Announcements

As a leader in open access publishing, MDPI is eager to explore new collaboration opportunities, including the launch of new journals and the transfer of existing ones. At present, MDPI publishes over 400 journals, more than 160 of which have established partnerships with academic organizations. Additionally, we publish 19 association journals.

In order to enhance exchange and cooperation with scientific researchers and share the results of open science, MDPI invites experts and scholars from various fields to submit proposals for new journal collaboration opportunities. If your proposal is approved, you could take on the role of Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, or Editorial Board Member of the journal. This position allows you to manage the manuscript review process alongside our editorial department, participate in calls for papers, strengthen your network with scholars in the field, expand scientific research cooperation, enhance your personal and academic influence internationally, and play a leading role in academia.

Once the new journal is online, MDPI will provide a variety of promotional channels to market the journal internationally.

MDPI will offer various promotional channels to enhance its visibility and promote it internationally.

How can you determine the theme of a new journal?

• Assess research hotspots/academic frontiers;
• Assess pioneers in the field/key research directions of universities;
• Determine whether MDPI has already established a journal in the field.

You can browse MDPI’s existing journals at the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/about/journals.

Advantages of collaborating with MDPI:

• MDPI is a global leader in open-access publishing with extensive academic resources.
• MDPI offers a professional publishing team that provides comprehensive support throughout the publishing process.
• MDPI’s diverse promotional platforms and channels help journals quickly increase their international visibility and influence.

We invite you to submit new journal proposal here, and contribute to academic development! In addition, if your institution (university, institute, college, national key laboratory, society, etc.) intends to establish a journal, you can also submit a draft to MDPI on its behalf.

MDPI journals frequently grant travel awards to empower junior researchers to showcase their latest research at academic conferences, thereby amplifying their impact within their research fields.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the 103 recipients of MDPI's 2023 Travel Awards from different countries and territories for their exceptional presentations. These outstanding individuals were selected by the journal editors based on the strength of their research proposals and the anticipated impact of their presentations at academic conferences. We commend their exceptional contributions and wish them continued success in their academic endeavors.

MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community. To learn more about the list of awardees, please visit the following pages:

• Biology and Life Sciences;
• Chemistry and Materials Sciences;
• Engineering;
• Environmental and Earth Sciences;
• Medicine and Pharmacology;
• Public Health and Healthcare;
• Others.

About MDPI Awards:

To reward the academic community, especially young researchers, and enhance communication among scientists, MDPI journals regularly offer various awards to researchers in specific fields. These awards, serving as a source of inspiration and recognition, help raise the influence of talented individuals who have been credited with outstanding achievements and are making a significant contribution to the advancement of their fields.

To explore more MDPI awards, please click here.

Conference: 2024 7th IEEE International Conference on Unmanned Systems
Date: 18–20 October 2024
Location: Nanjing, China 

The 2024 7th IEEE International Conference on Unmanned Systems (ICUS 2024) aims to provide an academic and technological exchange platform for scientists, engineers, and practitioners all over the world to discuss the latest academic and technical issues related to unmanned systems. It also offers an excellent opportunity for participants to share innovative ideas, recent findings, and best practices on unmanned systems, robotics, automation, and intelligent systems. 

MDPI will be attending the conference as an exhibitor. We welcome researchers from various backgrounds to visit and share their latest ideas with us. 

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Drones;
• Biomimetics;
• Sensors;
• Aerospace;
• ASI;
• Automation;
• J. Imaging;
• Robotics;
• Technologies;
• Telecom;
• Vehicles;
• WEVJ;
• Applied Sciences. 

If you plan to attend this conference, please contact us online. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person at our booth and answering any questions you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit the following website: https://icus.c2.org.cn/index.html.

We are pleased to invite you to read the following highly viewed Special Issues, published in Drones (ISSN: 2504-446X, JCR-Q1) between 2022 and 2024. We hope that they will provide some useful information in this field.

“Intelligent Coordination of UAV Swarm Systems” Edited by Xiwang Dong, Mou Chen, Xiangke Wang and Fei Gao Views: 86380+	“Urban Air Mobility (UAM)” Edited by Ivana Semanjski, Antonio Pratelli, Massimiliano Pieraccini, Silvio Semanjski, Massimiliano Petri and Sidharta Gautama Views: 63360+
“Intelligent Image Processing and Sensing for Drones” Edited by Seokwon Yeom Views: 57940+	“Conceptual Design, Modeling, and Control Strategies of Drones-II” Edited by Andrey V. Savkin Views: 52810+
“Autonomous Flight of Drone: Control, Trajectory Optimization and Mission Planning” Edited by Yu Wu and Liguo Sun Views: 52450+	“Advances of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Communication” Edited by Emmanouel T. Michailidis, Demosthenes Vouyioukas and Petros Bithas Views: 41010+
“Intelligent Recognition and Detection for Unmanned Systems” Edited by Bo Li, Chunwei Tian, Daqing Chen and Ming Yan Views: 36290+	“Multi-UAV Networks” Edited by Zhihong Liu, Shihao Yan, Yirui Cong and Kehao Wang Views: 33800+
“Feature Papers for Drones in Agriculture and Forestry Section” Edited by Yangquan Chen Views: 32390+	“Drone Advances in Wildlife Research” Edited by Kate Brandis and Roxane Francis Views: 31180+

Conference: American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2024
Date: 9–13 December 2024
Location: Washington, D.C., USA

MDPI will be attending the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2024, which will be held from 9 to 13 December 2024 in Washington, D.C., USA.

AGU’s annual meeting, the largest gathering of Earth and space scientists, convenes 25,000+ attendees from 100+ countries to share research and connect with friends and colleagues. Scientists, educators, policymakers, journalists and communicators attend AGU24 to better understand our planet and environment, opening pathways to discovery, generating greater awareness to address climate change, driving greater collaborations to lead to solutions and opening the fields and professions of science to a whole new age of justice equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging.

The following MDPI journals will be represented at the conference:

• Water;
• Remote Sensing;
• Atmosphere;
• Sustainability;
• Geosciences;
• Land;
• Minerals;
• Earth;
• Fire;
• IJGI;
• Hydrology;
• Geomatics;
• Drones;
• GeoHazards. 

If you are planning to attend the conference, we encourage you to visit our booth and speak to our representatives. We are eager to meet you in person and assist you with any queries that you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit the official website at https://www.agu.org/annual-meeting.

It is our honor to present the most highly cited papers published by Drones (ISSN: 2504-446X) in 2022 and 2023. We would like to acknowledge the hardworking individuals and teams whose work inspires fellow researchers and influences the field of drone science. We invite you to read the outstanding works listed below.

1. “Towards the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs): A Comprehensive Review”
by Syed Agha Hassnain Mohsan, Muhammad Asghar Khan, Fazal Noor, Insaf Ullah and Mohammed H. Alsharif
Drones 2022, 6(6), 147; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones6060147
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/6/6/147

2. “A Modified YOLOv8 Detection Network for UAV Aerial Image Recognition”
by Yiting Li, Qingsong Fan, Haisong Huang, Zhenggong Han and Qiang Gu
Drones 2023, 7(5), 304; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones7050304
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/5/304

3. “UAV Computing-Assisted Search and Rescue Mission Framework for Disaster and Harsh Environment Mitigation”
by Saeed Hamood Alsamhi, Alexey V. Shvetsov, Santosh Kumar, Svetlana V. Shvetsova, Mohammed A. Alhartomi, Ammar Hawbani, Navin Singh Rajput, Sumit Srivastava, Abdu Saif and Vincent Omollo Nyangaresi
Drones 2022, 6(7), 154; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones6070154
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/6/7/154

4. “Task Allocation of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Based on Deep Transfer Reinforcement Learning”
by Yongfeng Yin, Yang Guo, Qingran Su and Zhetao Wang
Drones 2022, 6(8), 215; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones6080215
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/6/8/215

5. “Vision-Based Navigation Techniques for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Review and Challenges”
by Muhammad Yeasir Arafat, Muhammad Morshed Alam and Sangman Moh
Drones 2023, 7(2), 89; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones7020089
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/2/89

6. “Review of Autonomous Path Planning Algorithms for Mobile Robots”
by Hongwei Qin, Shiliang Shao, Ting Wang, Xiaotian Yu, Yi Jiang and Zonghan Cao
Drones 2023, 7(3), 211; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones7030211
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/3/211

7. “A Review on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Remote Sensing: Platforms, Sensors, Data Processing Methods, and Applications”
by Zhengxin Zhang and Lixue Zhu
Drones 2023, 7(6), 398; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones7060398
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/6/398

8. “Urban Air Mobility: Systematic Review of Scientific Publications and Regulations for Vertiport Design and Operations”
by Karolin Schweiger and Lukas Preis
Drones 2022, 6(7), 179; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones6070179
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/6/7/179

9. “Comprehensive Review of UAV Detection, Security, and Communication Advancements to Prevent Threats”
by Ghulam E. Mustafa Abro, Saiful Azrin B. M. Zulkifli, Rana Javed Masood, Vijanth Sagayan Asirvadam, and Anis Laouiti
Drones 2022, 6(10), 284; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones6100284
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/6/10/284

10. “Wireless Communications for Data Security: Efficiency Assessment of Cybersecurity Industry—A Promising Application for UAVs”
by Chia-Nan Wang, Fu-Chiang Yang, Nhut T. M. Vo and Van Thanh Tien Nguyen
Drones 2022, 6(11), 363; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones6110363
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/6/11/363

Drones (ISSN: 2504-446X) is an international, peer-reviewed, and open access journal published online monthly by MDPI. The journal focuses on the design and applications of drones, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs), and Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPASs), etc. Likewise, contributions based on unmanned marine/water/underwater drones, unmanned ground vehicles, fully autonomous driving, and space drones are also welcome. Drones has been recently accepted for inclusion within Ei Compendex. More information about the journal is available at the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/drones.

Drones is pleased to announce this open call for Special Issue proposals. Special Issues offer a group of authors the possibility to work on an interconnected set of papers on an innovative topic. We would like to solicit high-quality proposals that will be evaluated in a competitive procedure on a rolling basis throughout the year.

Proposed Special Issues should have a well-articulated unifying topic and reflect, at an international level, the best work in a particular research area, either a well-established area or an important emerging area, in which future investigations may be boosted by the publication of a set of excellent papers. Hence, an international group of Guest Editors and a few high-quality planned papers are always encouraged in the proposals.

Proposals for Special Issues should be sent to the Editorial Office, who will forward them to the Editors of Drones for evaluation, or should be submitted via the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journalproposal/sendproposalspecialissue/drones.

Information to be provided in a proposal:

• A 300–500-word summary to explain the significance, novelty, technical advancement, and adherence to the scope of the journal of the proposed topic;
• A few keywords on the topic;
• A plan for obtaining high-quality papers or a list of at least three planned papers;
• A brief resume of the proposed Guest Editors together with their information (title, name, email, affiliation, personal website, keywords of interests);
• A proposed submission deadline (Special Issues normally run for 6–8 months).

As a Guest Editor, you would be responsible for:

• Inviting your peers to submit papers to be published in your Special Issue. These papers will be able to take advantage of the high publicity offered by open access publishing, our rapid and high-quality peer review process, and immediate publication after acceptance;
• Checking the suitability of abstracts/manuscripts submitted to the Special Issue;
• Making pre-check decisions regarding whether to send a new submission to peer review;
• Making final decisions regarding accepting a paper based on peer review outcomes.

As a Guest Editor, you would have the following privileges:

• A certificate of recognition as a Guest Editor of Drones;
• The ability to publish one feature paper in your Special Issue;
• The ability to invite authors to submit high-quality papers to be published in your Special Issue with discounts;
• Travel grant opportunity to attend featured conferences;
• If the Special Issue is successful and features at least 10 manuscripts accepted after full peer review, we can organize it into a printed book and send you a free copy as a gift.

The Editorial Office will take care of setting up the Special Issue website, arrange promotional materials, assist with invitations to contribute papers, and take care of administrative tasks associated with peer review, including inviting reviewers, collating reports, contacting authors, and professional production before publication.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Editorial Office if you are interested and would like further details and clarification.

We look forward to receiving your creative proposals here.

Drones Editorial Office

MDPI’s Best PhD Thesis Awards are granted to promising young scholars whose PhD theses are deemed exceptional within their respective research fields. These awards aim to encourage young scholars to continue their outstanding accomplishments and further contribute to their field.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the 54 winners of the 2023 Best PhD Thesis Awards and wish them success with their future research endeavors.

MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community. To learn more about all the awardees and their research projects in your field of study, please visit the following pages:

About MDPI Awards:

To reward the academic community, especially young researchers, and enhance communication among scientists, MDPI journals regularly offer various awards to researchers in specific fields. These awards, serving as a source of inspiration and recognition, help raise the influence of talented individuals who have been credited with outstanding achievements and are making a significant contribution to the advancement of their fields.

To explore more MDPI awards, please click here.

MDPI’s Young Investigator Awards recognize promising early career scientists, acknowledge their contributions, and foster collaboration within the scientific community. We are proud to announce the recipients for 2023, who were carefully selected by the journals’ esteemed Award Evaluation Committee.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the 79 winners of MDPI’s 2023 Young Investigator Awards for their excellent contributions in their research field. We look forward to seeing these rising stars continue to contribute to the advancement of science.

MDPI will continue to support and recognize the academic community. To explore details about the awardees by field, please visit the individual pages listed below:

Congratulations to all the winners for their exceptional contributions and dedication to advancing scientific research.

About MDPI Awards:
To support the academic community, particularly young researchers, and to enhance communication among scientists, MDPI journals regularly offer various awards to researchers in specific fields. These awards, serving as a source of inspiration and recognition, help to elevate the profiles of talented individuals who have made outstanding achievements and are making significant contributions to advancements in their respective fields.

To find out more about MDPI awards, please click here.