Announcements

The European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming (ECPLF) is a biennial conference that brings together leading experts, researchers, and professionals from around the world to present the latest advances in research, technology, and innovation in the field of precision livestock farming (PLF). The objective is to bring together experts from both the technology and animal science sectors.

This edition is dedicated to sharing scientific developments on animal monitoring systems using sensors and other technologies, under the theme “Improving animal life”.

PLF makes use of sensors, sensing techniques, and other digital technologies to collect real-time information on individuals or groups of animals and their environment, allowing the implementation of decision-support tools for farmers, veterinarians, and other stakeholders in the livestock sector. It targets all animal production systems and species where knowledge, technological innovation, and digital tools are essential. This includes companion, zoo, wildlife, lab, and sport species, as well as their interactions with humans.

This innovative approach aligns with sustainable and ethical animal science, production, and research, contributes to protecting animal health, enhances animal welfare, increases production traceability, and optimizes profitability across all animal species.

Due to its transversal nature, PLF integrates diverse and complementary professional profiles including animal science, agricultural engineering, veterinary science, and biology, with approaches oriented towards the use of technologies and computational and data science to monitor animals and manage the farming systems. This diversity is also reflected in the conference participants, who represent multiple disciplines and perspectives.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• AgriEngineering;
• Agriculture;
• Poultry;
• Sensors;
• Grasses;
• Animals;
• Methane.

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to start an online conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person at the conference and answering any questions that you may have. For more information about this event, please visit the following website: https://www.ecplf2026.com/.

We are pleased to announce that the abstract submission deadline for the 2026 International Conference on Agriculture Sciences: Agroecology and Sustainable Systems (ICAS 2026) has been extended to 3 August 2026.
Organized by MDPI journals Agriculture and Agronomy, this in-person conference provides a platform for leading agricultural science researchers and leading experts to present and discuss their insights pertinent to developments across the following cutting-edge topics:
S1. Pest Management in Farming for Sustainable Systems;
S2. Crop Rotation and Management - An Agroecological Approach;
S3. Fertility Management in Sustainable Agricultural Systems;
S4. Biostimulants and Biocontrols for Use in Sustainable Systems;
S5. Agroecology and Precision Agriculture;
S6. Economics of Regenerative and Sustainable Farming Systems;
S7. Agroecological approaches to soil management.

Oral and poster presentation opportunities:
Please submit an abstract of your research by 3 August 2026 here: https://sciforum.net/event/ICAS2026?section=#instructions.

Please also register by 4 September 2026 to secure the early-bird rate for the event: https://sciforum.net/event/ICAS2026?section=#registration.

Event details:
Event Date: 21–23 October 2026
Location: Bologna, Italy
Venue: DISTAL, University of Bologna

Latest schedule:
New abstract submission deadline: 3 August 2026;
New abstract acceptance notification: 28 August 2026;
Early-Bird registration deadline: 4 September 2026.

We look forward to hearing your insights in Bologna!

Peer review is the invisible foundation of academic progress. The 2025 MDPI Top Reviewers are some of the key experts who helped build it.

We are honored to recognize 1000 individuals from our global community of 210,000 reviewers across 67 countries and territories—chosen for their commitment to rigorous, constructive peer review and the consistency of their contributions throughout 2025.

The Top Reviewers provided constructive and impartial feedback that makes research stronger and more impactful, and we are grateful for it.

The names of these reviewers are listed below in alphabetical order by first name:

(Note: we respected all privacy preferences, with part of nominees opting for limited attribution.)

1. Could you briefly introduce yourself to the readers? Also, can you introduce your current research direction and provide an update on your progress?
I am a Professor at the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), Brazil, where my research focuses on weed science, particularly herbicide resistance, mechanisms of action, and integrated weed management. My research group combines physiological, biochemical, molecular, and ecological approaches to better understand herbicide selectivity and resistance evolution in weeds. We also investigate herbicide dynamics in the environment and application technologies to improve weed control efficacy and reduce environmental impacts. In recent years, we have expanded international collaborations and advanced studies aimed at promoting more resilient and sustainable agricultural systems.

2. As the winner of this award, would you like to take a moment to share your thoughts with our readers or express gratitude towards those who have played a significant role in your research accomplishments?
Receiving this award is a great honor and an encouragement to continue pursuing impactful research. First and foremost, I am deeply grateful to my mentors, family, collaborators, and students, whose support and dedication have been fundamental throughout my academic journey.
I would also like to acknowledge the institutions that shaped my career, including Universidad Autónoma Chapingo (UACh), Mexico, and the University of Córdoba (UCO), Spain, which were central to my scientific training. Following my doctoral studies, I further developed my research career at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) and São Paulo State University (UNESP) before joining the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), where I currently serve as a professor.
Finally, I gratefully acknowledge the support of CAPES, CNPq, FAPESP, and MICINN (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain), whose scholarships and research grants have been essential to advancing my research and fostering international collaboration.
This recognition reflects the collective efforts of many people and institutions committed to advancing agricultural science.
 
3. How did you hear about this award, and how supportive might this kind of award be for researchers?
I became aware of the award through the journal’s communications. Awards such as this play an important role in recognizing scientific excellence while increasing the visibility of researchers, their research groups, and institutions. They also inspire early-career scientists and encourage the development of innovative research with broad societal impact.

4. Do you have any suggestions for how our journal could further support young researchers and the academic community?
Agriculture and MDPI already make important contributions to the research community through open access publishing, participation in scientific events, Special Issues, and reviewer programs that actively engage researchers. Additional initiatives, such as mentorship programs and webinars on scientific publishing, could further support early-career development. The first years of an academic career are often particularly challenging, and such initiatives can provide valuable support to emerging researchers as they establish their independent research programs.

5. Which research topics do you think are of particular interest to the research community in the coming years?
In the coming years, herbicide resistance and integrated weed management will remain central challenges for agriculture. Advances in molecular biology and omics technologies are rapidly expanding our understanding of plant responses to herbicides and environmental stresses. Emerging technologies, including precision agriculture, artificial intelligence, bioinputs, and innovative micro- and nanoencapsulated formulations, are expected to reshape crop protection strategies. Climate change adaptation, as well as ensuring food safety and compliance with maximum residue limits, will remain critical priorities for developing resilient and sustainable agricultural systems.

We are pleased to share that Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472) was awarded an increased Impact Factor of 4.5 in the 2025 Journal Citation Reports™ released by Clarivate™ in June 2026. Agriculture ranks in Q1 (16 among 133 titles) in the “Agronomy” category.

The 2025 Journal Impact Factor is calculated by dividing the number of citations received in 2025 to all publications in the journal from 2023 and 2024 by the total number of citable publications from those same years.

To learn more, visit our journal statistics website for detailed metrics.

The support and dedication of all the editors, reviewers, authors, and readers are an integral part of the journal’s performance. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have contributed to the journal.

Conference: The International Association for Food Protection 2026 Annual Meeting
Date: 26–29 July 2026
Location: New Orleans, USA

MDPI will be attending the International Association for Food Protection 2026 Annual Meeting, which will be held from 26 to 29 July 2026 in New Orleans, USA.

This conference, with the core theme of “Exploring the Frontiers of Food Safety and Building a Global Dietary Defense Line Together”, has brought together over 3,500 food industry experts, academic researchers and regulatory officials from more than 60 countries across six continents. They engaged in in-depth exchanges and collaborations on key industry topics. Returning in 2026, IAFP’s highlights include:

• Presenting over 1000 high-quality technical papers, special seminars and poster presentations, covering cutting-edge fields such as microbial risk control, food chemical hazards, allergen management, and low-moisture food sterilization processes;
• Five special pre-conference workshops will be held (from 23–25 July), covering topics such as “AI-driven Cultural Construction for Food Safety: Practical Cases for Professionals” and “Process Selection and Validation for Reducing Pathogens in Low-Humidity Foods and Ingredients”.

The following MDPI journals will be represented at the conference:

If you are planning to attend the conference, we encourage you to visit our booth and speak to our representatives. We are eager to meet you in person and assist you with any queries that you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit the official website: https://www.foodprotection.org/annualmeeting/.

Impact Factors measure how often articles in scientific journals are cited—specifically, the average number of citations received in a given year by articles published in that journal over the previous two years, as tracked in the Web of Science. For researchers, the number answers a practical question: how often is work published in this journal being picked up and built upon?

The metric is assigned to the journal as a whole, not to individual articles. A high Impact Factor tells you something useful about a journal's place in its field; it tells you less about any single paper within it.

For a complementary, article-level view, MDPI lists an Altmetric score on each article page. Where the Impact Factor tracks academic citations, the Altmetric score captures broader online attention: how an article is being shared, discussed, and referenced beyond the journal literature. Together, they offer two different ways of asking the same question: is this research reaching people?

With 2025 CiteScores from Scopus published a few weeks ago, Clarivate has now released this year's Journal Impact Factors in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR).

254 MDPI Journals Saw a Rise in Impact Factor

This year's JCR include 330 MDPI journals across a wide range of disciplines. Of these, 231 journals are placed in the top 50% (Q1 or Q2) of their respective subject categories, a result that spans fields as different as materials science, public health, environmental studies, and mathematics. 78 journals hold a top-quartile position (Q1), and 33 journals have a JIF of 5.0 or above.

• 330 journals earned a Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
• 29 journals earned a first JIF
• 254 journals had an increase in JIF
• 71% of ranked journals are in Q1 or Q2

For the full metrics on any MDPI journal, visit our Web of Science journals overview page or a journal's individual statistics page.

29 MDPI Journals Received Their First Journal Impact Factor

A first Impact Factor is a confirmation for an emerging journal. It marks the point at which a journal has been publishing long enough, and cited broadly enough, to enter the formal record of scientific influence. For the research communities those journals serve, it signals that the work being published is being read and built upon.

This year, 29 MDPI journals received a Journal Impact Factor for the first time, across a range of emerging and established research areas. Each represents years of editorial development and peer review—recognized in 2026 for the first time in the JCR.

This is also part of a longer shift in how science gets indexed. When the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) launched in 2016, 24 MDPI journals were included. By 2024 that number had grown to over 200, reflecting a broader change in the visibility of open access publishing within major citation tracking systems, not just at MDPI but across the sector.

Open Access with Impact

MDPI journals have received a total of 25.2 million citations in Web of Science. That figure matters less as a measure of MDPI's reach and more as a measure of what happens when research is freely available: it gets found, read, and used. Open access is only meaningful if the work actually travels and citations are one indicator that it does.

More than 4.6 million authors have published with MDPI. That breadth, across disciplines, institutions, and geographies, is what makes open access at this scale worth doing.

Thank You to the MDPI Scholarly Community

These results belong to the people who do the actual work: the Editors-in-Chief who set the standards, the Editorial Board Members and reviewers who hold them, and the authors who choose open access for their research. The numbers in the Journal Citation Reports are the downstream effect of decisions made at the desk, in the review, and at submission. Thank you for making them.

Data: 2025 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports™ (Clarivate, 2026)

Plant pathogens cause severe yield losses worldwide and are increasingly exhibiting reduced sensitivity to conventional agrochemicals. Concurrently, climate change and the growing demand for more sustainable agricultural systems are highlighting the urgent need for alternative and/or integrated disease management strategies.

Beneficial microorganisms represent promising eco-friendly solutions capable of reducing dependence on synthetic products. However, the effectiveness of currently available bioformulations may vary according to environmental conditions and crop management practices.

To achieve more efficient, sustainable plant protection, advances in molecular and biotechnological tools can significantly improve the selection and characterization of novel biocontrol products or microbial consortia, in addition to deepening the understanding of their mechanisms of action and optimizing their practical application in crop disease management.

Simplifying regulatory and registration procedures is also essential to accelerate the introduction of innovative and efficient bioproducts in the market in order to promote and adopt more efficient and safer environmental solutions for pest and disease management.

This webinar addresses some important issues in current trends in the biological control of plant diseases.

The first presentation relates to the potential of synthetic microbial communities as innovative tools for the sustainable management of plant diseases:

• Invited Speaker: Dr. Antonino Malacrinò (Clemson University, USA)
• Title Presentation: “Potential Role of Synthetic Microbial Communities in Sustainable Plant Disease Management”

The second contribution explores the use of the well-established Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici–tomato pathosystem as a model to investigate the interactions between fungal pathogens and biocontrol agents”

• Invited Speaker: Prof. Dr. Antonio di Pietro (University of Cordoba, Spain)
• Title Presentation: “Decoding Rhizosphere Multitrophic Networks Linking Fungal Pathogens and Biocontrol Agents in the Fusarium oxysporum–Tomato System”

The third presentation addresses challenges and opportunities in the registration and commercialization of biocontrol products through the case study of YSY®, an innovative bioformulation based on the beneficial yeast Papiliotrema terrestris strain PT22AV:

• Invited Speaker: Dr. Bruno Folchi (AgroVentures srl-llc (Italy-USA))
• Title Presentation: “Global Regulatory and Commercial Development of Microbial Biocontrol Agents—Challenges and Opportunities”

We hope these three contributions will stimulate discussion among attendees, fostering inputs, new insights, and collaborations.

Date and time: 18 June 2026, 10:00 a.m. EDT | 4:00 p.m. CEST
Website: https://sciforum.net/event/Agriculture-6?subscribe

Register now for free:

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information on how to join the webinar. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.

Unable to attend? Please register as the session will be recorded, and we will inform you when the recording is available for viewing.

Webinar Chairs and Speakers:

• Prof. Dr. Antonio Ippolitom, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Italy;
• Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Lima, University of Molise, Italy;
• Dr. Carmine Del Grosso, Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, CNR, Italy;
• Dr. Antonino Malacrinò, Clemson University, Clemson, USA;
• Prof. Dr. Antonio Di Pietro, University of Córdoba, Spain;
• Dr. Bruno Folchi, AgroVentures srl/llc, Italy.

Relevant Call for Papers:
“Biological Control of Plant Diseases: Challenges and Opportunities”
Guest Editors: Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Lima, Prof. Dr. Antonio Ippolito and Dr. Carmine Del Grosso
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 August 2026

For more information about this webinar, please visit the following website: https://sciforum.net/event/Agriculture-6?subscribe.

If you have any questions about this event, please contact agriculture@mdpi.com.

Agriculture Webinar Secretariat

Conference: 5th International Legume Society Conference
Date: 8–12 June 2026
Location: Dubrovnik, Croatia

The ILS5 Conference will share the latest advances and innovations in the field of legumes, learn about the latest industry offerings, and network with colleagues and experts from around the world. The scientific sessions will be rich and diverse, including presentations by international legume experts in breeding and genomics, high-throughput phenotyping, cropping systems, biotic and abiotic stress resistances, health and nutrition, pulse crop value chains, and more.

MDPI will be attending the conference as an exhibitor and warmly invites researchers to visit our booth to discuss their latest research and publishing opportunities with us.

The following open access journals will be represented at the conference:

• Agriculture;
• Crops;
• IJPB;
• Agronomy;
• Seeds;
• Grasses;
• Biology;
• Life.

We look forward to welcoming participants to the MDPI booth and discussing the latest research and publishing opportunities together. For more information about the conference, please visit our official website: 5th International Legume Society Conference.