Announcements

We recently had the opportunity to interview Ms. Sonya McDowall about her paper “The Impact of the Social Determinants of Human Health on Companion Animal Welfare”, which was published in Animals (ISSN: 2076-2615) in 2023 and has received a significant amount of positive feedback from readers.

The following is an interview with Ms. Sonya McDowall:

I worked in the human health sector for 10 years in London, United Kingdom, before returning to Australia to pursue a career change into the veterinary field. I gained experience in veterinary clinical practice and completed my honors degree at the University of Adelaide. During this time, I discovered my passion for research and its potential to create meaningful change, which inspired me to apply for a Ph.D. scholarship at La Trobe University, in partnership with the University of Adelaide, Australia. After receiving the scholarship, I began my Ph.D. journey, focusing on my chosen research area—understanding human–animal bonds. I teach at the University of Adelaide in the Veterinary School and have recently started working in the School of Public Health.
The main goal of my Ph.D. is to help people maintain their relationships with their pets, which is incredibly important. We all go through challenging periods in our lives, and as we face these challenges, our pets are a key relationship and a key source of support to our health and well-being during these hard times. It is important to me to be able to help people look after their pets and maintain their relationships with them in both the good and challenging periods of their lives. I really discovered my veterinary journey and with my human healthcare background, I’ve come to appreciate the connection between human and animal health and understand how deeply humans influence their pets' lives and how similar challenges exist in both the human and veterinary healthcare space.
At present, human health and animal health exist in silos to each other, which creates a gap and limits the support to maintain the human–animal bond. However, if we were able to integrate these two areas to work together in a multidisciplinary way, we would be able to contribute to a healthier society. I am passionate about addressing these challenges because when pets are neglected or poorly cared for and their guardians are not present, it impacts both their happiness and overall well-being. It’s about building a more sustainable community, sustainable wellness, and health for humans and animals. By including pets, we can create a more inclusive approach to the healthcare system as a whole. We need to find a way that we can talk the same language across both human healthcare and animal care, and bring them both together. I wanted my Ph.D. to fit in that space and I am privileged to have amazing supervisors who support me in this journey. In this journey, I can take part in promoting a healthier society for both humans and animals alike.

Personally, the real driver is the need for change and the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives. That’s my personal motivation. I have two dogs and two cats, and I’m passionate about all species.
Animals do amazing things for us—they reduce anxiety and depression, and improve people’s mental and physical health. They do all these amazing things for us. They provide amazing connection and emotional support, which we, as humans, deeply need. The research was inspired by the increasing recognition of the interconnectedness between human health and animal welfare. Despite significant studies in these individual fields, there was a notable gap in understanding how the social determinants of health (SDHs)—key factors influencing human health—also impact companion animal welfare. I aimed to bridge this gap by exploring how human socioeconomic, physical, and social challenges influence the ability of guardians to provide for their animals, ultimately affecting welfare outcomes. Additionally, the study was motivated by the need for a multidisciplinary approach, integrating frameworks like One Health, One Welfare, and the five domains of animal welfare to holistically improve outcomes for both humans and animals​.

The article highlights the importance of understanding the interplay between human social determinants and companion animal welfare. By adopting an SDH framework tailored to companion animals, the study demonstrates how factors like income, education, access to healthcare, and community environment can directly and indirectly affect animal welfare outcomes. The research suggests the need for integrated, preventative policies that address both human and animal welfare challenges holistically. It emphasizes the value of multidisciplinary collaboration to enhance the human–animal bond and proposes actionable insights for improving service provision and public policy to protect and strengthen this relationship​. There may be a different bias across different professions, which is also really interesting. These biases and challenges play out in various ways in human–animal relationships.

Historically, in research, we assumed that the reasons animals were relinquished to shelters by their guardians was solely based on animal behavior, without considering the human side. At the same time, I started seeing lots of different studies that were happening, and one would touch on the person’s education, another on income or on healthcare. They are all things that happen in our lives—all five social determinants. I think what made this work so well received was that it finally brought all these elements together in one place, creating a comprehensive framework where everything could be identified.
This framework brought together two sectors: the human framework—the Social Determinants of Health—and the animal framework—the Five Domains of Animal Welfare. When you put them together, you can show their relationship—the two shallows of key frameworks, which work together. Veterinary professionals can better understand the human factors behind animal care, while human healthcare professionals can understand the impact of animals. Pets play a crucial role in human treatment and health, and this framework helps bridge two significant areas by allowing both sides to speak the same language.

I am hoping for work in academia, in research. I definitely would do more research on how we can improve the integration between human and veterinary health and how we can achieve positive health outcomes for both humans and animals. These would be my primary drivers for the future. I hope this work will encourage funding organizations to recognize the importance and significant role animals play in people’s lives and, in turn, contribute to improving overall population health and wellness. I would like to continue the research in this area. I would also like to see people being able to have better access to support in keeping their pets when needed.

The majority of publishing channels are focused mainly either on human health or on veterinary science and Animals has this space with publications on human–animal bonds. There are a lot of publications in this space, and this fits my research, so that was my main driver. I contacted you with my manuscript proposal for consideration, as it was unique and different, and it was well received and I was encouraged for submission.
It was my first publication; the peer-review process was very smooth and even my supervisor told me that it was not normal to have this smooth and fast of a process. I received such positive reports, so I felt my manuscript was well received and supported.

My advice would be this: don’t be scared of it as it can be an enjoyable process. Research is a very unique area; having amazing supervisors definitely helps as far as making the journey simpler. Your research can make a change if you are passionate about change and you are constantly getting better and wanting to improve things—research is where you probably need to go if you want opportunities to make a difference. I think it’s beneficial for making young scholars realize this is their opportunity to make a difference, to the community. That is really important.

We recently had the opportunity to interview Dr. Piotr Bąska about his paper “The Role of the Intestinal Epithelium in the “Weep and Sweep” Response during Gastro-Intestinal Helminth Infections”, which was published in Animals (ISSN: 2076-2615) in 2022 and has since been cited over 20 times.

The following is a brief interview with Dr. Piotr Bąska:

1. Dr. Bąska, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your current research?
   I work as a professor at two institutions—at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW) and at the Military Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. My research expertise is focused on the interactions between parasites and the response of the immune system, and how these interactions interplay with the nervous system. Specifically, I study how the immune and nervous systems react to parasitic invasions, especially to the dog roundworm (Toxocara canis).
   The second area of my research is tick epidemiology and diseases transported by migratory birds. I investigate diseases transmitted by ticks, in particular Hyalomma spp., a species transported by birds migrating from regions such as Africa and South Europe that is a vector for the Congo hemorrhagic fever virus.
2. What do you think we can learn from your article?
   My publication focuses on the role of the epithelium in the response to gastrointestinal helminth infections. The immune response involves more than just the immune system itself—it is a collaboration of the entire organism. It can be compared to a military force: the immune system is the army, but the whole organism, like a society, is involved. The epithelium serves as the first point of contact with pathogens and sends alarm signals. The nervous system also plays a role here, working alongside the immune system and helping to decide what type of response to initiate. The response against parasites differs from those targeting viruses or bacteria. Parasites are too large for the typical immune attack, requiring the organism to employ a different approach to combat them. My article is a compilation of knowledge on how the organism fights gastrointestinal helminth infections.
3. What inspired you to conduct this research?
   Epithelial cells are the first line of contact with pathogens, and the way they signal this contact determines the immune response in the organism. Parasitic invasions are detrimental, but they also show some positive outcomes in our lives. People exposed to parasites are less likely to suffer from allergies or autoimmune diseases since the immune system is modulated during infections and stays less active, preventing self-aggression. Human trials have shown that individuals suffering from Crohn’s disease experience an improvement in their condition when they are exposed to the swine whipworm. The epithelium may also participate in these interactions. Studying various reactions during infections is fascinating. Collecting as much information as possible and preparing this review on how epithelial cells initiate interactions with the immune system turned out to be a good base for my future research.
4. What do you think made the academic community respond so well to your research?
   I believe the readers and community can find a large amount of information in one place. It is a good source of knowledge compiled in an accessible form.
5. What do you see as future directions for your research?
   My research team and I are working on the direct impact of certain pathogens, not only on the immune system but also on the nervous system, particularly aspects that have not been previously studied. This includes investigating the responses of nervous and immune cells during exposure to parasites. We aim to understand how these cells communicate with each other and how one system influences the other.
6. Why did you choose Animals as the best platform for your work?
   I had a good experience and impression with my first publication in the Animals journal. I enjoyed the fast process of publishing in Animals, which is important for authors. I also had a good past experience as a reviewer and Guest Editor. I would also consider assisting on a Special Issue project again in the future, should an opportunity arise.
7. What advice would you give to young scholars seeking to get into academia or publish their work?
   To read articles that they are interested in, as much as possible, and to explore fascinating aspects of research that have not been focused on before. This can be a great way to start your research.

We recently had the opportunity to interview Dr. Isaac Hyeladi Malgwi about his paper “Genes Related to Fat Metabolism in Pigs and Intramuscular Fat Content of Pork: A Focus on Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics”, which was published in 2022 and has since been cited over 50 times.

The following is an interview with Dr. Isaac Hyeladi Malgwi:

1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your current research?
I completed this research during my Ph.D. studies at the University of Padua. Currently, I am with the Department of Research and Development at Kometa, a major pork-processing company in Hungary, where my focus is on optimizing pig product processing. I continue to collaborate with the University of Padua, as I collected substantial data during my time there, which I am now analyzing and preparing for future publications.

2. What inspired you to conduct this research?
The concept of nutritional genomics has traditionally been applied in the context of personalized human nutrition to address health issues based on individual genetic profiles. This established framework inspired me to explore its application within production animals, aiming to optimize health and productivity through genotype-specific nutritional strategies.

In this study, we applied nutritional genomics to swine nutrition to modulate intramuscular fat (IMF), or marbling, within pork, a trait crucial to meat quality attributes like juiciness, flavour, and tenderness.

Understanding the factors that influence IMF deposition in pork is complex, as it requires an interdisciplinary approach that integrates nutrition and genetics to unravel nutrient-gene interactions across multiple genes and mutations. Despite these challenges, I am confident that synthesizing this knowledge is achievable. With the complete pig genome now available, we can leverage genomic insights to precisely quantify nutrient requirements, enabling the design of targeted dietary plans for individual animals to achieve optimal metabolic outcomes.

3. What do you think made the academic community respond so well to your research?
From a scientific perspective, this work added significant value by elucidating the functions of several multi-trait genes, a challenging task, and by showcasing the practical potential of nutritional genomics in genetic applications. Demonstrating this potential has likely inspired researchers across various fields to explore similar approaches within their species of interest. Although this study focused on marbling in pigs, many recognized the broader applicability of this approach.

Future research could leverage nutritional genomics to design interventions aimed at combating disease and optimizing economically relevant traits, such as growth performance, nutrient efficiency, and production emissions. My hope is that researchers globally will be encouraged to adopt nutrient-matching strategies to achieve specific targeted responses in animals. This framework, I believe, is essential for advancing precision livestock nutrition in the future.

4. What challenges did you encounter during your research, and how did you overcome them?
This research requires exceptional collaboration and expertise within your team due to its high complexity and interdisciplinary nature. One of the most challenging aspects is pinpointing the molecular mechanisms involved in fatty acid synthesis and unraveling these intricate details. Furthermore, the complexity of harmonizing and optimizing quantitative trait loci is rarely tackled, presenting a significant challenge that demands the dedication and hard work of a skilled research team to address it effectively.

5. What would you say is your greatest professional accomplishment?
I consider my greatest achievement to be completing my Ph.D. with Summa Cum Laude at the University of Padua. I was the first Nigerian to earn this distinction in my department, a significant accomplishment, especially given the challenges in accessing knowledge and navigating the academic system as someone from an African background. This success was particularly meaningful as it allowed me to share a special moment with my daughter—I took her to Galileo’s lecture rooms when she was just two months old, which brought me great joy. I am also proud that my achievements have inspired young people worldwide in their own Ph.D. journeys.

6. Why did you choose Animals as the best platform for your work?
After reviewing numerous publications in my field, I was highly impressed with the quality of Animals. Given that many respected mentors and prominent researchers have published in this journal, achieving a publication in Animals felt like a significant milestone. The experience of publishing with Animals has been enjoyable, and I’ve chosen it as the outlet for several of my papers. Publishing in a reputable, accessible journal is essential, and I cannot recommend Animals highly enough!

More than 100 German universities and research institutions have entered into a national agreement with MDPI. The publication agreement negotiated by ZB MED comes into effect on 1 January 2025 and is valid until the end of 2026. Joining the consortium is still possible until the beginning of 2025. We are delighted by the high level of interest this agreement has already garnered, reflecting the strong demand for accessible and cost-effective open access publishing solutions among German research institutions.

This new cooperation aims to make scientific gold open access publishing more affordable and less administratively burdensome for researchers in Germany. The agreement includes substantial discounts on article processing charges (APCs) for corresponding authors from participating institutions. It offers flexible payment options, including centralized invoicing or individual payment of fees by researchers or their institutions. Additionally, the agreement features a flat-fee model that enables institutions to precisely plan expenses and optimize their library budgets.

"MDPI can look back on over a decade of successful partnerships with German research institutions," says Peter Roth, MDPI Head of Publishing. "The new agreement marks another milestone in the long-standing co-operation between MDPI and the German scientific community. It emphasizes our commitment to developing up-to-date and inventive solutions for the diverse needs of scientific institutions to promote open research for the benefit of researchers."

Petra Labriga, Head of Strategic License Management at ZB MED, highlighted the agreement's significance: "As one of the world's leading Gold OA publishers, MDPI plays a central role in the German publishing landscape. We are particularly pleased that we were able to achieve considerable potential cost savings for scientific institutions and their authors at a national level through our negotiations."

The partnership reflects a common goal of advancing the idea of open access and supporting researchers in making their scientific excellence internationally visible.

"We would like to thank the ZB MED consortium team for their excellent collaboration," added Adrian Stefan Zamfir, MDPI Institutional Partnership Manager for the DACH region. "We are delighted that this agreement will give even more researchers in Germany access to our tried-and-tested and reliable publication platform."

Franziska Fischer (right), Commercial Director at ZB MED, an Peter Roth (left), Head of Publishing at MDPI, celebrate the signing of the new national open access agreement between MDPI and the ZB MED Consortium.

More Information

• Conditions and participation opportunities (German): Link
• Frequently asked questions (German): Link

Contact

• ZB MED: Team Konsortiallizenzen (konsortiallizenzen@zbmed.de) - Website
  MDPI: Adrian Stefan Zamfir, Institutional Partnership Manager (zamfir@mdpi.com)
  
  

About ZB MED

ZB MED - Information Centre for Life Sciences is an infrastructure and research centre for life science information and data. Its aim is to support and strengthen research for people and the environment: from medicine to biodiversity and environmental protection.

The work of ZB MED is orientated towards the strategic guidelines:

• Research + Networking: We conduct research together with the regionally, nationally, European and globally networked research community.
• Data science: We enable data analyses and generate new knowledge through research.
• Access to information: We provide sustainable access to information, literature and data as a central information infrastructure.
• Open + FAIR: We promote open and reproducible science in line with open science and FAIR principles.
• Knowledge and skills transfer: We actively impart knowledge, competences and skills.

More information at www.zbmed.de.

About MDPI

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, MDPI is one of the world's leading open access publishers with a current portfolio of more than 440 journals in all scientific disciplines. MDPI‘s goal is to advance open science worldwide through greater transparency, efficiency and collaboration. To date, more than 3.7 million researchers have published their results in MDPI journals. The editorial process is overseen by a large network of dedicated reviewers and editors and supported by more than 6500 MDPI employees. MDPI currently works with over 800 academic institutions and 180 scientific societies worldwide, which benefit from a wide range of MDPI services and products.

We are pleased to announce a series of updates to our template, aimed at improving the readability and overall aesthetics of our publications. These changes have been meticulously designed to enhance the user experience and ensure consistency across all our publications. The updated template will be available for download from the Instructions for Authors page.

The following updates will be applied to articles published in the 2025 volumes, starting on 24 December 2024:

• Main text: The line spacing has been increased to improve the readability of publications;
• Header and footer: The link to the journal website will be removed, as a hyperlink has been integrated into the journal logo. Additionally, the DOI link will be moved from the left-hand side to the right-hand side, and both the header and footer will be slightly raised to achieve a better balance;
• Left information bar: The information provided here has been rearranged for better organization; the CC-BY logo will be removed;
• Font size: The font size used for the abstract, keywords, and first-level headings will be increased.

Furthermore, MDPI journals will continue to use article numbers. This approach enables us to maintain a rapid and efficient production process by being able to define pagination as soon as a paper is accepted.

We hope that the new version of the template will provide users with a better experience and make the process more convenient.

Please contact production@mdpi.com if you have any questions or suggestions.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the 685 Editorial Board Members of our journals – from 39 different countries and territories – who have been recognized as Highly Cited Researchers for 2024 by Clarivate. This distinction highlights their exceptional scientific achievements and significant contributions, which transcend academic boundaries to advance global knowledge, sustainability, security, and well-being.

Clarivate's annual Highly Cited Researcher™ list identifies the most influential scientists of the past decade, whose work has had a profound and widespread impact across various scientific and social science disciplines. Their impactful papers rank among the top 1% by citations in one or more of the 21 fields analyzed within the "Essential Science Indicators," marking them as leaders in their respective domains.

"Highly Cited Researchers have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their field(s) of research," according to Clarivate. In 2024, a total of 6,886 Highly Cited Researcher designations were awarded to 6,636 individuals.

The following is a list of MDPI's Editorial Board Members named Highly Cited Researchers in 2024. We congratulate them for their achievement and their contributions to advancing knowledge in their respective fields.

MDPI successfully held an author training session at Kasetsart University, Thailand's leading agricultural institution. This event took place against the backdrop of Kasetsart University's participation in MDPI’s Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP). The session, which was conducted on 5 November 2024, aimed to equip students with the essential knowledge and skills for maneuvering through the paper publication process, enhancing their English writing proficiency, understanding data visualization in academic papers, and exploring the applications of artificial intelligence in the publishing field.

Ms. Watinee Khemakarothai, the Deputy Director of Kasetsart University Library, shared her thoughts on the valuable collaboration between Kasetsart University (KU) and MDPI, emphasizing the significance of joint efforts that support and empower the academic community. She expressed her gratitude to MDPI Thailand for organizing this event, which was customized to meet the requirements of the university’s authors.

In the first presentation, Dr. Janenipa Saupsor, the Deputy Office Manager of MDPI Thailand, provided insights into MDPI’s development from its establishment in 1996 to its current status as a prominent open access academic publisher. She emphasized MDPI’s dedication to making scientific research freely accessible through its extensive collection of over 400 journals and its global presence. Dr. Saupsor also introduced a selection of key journals, such as Polymers, Sustainability, Foods, Animals and Molecules, which serve as valuable options for researchers seeking the ideal journal for their work. Additionally, she highlighted the successful collaboration between MDPI and Kasetsart University on the Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP), reinforcing support for open access publishing.

The second session, presented by Ms. Ploy Assavajamroon, MDPI’s regional journal relations specialist in Asia-Pacific, was titled “How to Write Scientific Papers in English”. The session began with the literature search and introduction to the analysis program to investigate the research topic to ensure novelty. Next, she illustrated the front matter, main text, and back matter, the three fundamental manuscript structures, before sharing useful examples to help the audience better understand how to write each section. Last but not least, she introduced the English Language Editing and Figure Editing services provided by MDPI Author Services, all of which support authors in manuscript preparation.

The third session, “Data Visualization for Scientific Papers”, was shared by Mr. Suvicha Sasivimolkul, MDPI’s Training Group Leader for Asian offices. He initiated the session by pointing out why data are so crucial due to the increasing amounts of data every minute. Data visualization is an approach through which we can maintain our perceptual and cognitive abilities to understand trends and patterns of the data by presenting data graphically in figures, graphs, or tables. He then explained and emphasized MDPI Figure and Table formatting, the points that the author should pay more attention to and the points that the author should avoid.

The author training program concluded with the topic “Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Scientific Publishing”, presented by Dr. Kamolchanok Deesrisak, Scientific Advisor of MDPI journal Healthcare. After providing an overview of AI technology in daily life, its capabilities and impacts on scientific publishing were elaborated, with a focus on the current advancements and challenges. In line with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) position statement, the guidelines on AI, authorship, and the peer-review process were thoroughly explained. Before ending the session, the AI tools developed by MDPI's AI team were introduced. These will assist both internal and external users in improving processes and services.

After each presentation, students, faculty members, and MDPI speakers engaged in a vigorous exchange of ideas. Even after the training, many attendees remained and continued to communicate with us, praising the event for its well-structured curriculum and the opportunity to network with like-minded professionals.

In conclusion, the author training session at Kasetsart University marked a crucial step in promoting academic publishing and research dissemination for MDPI. Meanwhile, it emphasized the importance of continuous learning and adaptation in the constantly evolving landscape of higher education and the publishing industry. This initiative represented a reinforcement.

Please do not hesitate to start a conversation with us at bangkok@mdpi.com if you would like to hold an author training session with MDPI in Thailand.

Conference: Plant & Animal Genome 32 Conference
Organization: Scherago International
Date: 10–15 January 2025
Place: San Diego, CA, USA

MDPI journals will be attending the Plant & Animal Genome 32 Conference as exhibitors. This meeting will be held at the Town & Country Resort and Conference Center, San Diego, USA, from 10 to 15 January 2025. 

The Plant & Animal Genome Conference (PAG) will bring together the leading genetic scientists and researchers involved in plant and animal research and related areas. With 62 countries typically represented, the Plant & Animal Genome Conference provides an established forum for the exchange of information internationally as well as in the USA. Approximately 39% of attendees travel to the PAG from outside the USA, making the conference a truly global event. Of the attendees, 73% checked “Plant” and 27% checked “Animal” as their areas of interest.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Plants;
• Agronomy;
• Life;
• Epigenomes;
• Biochem;
• Current Issues in Molecular Biology (CIMB);
• International Journal of Molecular Sciences (IJMS);
• Animals;
• International Journal of Plant Biology (IJPB);
• Taxonomy;
• Crops;
• Agriculture;
• Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens (JZBG);
• Horticulturae;
• Genes;
• Grasses;
• Seeds.