Announcements

This serves to announce to our valued authors based in Japan that value-added tax, or consumption tax will now be imposed on article processing fees and other service fees for all papers submitted, or resubmitted (assigned new paper IDs), effective from 15 August 2021. The change is in accordance with the Japanese "Act for Partial Revision of the Income Tax Act and Other Acts" (Act No. 9 of 2015), which includes a revision of consumption taxation on cross-border supplies of services such as digital content distribution.

For additional information from the National Tax Agency please see here ("Cross-border supplies of electronic services").

Contact: Setsuko Nishihara, MDPI Tokyo

This week we would like to introduce you to Professor Todd Fredericksen!

Todd Fredericksen works as an Associate Professor of Forestry and Wildlife at Ferrum College, where he teaches courses on environmental science and biology. His current research interests include the effects of forest management on biodiversity, and the natural history and conservation of wildlife species in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  

Professor Fredericksen graduated with a B.A. in Biology from Virginia Military Institute in 1983, before attending North Carolina State, where he attained his M.S. in Forestry. After receiving his Ph.D. degree in Forestry from Virginia Tech in 1991, Todd’s early career was dedicated mostly to research in tree physiology, forest ecology, and wildlife responses to logging. Now, his primary focus is teaching – hoping to inspire the next generation of ecologists and conservation biologists. 

Alongside his teaching and research, Todd Fredericksen is an active Editorial Board Member for Conservation and has hosted special issues in other MDPI journals, including "How Will Anthropogenic Disturbances Shape Forest Management?" in Forests, which is now online and open for submission!

We caught up with Professor Todd Fredericksen to gain some insight into the field of Conservation today!

What encouraged you to enter the field of Conservation?

"My entry into the field of conservation biology occurred during my time as a Peace Corps volunteer and Forestry Extensionist in Costa Rica – I became immersed in the natural history and conservation of tropical forests…"

Which paper (if any) changed your outlook on the field of Conservation?

"…Dan Janzen’s text on the natural history of Costa Rica was very influential. My experience in Costa Rica was very helpful when I returned to Latin America working in tropical forest research and management in Bolivia."

What advice would you give to young researchers/scientists looking to begin their career in Conservation?

"With the fate of human welfare and that of other species threatened by our own current behaviour, I encourage students to enter into one of the most important fields of human endeavour – learning to live within our limits and in harmony with the biodiversity of the planet."

This week, we are pleased to introduce to you Professor Iain Gordon!

Iain Gordon works as an Honorary Professor at the Australian National University, where his interests lie at the human/environment interface, particularly in the context of biodiversity management, ecosystem services provided by agricultural landscapes and engaging human communities in the management of natural resources.

Born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Professor Gordon holds both British and Australian nationality, graduating with a zoology honours degree from the University of Aberdeen. In 1986, he received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Cambridge and has since led interdisciplinary research across 5 continents.

Over the past 30 years, Iain Gordon has published over 200 papers in international, peer review journals and published seven books, with an eighth to be published shortly by Springer! His published research spans a range of areas, including livestock nutrition and health, ecology of natural ecosystems, grazing management to achieve environmental objectives, and community-based conservation.

Alongside his research, Professor Gordon has been employed in senior management positions in both Australia and the UK. He joined the Commonwealth Scientific and Industry Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia in 2003, leading its Building Resilient Biodiversity Assets Theme and the rangeland management programme of the Water for a Healthy Country Great Barrier Reef Theme. During this time, he was Officer in Charge of the Davies Lab in Townsville and lead the co-location CSIRO with James Cook University in the Australian Tropical Science Innovation Precinct.

In 2010, Iain Gordon returned to Scotland, where he was Chief Executive and Director of the James Hutton Institute, the largest agri-environment research institute of its kind in the UK. Whilst residing in the UK, he also worked as Director of the Centre of Expertise for Climate Change, a new knowledge brokering mechanism for providing evidence to support policy, before moving back to Australia in 2019.

We caught up with Professor Iain Gordon to gain some insight into the field of Conservation today!

What encouraged you to enter the field of Conservation?

“I was brought up in the Caribbean & Kenya and as a child I loved nature, especially wild animals. I wanted to watch them and understand and work out what they were doing and why. I was lucky enough to do my undergraduate project on oryx 9a large antelope and my PhD on a nature reserve off the West Coast of Scotland. Very different environments, but all in the interest of getting into the minds of animals and through that work out how they see the world. Only with that in your mind’s eye can you hope to understand what is needed to conserve them.”

Which paper (if any) changed your outlook on the field of Conservation?

“More generally in field biology it was Richard Dawkins’s book The Selfish gene. I read it when I was at university & it opened my eyes into a world of understanding why animals behave in the way they do, from a theoretical point of view. I don’t agree with everything Dawkins’s writes, but I read his books because they make me think differently.”

What advice would you give to young researchers/scientists looking to begin their career in Conservation?

“Get out into nature and get your feet wet and your hands dirty. It is only through experience that we can work out how the world works. Data is merely a window into a room we look into from the outside.”

This week, we are pleased to introduce to you Professor Svein Solberg!

Svein Øivind Solberg works as a Professor in agriculture at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences. His main research explores phenotypic and genetic diversity in plants, with a vision to minimize negative human impacts on the terrestrial ecosystems.

Educated from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Professor Solberg received his Ph.D. degree in horticulture in 1997. Throughout his career, he has worked on crop diversity and diversification; first in Norway, then at the Nordic Genetic Resource Center in Sweden, at the World Vegetable Center, located in Taiwan and now at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences.

Alongside his research, Svein Solberg is an active Editorial Board Member for Conservation and our companion journal Sustainability, where he has taken on editorial duties. For example, he is currently hosting a Special Issue in Sustainability, titled "Agrobiodiversity and Sustainable Food Systems", which is now online and open for new submissions!

Last week we caught up with Professor Solberg to learn more about his work and the field of Conservation today.

What encouraged you to enter the field of Conservation?

"I grew up in and international environment and could experience different people and countries already from childhood. After education, I worked with research on food plants. Over time, conservation has evolved as an interest. It started with fascination of different organisms. It moved more into directions of utilization of diversity and production systems and over the last decades I have worked as a researcher at the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre (Sweden) and later at the World Vegetable Centre (Taiwan) where the main focus has been conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture."

Which paper changed your outlook on the field of Conservation?

"It must be the ones about N.I. Vavilov and his life and expeditions. Here I can highlight the book entitled Five Continents and published in English in 1997 by IPGRI in Rome and VIR in St. Petersburg. One can learn about the ideas of centers of origin and the many expeditions that Vavilov carried out. The idea on how to use plant diversity from other parts of the globe in breeding robust and productive crops."

What advice would you give to young researchers/scientists looking to begin their career in Conservation?

"It is hard to advice people, as each finds his or her own way in life. But if I shall say one thing it would be to value caretaking. This includes respecting and taking care of friend and relatives but also animals, plants, and nature."

In 2001, Professor Németh received his first Ph.D. degree in Geology from the University of Otago, Dunedin and his second in Environmental Science from the University of West Hungary in 2003. Here, he described the volcanic geoheritage and geotourism potential of the Plio-Pleistocene monogenetic volcanic fields of the Western Pannonian Basin in Central Europe.

During his PostDoc research, Professor Németh spent 3 years exploring mafic volcanism in the Vanuatu Volcanic Arc, before becoming a permanent research officer at the Massey University’s Volcanic Risk Solutions research group. This role later developed into a lecturer position, where he has teaching duties mostly in geology and geological mapping.

This week we'd like to introduce you to Professor Károly Németh!

Károly Németh works as a Professor in Geology at the School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University. His main research interests are monogenetic volcanism, volcano geology, natural disasters, geoheritage, geoconservation and geotourism.

In 2001, Professor Németh received his first Ph.D. degree in Geology from the University of Otago, Dunedin and his second in Environmental Science from the University of West Hungary in 2003. Here, he described the volcanic geoheritage and geotourism potential of the Plio-Pleistocene monogenetic volcanic fields of the Western Pannonian Basin in Central Europe.

During his PostDoc research, Professor Németh spent 3 years exploring mafic volcanism in the Vanuatu Volcanic Arc, before becoming a permanent research officer at the Massey University’s Volcanic Risk Solutions research group. This role later developed into a lecturer position, where he has teaching duties mostly in geology and geological mapping.

Alongside his work at Massey University, Károly Németh is an adjunct senior researcher at the Institute of Earth Physics and Space Sciences at Sopron, Hungary, and he spent a full year as an Associate Professor at King Abdulaziz University’s Geohazard Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

During his 20 years in research, Professor Németh has conducted geological studies all over the world, including but not limited to, New Zealand, Central Europe, South America and East Asia, where he developed strong research links with esteemed international institutions. Working alongside global scholars, he has published top scientific papers in leading peer-reviewed journals, magazines and books from every continent, even Antarctica!

Károly Németh has numerous publications on geoheritage and its geoconservation aspects (see his most recent publication here). Whilst working in geoheritage research, he helped establish the Commission on Volcanic Geoheritage and Protected Volcanic Landscapes, at the IAVCEI (International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior), where he was an elected executive committee member of the IAVCEI between 2011 and 2015.

Whilst Professor Németh is a research geologist focusing on problems in volcanic geology, in the past 10 years he has become a strong advocate for geoconservation. As he is a trained Montessori Teacher, with a pedagogical background, Károly Németh saw the value of Earth Sciences and geoeducation in tackling the challenges of planetary change that we face as humanity.

Now, as well as an active Editorial Board Member at Conservation MDPI, Professor Németh is also the current chair of the Geoconservation Trust Aotearoa, a non-profit organisation that promotes geoconservation activity in New Zealand and the SW Pacific.

We caught up with Professor Nemeth to gain some insight into the field of Conservation today!

What encouraged you to enter the field of Conservation?

"My own research on volcano geology made my strong interest in conservation. My research, particularly volcanic hazard related research, highlighted the importance of geoeducation in every level of the society to develop a resilience society against natural hazards and be ready to understand the Earth System. Such approach can help us to develop a sustainable society that learn to “live with the abiotic nature of Earth”. I have seen through my own research the rapid changes of the Earth’s surface and its geological heritage that vanishes in a fast speed. In this respect, I felt an urgent need to approach to the geological and geomorphological features and processes in a transdisciplinary way where a balance is find between the human society’s needs for natural resources and the respect and preservation of its abiotic heritage."

Which paper (if any) changed your outlook on the field of Conservation?

"I cant really point to a single paper, but can list several in the time of early 2000s when geoheritage research intensity increased and new research fields developed and evolved what we understand these days as geoconservation. I was particularly amazed of the fact how little has been done in the past decades to recognise, characterize and valorise the abiotic nature, and treat it as a natural stage where the biotic nature and human society operates. I was pretty much fascinated by the emergence of the concept of ecosystem services, and then when the same concept was applied to the abiotic nature and formed a concept of geosystem services. While I find these new approaches refreshing, I still think that a far more inclusive and transdisciplinary approach is needed to develop a fully functional and sustainable conservation strategy for geoheritage."

What advice would you give to young researchers/scientists looking to begin their career in Conservation?

"As being a trained geologist with significant research experiences to understand Planet Earth my recent venture to the field of geoheritage and geoconservation showed me the importance to actively look for the cross-discipline areas and be open alternative, sometimes unexpected tools and methods to sort things out. I think particularly in geoheritage and geoconservation research such transdisciplinary approach is the key to become an inter-connected researcher who would be able to identify and execute programs truly would make changes within conservation."

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Journal Contact: Conservation Editorial Office (email) (LinkedIn)
Follow Conservation on Twitter: Conservation_OA.

MDPI Books recently released Book Builder, a new online tool to conveniently arrange, design and produce an eBook from any content published in MDPI journals. Book Builder offers two functions: on the one hand (1) Selections, available to every registered user of MDPI; on the other hand (2) Special Issue Reprints, which can be used exclusively by Guest Editors of Special Issues.

Selections

In just a matter of a few clicks, all users are now able to assemble books from MDPI articles and receive instantaneous feedback in the form of a fully produced and compiled book (PDF), which can be downloaded or ordered as print copy. Selections can include any paper published with MDPI, picking and combining content from different journals and special issues.

This way, the user may for example choose to compile an ebook focusing around a particular topic, or assemble articles from a group of others.

We invite you to make yourself familiar with the new tool! The Book Builder can be found here: https://www.mdpi.com/books/book_builder.

Special Issue Reprints

The Book Builder allows Guest Editors of MDPI journals to create a reprint from a successfully completed Special Issue or Topical Collection in book format. If you are a Guest Editor for an MDPI journal, you can use the new tool  to create an PDF document which includes all articles published in the Special Issue as well as a book cover and table of contents.

For Special Issues containing a minimum of 5 articles, the Guest Editor can request its publication on the MDPI Book platform. Published reprints are assigned an ISBN and DOI.

In addition to the PDF copy of the Reprint Book, as a token of our gratitude, MDPI offers every Guest Editor one (1) complimentary print copy (via print-on-demand). All contributors benefit from a discount on orders of any additional print copies, to share with colleagues or libraries or others.

Why choose MDPI Books?

In line with our organization's values, MDPI Books publishes all content in open access, promoting the exchange of ideas and knowledge in a globalized world. MDPI Books encompasses all the benefits of open access—high availability and visibility, as well as wide and rapid dissemination. MDPI Books are distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License, meaning as an author you retain the copyright for your work. In addition, with MDPI Books you can complement the digital version of your work with a high-quality printed counterpart.

If you are interested in editing a book volume or series, or have a monograph manuscript to be considered for publication, please submit your proposal online and look at our Information for Authors.

Contact: Laura Wagner, MDPI Books Manager (email)

In June of this year, MDPI will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its foundation. To mark this significant milestone, we have created a 25th Anniversary page on our website that evokes the development of our company over the past quarter-century.

MDPI has been a pioneer of Open Access publishing ever since the concept was first created.

In a wide-ranging interview, our CEO Delia Mihaila reflects on the company’s 25th anniversary and its contribution to the world of scientific publishing.

Delia considers how MDPI has evolved since starting life in 1996 as a visionary ‘project’ run out of an apartment in Basel, Switzerland, by Dr. Shu-Kun Lin. A chemist who was passionate about the long-term preservation of rare chemical sample, Dr. Lin was determined to help scholars publish their findings as quickly as possible and make their research results available to as wide a readership as possible worldwide. That determination remains unchanged 25 years later.

Today, MDPI is an international organization with over 4,000 employees based on three continents and in ten countries, and ranks among the world's top four academic publishers.

MDPI's mission is to accelerate access to new scientific research, delivering insight faster for researchers worldwide. Read more here about the company's remarkable success story and what the Open Access publishing model can offer the global scientific community.

At MDPI, we strive to make your online publication process seamless and efficient. To achieve this, our team is continuously developing tools and features to make the user experience useful and convenient.

As the number of academic papers continues to grow, so does the need to analyze and work with them on a large scale. This prompted us to design a new feature aimed at helping researchers find journals that are relevant to their publication by matching their abstract topic. In this regard, we designed a similarity model that automatically identifies the most suitable academic journals for your paper.

We are pleased to introduce Journal Selector, a new feature that measures similarity in academic contexts. By simply entering the title and/or abstract into our Journal Selector, the author will see a list of the most related scientific journals published by MDPI. This method helps authors select the correct journals for their papers, highlighting the time of publication and citability.

The methodology is known as representation learning, where words are represented as vectors in hyperspace. Representation helps us differentiate between different concepts within articles, and in turn, helps us identify similarities between them.

We used an advanced machine learning model to better capture the semantic meanings of words. This helps the algorithm make better predictions by leveraging scientific text representation. In turn, this ensures high precision, helping authors decide which journal they should submit their paper to.

The goal is to support authors to publish their work in the most suitable journal for their research, as fast as possible, accelerating their career progress.

Contact: Andrea Perlato, Head of Data Analytics, MDPI (email)

MDPI is proud to adopt the principles of the Coalition for Diversity & Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC) to support building equity, inclusion, diversity, and accessibility in scholarly communications.

The C4DISC represents organizations and individuals working in scholarly communications and is focused on addressing issues of diversity and inclusion within the publishing industry.

MDPI’s Managing Editors encourage the Editors-in-Chief and Associate Editors to appoint diverse expert Editorial Boards. This is also reflective in our multi-national and inclusive workplace. We are proud to create equal opportunities without regard to gender, ethnicity, geographic location, sexual orientation, age, disability, political beliefs, religion, or socio-economic status. There is no place for discrimination in our workplace and editors of MDPI journals are to uphold these principles in high regard.

Representatives from C4DISC meet monthly, and have started to implement initiatives to shed light and improve on the lack of diversity in scholarly communications. Some of the initiatives include developing a joint statement of principles; conducting market research; providing training resources, best practices, toolkits, and documentation for our collective memberships; and establishing outreach programs, curricula, events, and publications.

The Coalition is committed to:

• eliminating barriers to participation, extending equitable opportunities across all stakeholders, and ensuring that our practices and policies promote equitable treatment and do not allow, condone, or result in discrimination;
• creating and maintaining an environment that respects diverse traditions, heritages, and experiences;
• promoting diversity in all staff, volunteers, and audiences, including full participation in programs, policy formulation, and decision-making;
• raising awareness about career opportunities in our industries to groups who are currently underrepresented in the workforce;
• supporting our members in achieving diversity and inclusion within their organizations.

At MDPI we have slightly revised the layout for articles to be published in the 2021 Volume, starting at the end of December 2020. As of today, the article templates available for download on ‘Instructions for Authors’ pages have been updated.

The most noticeable change can be found on the first page of the article, where a left-hand column has been created to include the following front matter elements: (i) the recommended citation style for the article, (ii) the publishing history, (iii) as well as the Creative Commons Attribution license used (iv) a standard note regarding affiliations. At the same time, the extra spacing on the left means the authors’ affiliations are now more clearly set apart than before. Other front matter key elements such as journal logo, article type, article title, authors, abstract and keywords remain unchanged.

The blank column on the left runs through all pages in an article; as a result, the main text is slightly more condensed, which improve reader friendliness for smaller screens. Small figures/tables are aligned on the left with standard indenture, while large figures/tables are centered and covering the full width of the page. The revised layout was applied in the article pictured below, to serve as an example:

1) Information is displayed in the left information bar.

2) In the main text, there is a blank column on the left.

3) Small tables/figures are aligned on the left, large tables/figures are centered.