2017
MDPI has signed the Jussieu Call for Open Science and Bibliodiversity
The Jussieu Call aims to develop and implement alternative models to meet the aims of open science while promoting bibliodiversity. In particular it wishes to promote new business models for funding open access publication. It was drafted on the Jussieu campus in Paris by a group of French researchers and scientific publishing professionals.
MDPI supports scholarly communities and initiatives that innovate and further promote Open Access publishing. There is a need to explore different frameworks to fund open access in ways that ensure that excessive funds are not diverted from research towards publishing. Many fair funding models already exist, and they can be further developed and extended. These include institutional support, library contributions or subsidies, premium services, participatory funding, etc. For this reason, MDPI has signed up to the Jussieu call and welcomes its aims.
More information can be found at http://jussieucall.org/ (archived here)
6 October 2017
Dr. Franck Vazquez, MDPI CEO, Interviewed by Scholarly Kitchen
29 September 2017
Meet Us at ASA CSSA SSSA Annual Meeting 2017 in Tampa
19 September 2017
A Warm Welcome to the New IOAP Participants
23 June 2017
Congratulations for Publishing the 100,000th Peer-Reviewed Article
6 June 2017
CiteScore™ Metrics Released for Scopus Journals
17 May 2017
Three New Institutional Memberships Established
We are pleased to announce that the Goethe University of Frankfurt, the Technical University of Hamburg (TU Hamburg-Harburg), as well as the Humboldt University of Berlin, in Germany, have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from these instititions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
4 May 2017
MDPI Supports the Initiative for Open Citations (I4OC)
2 May 2017
Publons Peer Review Academy Goes Live
24 April 2017
Two New Institutional Memberships Established
We are pleased to announce that the following universities have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, USA and the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia. Primary authors from these instititions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
30 March 2017
Credit for Preprints Comments via Publons
Preprints.org is a platform run by MDPI that allows authors to make early versions of manuscripts available before peer review has been completed.
One of the major benefits of putting a preprint online is to get feedback before journal submission. Until now, however, the feedback has been on a voluntary basis. Preprints is delighted to be the first preprint server to collaborate with Publons to acknowledge substantial comments as reviews and give commentators the opportunity to receive credit for their efforts.
When you add a comment to any article, there is a check box to click for it to appear on Publons. If you have already linked your account it will be passed on automatically. If you don't already have a Publons account, you will be contacted soon afterwards with instructions on how to create one.
We appreciate the enthusiasm and cooperation of Publons in this project and expect it to be of great benefit to authors and commenters alike.
20 March 2017
MDPI 2016 Annual Report Released
15 March 2017
Our 100,000th Article Could be Yours!
After the 20th anniversary of MDPI in 2016, we will reach another milestone this year and will publish the 100,000th peer-reviewed article in one of our 170+ open access journals.
We would like you to be part of this great achievement and so are offering to publish the 100,000th accepted paper free of charge.
To be in with a chance, select a journal in one of our 10 scientific subject areas and submit your paper.
Access the live tracker on published articles here.
3 March 2017
1000 Preprints Online
We are delighted that Preprints now has 1000 papers online since its launch on 3 May 2016.
For more information, see the editorial here.
9 February 2017
MDPI is Attending the 2017 AAG Annual Meeting
We are pleased to announce that MDPI will be attending the 2017 AAG Annual Meeting (5-9 April 2017) and representing the following open access journals:
Remote Sensing
Sustainability
Land
Water
Humanities
Agriculture
Geosciences
Agronomy
Social Sciences
Administrative Sciences
Data
Climate
ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
Urban Science
If you are also attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth (Booth #422) and meet the representative editors.
Conference details:
2017 AAG Annual Meeting
5-9 April 2017
Hynes Convention Center
Boston, MA, USA
http://www.aag.org/annualmeeting
9 February 2017
Minister and State Secretaries Visit MDPI Office at STP, Belgrade, Serbia
Earlier this week the Science Technology Park in Belgrade, Serbia was visited by Swiss Secretary of State Dr. Mauro Dell’Ambrogio, as well as Serbian Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Ana Brnabic, State Secretary Dr. Vladimir Popovic and Mayor of Belgrade Mr. Siniša Mali.
During the visit to the STP they had a short presentation from MDPI’s CEO Dr. Franck Vazquez and IT Manager Mr. Miloš Čučulović, and further discussed important issues such as Open Access and Open education. Dr. Dell'Ambrogio said he was impressed with the potential for development and ideas for business.
For more information please see:
http://bit.ly/2kpIu7k and http://bit.ly/2kpUQfz
7 February 2017
The 6th World Sustainability Forum: Final Press Release
Basel, 29 January 2017
The 6th World Sustainability Forum #WSF2017SA: African universities critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
Jeffrey and Sonia Sachs win first World Sustainability Award.
Universities need to take the lead in solving the greatest challenges the world faces today, particularly in Africa. They need to do this not only through education – teaching the next generation to think critically and creatively to find sustainable solutions – but also through research that cuts across a range of disciplines. To ensure these solutions are implemented, they need to partner with the private sector and with government.
This was the key message from the 6th World Sustainability Forum (WSF2017), which took place in Cape Town on 27 and 28 January 2017. Sponsored by MDPI and the journal Sustainability under the patronage of the Universities of the Western Cape (UWC), Cape Town (UCT), University of Basel and the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa, the conference was attended by key national and international speakers, including world-leading economist Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, senior United Nations (UN) advisor and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
The WSF is an annual sustainability conference which addresses research in a range of areas related to sustainable development and sustainability globally. This was the first WSF to take place on the African continent. Discussions at the 2017 conference were driven by the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) adopted as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the UN in September 2015.
Achieving the SDGs “is the moonshot for our generation,” said Sachs. “Like the moonshot [moon landing] of the 1960s, these are tough, bold and achievable objectives.”
“This is a nasty, tough world we live in, and our world agrees on very little. So when 193 governments agree on something, that is important. And when they agree on something as important as sustainable development, that is really something for us to grab hold of – that is a lifeline.”
There was agreement at the WSF that the SDGs are particularly important for Africa, and that African universities in particular have a role to play in achieving them.
Said Professor Tyrone Pretorius, vice-chancellor of UWC: “The quest for sustainable development can only be met through education. Universities today are the oil that fuels the knowledge economy.”
As part of the drive to develop academic capacity to provide the knowledge needed to meet the SDGs, WSF2017 was preceded by the 1st Postgraduate Forum on Sustainability. “A series of workshops for postgraduate education linked to WSF are important, in order to equip postgraduates with the skills necessary to promote sustainability,” said Professor Thandi Mgwebi, director for research at UWC. A second postgraduate forum will take place alongside the WSF2018 in Beijing.
This capacity development is particularly critical to Africa. Said Sachs: “African universities need to do research to find solutions to Africa’s development challenges, because no other university will.”
The UN set a target of achieving the SDGs by 2030: “I regard this as the breakthrough period to end extreme poverty on the continent,” said Sachs, “and for Africa to become one of the most dynamic centres of the world economy.”
It is a critical time for South African universities, said Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, deputy vice-chancellor for research and internationalisation at UCT: “Higher education is at a crossroads, and there is much polarisation. We need to think carefully about how this sustainable development agenda is owned by all so that it is inclusionary.”
There was also strong emphasis on public–private partnerships – for universities, business and government to work together to achieve the goals.
Said Professor Francis Petersen, deputy vice-chancellor at UCT and vice-chancellor designate at the University of the Free State: “Business sustainability has become critical, because there is increasing demand and complexity of demand on business from the natural, social and economic environment. Sustainability cannot be a standalone issue, divorced from business as usual. Sustainability needs to be embedded into business.”
Environmental crises and climate change was also high on the WSF agenda. In his keynote address, Sachs noted the irreversibility of the climate- and environmental-related challenges.
“If we don’t get our act together, we lose the chance of safety,” he said.
Said Professor Mark New, pro vice-chancellor and director of the African Climate and Development Initiative at UCT: “We have a fundamental challenge in responding to climate change, and we must go further than just putting a plaster on a wound. We need to address the deep structural issues, to move from our current model of development into climate-compatible development.”
“This requires researchers to find the evidence for the correct development pathways to take, and then support the ability of policymakers at all levels to enable the shift to climate-compatible development planning.”
Said Dr. Aldo Stroebel, executive director of international relations and cooperation at the NRF, in closing: “We have seen over the past two days an urgency towards the next step of thinking, that critical type of framework that we all must engage with, not only from an academic perspective, but further up into the policy environment and into rural-based environments where one can clearly see the links and effectiveness of the work.”
World Sustainability Awards
The first World Sustainability Award and the first Emerging Sustainability Leader Awards were presented by Prof. Thandi Mgwebi, Director of Research at UWC, and Dr. Franck Vazquez, CEO of MDPI, during the ceremony on 27 January 2017 as part of the gala dinner of the 6th World Sustainability Forum in South Africa.after day one of proceedings of the 2017 World Sustainability Forum South Africa.
Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs and Dr. Sonia Ehrlich Sachs are the joint recipients of the first World Sustainability Award. Jeffrey Sachs is a world-renowned economist and senior United Nations (UN) advisor and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Sonia Sachs is a paediatrician and public health specialist, and director of the Health Centre at the Centre for Sustainable Development, also at Columbia University.
The joint recipients of the first Emerging Sustainability Leader Award are Dr. Esther Ngumbi and Dr. Xiaosong Hu. Esther Ngumbi is a postdoctoral researcher at Auburn University in Alabama USA and serves as a 2015 Clinton Global University Mentor for agriculture. Xiaosong Hu is a professor at the Chongqing University in China and specialises in automotive control systems and mechanical engineering.
The World Sustainability Award and the Emerging Sustainability Leader Awards are funded to encourage new initiatives and developments in sustainability with the ultimate aim of fostering the transition to sustainable practices and societies.
The World Sustainability Award is funded by the MDPI Sustainability Foundation, and included a monetary prize of USD 100,000 to Jeffrey and Sonia Sachs. The Emerging Sustainability Leader Award is funded by the journal Sustainability, awarded to researchers under 40, and included a monetary prize of USD10,000.
Issued jointly by: UCT Global Strategy and Visibility, Research Office, UWC Communications & Media and MDPI AG
Conference photos are free available at: https://sciforum.net/conference/wsf-6/page/175 Photo credit: Matthias Burkhalter
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Carla Bernardo |
Luthando Tyhalibongo |
Matthias Burkhalter |
31 January 2017
Three New Institutional Memberships Established
We are pleased to announce that the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, the University of Manitoba, Canada and the Technical University of Cartagena, Spain, have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from these institutions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
27 January 2017
6th World Sustainability Forum under way in South Africa
The 6th World Sustainability Forum is currently being held at the Cape Sun Hotel until 28 January 2017.
The Forum will showcase the work of internationally renowned researchers and include more than 150 presentations. During the conference dinner, the World Sustainability Award, associated with a US$ 100,000 prize, will be announced, as well as the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award, associated with a US$ 10,000 prize. The prizes are sponsored by the MDPI Sustainability Foundation and Sustainability, an academic open access journal by MDPI.
Here are some pictures from the forum so far:
To see the full WSF2017 program and schedule, please see here: https://sciforum.net/conference/wsf-6/page/schedule
19 January 2017
Cape Town to Host the 6th World Sustainability Forum
Cape Town will host the 6th World Sustainability Forum at the Cape Sun Hotel on 27 and 28 January 2017. This prominent event, held for the first time in Africa, will include many illustrious South African and international experts, such as Her Excellency Graça Machel (Sustainable Development Advocate for the United Nations, Mozambique), Joyene Isaacs (HoD Agriculture Western Cape Government), Jeffrey Sachs (Columbia University, USA), Max Bergman (SRaM, University of Basel), Mark New (Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of Cape Town), Frans Swanepoel (FutureAfrica, University of Pretoria) and Francis Petersen (Vice-Chancellor-designate, University of the Free State). The Forum will provide a stage for national and international debates on sustainability in South Africa, the African continent, and about international perspectives on sustainability. It brings together researchers and representatives from government and the business sector to discuss a wide-ranging set of issues associated with sustainability, including food security, water and energy scarcity, mining, poverty reduction, climate change, and urbanisation.
The next few decades will be marked by profound changes in the relationships between global economics, national societies, and the environment. We have entered what some call the Anthropocene, an age in which human activity dominates the climate and the environment. These changes will have numerous consequences on societies around the globe. South Africa and Africa will play a central role, for better or worse, in creating opportunities and risks during these changing times as Africa is profoundly influencing and being influenced by global developments.
The adoption of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015 was accompanied by what insiders considered an optimism they have not experienced in relation to UN resolutions before. The relative efficiency in the drafting, the lack of trenches between East and West, or between North and South, and the unanimity of support of the 193 countries speak volumes. In stark contrast, sustainability seems to go against a changing economic and political tide, where waves of nationalism and protectionism from some of the most powerful countries risk the wellbeing of the rest of the world. The 6th World Sustainability Forum will enable fruitful exchanges, which sensitise South African and international communities to the global urgency and specifics of sustainability.
The Forum will showcase the work of internationally renowned researchers and include more than 150 presentations. During the conference dinner, the World Sustainability Award, associated with a US$ 100 000 prize, will be announced, as well as the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award, associated with a US$ 10 000 prize. The prizes are sponsored by the MDPI Sustainability Foundation and Sustainability, an academic open access journal by MDPI. The World Sustainability Forum is preceded by the Postgraduate Forum on Sustainability, which will introduce more than 100 young scholars from South Africa and the African continent to sustainability research. Both events are organized and sponsored by the University of Cape Town, the University of the Western Cape, the University of Basel, MDPI, and by the National Research Foundation of South Africa.
Contacts:
Scientific Matters: Prof Manfred Max Bergman, Social Research and Methodology Group (SRaM), University of Basel, Switzerland; Email: [email protected]
Press Accreditation and General Enquiries: Mr Matthias Burkhalter, MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland; Email: [email protected]; Tel. +41 61 683 77 34
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6 January 2017
MDPI Supports the OA2020 Initiative
MDPI is now a proud supporter of the OA2020 Initiative.
Open Access 2020 is an international initiative that aims to induce the swift, smooth and scholarly-oriented transformation of today’s scholarly journals from subscription to open access publishing.
MDPI is participating in the upcoming Berlin13 conference in March 2017, where we are contributing to the initiative by aiding in the design of the roadmap which will make OA the default publishing model.
For more information please see here.
5 January 2017
Three New Institutional Memberships Established
We are pleased to announce that the University of Texas at Arlington, USA, the Harbin Institute of Technology, China and TU Darmstadt, Germany, have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from these institutions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
22 December 2016
Happy Festive Season!
Season's greetings from everyone at MDPI!
22 December 2016
Two New Institutional Memberships Established
We are pleased to announce that the Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Germany and the University of California, Berkeley, USA, have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from these instititions will benefit from a 10% disc