Journal History
| 2017 | The inaugural issue was released. Drones was published as a quarterly journal. |
| 2018 | Drones was indexed in AGRIS - Agricultural Sciences and Technology (FAO). |
| 2020 | Drones was indexed in Scopus (Elsevier), starting with Volume 1 (Issue 1). |
| 2021 | Drones was indexed in Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE)—Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics), starting with Volume 1 (Issue 1). Drones announced the first edition of the PhD Thesis Award. Drones established the following Sections:
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| 2022 | Drones received its first Impact Factor (5.532), ranked 10/34 (Q2) in “Remote Sensing”. Drones received an increased CiteScore (2022) of 7.2, ranked 11/131 (Q1) in the Category “Aerospace Engineering”, ranked 59/353 (Q1) in the Category “Information Systems”, ranked 122/747 (Q1) in the Category “Computer Science Applications”, ranked 48/270 (Q1) in the Category “Control and Systems Engineering”, ranked 64/269 (Q1) in the Category “Artificial Intelligence”. Drones announced the first edition of the Best Paper Award. Drones adopted a monthly publication schedule. Drones established the following section: -Innovative Urban Mobility. Drones announced one Associate Editor: Dr. George P. Petropoulos. |
| 2023 | Drones announced the first edition of the Young Investigator Award. Drones announced the 2021 Best Paper Awards Winners Drones announced the second edition of the Best Paper Award. Drones received a new CiteScore (2022) of 6.1, ranked 28/137 (Q1) in the Category “Aerospace Engineering”, 94/379 (Q1) in the Category “Information Systems”, 199/792 (Q2) in the Category “Computer Science Applications”, 73/286 (Q2) in the Category “Control and Systems Engineering”, and 96/301 (Q2) in the Category “Artificial Intelligence”. Drones received its 2022 Impact Factor (4.8), ranked 14/63 (Q1) in “Remote Sensing”. |
| 2024 | Drones announced the 2023 Young Investigator Award winner: Dr. Rohan Chandra. Drones announced the 2022 Best Paper Award winners: Processing and Interpretation of UAV Magnetic Data: A Workflow Based on Improved Variational Mode Decomposition and Levenberg–Marquardt Algorithm A Review of Counter-UAS Technologies for Cooperative Defensive Teams of Drones Drones announced four Associate Editors: Prof. Dr. Petros S. Bithas, Prof. Dr. Xiwang Dong, Prof. Dr. Andrey V. Savkin, and Prof. Dr. Oleg Yakimenko. Drones received a new CiteScore (2023) of 5.6, ranked 30/153 (Q1) in the Category “Aerospace Engineering”, 92/321 (Q2) in the Category “Control and Systems Engineering”, 132/394 (Q1) in the Category “Information Systems”, 277/817 (Q2) in the Category “Computer Science Applications”, and 144/350 (Q2) in the Category “Artificial Intelligence”. Drones updated its aim and scope, and the announcement is here: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/drones/announcements/8515 Drones received its 2023 Impact Factor (4.4), ranked 14/62 (Q1) in “Remote Sensing”. Drones was indexed in Ei Compendex (Elsevier), starting with Volume 8 (Issue 8). |
| 2025 | Drones received a new CiteScore (2024) of 7.4, ranked 20/157 (Q1) in “Aerospace Engineering”, 72/375 (Q1) in “Control and Systems Engineering”, 105/474 (Q1) in “Information Systems”, 207/947(Q1) in “Computer Science Applications”, and 113/450 (Q1) in “Artificial Intelligence”. Drones received its 2024 Impact Factor (4.8), ranked 15/65 (Q1) in “Remote Sensing”. Drones established the following sections:
FANET Routing Protocol Analysis for Multi-UAV-Based Reconnaissance Mobility Models Vision-Based Navigation Techniques for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Review and Challenges |
| 2026 | Drones announced the 2025 Young Investigator Award winner: Dr. Kun Zhang. Drones announced five new Associate Editors: Prof. Dr. Fei Liu, Prof. Dr. Haibin Duan, Prof. Dr. Higinio González-Jorge, Prof. Dr. Kimon P. Valavanis, and Dr. Chao Huang. Drones received a new CiteScore (2025) of 10.0, being ranked 11/169 (Q1, top 10%) in the Category “Aerospace Engineering”, 44/390 (Q2) in the Category “Control and Systems Engineering”, 74/519 (Q1) in the Category “Information Systems”, 138/1022 (Q1) in the Category “Computer Science Applications”, and 98/570 (Q1) in the Category “Artificial Intelligence”. Drones received its 2025 Impact Factor (5.2), ranked 17/66 (Q2) in “Remote Sensing”. The Association of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems UK (ARPAS-UK) became affiliated to Drones. The International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems Association (ICUAS) became affiliated to Drones. |
Editor-in-Chief
| 2017–Present | Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Dr. Diego Gonzalez-Aguilera |
Section Editor-in-Chief
| 2021–Present | Section Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Abdessattar Abdelkefi for the Section on Drone Design and Development Section Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Dr. Yangquan Chen for the Section on Drones in Agriculture and Forestry Section Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Eben Broadbent for the Section on Drones in Ecology Section Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Vishal Sharma for the Section on Drone Communications |
| 2021–2026 | Section Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Dr. Yangquan Chen for the Section on Drones in Agriculture and Forestry. Prof. Dr. Yangquan Chen passed away on 27 April 2026 |
| 2023–Present | Section Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Dr. Pablo Rodríguez-Gonzálvez for the Section on Innovative Urban Mobility Section Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Dr. Carlos Tavares Calafate for the Section on Drone Communications |
| 2025–Present | Section Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Dr. Xiwang Dong for the Section on Artificial Intelligence in Drones (AID) |
| 2026–Present | Section Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Dr. Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa for the Section on Drones in Agriculture and Forestry Section Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Dr. Haitao Zhang for the Section on Unmanned Surface and Underwater Drones |
