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

Chair: Prof. Dr. Sven Dänicke

Date: 20 July 2021

Time: 4:00 pm CEST | 8:00 am MDT

Zoom Meeting Information:

Zoom Link:

https://ualberta-ca.zoom.us/j/97302371396?pwd=UTkvWTlHeTlqdjdzS2lQcG90L1BBdz09

Meeting ID: 973 0237 1396
Passcode: 775216

Prof. Dr. Erminio Trevisi (Catholic University of Sacred Heart – Italy)
Presentation: The transition period updated: new insights into the adaptation of dairy cows to the new lactation

Prof. Dr. Maria Filippa Addis (University of Milan, Italy)
Presentation: The mammary gland microbiome, lactation stages, and management variables: what do we know so far?

Dr. Grzegorz Zwierzchowski (University of Warmia and Mazuri in Olsztyn, Poland)
Presentation: Mastitis: a metabolomics perspective

Prof. Dr. Sven Dänicke (Institute of Animal Nutrition, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute (FLI), Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Brunswick, Germany)
Presentation: Fusarium mycotoxins in transition cows: Diagnosis of exposure and impact on health

Chair: Prof. Dr. Burim Ametaj

Date: 21 July 2021

Time: 4:00 pm CEST | 8:00 am MDT

Zoom Meeting information:

Zoom Link:

https://ualberta-ca.zoom.us/j/93082335444?pwd=VHJYdEM0dHppNTdrZ1hRL1RPMTlEZz09

Meeting ID: 930 8233 5444
Passcode: 671922

Dr. Andre Almeida (Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa. Tapada da Ajuda, Lisboa, Portugal)
Presentation: Dairy4future, improving the Dairy sector in the EU’s Atlantic area: the Azores archipelago as a case study

Dr. Guanshi Zhang (University of Texas Health, San Antonio – USA)
Presentation: Dairy cow ketosis: A metabolomics perspective

Prof. Dr. Burim Ametaj (University of Alberta, Canada)
Presentation: Lameness: Lessons from immuno-metabolomics

The transition period, defined as the time around parturition, is marred by the high incidence of periparturient diseases. Although much progress has been made regarding the understanding of the etiopathology and treatment of those diseases, almost one in two cows continues to be affected by one or multiple diseases concurrently, especially during postpartum. In this symposium, renowned scientists have been invited to discuss transition cows, including the role of mycotoxins on health, mammary gland microbiome, ketosis, mastitis, lameness, as well as new insights into cow adaptation to the new lactation. The discussion will also include the future of the dairy sector in the European Union Atlantic area. There will be a total of 7 speakers that will deliver their speeches over the course of two days. Two Chairs will moderate the Symposium, including Prof. Dr. Burim Ametaj (Editor-in-Chief of the journal Dairy (MDPI)) and Prof. Dr. Sven Dänicke (Section Editor-in-Chief of the “Nutrition and Physiology” section of the journal Dairy (MDPI)).

For any questions about the Symposium, please send an email to dairy@mdpi.com.

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)

John J. Kennelly, Professor Emeritus of University of Alberta, Canada, accepted our interview recently. The interview was conducted by Prof. Dr. Burim Ametaj, Editor-in-Chief of journal Dairy. The purpose of this interview was to honor and learn from distinguished scientists in the area of Dairy Science.

Prof. Dr. John J. Kennelly obtained his BAgrSc (First Class Hons) from University College Dublin in 1976 and his Ph.D. from the University of Alberta in 1980. His career at the University of Alberta spanned a period of 40 years, including seven years as the Chair of the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Sciences and 10 years as the Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences (ALES). His research has focused on the nutrition and lactation physiology of dairy cattle. His publications include over 150 peer-reviewed journal articles as well as numerous book chapters, conference proceedings and extension articles.

The journal Dairy (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/dairy) has 81 prominent editorial board members (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/dairy/editors) from all over the world. It covers all areas of dairy science. Although the journal Dairy is a new journal, it is growing rapidly and has published multiple articles from renowned researchers from different countries.

Work–Life Balance and Main Fields of Interest

1. How did you get involved in dairy science?

I grew up in Ireland on a dairy farm. I was the second eldest of a family of eleven and I ended up dropping out of school at the age of 12 as my father needed help on the farm. I worked full time on the home farm until I was 21. I then took up a job on a dairy farm outside Cork City in Ireland. This allowed me to go to night school to complete my high school credits over two winters. I was admitted to the Science program at University College Cork in 1972, even though I was missing the required physics and chemistry courses. This requirement was waived on the basis that I was a mature student, however, it made for a challenging first year of university as I struggled to get up to speed on chemistry and physics. After spending the first two years at University College Cork, I then transferred to University College Dublin for the final two years as it had the only BSc agriculture program in Ireland. I graduated in 1976 with a BSc (Agr), first class honors.

Despite my best efforts, I was unable to get a job in my field upon graduation, so I decided to pursue graduate work in Canada where I obtained a scholarship from the University of Alberta. I arrived in Edmonton on January 1^st 1977 on a greyhound bus from Vancouver, where I had spent Christmas. It was −37 °C with howling winds and snow on my arrival. I decided then and there that I would complete my Ph.D. as quickly as possible and get out of Edmonton as I could not understand anyone living in those extreme weather conditions.

I completed my Ph.D. (Animal Nutrition) at the UofA in 1980. The Dairy Science Professor (Ross Grieve) in the Department of Animal Science retired that year, so I applied for his job. I did not really expect to get the job as my Ph.D. work was related to fibre utilization (microbial fermentation) in the hind gut of pigs. I was surprised to find that I was offered the job, I guess the university was not so picky in those days. I accepted the job fully expecting that I would only stay a few years and return to the balmier weather in Ireland.

2. What are some of the most exciting aspects of your work in dairy science?

I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to start my academic career at the University of Alberta where senior faculty and staff were supportive of young faculty members like myself. It was also a time when there was superb funding for animal science research, so that within a couple of years we had an excellent group of graduate students, post docs and technicians to support our teaching, research and outreach programs. Perhaps the most exciting part of the research is that I was able to work with some wonderful people who helped build an integrated research program that spanned nutrition, ruminal fermentation and lactation physiology.

3. What key dairy initiatives had you pursued at your faculty?

My initial research focused on dairy cattle nutrition with an emphasis on enhancing the utilization of forages, grains and oilseeds grown in Alberta. Over the years, this research broadened to include ruminal digestion and the impacts of the end products of ruminal digestion on milk composition with particular emphasis on the fatty acid composition of milk. Research highlighting the important role that fatty acids, such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), play in human health inspired our research on the role of nutrition in enhancing these fatty acids in milk. 

4. What is happening in your country in terms of dairy science?

Canadian dairy scientists have access to some of the best equipped dairy facilities in the world that are located across the university sector as well as at Agriculture and Agri-food Canada. The significant investment in infrastructure over the past decade has provided a platform for dairy scientist that has enabled them to be at the forefront of many innovations in dairy science. Canada also has had a long history of working closely with dairy producers, and other dairy stakeholders. This has helped ensure that research innovations are effectively transferred to the end user. With many institutions facing substantial budget cuts, it will be difficult for Canada to maintain its leadership position in the years ahead.

5. How do you see your work in dairy being applied today or in the future?

Research is always a work in progress where scientists build on the work of their predecessors. Thus, other scientists have built on our work as the understanding of animal biology has evolved. One of the areas that I have always been interested in has been helping to ensure that the knowledge gained through research is transferred to dairy producers, and others within the industry, without undue delay so that the efficiency, sustainability and profitability of this important sector is enhanced. Thus, in 1982, I took the initiative to set up the Western Canadian Dairy Seminar (WCDS) and I served as Program Director for the first 26 years of the conference. The WCDS will celebrate its 40^th anniversary in 2022 and it is recognized as one of the premier dairy conferences in the world. Every year the seminar attracts over 700 people from all sectors of the dairy industry to Red Deer, Alberta, where the foremost experts from around the world present the latest information on all things dairy. I believe that the WCDS has been a major contributor to ensuring that Alberta, and indeed Canada, is at the leading edge of innovation in the dairy sector.

6. As you see it, what are dairy science’s greatest strengths?

Perhaps, the greatest strength of dairy science is that milk is such a fundamental product from a human health perspective. For thousands of years, milk has contributed nutrients to sustain human life and this continues today with the vast array of dairy products consumed by billions of people on a daily basis. One of the most fascinating aspects of dairy science is that it encompasses such a broad spectrum of research that includes production efficiency, metabolism, lactation physiology, food science as well as the role of milk and milk components in human nutrition and health. As our understanding of the link between nutrition and health has grown, so also has the key role that dairy products can play as part of a healthy diet.

7. What do you see as the greatest barriers for dairy research?

The costs associated with dairy cattle research tend to be higher than most other animal science research. This can be attributed to the high cost of housing for dairy cattle as well as to the long generation interval that often requires multi-year studies. As government funding for universities has declined, universities have difficulty supporting the costs associated with dairy research facilities. Working collaboratively with dairy producers to access their facilities is an option that has been successfully used by many scientists. However, there are significant limitations with respect to the type of research that can be conducted on commercial farms. Thus, in the absence of well equipped dairy facilities, it will be challenging to attract the next generation of dairy scientists.

8. What improvements, technological or otherwise, need to take place for dairy science to push it to the next level?

In recent years, there has been a growing body of research on the mechanisms underlying feed utilization, milk synthesis and overall efficiency and health of dairy cattle. Whether it is an understanding of the genetic basis for feed efficiency, milk yield, or milk composition, an understanding of the underlying mechanisms is the key to helping ensure the long-term sustainability and profitability of this sector. Over the past 30 years, there have been tremendous advances in terms of milk yield, however, this has come at a price in terms of animal health as reflected in indicators such as reproductive efficiency and incidence of metabolic diseases. Future productivity advances will require that we successfully address the interaction between increased milk yield, reproductive efficiency and animal health.

9. How does the future look in terms of funding for dairy science?

Securing appropriate funding has often been a challenge for dairy scientists. Dairy research is quite expensive, especially at the production level, due to the cost of maintaining a dairy research herd and the long generation interval that can require multiple years to complete experiments. Thus, securing adequate research funding continues to be a challenge for many dairy scientists. The direct involvement of dairy producers in funding research has really helped as this funding can also leverage other sources of funding.

10. Do you have any other comments that you wish to share about dairy science?

Milk is a highly nutritious food that has helped sustain humankind for thousands of years. Understanding the process by which the cow converts feed into a highly nutritious product is a fascinating journey that spans the complexity of ruminal digestion, nutrient transport and lactation physiology. Intensive genetic selection has resulted in cows that have an extraordinary ability to sustain high levels of milk yield. However, this has often come at a price in terms of reproductive fitness and overall animal health. This area certainly warrants greater research emphasis in the future.

11. What do you think are the most important characteristics of talented researchers? Do you have any suggestions to share with the young researchers?

I believe the most important characteristic of scientists is curiosity and a passion for their particular area of research. Understanding the underlying biology of ruminal digestion, lactation physiology, milk synthesis and its influence on animal health is certainly an exciting area that is ripe for new discoveries in the years and decades ahead. 

12. Do you have any suggestions on the new journal “Dairy”?

Congratulations on launching a new Dairy journal. The future success of the Dairy journal will depend on the scientific credibility of the journal in terms of the rigor of its review process as well as the timeliness and efficiency of its publication process. It certainly looks like the journal is off to a good start and I wish you all the best in your role of communicating the latest advances in dairy science.

13. How do you see the future development of Open Access in academic publishing?

I very much welcome the development of Open Access journals as it provides greater choice for scientists.

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.

We are pleased to acknowledge that many academic editors who have made an impact on MDPI journals as editorial board members, editors-in-chief, or section editors, are recognized as 2020 Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate.

Highly Cited Researchers highlights the top 1% of researchers, by citations, in one or more of the 22 fields used in Clarivate Analytics Essential Science Indicators. We offer our congratulations to 279 academic editors of MDPI journals who were recognized as the most influential scholars in their fields in 2020.

The full list of 2020 Highly Cited Researchers  can be accessed on https://recognition.webofsciencegroup.com/awards/highly-cited/2020/

--- Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) is a Clarivate product.

We are delighted to announce the establishment of our Open Access agreement with Jisc Collections, which will allow UK institutions to benefit from access to article processing charge (APC) discounts and streamlined payment workflows.

All institutions participating in the agreement will also gain access to the MDPI online submission system where they can find full article metadata and pricing information for easy identification and additional transparency.

Eligible authors affiliated with the participating institutions are prompted to choose the corresponding Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) when they submit an article via our online submission system.

About Jisc

Jisc's vision is for the UK to be the most digitally advanced education and research nation in the world. At its heart is the super-fast national research and education network, Janet, with built-in cyber security protection.  Jisc also provides technology solutions for its members (colleges, universities and research centres) and customers (public sector bodies), helps members save time and money by negotiating sector-wide deals and provides advice and practical assistance on digital technology. Jisc is funded by the UK higher and further education and research funding bodies and member institutions.

For more information, contact helen.dobson@jisc.ac.uk.

About MDPI

MDPI is a publisher of fully peer-reviewed, Open Access journals with a focus on thorough and rapid editorial processing. Its aim is to ensure that high-quality research is verified and made available to the research community as quickly as possible. MDPI stands at the forefront of the Open Access movement, having launched its first online journal Molecules in 1996. Today, MDPI is a leader in Open Access publishing with over 250 journals across all research disciplines, and all content published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).

For any questions about this agreement, please contact the MDPI IOAP team at ioap@mdpi.com.