Announcements

The 2022 citation metrics have been released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), and we’re pleased to announce the following results for MDPI journals:

We are thrilled to announce that 90% of our ranked MDPI journals, specifically 86 out of 96 (captured in the table below), are performing above average in Q1 or Q2. This year, Clarivate has expanded its Impact Factor (IF) awards to include journals in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), providing greater transparency for the full set of journals indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. As a result, 111 of MDPI journals have received their first IF in 2023, with 37 journals surpassing an IF of 3.0. In total, 208 MDPI journals have been honored with an IF.

Clarivate explains that by "expanding the coverage but holding to highly selective standards, the [Impact Factor] is now a reliable indicator of trustworthiness, as well as a measure of scholarly impact, at the journal level."

Please visit our blog post where we discuss the release of the latest citation metrics with our Indexing Manager, Dr. Constanze Schelhorn, to find out what's different this time around and how to make use of different metrics available.

Note: The Journal of Personalized Medicine's Impact Factor was omitted in the original release and will be assigned separately. Please find the data on the journal webpage in due course.

Source: 2022 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports ^TM (Clarivate, 2023)

A message from Prof. Rui Alexandre Castanho, the webinar chair:

Throughout the webinar, we will have the opportunity to hear from leading experts in their fields, engage in productive discussions, and participate in hands-on workshops and activities. We aim to foster new partnerships through collaboration and innovation, providing a platform where a range of ideas can be shared.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have revolutionized remote sensing for land use and land cover (LULC) mapping and landscape analysis. The ability to capture high-resolution aerial imagery and create 3D landscape models has allowed for more accurate and detailed mapping of LULC patterns, changes, and trends over time.

Furthermore, using UAVs for citizen science initiatives has enabled communities to participate in monitoring and managing their local environments. This approach allows for a more collaborative and inclusive approach to environmental management and can help to build community awareness and engagement in environmental issues.

UAVs have also been used for mapping vegetation, soil erosion, and water quality monitoring. These applications have provided researchers and managers with new tools to better understand and manage natural resources. UAVs can collect data quickly and at a high resolution, allowing for more detailed analysis of small-scale features such as vegetation canopy cover, plant height, and soil erosion patterns.

Using UAVs for remote sensing and citizen science initiatives has opened up new opportunities for more efficient and effective environmental monitoring and management. As technology continues to improve, we can expect to see even more innovative applications of UAVs in environmental research and management.

At this webinar, we hope you will gain new insights, make valuable connections, and leave feeling inspired and motivated to drive positive change in your respective fields.

Date: 13 July 2023 at 5:00 p.m. CEST | 11:00 a.m. EDT | 11:00 p.m. CST Asia
Webinar ID: 870 9667 3555

Register now for free!

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.

Unable to attend? Register as normal to be notified when the recording is available to watch.

Webinar Chair and Keynote Speakers

• Rui Alexandre Castanho, Department of Management, WSB University, Dabrowa Górnicza, Poland;
• Ana Hernando, Departamento de Ingeniería y Gestión Forestal y Ambiental Department of Forestry and Environmental Engineering and Management, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain;
• Luís Quinta-Nova, Agrarian Higher School, Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Castelo Branco, Portugal.

Relevant Topic:

“Advances in Earth Observation and Geosciences”
Edited by: Prof. Dr. Diego González-Aguilera and Dr. Pablo Rodríguez-Gonzálvez
Abstract submission deadline: 31 December 2023

Relevant Special Issues:

"Land-Use Planning in Borderlands and Ultra-Peripheral Regions"
Edited by: Dr. Rui Alexandre Castanho, Dr. José Manuel Naranjo Gómez, Prof. Dr. José Martín Gallardo, Dr. José Cabezas Fernández and Prof. Dr. Luís Quinta-Nova

"Planning Peripheral and Ultra-Peripheral Infrastructures"
Edited by: Prof. Dr. Rui Alexandre Castanho, Prof. Dr. Ana Vulevic, Prof. Dr. Gualter Couto and Prof. Dr. José Manuel Naranjo Gómez

"Sustainability in Tourism Activities and the Low-Density and Peripheral Territories"
Edited by: Prof. Dr. Rui Alexandre Castanho and Prof. Dr. Gualter Couto

"Remote Sensing Applications in Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF)"
Edited by: Dr. Ali Nadir Arslan, Prof. Dr. Katarzyna Dabrowska-Zielinska and Dr. Jose Manuel Álvarez-Martínez

"Resilient UAV Autonomy and Remote Sensing"
Edited by: Dr. Chi Chen, Dr. San Jiang, Dr. Xijiang Chen, Dr. Mao Tian, Dr. Jianping Li and Dr. Jian Zhou

"Advances on Land Cover/Land Use Ontologies for Innovative Production/Utilization of Land Information"
Edited by: Dr. Antonio Di Gregorio, Dr. Matieu Henry, Chris T. Hill, Prof. John Latham, Prof. Dr. Mohammed Abed Hossain, Dr. Khalid Mahmood and Dr. Foster Mensah

Relevant feature paper:

“The Land Use Mapping Techniques (Including the Areas Used by Pedestrians) Based on Low-Level Aerial Imagery”
by Maciej Smaczyński, Beata Medyńska-Gulij and Łukasz Halik
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2020, 9(12), 754; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi9120754

The purpose of the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day is to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide. 17 May marks the anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention and the creation of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

This year, World Telecommunication and Information Society Day focuses on “Empowering the least developed countries (LDCs) through information and communication technologies.” As the world becomes increasingly adept at leveraging the Internet for value creation, LDCs risk falling further behind. To further explore the information about digital transformation in these LDCs and communication technologies in the rest of the world on the 2023 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, we have gathered academic research from several journals on the topic of digital communication, all of which are open access, enabling practitioners, policymakers and people around the world to access and share up-to-date scientific knowledge.

Let us celebrate the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day together.

Conference: OceanTech Program 2023
Date: 18–21 May 2023
Location: Zhejiang University Zhoushan Campus, Zhoushan, China

This conference is organized by Zhejiang University and the Committee of Ocean Technology System (OTS), Chinese Society for Oceanography, biennially. OT is an international grand event initiated by China's marine industry that integrates high-tech conferences, exhibitions, offshore demonstrations, technical exchanges, and training.

The conference covers a wide range of topics, such as marine remote sensing and detection equipment technology, new concept submersible technology, underwater optics and intelligent vision technology, ocean "dual carbon" technology, etc.

MDPI will be attending OceanTech Program 2023 as an exhibitor. We welcome researchers from different backgrounds to visit and share their latest ideas with us.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• JMSE;
• Sustainability;
• Water;
• Drones;
• Automation;
• Oceans;
• Coasts.

If you plan to attend this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth at #C050. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have.

For more information about the conference, please visit the following link: https://www.oceantech-ap.com/ot-2023.

MDPI is attending the Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2023 (JpGU 2023). The event will be held at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan, from 21 to 26 May 2023, and it is organized by the Japan Geoscience Union (JpGU). JpGU is an academic union that encompasses all the Earth and planetary science disciplines and related fields; additionally, it has been organizing annual meetings since 2005. JpGU 2023 will cover a wide range of Earth and planetary sciences, including space and planetary sciences, atmospheric and hydrospheric sciences, human geosciences, solid Earth sciences, and biogeosciences. The JpGU annual meeting provides participants with a good opportunity to become familiar with cutting-edge research and unique approaches to research objects within their own special field and beyond. Representatives of the following MDPI journals will be attending:

• Land;
• Remote Sensing;
• Minerals;
• Sustainability;
• Drones;
• Geographies;
• Climate;
• Geomatics;
• Geosciences;
• Water;
• Quaternary;
• Sensors;
• Earth.

If you are also attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth (#Pub05). Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit: https://www.jpgu.org/meeting_e2023/.

On 11 May 2023, MDPI and the journals Remote Sensing, Drones, Land and IJGI organized the webinar Remote Sensing for Flood Risk and Hazard Management.

The introduction was held by the Chair of the webinar, Dr. Guy Schumann, who holds academic research positions at the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Bristol. He is also the Founder of RSS-Hydro, a European R&D company active in the areas of EO and computer modeling of water risks.

The first speaker to kick off this webinar was Dr. Laurence Hawker, who is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristol, specializing in global flood models and Digital Elevation Model data. He develops flood simulations and advances global datasets to support our understanding of current and future flood risks. Dr Hawker’s presentation was entitled “Generating a 30m Global Terrain Map and using them in Global Flood Models”.

The second presentation entitled “Satellite Monitoring of River Discharge and Its Use in Hydrological Applications” was held by Dr. Angelica Tarpanelli. Her research activities mainly regard the development and implementation of algorithms for hydrological and hydraulic applications through the leveraging of satellite sensors data. She is currently a Senior Researcher at the National Research Council, Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection of (CNR-IRPI) in Perugia.

Dr. Patrick Matgen from the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) was the third speaker, and his presentation was entitled “The Sentinel-1 Global Flood Monitoring system of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service”. His personal research interests include the assimilation of remote sensing-derived observations into hydrodynamic models and the assessment of flood hazard and risk at a large scale.

The webinar ended with a Q&A and discussion, moderated by the Chair.

Please note that this webinar is associated with the Topic titled “Advances in Earth Observation and Geosciences”. The deadline is 31 December 2023.

You can watch the recorded webinar below:

Webinar Chair and Keynote Speakers:

• Dr. Guy Schumann, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom; Research and Education Department, RSS-Hydro, Dudelange, Luxembourg;
• Dr. Laurence Hawker, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom;
• Dr. Angelica Tarpanelli, National Research Council, Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection of (CNR-IRPI), Italy;
• Dr. Patrick Matgen, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Esch-Belval Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.

The International Day of Human Space Flight commemorates the first manned space flight by the Soviet citizen Yuri Gagarin on 12 April 1961. This day was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight in 2011 by the United Nations General Assembly resolution, to celebrate the beginning of the human space age. It reaffirms the important contribution of space science and technology in achieving sustainable development goals and increasing the well-being of countries and people, as well as ensuring the realization of their aspiration to preserve outer space for peaceful purposes. 

In the course of human exploration of space, we have established many remarkable achievements and breakthrough milestones:

• In 1957, the first human-made Earth satellite, Sputnik I, was launched into outer space;
• In 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit the Earth;
• In 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot upon the surface of the Moon;
• In 1996, the first spacecraft in human history successfully landed on Mars;
• In 1998, the International Space Station, a 16-nation international space program, launched for the first time;
• In 2009, the Kepler space telescope was launched, which has helped humans find thousands of exoplanets;
• In 2015, SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket and recovered the first stage. 

To further explore the information about space on the 2023 International Day of Human Space Flight, we have gathered academic research from several journals on the topic of space flight, all of which are open access, enabling practitioners, policymakers and people around the world to access and share up-to-date scientific knowledge. 

Let us celebrate the International Day of Human Space Flight together.

The ORIGIN Space Instrument for Detecting Biosignatures and Habitability Indicators on a Venus Life Finder Mission Aerospace 2022, 9(6), 312; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace9060312
Venus Life Finder Missions Motivation and Summary Aerospace 2022, 9(7), 385; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace9070385
Theoretical and Observational Constraints on Lunar Orbital Evolution in the Three-Body Earth-Moon-Sun System Astronomy 2022, 1(2), 58-83; https://doi.org/10.3390/astronomy1020007
Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) Imaging Simulation of the Distant Planetary Magnetosphere and ENA Emission Discussion of the Solar Wind Astronomy 2022, 1(3), 235-245; https://doi.org/10.3390/astronomy1030013
Revisiting Fractional Cosmology Fractal Fract. 2023, 7(2), 149; https://doi.org/10.3390/fractalfract7020149
Special Issue: Orbit Determination Methods for Space Missions and Applications to the Exploration of the Solar System	Special Issue: Feature Papers in the Astronomical Sciences

Whirl Tower Demonstration of an SMA Blade Twist System Actuators 2022, 11(6), 141; https://doi.org/10.3390/act11060141
A Tutorial and Review on Flight Control Co-Simulation Using Matlab/Simulink and Flight Simulators Automation 2022, 3(3), 486-510; https://doi.org/10.3390/automation3030025
Reconfigurable Fault-Tolerant Control for Spacecraft Formation Flying Based on Iterative Learning Algorithms Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(5), 2485; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12052485
Wilderness Search for Lost Persons Using a Multimodal Aerial-Terrestrial Robot Team Robotics 2022, 11(3), 64; https://doi.org/10.3390/robotics11030064
Special Issue: Advances in CubeSat Sails and Tethers	Special Issue: Aerospace Mechanisms and Actuation
Special Issue: Advanced Fault Diagnosis and Fault-Tolerant Control Technology of Spacecraft	Special Issue: Smart Sensors and Devices: Recent Advances and Applications

Investigation of UAV Detection by Different Solid-State Marine Radars Electronics 2022, 11(16), 2502; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11162502
Edge Machine Learning for the Automated Decision and Visual Computing of the Robots, IoT Embedded Devices or UAV-Drones Electronics 2022, 11(21), 3507; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11213507
Autonomous Tracking of ShenZhou Reentry Capsules Based on Heterogeneous UAV Swarms Drones 2023, 7(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones7010020
A Human-Detection Method Based on YOLOv5 and Transfer Learning Using Thermal Image Data from UAV Perspective for Surveillance System Drones 2022, 6(10), 290; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones6100290
Multi-UAV Conflict Resolution with Graph Convolutional Reinforcement Learning Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(2), 610; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12020610
Special Issue: Control and Applications of Intelligent Unmanned Aerial Vehicle	Special Issue: Navigation, Control and Mission Planning Advances for Safe, Efficient and Autonomous Drones

On Tuesday, 25 April 2023, MDPI and the journals Remote Sensing, Drones, Land and IJGI organized the webinar entitled EO&GEO Series: New Milestones in Drones—from New Drones Designs to Real-Time and Artificial Intelligence Applications.

It is clear that drones have become an increasingly popular tool for mapping and surveying, with their ability to capture high-resolution and multi-sensor imagery. However, traditional mapping techniques often require significant time and effort to process the collected data before it can be used; therefore, real-time drone mapping offers a game-changing solution that is going to transform various application fields, such as emergency response or agriculture. 

Thanks to our recognized speakers, we had the opportunity to share with the audience novel insights into drone technology, from real-time mapping applications and novel drone designs to close to market vertical solutions in agriculture.

Please note that this webinar is associated with the Topic titled “Advances in Earth Observation and Geosciences”.  The deadline is 31 December 2023.

You can watch the recorded webinar here:

Webinar Chairs and Keynote Speakers:

• Dr. Diego González-Aguilera (Chair), Cartographic and Land Engineering Department, Higher Polytechnic School of Avila, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain;
• Pablo Rodríguez-Gonzálvez (Chair), Department of Mining Technology, Topography and Structures, University of León, Ponferrada, Spain;
• Dr. Francesco Nex, Earth Observation Science (ESO) Department, ITC Faculty, University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands;
• Katerina Margarita, Acceligence Hellas Ltd, Greece;
• Mr. Xavier Silva Garcia, Hemav Technology SL., Spain

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Pablo Rodríguez-Gonzálvez has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Innovative Urban Mobility” in Drones (ISSN: 2504-446X).

Dr. Pablo Rodríguez Gonzálvez is a surveyor (2004), a geodesist and a cartographer (2006), who obtained his Ph.D. in 2011 and worked at the University of Salamanca, Spain, for 8 years, joined the University of León, Spain, in 2017, and continues to be an Associate Professor in the Geomatics field. His research career is supported not only by the publication of articles in scientific journals, communications in international conferences, book chapters, and edition of books, but also by university‒business knowledge transfer, in the form of projects, patents, and software development related to the application of Geomatics in different disciplines. Furthermore, his participation in multiple R&D projects at international levels, all of them related to Geomatics, are noteworthy. As a result, his research has been awarded at the national level by different institutions. His primary research field is the application of Geomatics techniques, mainly photogrammetry and laser scanner, 3D modeling, and radiometric analyses. These lines of research led him to collaborate in multiple fields, including industrial engineering, cultural heritage, and forest management. He has been a member of the National Management Committee of COST Action CA16219 (“Harmonization of UAS techniques for agricultural and natural ecosystems monitoring”), from 2017 to 2022, and an Editorial Board Member of Drones since 2017.

The following is a short Q&A with Dr. Pablo Rodríguez-Gonzálvez, who shared his vision for the Section with us as well as his views on the research area:

I have been involved in the journal Drones since its foundation, and during this journey, I found it a fulfilling experience, not only in the interaction with colleagues during the peer-review process but also with the publisher during the editorial process.

In my new role as a Section Editor-in-Chief, I intend to help the journal to increase the visibility of new trends related to drones, emphasizing autonomous vehicles and their relationship with urban mobility and smart cities. In addition, I will also be involved in the continuous improvement of the journal’s quality.

With this new Section, I expect to help the journal to continue its growth in terms of the number of articles and their quality, while addressing innovative topics.

Drones are a key element in the development of the new paradigm of urban mobility, as well as the transportation of passengers and goods. However, we are at a very early stage where we must overcome several challenges before the complete adoption of this new paradigm. In this line, researchers from universities, administrations, and companies are being very active, so new findings and advances are expected in the following years on this topic.

Open Access improves the visibility, accessibility, and impact of research work on other colleagues, the university community, and society in general. Moreover, it favors the authors’ recognition and improves the positioning of their work. Therefore, I consider it to be the future of science.

All researchers involved in drone, aerial or terrestrial research with cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research and/or innovative trends are welcome.

We warmly welcome Dr. Pablo Rodríguez-Gonzálvez as the Section Editor-in-Chief of “Innovative Urban Mobility”, and we look forward to achieving many milestones under his leadership.

As a leading open access publisher, MDPI provides scholars with a high-quality and rich academic exchange platform by continuously expanding into new and exciting research areas.

In December 2022, MDPI launched five new journals, covering multiple subjects such as life sciences, biology, medicine and pharmacology, social sciences and humanities. These new journals are being edited by established scholars across the world.

If you are interested in creating more open access journals with us to publish cutting-edge research, please send your journal proposal application to newjournal-committee@mdpi.com.