Announcements
6 November 2025
MDPI Launches the Michele Parrinello Award for Pioneering Contributions in Computational Physical Science
MDPI is delighted to announce the establishment of the Michele Parrinello Award. Named in honor of Professor Michele Parrinello, the award celebrates his exceptional contributions and his profound impact on the field of computational physical science research.
The award will be presented biennially to distinguished scientists who have made outstanding achievements and contributions in the field of computational physical science—spanning physics, chemistry, and materials science.
About Professor Michele Parrinello
"Do not be afraid of new things. I see it many times when we discuss a new thing that young people are scared to go against the mainstream a little bit, thinking what is going to happen to me and so on. Be confident that what you do is meaningful, and do not be afraid, do not listen too much to what other people have to say.”
——Professor Michele Parrinello
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Born in Messina in 1945, he received his degree from the University of Bologna and is currently affiliated with the Italian Institute of Technology. Professor Parrinello is known for his many technical innovations in the field of atomistic simulations and for a wealth of interdisciplinary applications ranging from materials science to chemistry and biology. Together with Roberto Car, he introduced ab initio molecular dynamics, also known as the Car–Parrinello method, marking the beginning of a new era both in the area of electronic structure calculations and in molecular dynamics simulations. He is also known for the Parrinello–Rahman method, which allows crystalline phase transitions to be studied by molecular dynamics. More recently, he has introduced metadynamics for the study of rare events and the calculation of free energies. |
For his work, he has been awarded many prizes and honorary degrees. He is a member of numerous academies and learned societies, including the German Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, the British Royal Society, and the Italian Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, which is the major academy in his home country of Italy.
Award Committee
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The award committee will be chaired by Professor Xin-Gao Gong, a computational condensed matter physicist, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and professor at the Department of Physics, Fudan University. Professor Xin-Gao Gong will lead a panel of several senior experts in the field to oversee the evaluation and selection process. The Institute for Computational Physical Sciences at Fudan University (Shanghai, China), led by Professor Xin-Gao Gong, will serve as the supporting institute for the award. |
"We hope the Michele Parrinello Award will recognize scientists who have made significant contributions to the field of computational condensed matter physics and at the same time set a benchmark for the younger generation, providing clear direction for their pursuit—this is precisely the original intention behind establishing the award."
——Professor Xin-Gao Gong
The first edition of the award was officially launched on 1 November 2025. Nominations will be accepted before the end of March 2026. For further details, please visit mparrinelloaward.org.
About the MDPI Sustainability Foundation and MDPI Awards 
The Michele Parrinello Award is part of the MDPI Sustainability Foundation, which is dedicated to advancing sustainable development through scientific progress and global collaboration. The foundation also oversees the World Sustainability Award, the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award, and the Tu Youyou Award. The establishment of the Michele Parrinello Award will further enrich the existing award portfolio, providing continued and diversified financial support to outstanding professionals across various fields.
In addition to these foundation-level awards, MDPI journals also recognize outstanding contributions through a range of honors, including Best Paper Awards, Outstanding Reviewer Awards, Young Investigator Awards, Travel Awards, Best PhD Thesis Awards, Editor of Distinction Awards, and others. These initiatives aim to recognize excellence across disciplines and career stages, contributing to the long-term vitality and sustainability of scientific research.
Find more information on awards here.
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31 December 2025
MDPI INSIGHTS: The CEO's Letter #30 - Scaling with Integrity, Highly Cited Researchers, KEMÖ Consortium, Michele Parrinello, and Best PhD Thesis Awards
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
With colleagues at MDPI headquarters in Basel, representing the people behind our global growth and shared commitment to integrity.
Scaling with Integrity: A Year of Growth, Responsibility, and Trust
When I look back on 2025, one phrase seems to sum up the year: “Scaling with integrity.” That was our watchword for 2025, and it will remain so as we move forward in to 2026.
Our journal portfolio continued to grow in 2025, reflecting the trust of a widening proportion of the scholarly community.
Today, MDPI has 355 journals indexed in Scopus and 330 in Web of Science – a testimonial to the scale at which our journals meet established external quality criteria. During the year, 45 of our journals were newly accepted into Scopus and 29 into Web of Science (this excludes transferred journals to our portfolio that were already indexed), following rigorous, independent evaluation by the world’s leading indexing bodies
Meeting external quality benchmarks
These results underline the fact that scaling responsibly is not only about expanding our catalogue, but also about meeting external quality benchmarks consistently, transparently, and at scale. Our indexing performance remains one of the strongest independent validations of MDPI’s commitment to rigor, trust, and long-term sustainability.
Over the course of 2025, we made targeted investments to ensure that the integrity of our editorial process scaled to keep pace with our growth. We strengthened our editorial governance by doubling down on our dedicated Publication Ethics department, appointing a Head of Ethics, and expanding our research integrity team by the addition of new specialists plus the creation of embedded editorial ethics roles across key journals. We also introduced new internal ethics guidelines, pre-review integrity checks, and monitoring dashboards to help teams identify potential issues and apply consistent standards across our portfolio.
Besides investing in systems and tools, we of course also invested heavily in our people and culture, delivering organisation-wide training on topics such as image integrity, AI use in publishing, and ethical oversight, while actively engaging with the wider publishing community through COPE and STM forums.
All these efforts reflect a simple principle: growth only matters if it is matched by rigor, responsibility, and trust.
Technology and AI: Supporting the editorial decision-making process
At MDPI, AI is designed to assist, not replace, editorial decision-making. It is one element in a broader system that combines people, technology, and processes to support scale responsibly.
In 2025, we continued to invest heavily in technology that supports quality rather than shortcuts. Our AI team doubled in size, ensuring that increased automation goes hand-in-hand with expertise and oversight. Proprietary AI tools such as Scholar Finder have significantly improved the precision of reviewer matching, while Ethicality has been widely adopted across editorial workflows to identify contextual signals, such as scope alignment and citation behaviour, so that human judgment can be applied where it matters most.
Partnerships: Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) agreements and Societies
Our recent growth is also reflected in the strength of our partnerships. In 2025, we entered into more than 150 new IOAP agreements, bringing our total to 975 active agreements worldwide. This activity included the signing of our first-ever consortium agreements in North America, renewals of all major national consortia in the UK, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Austria, and Croatia, and the conclusion of several flat-fee agreements. At the same time, we concluded a total of 30 agreements, encompassing 24 new Society affiliations, four strategic publishing partnerships, and two journal acquisitions.
In 2025, we opened MDPI USA in Philadelphia – our latest global office, which complements our Toronto office in representing North America. MDPI USA is responsible for accelerating Open Access in the US through ongoing support of our scholars and for expanding our institutional and society partnerships.
On the other side of the globe, meanwhile, we signed an IOAP agreement in India, allowing researchers discounted Article Processing Charges (APCs), streamlined APC management for universities, and visibility into submissions, supporting India’s push for wider Open Access by offering flexible models and helping institutions meet national mandates such as Plan S.
Sustainability, sponsorships and awards
We continued to expand our sustainability efforts during 2025, hosting the 11th World Sustainability Forum, awarding CHF 125,000 in sustainability-related funding, and launching the Z-Forum on Sustainability and Innovation conference, which will officially take place in January 2026.
We also saw a record year for conference sponsorships and awards (while establishing new awards such as the Michele Parrinello Award), recognising scholars across disciplines and reinforcing our commitment to supporting the global research community at every stage of the academic journey.
Deepening our relationships
In 2025, I had the opportunity to travel more widely than ever before on MDPI business, meeting many of our stakeholders face to face and relishing the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of their science communication needs. It was also excellent to visit a large number of MDPI offices and witness the commitment and service orientation of so many of our colleagues around the world. I shall resume my itinerary in the new year, and I look forward to many more such interactions.
Looking ahead to 2026, we will be celebrating a very significant milestone: 30 years of MDPI. From our foundation as a single Open Access journal in 1996 to the global publishing organisation we are today, our mission has remained consistent: advancing Open Access through rigorous and trustworthy scientific communication.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our stakeholders – authors, Editors-in-Chief, Editorial Board members, and reviewers – who have placed their trust in us during 2025. On behalf of the entire MDPI team, I look forward to deepening our relationships yet further in 2026 and celebrating 30 Years of Open Science at MDPI, something we’ve built together.
Basel, Switzerland, where MDPI was founded in 1996.
Impactful Research
621 MDPI Editors Named Highly Cited Researchers in 2025
I am pleased to share an important milestone for our editorial community and for MDPI. In late November, Clarivate announced the 2025 Highly Cited Researchers, and 621 MDPI Editorial Board Members were included among the most influential scientific contributors over the past decade!
The 621 editors come from 33 countries, representing 21 scientific disciplines, and account for nearly one in every ten Highly Cited Researchers globally. This recognition speaks to the depth of expertise across our Editorial Boards and the strength of the scientific communities that choose to collaborate with MDPI. It is important to note that while citation metrics are not in themselves a proxy for quality, they do offer one lens on sustained scientific influence.
“Our strength comes from the scientific communities who choose to work with us”
Why this is important
Having more than 600 editors recognized on this list highlights:
- The high level of expertise guiding peer review across our journals
- The global and disciplinary diversity within our Editorial Boards
- Our commitment to maintaining strong, knowledgeable, and engaged editorial oversight
Impactful science is of course shaped by broad, diverse research communities, and no single metric captures the full picture of research quality. However, this recognition does serve as meaningful, independent affirmation of the calibre of many editors who contribute to MDPI’s work.
A closer look at the recognition
Clarivate’s methodology highlights researchers whose publications rank in the top one per cent by citation count, reflecting consistent influence over the past decade. The process includes:
- Evaluation of c. 200,000 highly cited papers
- Removal of retracted publications
- Filtering of papers with unusually large authorship groups to focus on clear contributions
That so many of our editors meet these thresholds reflects the impact of the communities behind our journals.
What this means going forward
This recognition underlines the fact that our strength comes from the scientific communities who choose to work with us.
For authors, partners, and readers, it confirms that:
- MDPI journals benefit from editorial guidance grounded in active, high-impact research
- Our Editorial boards include leaders who are helping shape the future direction of their fields
- MDPI continues to attract experts who value openness, efficiency, and scientific integrity
For our internal teams, it is a reminder that the work we do every day (supporting editors, refining workflows, and improving systems) directly contributes to the trust placed in MDPI by researchers worldwide.
Thank you to all our editorial teams, publishing staff, and journal relationship specialists, and to everyone who collaborates with our Editorial Boards. Achievements like this are only possible because of your ongoing hard work, dedication, and collaboration.
From our first annual MDPI UK Summit in Manchester, bringing together over 30 Chief Editors and Editorial Board Members to discuss MDPI’s mission, achievements, and collaborations in the UK.
Inside MDPI
MDPI Launches the Michele Parrinello Award for Computational Physical Science
In case you missed it, in November, we announced the launch of the Michele Parrinello Award. This new biennial international award will recognize pioneering contributions in computational physical science. The award honours Michele Parrinello, one of the most influential scientists of the past half-century in atomistic simulations and computational materials research.
This award reflects MDPI’s long-standing commitment to recognizing scientific excellence, supporting foundational research, and inspiring the next generation of scholars across disciplines.
“Be confident that what you do is meaningful”
Honouring a transformative scientific legacy
Professor Parrinello’s work has fundamentally reshaped how scientists model matter at the atomic scale. Together with Roberto Car, he introduced ab initio molecular dynamics, widely known as the Car–Parrinello method, opening new pathways in electronic structure calculations and molecular simulations. His subsequent contributions, including the Parrinello–Rahman method and metadynamics, have become core tools across physics, chemistry, materials science, and increasingly biology.
“Do not be afraid of new things. I see it many times when we discuss a new thing that young people are scared to go against the mainstream a little bit, thinking, ‘What is going to happen to me?’ and so on. Be confident that what you do is meaningful, and do not be afraid, do not listen too much to what other people have to say.”
– Professor Michele Parrinello
A global, community-led award
The award committee is chaired by Xin-Gao Gong, Professor of Physics at Fudan University and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The Institute for Computational Physical Sciences at Fudan University will serve as the supporting institute, reinforcing the award’s international and cross-cultural foundation.
Nominations for the first edition of the Michele Parrinello Award opened on 1 November 2025, with submissions accepted until March 2026. The award will recognize scientists whose work has advanced computational physical science across physics, chemistry, and materials research – fields increasingly central to energy, sustainability, advanced manufacturing, and technological innovation.
Why this matters for MDPI
The Michele Parrinello Award is part of the MDPI Sustainability Foundation, which supports science as a driver of long-term societal progress.
Alongside other foundation-level honours, including the World Sustainability Award, the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award, and the Tu Youyou Award, this new prize builds on our role in supporting excellence across career stages and disciplines.
MDPI journals and programs continue to recognize researchers through Best Paper Awards, Young Investigator Awards, Travel Awards, Best PhD Thesis Awards, and Outstanding Reviewer Awards. Together, these initiatives reflect a simple belief: strong scientific communities are built through recognition, trust, and sustained support.
As MDPI approaches its 30th anniversary, the launch of the Michele Parrinello Award highlights our commitment not only to publishing research but also to helping shape the future of science by celebrating those who expand its boundaries.
Coming Together for Science
KEMÖ Consortium (Austria) Extends Open Access Agreement with MDPI until 2027
I’m pleased to share that MDPI has renewed its Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) agreement with the Austrian library consortium KEMÖ, extending our partnership through 2027.
The renewed agreement now includes 23 Austrian institutions, with the Medical University of Vienna and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) joining the partnership. Participating institutions benefit from APC discounts across MDPI’s more than 495 journals, with centralized funding options further reducing the administrative burden for researchers and libraries.
“This renewal reflects shared commitment to advancing Open Access publishing in Europe”
Austria continues to be an important and engaged research community for MDPI, with 525+ Austrian Editorial Board Members, eight Editors-in-Chief, and 15 Section Editors-in-Chief contributing to our journals.
This renewal reflects long-term trust and shared commitment to advancing Open Access publishing in Europe, and improves MDPI’s collaboration with national OA infrastructures such as the Open Access Monitor Austria. Such long-term agreements show how MDPI’s growth is increasingly built on institutional trust, collaboration, and shared commitment to Open Access.
A big thank-you to the IOAP team and everyone involved in supporting this partnership.
Closing Thoughts
Celebrating the Next Generation of Scholars: MDPI’s 2024 Best PhD Thesis Awards
One of the privileges of working in scholarly publishing is supporting the beginning of new scientific journeys. We recently announced the recipients of MDPI’s 2024 Best PhD Thesis Awards, recognizing some of the most promising emerging researchers across disciplines.
These awards do more than celebrate academic excellence. They reflect something deeper about our mission: supporting the next generation of authors and the future of Open Science.
Recognition of Excellence
This year, we made awards to 55 early-career researchers across seven fields:
- Biology and Life Sciences
- Chemistry and Materials Science
- Computer Science and Mathematics
- Engineering
- Environmental and Earth Sciences
- Medicine and Pharmacology
- Interdisciplinary ‘Other’ fields
For those of you who have completed a PhD, you’ll know first-hand that behind each number is a story of perseverance, curiosity, and sustained effort. These researchers represent institutions around the world, with thesis topics spanning:
- Brain–machine interfaces and neural engineering
- Sustainable materials and next-generation batteries
- Cancer genomics, tumour microenvironments, and immunotherapy
- AI-driven image analysis, robotics, and computational models
- Climate change monitoring and environmental risk assessment
- Regenerative medicine, biomaterials, and drug development
These dissertations are early signs of the scientific directions that will shape the coming decade.
“Our mission is about building a global community of authors”
Why this is important
Every year, millions of scholars begin their research careers with limited visibility and few platforms for sharing their work. By recognizing outstanding PhD theses, we elevate authors early in their academic journeys, build MDPI’s connection to the global research community, reinforce our commitment to quality and rigor, and highlight the depth and breadth of scholarship published across our portfolio (from biology to materials science to mathematics).
A foretaste of the future
These 55 awardees represent the next generation of researchers whose work will influence science, policy, and society in the years ahead. What we support today helps shape the scientific ecosystem of tomorrow. Our mission goes beyond publishing papers. It is about building a global community of authors who will define the next era of scientific discovery.
To explore more about MDPI Awards, including current and upcoming Best PhD Thesis Awards, please click here.
Thank you to the editors, reviewers, and teams across MDPI who make these awards possible each year.
Everything we achieved this year was made possible by the collective effort of our global teams and the trust placed in us by the scholarly community. Thank you again, and here’s to the successful continuation of our collaboration in 2026!
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
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International Civil Aviation Day, 7 December 2025
Aviation is an engine of global connectivity. International Civil Aviation Day, observed on 7 December, aims to promote worldwide awareness of the importance of international civil aviation to the social and economic development of states. It additionally seeks to reinforce the unique role of the International Civil Aviation Organization in helping states to collaborate and realize a truly global rapid transit network at the service of all mankind.
In recognition of this important day, we recommend the following related articles, Special Issues and journals spanning multidisciplinary fields. We believe that promoting such research will help increase public awareness of innovative ideas and technological advancements that support the safety, efficiency, and sustainable development of global civil aviation.
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“Selection of Safety Measures in Aircraft Operations: A Hybrid Grey Delphi–AHP-ADAM MCDM Model”
by Snežana Tadić, Milica Milovanović, Mladen Krstić and Olja Čokorilo
Eng 2025, 6(11), 295; https://doi.org/10.3390/eng6110295
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Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(14), 8120; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15148120
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Electronics 2025, 14(3), 434; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14030434
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Future Transp. 2024, 4(4), 1501-1519; https://doi.org/10.3390/futuretransp4040072
“Urban Aviation: The Future Aerospace Transportation System for Intercity and Intracity Mobility”
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Urban Sci. 2024, 8(4), 218; https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci8040218
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by Anastasia Tezari, Argyris N. Stassinakis, Panagiota Makrantoni, Pavlos Paschalis, Dimitris Alexandridis, Maria Gerontidou, Helen Mavromichalaki, Pantelis Karaiskos, Norma Crosby and Mark Dierckxsens
Atmosphere 2024, 15(2), 149; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos15020149
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Aerospace 2024, 11(1), 19; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11010019
“Explainable Data-Driven Method Combined with Bayesian Filtering for Remaining Useful Lifetime Prediction of Aircraft Engines Using NASA CMAPSS Datasets”
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Machines 2023, 11(2), 163; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines11020163
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“Aviation Science and Technology Applications” |
“Aviation Emissions and Their Impact on Air Quality” |
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2nd International Conference on Green Aviation (ICGA 2024) Volume Editors: Weihong Zhang, Shichun Yang, Leiting Dong, Xungang Diao, Shijun Yin, Lixin Guan, Zuxi Xia and Xue Zhang Highlights:
Click here to read the full list of papers! |
4 December 2025
Meet Us at the 40th Annual AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 20–27 January 2026, Singapore
