Announcements
18 April 2025
Meet Us at the 5th International Conference on Urban Climate and Urban Design, 30 May–1 June 2025, Chongqing, China
18 April 2025
International Day for Monuments and Sites (IDMS)—“Heritage Under Threat from Disasters and Conflicts”, 18 April 2025
April 18 is annually observed as the International Day for Monuments and Sites (IDMS). It aims to bring global attention to the need to conserve monuments and sites as our cultural heritage and to celebrate the diversity of this heritage.
On this significant day, we are delighted to present a curated collection of articles and Special Issues dedicated to groundbreaking research and innovative approaches on disaster and conflict resilient heritage. We invite readers to explore these contributions and join us in safeguarding cultural heritage.
“Investigating the Role of Thermal Comfort Perception on Negotiating Heritage Conservation and Energy Efficiency Decisions through System Dynamics”
by Merve Karabeyeser Bakan, Kalliopi Fouseki and Hector Altamirano
Buildings 2024, 14(6), 1800; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14061800
“Research on the Digital Preservation of Architectural Heritage Based on Virtual Reality Technology”
by Haohua Zheng, Leyang Chen, Hui Hu, Yihan Wang and Yangyang Wei
Buildings 2024, 14(5), 1436; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14051436
“Simplified Multi-Life Cycle Assessment at the Urban Block Scale: GIS-Based Comparative Methodology for Evaluating Energy Efficiency Solutions”
by Carlo Costantino, Anna Chiara Benedetti and Riccardo Gulli
Buildings 2023, 13(9), 2355; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13092355
“Building Information Modelling (BIM) Driven Sustainable Cultural Heritage Tourism”
by Zhen Liu, Man Zhang and Mohamed Osmani
Buildings 2023, 13(8), 1925; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13081925
“Quantitative Estimation of the Internal Spatio–Temporal Characteristics of Ancient Temple Heritage Space with Space Syntax Models: A Case Study of Daming Temple”
by Kai Zhou, Wenting Wu, Xiaoling Dai and Tianjie Li
Buildings 2023, 13(5), 1345; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13051345
“Prediction of Deterioration Level of Heritage Buildings Using a Logistic Regression Model”
by Si Chen, Jingjing Chen, Jiming Yu, Tao Wang and Jian Xu
Buildings 2023, 13(4), 1006; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13041006
“Repair of Old Timber Log House Using Cavity Filling with Compatible Natural Materials”
by Michal Kloiber, Dita Frankeová, Zuzana Slížková and Jiří Kunecký
Buildings 2023, 13(2), 550; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13020550
”Integrating Stakeholders’ Priorities into Level of Development Supplemental Guidelines for HBIM Implementation”
by Junshan Liu, Graham Foreman, Anoop Sattineni and Botao Li
Buildings 2023, 13(2), 530; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13020530
“Circular Evaluation for Ranking Adaptive Reuse Strategies for Abandoned Industrial Heritage in Vulnerable Contexts”
by Lucia Della Spina, Sebastiano Carbonara, Davide Stefano and Angela Viglianisi
Buildings 2023, 13(2), 458; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13020458
“Modernist Heritage versus Contested Legacy: The Case of “Radio City””
by Brigita Tranavičiūtė
Buildings 2023, 13(1), 246; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13010246
| “Application of Digital Technology in the Preservation and Restoration of Historic Buildings” Guest Editors: Dr. Juan Enrique Nieto-Julián, Dr. Juan J. Moyano and Dr. Silvana Bruno Submission deadline: 30 September 2025 |
“Assessment, Repair, Maintenance, and Conservation of Existing Buildings: State-of-the-art Methods, Advances, and Case Studies” Guest Editors: Dr. Cristina Cantagallo, Prof. Dr. Valentino Sangiorgio and Prof. Dr. Humberto Varum Submission deadline: 10 December 2025 |
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15 April 2025
Buildings | Selected Editor’s Choice Articles from the Second Half of 2023 in the “Building Materials, and Repair & Renovation” Section
15 April 2025
Buildings | Selected Editor’s Choice Articles from the Second Half of 2023 in the “Architectural Design, Urban Science, and Real Estate” Section
15 April 2025
Buildings | Selected Editor’s Choice Articles from the Second Half of 2023 in the “Building Energy, Physics, Environment, and Systems” Section
15 April 2025
Buildings | Selected Editor’s Choice Articles from the Second Half of 2023 in the “Construction Management, and Computers & Digitization” Section
15 April 2025
Buildings | Selected Editor’s Choice Articles from the Second Half of 2023 in the “Building Structures” Section
2 April 2025
MDPI INSIGHTS: The CEO's Letter #21 - Annual Report, Swiss Consortium, IWD, ICARS, Serbia
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 Releases 2024 Annual Achievements Report
I’m pleased to share the release of MDPI’s 2024 Annual Achievements Report, which reflects our commitment to efficiency, transparency, and excellence in scholarly communication. The report showcases key themes related to our growth (highlighting our workforce expansion, new offices, journal milestones), excellence (editorial and publishing advancements), people (talent development and training), and community (partnerships, conferences, and outreach).
MDPI continues to build connections and drive scientific progress
Our mission remains clear: to support researchers worldwide by delivering an efficient, high-quality publishing experience while strengthening the global Open Access (OA) movement.
Advancing Open Access: A Global Knowledge Hub
In 2024, we published 238,000 peer-reviewed OA articles, reaching over 25 million downloads. This reinforces MDPI’s role as a global knowledge hub, breaking down barriers to access and ensuring that high-quality research is freely available to everyone. As part of the OA movement, we are actively democratizing knowledge, making scientific advancements accessible to researchers, policymakers, educators, and the public, without the restrictions of traditional paywalls.
Expanding our Workforce and Strengthening Research Integrity
Our global presence grew in 2024 with the opening of a new Seoul office, and our workforce expanded to 6,650 staff across 21 offices. This reflects our continued growth mindset and investment in global accessibility. We also continued to take a proactive stance on our commitment to research integrity, tripling our team in this area and joining STM’s Integrity Hub and United2Act. This means more rigorous quality control, stronger safeguards, and collaboration with global initiatives to detect and combat unethical publishing practices at an industry level. Our growth is about reinforcing our role as a trusted, ethical, and accessible publishing platform for researchers worldwide.
Growing Partnerships and Impact in Scholarly Communication
MDPI’s partnerships continue to thrive, with over 900 institutional collaborations, including a landmark agreement with ZB MED in Germany, covering more than 100 universities. Additionally, more than 90% of evaluated MDPI journals have been accepted into Web of Science, including 60 new acceptances in 2024, with nearly 300 journals expected to receive a Journal Impact Factor in 2025. In the same period, 37 MDPI journals were accepted into Scopus, bringing our total indexed titles to 306. Most importantly, 95% of authors rate their experience with MDPI as excellent or good – an achievement that underscores our dedication to serving the research community.
I encourage you to read through our Annual Report, which highlights these milestones and our vision for the future. Thank you for being part of MDPI’s journey in advancing open science.
Impactful Research
MDPI Renews Partnership with CSAL to Support Swiss Universities
I am pleased to announce the renewal of our partnership with the Consortium of Swiss Academic Libraries (CSAL) for 2025. This extension reinforces MDPI's dedication to advancing open science through transparency, efficiency, and collaboration.
Our renewed agreement with CSAL strengthens support for Swiss universities, ensuring that gold open access publishing remains both accessible and affordable for researchers across Switzerland. Among the institutions participating in this agreement are ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne, along with 20 other leading institutions, further expanding the reach and impact of our collaborative efforts.
To date, over 3.9 million researchers have published their findings in MDPI journals, a testament to our role in enhancing Switzerland's position as a hub for university education and research.
Inside MDPI
Celebrating International Women's Day: Accelerating Action
In honour of International Women's Day, MDPI embraced the theme “Accelerate Action,” a global call to advance women's progress by implementing effective strategies and resources. As part of our commitment, we highlighted how open access publishing empowers female voices in research and academia.
Throughout March, we featured original blogs authored by MDPI’s female contributors, showcasing the successes of our journals and employees, and addressing pressing topics such as women's health.
“Open Access supports women in education”
Women Accelerating Action Outside of MDPI
MDPI employee Ana Zdravkovic is accelerating action outside of her MDPI role as a Production Assistant. Working with like-minded women at the award-winning Belgrade-based organization UZOR OsnaŽene (meaning ‘empowered women’), they identify serious flaws in cybersecurity, and help protect women and children against online predators by providing evidence to improve legislation and laws around cyber-attacks.
In this article, we interview Ana, celebrating the important and inspiring work that she and the organisation do.
How Open Access Supports Women in Education
Every day, women and girls face barriers in education or career progression. This is caused by a range of factors, including social expectations, poverty, and poor infrastructure.
Quality opportunities and participation in the education system by women is essential to achieving equality and fulfilling their human rights.
Here, we examine how Open Access supports women in education by removing barriers and ensuring that vital research is accessible.
Recent Advancements in Research on Endometriosis
March is Endometriosis Action Month. Endometriosis is a medical condition affecting women and young girls of reproductive age, often causing symptoms such as severe pelvic pain, irregular periods, and infertility.
More research on endometriosis is still urgently needed.
This research will help develop efficient diagnoses and better treatment for those struggling with the condition.
In this article, we explore what endometriosis is and discuss the latest research advancements on the disease.
We also curated a selection of MDPI journals, articles, and Special Issues focusing on gender equity, women in the workplace, and women’s health. Find out more about these by visiting our IWD – Accelerate Action landing page.
As I reflect on the month of March and International Women’s Day, I would like to take a moment to recognize and thank all of the incredible women at MDPI for your dedication to democratizing knowledge and shaping open access. Your contributions are invaluable, and they continue to shape the future of MDPI.
Coming Together for Science
The International Conference on Advanced Remote Sensing (ICARS 2025)
The International Conference on Advanced Remote Sensing (ICARS 2025) took place from 26–28 March 2025, in Barcelona, Spain. It was chaired by Prof. Dr. Fabio Tosti from the Faringdon Research Centre for Non-Destructive Testing and Remote Sensing (UK), Prof. Dr. Andrea Benedetto from University Roma Tre (Italy), and Prof. Dr. Luis Ángel Ruiz from Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV, Spain).
Over three days, the conference explored innovations in Earth and environmental sciences, engineering advancements, and practical applications in biological and agricultural fields.
I am pleased to share that the 1st edition of ICARS 2025 was a great success, with 133 attendees out of 146 registrations. The event featured 43 short talks, 64 posters, and 103 accepted abstracts, along with nine keynote speakers and a major panel with five expert panellists.
Over 60 attendees joined the conference dinner, and the event received outstanding feedback.
The main goal of ICARS2025 was to cover how advanced remote sensing technologies are transforming our approach to global challenges.
Awards
Four awards were presented at the conclusion of the conference, sponsored by the journal Remote Sensing: Best Poster Award (€400), Best Oral Presentation Award (€400), and two Early Career Researcher Awards (1st prize: €600 and 2nd prize: €200).
Thank you to our Partnering Societies
We are grateful for the support of our four partnering societies and nine media partners, who played an important role in promoting the conference. Special thanks to our partnering societies: the European Federation of Geologists (EFG), Geoscience Energy Society of Great Britain (GESGB), Asociación Española de Teledetección (AET) – the Spanish Association of Remote Sensing, and the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE).
Upcoming In-Person Event
31 March–2 April 2025
Plants 2025: From Seeds to Food Security
Location: Barcelona, Spain
This event will gather plant scientists to discuss the latest research on how to feed a growing population while maintaining a sustainable agro-ecosystem.
Find more upcoming MDPI events here.
Closing Thoughts
MDPI Serbia Salon 2025: A Gathering of Academic Excellence
On Tuesday, 18 March, we successfully concluded our first MDPI Serbia Salon in Belgrade. This event provided a great opportunity to showcase MDPI’s achievements, strengthen connections with the Serbian academic community, and highlight our role as the largest publisher in Serbia. We were honoured to welcome Prof. Dr. Sergej M. Ostojić, Editor-in-Chief of MDPI journal Clinical Bioenergetics, as a guest speaker.
Over the past five years, MDPI has experienced continuous growth in Serbia, with an increasing number of publications, an expansion of Editorial Board memberships, and a greater number of active peer reviewers. The Salon allowed us to express our thanks to the Serbian research community while gathering feedback from attendees representing several major universities.
Discussion topics
As part of the event, I delivered an opening speech highlighting MDPI’s achievements and direction.
The event featured presentations from MDPI colleagues, including discussions on open science, publishing ethics, and our achievements in Serbia.
A special thank-you to all our MDPI presenters, panellists, and organizers who made his event a success. I hope the MDPI Serbia Salon becomes a tradition for years to come, creating connections within the Serbian research community.
Visit to the Science Fund of Serbia and The Ministry of Science
During my visit to Belgrade, I had the opportunity to join my colleagues Emir Ramadani (Operations Manager) and Nevena Blagojev (Journal Relations Manager) in meetings with the Science Fund of Serbia and the Ministry of Science, where we received strong support for our work in Serbia.
Both organizations highly value our presence in and commitment to Serbia, where we employ over 640 staff across our two offices in Belgrade and Novi Sad. We take great pride in creating job opportunities and supporting the community in Serbia.
“There’s a lot of exciting activity happening in MDPI Serbia”
Speaking with our Serbian Colleagues
Finally, I had the opportunity to speak with our Serbian colleagues about our initiatives to expand and to improve our marketing & communication and public relations activities.
It was great to have an open discussion with colleagues – both in person and with the hundreds who joined online.
This visit to Belgrade had been a long time coming for me. Serbia is our largest operation in Europe and there’s a lot of exciting activity happening in MDPI Serbia, including the launch of a new office floor in Novi Sad and the growth and expansion of our teams.
I look forward to returning soon and continuing to support our colleagues across our Serbian offices.
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
28 March 2025
Meet Us at the 12th International Conference on Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites in Civil Engineering, 14–16 July 2025, Lisboa, Portugal
20 March 2025
MDPI Academic Publishing Exchange at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), Thailand, Held on 12 March 2025
MDPI, in collaboration with King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), is pleased to announce the successful co-organization of an academic publishing exchange. This initiative was designed to equip researchers and scholars with essential skills for navigating the complexities of academic publishing. Hosted at KMITL’s prestigious facilities, the session aimed to enhance participants' understanding of the publication process, refine their English writing proficiency, facilitate effective communication with peer reviewers, and explore the innovative applications of artificial intelligence in publishing. By uniting experts from MDPI and KMITL, a dynamic platform was created for knowledge exchange and professional development.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kittichai Kasemsarn opened the session by expressing his enthusiasm for academic publishing and the opportunities it brings to researchers. As the Vice Dean for Research and Innovation at the School of Architecture, Art, and Design, KMITL, he emphasized the importance of high-quality publications in advancing research impact and fostering innovation within the academic community. He warmly welcomed MDPI’s presence and highlighted the value of collaboration between KMITL and MDPI in promoting accessible and impactful research dissemination. He acknowledged the growing importance of open access publishing and expressed appreciation for the insights and support MDPI provides to researchers in navigating the academic publishing landscape.
In the first session, Dr. Phranot Ajkidkarn, Editorial Team Leader at MDPI’s Bangkok Office, introduced MDPI as a leading open access publisher dedicated to advancing research through rapid peer review and global dissemination. He explained the meaning of open access, emphasizing its role in increasing visibility, citation potential, and societal impact by making research freely available. He then highlighted three related MDPI journals: Sustainability, focusing on sustainable development and environmental policies; Buildings, covering architecture, construction, and energy-efficient design; and Heritage, dedicated to cultural heritage preservation and conservation. Encouraging participants to explore publishing opportunities, he concluded by welcoming discussions on manuscript preparation and submission.
The second session was shared by Dr. Krit Inthajak, MDPI’s regional journal relations specialist in Asia-Pacific, with the topic “How to Write Scientific Papers in English”. This session covered how to prepare a manuscript before submitting it to a publishing institute and highlighted the importance of collecting and analyzing literature reviews as the first step. Next, he illustrated each main section of the manuscript, including the front matter, the main text, and the back matter. Examples of manuscripts on different research subjects were presented and compared to enable a better understanding of what the readers would expect, and how it would gain their interest.
The third session, titled “How to Respond to Peer-Reviewers”, was presented by Ms. Hathaipat Kittirojana, a Regional Journal Relations Specialist. She discussed various aspects of the open access publishing model and the reviewer process at MDPI. During the session, she addressed the questions raised. Some participants inquired about how MDPI conducts the similarity check upon submission, while others were curious about how to proceed when receiving contradicting review comments. She also offered practical advice for responding to reviewers and shared insights into the types of feedback authors may face during revisions. In conclusion, she encouraged the audience to remain positive, open-minded, and professional when replying to reviewers.
The final session of the Academic Publishing Exchange program was “Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Scientific Publishing”, presented by Ms. Ploy Assavajamroon, Regional Journal Relations Specialist. After giving a brief introduction to AI technology, which is now extensively employed, she went into detail about its potential and how it affects scientific publishing, stressing both its advantages and disadvantages. This presentation also reviewed criteria for AI, authorship, and the peer-review procedure in detail, in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) position statement. Lastly, the AI tools built by MDPI's AI team were introduced, demonstrating their potential to improve processes and services for both internal and external users.
Reflecting on the conclusion of this enriching workshop, we are delighted to recognize the fruitful exchange of ideas and expertise between MDPI and KMITL. The active engagement and insightful discussions among scholars, faculty members, and MDPI representatives highlighted the event's significance. Participants gained a deeper comprehension of the publication process, developed a greater appreciation for peer review intricacies, and explored the transformative potential of AI in academic publishing. This partnership strengthened the robust relationship between MDPI and KMITL, paving the way for future collaborations that will further promote academic excellence and innovation. We express our gratitude for the opportunity to contribute to the academic advancement of the KMITL community and eagerly anticipate future joint endeavors that align with our shared commitment to advancing research and scholarship.
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