Announcements
19 August 2024
MDPI’s 2023 Young Investigator Awards—Winners Announced
13 August 2024
Interview with Dr. Davide Raffaelli—Winner of the Agronomy 2024 Travel Award
We are pleased to announce the winner of the Agronomy 2024 Travel Award—Dr. Davide Raffaelli.
Name: Dr. Davide Raffaelli
Affiliation: Università Politecnica delle Marche, Italy
We would like to thank the award committee for selecting one winner from a large number of exceptional candidates, Dr. Davide Raffaelli. We will continue to reward scholars with the Travel Award to express our acknowledgment of their support for our journal Agronomy (ISSN: 2073-4395). We wish them every success in their careers.
The following is a short interview with Dr. Davide Raffaelli:
1. How did you become interested in your current area of research?
I’ve always loved agriculture since I was a child. With my Ph.D. project, I had the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and tackle the crucial challenges connected to the abuse of water in the agricultural sector, which is the most urgent issue faced by our current rural economy.
2. What are the struggles that come with being an early career researcher?
As an early researcher, I found it challenging to find the funding to properly run experimental trials.
3. Could you describe any particularly interesting or unexpected results that you have discovered in your research so far?
The most meaningful result I’ve seen so far is that a proper analysis of the growing substrate (e.g., pF values) could help us optimize water usage during the cultivation process.
4. What is the most valuable lesson you have learned so far?
Currently, there is a lack of knowledge of “good agricultural practices”. Using modern devices, coupled with researchers’ interventions, will optimize this sector.
5. What is your motivation for research?
I’d like to adapt my scientific knowledge to “everyday life”, to refine the concept of “sustainability” in our society.
6. We hope that the travel award will open new opportunities for you. How does an Award like this one help to support the career of a young/early career researcher such as yourself?
These initiatives are so important for young researchers. The prize will help me to participate in international conferences and to publicize my results.
7. As a successful young investigator, what advice would you give to early career researchers who are just beginning their careers?
My suggestion is to visit other research groups. Creating new connections will help you deepen your understanding of your chosen research topic.
8. What qualities do you think young scientists need?
Passion, determination, an ability to interact with others, and open-mindedness.
9. What are your plans for the future, and how do you hope to build upon your current work?
My plan is to teach the younger generations. I would like also to help bring innovations to other sectors, like private companies.
10. As the winner of this award, would you like to take a moment to share your thoughts with the readers, or express gratitude towards those who have played a significant role in your research accomplishments?
I want to express my gratitude to my mentors: Prof. Bruno Mezzetti, Prof. Franco Capocasa, Prof. Luca Mazzoni, Prof. Silvia Sabbadini, and Dr. Francesca Balducci. Secondly, I want to extend my thanks to my colleagues, because they continuously present me with new ideas and challenges: Dr. Valeria Pergolotti, Dr. Federica Mecozzi, Dr. Micol Marcellini, Dr. Giammarco Giovanetti, Dr. Rohullah Qaderi, Dr. Luca Capriotti, Dr. Angela Ricci, Dr. Irene Piunti, and Dr. Maria Victoria Sunico. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the Agronomy Editorial Office for showing their appreciation of my work. I hope we can forge new collaborations in the future.
“Having a cohesive and stimulating working group is essential to conducting scientific research.”
13 August 2024
Interview with Dr. Maria K. Sakka—Winner of the Agronomy 2024 Travel Award
We are pleased to announce the winner of the Agronomy 2024 Travel Award—Dr. Maria K. Sakka.
Name: Dr. Maria K. Sakka
Affiliation: University of Thessaly, Greece
We would like to thank the award committee for selecting one winner from a large number of exceptional candidates, Dr. Maria K. Sakka. We will continue to reward scholars with the Travel Award to express our acknowledgment of their support for our journal Agronomy (ISSN: 2073-4395). We wish them every success in their careers.
The following is a short interview with Dr. Maria K. Sakka:
1. How did you become interested in your current area of research?
My undergraduate-level participation in entomology courses piqued my interest in the subject. As a result, I knew that for my master's studies, I wanted to work with insects. I finished my master's thesis on mosquitoes in the Laboratory of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology of the University of Thessaly under the supervision of Professor Christos Athanasiou. The completion of my master's gave me the motivation to continue my studies and earn a Ph.D., which led me to study stored-product insects. My main goal is to contribute to the knowledge of insects associated with economic damage in insect processing and storage areas, which is a challenging topic for me.
2. What are the struggles that come with being an early career researcher?
The challenges of an early career researcher are mostly related to funding issues and difficulty finding good mentorship. In particular, if you don’t have the second one you will be alone in an “ocean” of research issues that need to be handled.
3. Could you describe any particularly interesting or unexpected results that you have discovered in your research so far?
During my Ph.D. studies, we researched the phosphine resistance of different stored-product insect species. The interesting part of this research was that we collected more than 350 different stored-product insect species to use in our experiments. This was the largest variety of insect species collected for research purposes in any study I have participated in thus far.
4. What is the most valuable lesson you have learned so far?
On the research level, I would say that the most valuable lesson is to trust the process, put in the hard work and time, and enjoy every step until the final result.
5. What is your motivation for research?
I have grown passionate about stored-product insects, and it fascinates me to work in and contribute to this field. This research work and its processes have helped me to develop both as a scientist and as a person.
6. We hope that the travel award will open new opportunities for you. How does an award like this one help to support the career of a young/early career researcher such as yourself?
I would like to thank the award committee once again for selecting me as the winner of the Agronomy 2024 Travel Award! It is always very nice for your work to be acknowledged and to have the opportunity to participate in a conference and present the results of your research. The experience gained from such a procedure is vital and restores one’s motivation batteries for the next research endeavor.
7. As a successful young investigator, what advice would you give to early career researchers who are just beginning their careers?
For me, every study has its ups and downs, and you will learn valuable lessons from both. Move forward and stay focused.
8. What qualities do you think young scientists need?
Nothing more than a passion for their job!
9. What are your plans for the future, and how do you hope to build upon your current work?
Currently, I have a postdoc position at the University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece. I hope that in the future I will further contribute to the field of stored-product insect species and continue on this path.
10. 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?
Firstly, I want to say from my heart that I am happy about winning this award! Secondly, one person who played a significant role in my career is Professor Christos Athanassiou, and I would like to thank him for allowing me to work with him from my first career steps until now. Last but not least, thank you to my family for supporting and believing in me throughout my professional journey. Thank you all!
13 August 2024
Interview with Dr. Dariusz Gozdowski—Winner of the Agronomy 2023 Outstanding Reviewer Award
We are pleased to announce the winner of Agronomy 2023 Outstanding Reviewer Award—Dr. Dariusz Gozdowski.
Name: Dr. Dariusz Gozdowski
Affiliation: Department of Biometry, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
We would like to thank the award committee for selecting one winner from a large number of exceptional candidates, Dr. Dariusz Gozdowski. We will continue to reward scholars with the Outstanding Reviewer Award to express our acknowledgment of their support for our journal Agronomy (ISSN: 2073-4395). We wish them every success in their careers.
The following is a short interview with Dr. Dariusz Gozdowski:
1. How did you become interested in your current area of research?
In 1999, I graduated in agronomical studies, obtaining an M.Sc. in agronomy at Warsaw University of Life Sciences (Poland), and I decided to continue my education and begin my research as a Ph.D. student at the same university. I was always interested in research, not only in relation to agronomy but also in terms of data analysis. Curiosity about the world and the need to gain knowledge and learn new things caused me to engage in scientific research. Due to the fact that I come from a farm located in a small village, studying agronomy was a natural choice for me. In addition, I have always had developed mathematical abilities, which in turn meant that data analysis has always played a large role in my scientific development.
2. What are the struggles that come with being an early career researcher?One of the struggles I faced as an early career researcher was the very low scholarship salary during my Ph.D. studies. In general, a scientific career is usually very slow because it demands long-lasting experiments, especially in agronomical studies. Achieving scientific degrees and positions usually takes much more time in comparison to other types of jobs.
3. Could you describe any particularly interesting or unexpected results that you have discovered in your research so far?
One of the most interesting results I have observed is the detection of strong relationships between winter crop condition at early growth stages, in very early spring or even in late autumn, with grain yield. This was observed based on satellite-derived vegetation indices at a regional level for central Europe.
4. What is the most valuable lesson you have learned so far in your career?
A scientist should have limited trust in many things, including the experimental data they themselves have collected, as well as the results of other scientists—even those published in reputable journals. This allows for a critical approach to research and helps to avoid errors, including the repetition of previous errors, which sometimes happens in scientific research.
5. What is your motivation for research?
My motivation comes from developing my own knowledge and skills, developing my scientific career, and participating in interesting scientific projects which make my professional work more interesting and satisfying.
6. We hope that the Outstanding Reviewer Award will open new opportunities for you. How does an award like this one help to support the career of a researcher such as yourself?
This award provides motivation for greater involvement in the preparation of peer-reviewed scientific articles and shows an appreciation of one’s involvement in such work in the past. It increases researchers’ motivation to participate in scientific work, including in the peer-review processes.
7. As a successful researcher, what advice would you give to early career researchers who are just beginning their careers?
Scientific work requires patience because scientific development is usually slow and takes a lot of time. You should not expect to reach a very high scientific level in one or two years. It requires many small steps, but after many years the effects will be visible. It is important not to give up after various setbacks; for example, the rejection of a manuscript by a scientific journal or rejection of a scientific project application. Success will come sooner or later if we constantly strive for it and do not give up.
8. What qualities do you think young scientists need?
Most scientific activities require many skills and increasingly broad knowledge. For example, in the case of agronomic research, these may not only be things related to plant cultivation, plant physiology, and soil science, but also a range of skills related to data analysis and statistical analysis. In my case, knowledge of geographic information systems and the ability to analyze remote sensing data have also proven helpful. Recently, data analysis has become increasingly complex, often necessitating the use of AI techniques, and it is necessary to keep up with this.
9. What are your plans for the future, and how do you hope to build upon your current work?
A large part of my scientific work has always been statistical data analysis. Currently, increasingly advanced methods are being used for this purpose, including machine learning. This requires acquiring more and more knowledge and applying it in scientific research. It is difficult to precisely determine in what direction the development of AI in agronomy will go. It will probably include the use of AI to classify various plant pathogens, weeds, diseases and pests. Precision agriculture, which has been a significant research focus for many years, will become even more precise and will probably include diagnostics regarding plant conditions and very precise protection strategies. I think that my future research goals may be related to the increasing use of various AI techniques in data analysis and classification.
10. 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?
Scientific work has long required the cooperation of multidisciplinary teams. In my case, this is particularly relevant, as I work with many teams analyzing different data. Of course, each person from each team is very important, and on this occasion, I would like to thank everyone for their conflict-free and effective cooperation.
7 August 2024
MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter #14 - New Headquarters, Marketing, Poland
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 Moves to New Headquarters in Basel, Switzerland
I am excited to share that MDPI has moved to a new state-of-the-art office space in Basel, Switzerland. This move consolidates our operations by bringing together our two previously separated Basel offices into one central location.
We are always growing our talent pool and encourage you to view our Careers Page for the positions available in Basel and across our offices.
New Address: Grosspeteranlage 5, CH-4052 Basel, Switzerland
Effective Date: 1 July 2024
This new chapter in our company’s journey is designed to continue our mission of positioning MDPI as a leader in Open Access (OA) publishing, highlighting our commitment to making scholarly research accessible to everyone.
Boasting modern amenities, improved meeting and event spaces designed to support our growing needs, the new location provides a more collaborative and efficient working environment for our employees. The location offers convenient accessibility to public transportation and is situated near the Basel SBB railway station, with a variety of nearby services and amenities.
In fact, I can see the trains right outside of my window as I write these lines!
This move marks an exciting milestone in MDPI’s development, and I am confident that the new headquarters will serve as an inspiring and productive space for everyone. We also very much look forward to welcoming visitors here. You can read more about MDPI's history here.
“This new chapter continues our mission of positioning MDPI as a leader in OA publishing”
For Those New to MDPI
A pioneer in scholarly, Open Access publishing, MDPI has supported academic communities since 1996. MDPI is leading the transition to Open Science by making a greater proportion of the research conducted worldwide free and accessible to everyone. To date, over 3.5 million researchers have entrusted MDPI with publishing their scientific discoveries. MDPI’s editorial process is bolstered by a network of dedicated reviewers, a team of 6,000 professional, well-trained staff members, and an in-house article submission platform designed to ensure efficient processes within its 440 fully Open Access titles. MDPI supports more than 800 academic institutions worldwide, helping them adhere to national mandates while facilitating authors’ publication in fully compliant (CC BY) Open Access journals.
Impactful Research
New and Emerging MDPI Journals Making an Immediate Impact
Unpacking some of the Impact Factor updates from the June CEO Letter, I wanted to dive a little deeper into the 137 MDPI journals which received Impact Factor for the first time.
Academic authors highly value efficient publishing processes, robust editorial support, and the opportunity to publish in high-impact journals. We are proud that our newly launched journals typically achieve coverage in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) of the Web of Science within just a few years, with a median time of only three years from release to inclusion.
As part of our commitment to advancing academic research and providing high-quality OA publishing, we actively seek new research areas to expand our portfolio of journals. We have a proven track record of successfully establishing new journals.
Our dedicated teams excel in fostering dynamic editorial boards and working closely with Editors-in-Chief (EiC) to define the precise scope and focus of each new journal. Our expertise extends to collaborating with indexing services, ensuring that our journals comply with best practices and are indexed promptly in all relevant databases.
Emerging Titles Ranked for the First Time
Our commitment to excellence is reflected in the annual impact metrics released this past June. The latest edition of the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) showcases the integration of journals from the ESCI in the new unified category rankings, providing a simplified and more complete view of all journals within each subject category, including newly established titles.
Out of 137 new and developing MDPI journals ranked in the 2024 release, 79 are in the top half (Q1 or Q2) of their categories. Here is a breakdown of the number of MDPI’s ESCI-indexed journals by quartile in the JCR:
| Quartile | No. of journals |
| Q1 | 17 (12.4%) |
| Q2 | 62 (45.3%) |
| Q3 | 43 (31.4%) |
| Q4 | 15 (10.9%) |
| Not ranked (humanities-related journals) | 2 |
These rankings highlight our success in rapidly establishing high-impact new journals. Among those that made it directly into the top 25% of their category are the International Journal of Neonatal Screening, Journal of Xenobiotics, Polysaccharides, Smart Cities, and thirteen other journals.
You can browse MDPI journals by Indexing. Simply visit our Journals page and select from the list of Indexing bodies in the top left-hand corner.
Inside MDPI
MDPI Corporate Marketing Strategy and Team Meeting 2024
In July, I hosted the annual Corporate Marketing strategy and team-building activity with 15 of our team members.
The aim was to align the Corporate Marketing strategy with MDPI's goal of becoming the world's most trusted OA publisher. While we provide a high-level publishing experience for our authors, as seen from our surveys, we need to keep building on our transparent and open communication to foster trust within the scholarly community and continue enhancing our reputation.
The Corporate Marketing team plays an important role as the mouthpiece for all our major activities within MDPI, especially those that model what it means to be a trusted partner. The purpose of the strategy meeting was to develop a feeling of trust in one another and an understanding of how to inspire trust in the stakeholders with whom we interact.
“We need to keep building on our transparent and open communication to foster trust within the scholarly community”
We conducted a set of activities to facilitate that sense of mutual trust and trustworthiness. Examples of some activities we worked on during this strategy-building event include:
- Exploring what trust means
- ‘Letter to self’
- ‘The brand I most trust’
- Most Trusted Academic Publisher
- ‘The brand I would like MDPI to become’
- ‘The 2029 MDPI Annual Report’
- Voice of Customer and Share of Voice – survey/data update on MDPI Brand Experience and Brand Perception
- Integrate Trust-Based Objective into Marketing Plan
- ‘Becoming the MDPI experience’
- ‘Trusting the next steps’
While two days is not enough to finalize a marketing strategy, it is sufficient to get everyone who attended into the mindset of the direction in which we are working. From here, we will develop a program with next steps on main projects, update communications, and collaborate with team leads to incorporate this approach into our work going forward.
As a marketing team, we can communicate our messages, but trust has to be built at every touchpoint in the stakeholder journey. Just talking about it isn’t enough. We need to be about it. That’s a role each of us plays, from editorial to IT, from marketing to HR. We must build trust from the inside out. It starts with each manager and resonates out via every team member.
As a company, our goal is to give all stakeholders with whom we interact – whether internal or external – the experience of working with an organization it can trust.
Coming Together for Science
MDPI in Poland: Krakow Office
In July, I had the pleasure of visiting our Krakow office, following my recent trip to Warsaw to meet with the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
During these visits, I prioritized meeting with our Office Manager, Editorial Director, Group Leads, and members from various teams, including editorial, production, marketing, and journal relationship specialists, to understand their roles and current challenges. Instead of a formal presentation, I opted for an open discussion, sharing updates from headquarters to engage with colleagues in a more personal way.
Our Krakow office has many things to be proud of, including a large number of PhD colleagues (over a third of its staff holds a PhD degree). Krakow provides an opportunity for expanding beyond the 100 colleagues we currently have, by adding new hires in departments including editorial, production and marketing, among others.
About our Krakow office
- Opened in 2020
- 99 staff members as at 1 August 2024
- Main Departments include Editorial, Production, English Department, JRS, PR
Our Krakow office participates in international conferences, conducts author trainings and scholar visits, and engages in local market outreach. The office is also a member of the Polish Chamber of Commerce for High Technology (IZTECH) and is working on expanding its local engagement.
Krakow is the second-largest city in Poland, with a population of about 800,000. It also has a large student population of around 128,000, with seven universities. This means that roughly one in every eight residents is a student.
Poland and MDPI
Poland is a crucial market for MDPI. From 2020 to June 2024, Poland ranked 7th in submissions and 5th in publications for MDPI research articles. As at 31 July 2024, Poland ranks 7th in total MDPI publications, with approximately 70,000 research papers.
Between 2020 and June 2024, 61,500 authors from Poland published with MDPI. As at 30 June 2024, there are 1,205 active Editorial Board Members (EBMs) from Poland, with 661 EBMs (55% of the total) having an H-index over 25.
We also have four Editors-in-Chief (EiC) from Poland leading our journals: Coatings, Venereology, Advances in Respiratory Medicine, and Limnological Review, along with six Section EiC.
In 2023, we received approximately 21,000 submissions from Polish-affiliated authors, of which 12,032 were published.
“Poland is a crucial market for MDPI”
Meeting with Ministry of Education
On 22 July, we visited Warsaw to meet with the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
We were pleased to learn that they are strong supporters of the OA publishing model and value MDPI’s approach to the peer-review process, including our high ethical standards for quality control.
In 2023 Polish authors predominantly published their papers in OA, with MDPI holding the largest market share in OA publications within the country.
Our commitment to collaborating with Polish institutions is evident through our 33 Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) agreements with prestigious institutions such as the University of Warsaw, the University of Wroclaw, the Jagiellonian University, and Gdańsk University of Technology. Through IOAP discounts, a healthy waiver rate, and our peer-review voucher system, we provide the Polish scholarly community with significant savings in OA publishing. The Minister greatly appreciated these efforts and our commitment to offsetting some of the APC costs.
We discussed industry concerns about the threat of papermills and presented the preventive measures MDPI has in place to mitigate this risk and uphold high ethical standards. We informed them of our commitment to combating papermills, including our involvement with United2Act and the STM Research Integrity Hub, as well as our efforts to expand our research integrity team and explore proactive measures.
Closing Thoughts
MDPI Thought Leadership Op-ed on Open Access is Now Live on Politico
I am pleased to share that our thought leadership Op-ed piece on Open Access (OA) is now live on Politico. This is a nice push for continued influence and support of OA among policymakers and industry leaders.
Why Politico?
Politico's reputation as a highly credible and influential news platform makes it an important venue to reach key opinion leaders (KOL) from academia, policymakers, and thought leaders from many industries. This visibility helps promote the OA philosophy.
Open Access: A Moral Imperative for Progress
In this piece, I discuss the necessity of making scientific research freely available to all. I argue that publicly funded research should be publicly accessible, highlighting how OA democratizes scientific knowledge, accelerates research availability, and fosters collaboration.
“Open Access is a fundamental right for all citizens”
Democratizing scientific communication
The impulse to democratize scientific communication is nothing new. OA may seem like a recent innovation, but its principles have historical roots traceable to Europe in the 15th century. Just as the printing revolution accelerated the dissemination of new ideas, OA publishing unlocks new scientific insights that would otherwise only be accessible to a few.
Benefits for scholars: amplifying impact through Open Access
Authors publishing in an OA journal can expect more citations of their work, increasing its potential impact. Research findings that are freely available are more likely to be cited than those hidden behind a paywall. Freedom of access greatly increases the potential audience for each paper, fostering a sense of community among researchers worldwide. Heightened visibility can attract prospective collaborators and employers for young scientists. At MDPI, we believe that all these factors can only accelerate the advance of science. Additionally, authors retain copyright in their work instead of signing it away, permitting broader dissemination under Creative Commons licenses and increasing its capacity for impact.
The moral imperative
OA is not just a matter of scientific policy; it is a fundamental right for all citizens and a prerequisite for a brighter, more informed future. Publicly funded research should be a top priority, and I am pleased to see policy moving in this direction. Our capacity to generate transformative scientific insights has to be democratized. The question today is no longer whether we can afford to embrace OA; rather, it is whether we can afford not to.
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
6 August 2024
Join Us at “MDPI Open Access—An Author Training Program”, 2 October 2024, the Agri-Food Research and Technology Centre of Aragon (CITA), Zaragoza, Spain
Three MDPI journals – Animals (ISSN: 2076-2615), Agronomy (ISSN: 2073-4395), and Foods (ISSN: 2304-8158) – are collaborating with the Agri-Food Research and Technology Centre of Aragon (CITA) to hold an author training session. This session will provide authors with a comprehensive understanding of MDPI's publishing process, current Special Issues in these journals, and opportunities tailored for different author groups. Academic editors will run the session, ensuring that participants gain the knowledge needed to maximize their publishing potential.
Date: 2 October 2024
Time: 11:30–13:00
Venue: The Agri-Food Research and Technology Centre of Aragon
Registration link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6QB2H9L
Schedule:
|
Time |
Program and Content |
Speaker |
|
11:00–11:45 |
Introduction to MDPI, Animals journal and Editorial Process |
Ms. Paula Navarro |
|
11:45–12:15 |
How to Reply to Reviewers and Scientific Writing |
Mr. Iñigo Aristizábal |
|
12:15–13:00 |
Discussion after Presentation |
|
MDPI speakers:
|
Speaker |
Biography |
|
|
Ms. Paula Navarro is a biotechnologist with more than 6 years of experience in the scientific publishing industry. She joined MDPI in January 2018 and, after holding several roles (Assistant Editor, Section Managing Editor, Group Leader), she currently works as a Journal Relations Specialist for five journals: Genes, Antibodies, Dietetics, Epigenomes, and JMAHP. In recent years, she has organized and attended numerous online and in-person meetings with scholars. She has also attended several international conferences as MDPI’s representative. |
|
|
Mr. Iñigo Aristizabal is a biochemist with strong expertise in the academic publishing industry. He joined MDPI’s Barcelona office as an Assistant Editor in November 2017 and has worked as a Section Managing Editor and a Journal Relations Specialist, primarily for Genes, Cardiogenetics, DNA, and J—Multidisciplinary Scientific Journal, helping these journals with scholarly meetings and booth attendance at both virtual and in-person conferences. |
2 August 2024
MDPI Romania Author Training Sessions in May
In May, MDPI Romania held three author training sessions – one endorsing an external event and two stand-alone sessions.
The National Session of Scientific Student Communications took place at Technical University Cluj on 17 and 18 May 2024. MDPI Romania sponsored this event and contributed an author training session on the production of research papers and case study analyses. JRS Norbert Kiss gave a presentation called The World of Open Access to explain different open access publishing models and the benefits of open access publishing. His presentation highlighted the impact of open access publishing on scientific progress and innovation.
On 29 May 2024, MDPI Romania hosted an author training session for Ph.D. students, early career researchers, and professors at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy. In collaboration with Prof. Andreea Arsene, JRS Ioana Paunescu prepared two presentations: The Steps of the Publishing Process and Elaboration of a Peer Review Report. In her first presentation, she delved into MDPI’s history and mission, MDPI’s editorial process, and MDPI journals of various scopes that are accepting submissions. Her second presentation outlined the types of peer review, the contents of a peer review report by an MDPI reviewer, and the responsibilities of an MDPI reviewer.
MDPI Romania also hosted an author training session at the Iasi University of Life Sciences on 29 May 2024. JRSs Laurentiu Preda and Cosmin Artan gave four presentations: Efficient Writing of an ISI-Indexed Scientific Article, Benefits of Publishing in the Open Access Model, Various Methods of Open Access Publishing, and MDPI Guide for the Article Review Process. The first three presentations offered guidance on how to improve academic writing, the fourth focused on how to write peer review reports. A highly interactive discussion followed the presentations, during which the JRSs provided extensive answers to attendees’ questions.
MDPI is grateful for all the attendees, speakers, and organizers involved in these events. Through their enthusiasm and dedication, these events were great successes.
24 July 2024
Meet Us at the 2024 Asian Plant Pathology Congress and Annual Academic Meeting of the Chinese Society of Plant Pathology, 3–7 August 2024, Changchun, China
19 July 2024
Meet Us at the Plant Genomics in China XXII, 19–22 August 2024, Hainan, China
10 July 2024
MDPI's Newly Launched Journals in June 2024
Five new journals covering multiple subjects have launched their inaugural issue in June 2024. We are excited to be able to share with you the newest research rooted in the value of open access.
We would like to express our deepest appreciation to all the Editorial Board Members and each journal will ensure its high-quality output using excellent editorial and rigorous peer review processes, to ensure that the articles achieve high impact and visibility.
Please feel free to browse and discover more about the new journals below.
|
Journal |
Founding Editor-in-Chief |
Journal Topics (Selected) |
 |
Prof. Dr. Marco Ranucci, IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, Italy |
anaesthetic medications; blood and fluid management; pain management; critical care; critical illness | view journal scope | submit an article |
 |
Dr. Giovanni E. Cacciamani, University of Southern California, USA |
surgical/procedural complications; complications; perioperative adverse events; postoperative adverse events | view journal scope | submit an article |
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Prof. Dr. Gassan Hodaifa, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Spain |
laboratory management; laboratory safety; protective equipment; laboratory problems and challenges; laboratory Innovation | view journal scope | submit an article |
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Prof. Dr. Jan S. Suchodolski, Texas A&M University, USA |
companion animals health and disease; veterinary care and nutrition; genetics and genomics; behavior and welfare; human-animal relations | view journal scope | submit an article |
 |
Prof. Dr. Pierfrancesco De Paola, University of Naples Federico II, Italy |
real estate appraisal; economic and financial valuation of real estate projects; sustainable real estate; housing and urban economics | view journal scope | submit an article |
We wish to thank everyone who has supported the development of open access publishing. You are welcome to send an application here, or contact the New Journal Committee (newjournal-committee@mdpi.com) if you would like to create more new journals.
