Future Horizons in Multi-Agent Systems: Pioneering Trends and Breakthrough Innovations

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to our Special Issue, which will focus on recent advances, innovative applications, and forward-looking research in the rapidly evolving field of Multi-Agent Systems (MASs).

Multi-Agent Systems represent a leading-edge area within artificial intelligence, robotics, distributed computing, and intelligent automation. They are transforming the design and implementation of adaptive, autonomous, and collaborative technologies across a wide range of domains, including smart cities, education, finance, healthcare, and beyond.

We welcome the submission of high-quality original research articles, comprehensive review papers, and case studies. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Agent Architectures and Learning Paradigms: Scalable frameworks, decentralized decision-making, and reinforcement learning.
• Collaboration, Coordination, and Communication: Multi-agent teamwork, negotiation strategies, and explainable human–agent interaction.
• Ethics, Security, and Resilience: Trust, safety, privacy, and robustness in adversarial or mission-critical environments.
• Smart Environments and IoT Applications: MAS solutions for intelligent urban planning, smart grids, and interconnected ecosystems.
• Swarm Intelligence and Robotics: Bio-inspired agents and distributed multi-robot systems.
• Industrial and Societal Applications: MASs in business, finance, supply chains, manufacturing, healthcare, and emergency response.
• MASs in Education: Intelligent tutoring systems, personalized learning agents, and learning analytics.
• Emerging and Hybrid Technologies: Cognitive agents, hybrid AI models, and quantum-inspired MASs.

This Special Issue aims to serve as a prominent platform for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers dedicated to shaping the future of multi-agent systems. The selected contributions will play a critical role in advancing the next generation of research and innovation in this dynamic and interdisciplinary field.

Dr. Pilar Herrero-Martín
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.