Announcements

Peer Review Week began 19 September 2022 under the theme of “Research Integrity: Creating and Supporting Trust in Research”. Through various blog articles, podcast, and webinar, we discussed this crucial subject throughout the week, celebrating the essential role peer review plays in maintaining research quality.

To begin, we held a Webinar on the topic. Professor Peter W. Choate and Dr. Emmanuel Obeng-Gyasi joined Dr. Ioana Craciun, one of MDPI’s scientific officers, for an in-depth discussion.

We invite you to view the event recording:

During the week, the MDPI Blog in a series articles highlighted how good Peer Review safeguards research integrity. The following topics were covered:

• Peer Review Week 2022
• Research Integrity
• What We’ve Learned About Peer Review Reports
• 4 Steps to the Perfect Peer Review Report
• How to Write the Perfect Peer Review Report: An Interview
• Inviting Great Peer Reviewers

In a new edition of Insight Faster, an MDPI podcast, we were delighted to talk to the co-chairs of the Peer Review Week committee, Jayashree Rajagopalan (Senior Manager of Global Community Engagement for CACTUS) and Danielle Padula (Head of Marketing and Community Development at Scholastica) to get their take on this year’s event and its related topics.

You can find the Podcast here.

We hope you enjoy the contents!

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new initiative—the Special Issue Mentor Program.

This program intends to provide an opportunity for early career scientists to enhance their editing, networking, and organizational skills and to work closely with our journal to gain more editorial experience. Early career scientists who have novel ideas for new Fishes Special Issues will act as Guest Editors under the mentorship of an experienced scientist; this mentor could be a member of the Editorial Board of Fishes (ISSN: 2410-3888) or could be from other well-established research institutes or laboratories, etc.

The mentee’s responsibilities include:

• Providing a CV that includes a list of publications;
• Proposing a Special Issue title and a short introduction;
• Writing a brief promotion plan for the Special Issue;
• Writing an editorial for the online Special Issue;
• Reviewing and making decisions for submissions under the mentorship of our Editorial Board Members.

The mentor’s responsibilities include:

• Conducting a final check before the Special Issue is published online;
• Co-editing a Special Issue with a young scholar and performing quality control of the publications in the Special Issue;
• Providing suggestions to young scholars if they have doubts or concerns regarding submissions;
• Organizing video calls with young scholars and the office regularly to discuss problems and improvement suggestions for the Special Issue.

Certificates and awards:

When the Special Issue is closed, the Editorial Office will provide official certificates for all of the mentors. The young scholars will be prioritized as candidates for future editions of the Fishes Award.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your Special Issue proposal to the Fishes Editorial Office (fishes@mdpi.com), and we will discuss the process (mentor collaboration, Special Issue topic feasibility analysis, etc.) in further detail.

In addition to the new Special Issue Mentor Program, Fishes continues to welcome all Special Issue proposals based on hot research topics.

Fishes Editorial Office

To reward the academic community, especially young researchers, and enhance communication among scientists, Fishes (ISSN: 2410-3888) is offering an award to encourage young researchers in the field of fishes and aquatic animals.

Fishes is currently accepting nominations for the Fishes 2023 Travel Award. This award provides financial support for the winner to attend an international conference in the field of fishes and aquatic animals to be held in 2023, in order to hold a presentation, present a poster, or both.

Find more information about the award and how to nominate here.

To request further information, please contact the Fishes Editorial Office (fishes@mdpi.com).

The Fishes (ISSN: 2410-3888) Editorial Office is pleased to inform you that applications are open for the Topical Advisory Panel.

The following are the main responsibilities of the new members of the Topical Advisory Panel:

• Providing support to the following tasks depending on their availability;
• Providing regular reviews of manuscripts;
• Setting up at least one Special Issue (SI) in partnership with a senior researcher within two years of the appointment. The topic of the proposal should be within the scope of Fishes;
• Providing a strategy plan for the SI, including assisting in preparing the Special Issue’s/Topic’s title, aim and scope, summary, and keywords, as well as soliciting papers for and promoting the SI;
• Promoting our journal at conferences, social media, and other relevant platforms.

To qualify as a Topical Advisory Panel Member, applicants must:

• Have expertise and experience in the field related to Fishes (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/fishes/about);
• Have completed their Ph.D. within approximately the last 10 years;
• Have published at least six papers in the last 5 years as a first author or corresponding author;
• Currently hold an independent research position in academia or a government institute.

Each year, Members’ performance is evaluated, and outstanding Members are promoted to the Editorial Board by the Editor-in-Chief. Please click on the following link to submit your application: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/fishes/topical_advisory_panel_application.

If you are interested in this role, please contact the Editorial Office (fishes@mdpi.com).

Fishes Editorial Office

A range of MDPI journals will be attending INTECOL 2022 as exhibitors. This meeting will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 28 August to 2 September 2022.

“Frontiers in Ecology – Science and Society” is the general theme of the conference. With an estimated number of 1500 participants coming to Geneva, and as many following the conference from a distance, the conference aims to bring the state-of-the-art expertise in ecology to the forefront of societal challenges.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Diversity (leading);
• Sustainability;
• Forests;
• Ecologies;
• Environments;
• Plants;
• Animals;
• World;
• Quaternary;
• Earth;
• Resources;
• Applied Sciences;
• Birds;
• Climate;
• Water;
• Fishes.

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to start a conversation with us at our booth #03. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit http://intecol2021.org/, or contact the Diversity Editorial Office at diversity@mdpi.com.

We are pleased to report that the 2021 impact factor of Fishes (ISSN: 2410-3888) increased to 3.170 in the recent release of the Journal Citation Reports ®, representing the second consecutive year of continuous growth. Fishes now ranks 23/113 (Q1) in the “Marine & Freshwater Biology” category as well as 15/54 (Q2) in the “Fisheries” category. Thank you to the authors, Editorial Board Members, and reviewers for their contributions in achieving this milestone for Fishes!

The 2021 citation metrics have been released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), and we’re pleased to announce the following results for MDPI journals:

For more information on Impact Factors and what it means to index academic journals, please visit our related blog posts.

* Journals given their first Impact Factor in 2022

Source: 2021 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports ^TM (Clarivate, 2022)

The 2021 citation metrics have been officially released in Scopus!

We are pleased to announce that 182 MDPI journals are included, of which:

● 21 journals received their first CiteScore.
● 85% of journals increased their CiteScore from 2020.
● 155 journals (85%) ranked above average, in at least one category.

The following 65 MDPI journals (36%) ranked among the top 25% of journals, in at least one category:

Source: 2021 CiteScores™ (Elsevier)

In order to acknowledge our reviewers, who so generously dedicate their time to reviewing papers and demonstrate diligence, professionalism, and timeliness when reviewing manuscripts, MDPI journals regularly offer outstanding reviewer awards to scholars who participate in the peer-review process.

We are proud to recognize winners for the year 2021 in the “Biology & Life Sciences” category for their outstanding contributions among extensive competition by presenting them with an Outstanding Reviewer Award.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the winners on their achievement.

MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community.

Biology:

• Enrico Vito Perrino, CIHEAM, Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari, Italy
• Dhirendra Kumar, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, USA
• Carlos A. Viegas, Univesity of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal
• Yuri Shavrukov, Flinders University, Australia
• Bipin Gaihre, Mayo Clinic, USA

Brain Sciences:

• Craig D. Workman, University of Iowa, USA
• Vivian Ciaramitaro, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA
• Yang Zhang, University of Minnesota, USA

Cells:

• Bonam Srinivasa Reddy, Université de Paris, France
• Homma Takujiro, Yamagata University, Japan
• Hwang, In Koo, Seoul National University, South Korea
• Kobeissy Firas, University of Florida, USA
• Rebelo, Sandra, University of Aveiro, Portugal

Diversity:

• Günter Gollmann, University of Vienna, Austria
• Stephan Koblmüller, University of Graz, Austria
• Emiliano Mori, Istituto di Ricerca sugli Ecosistemi Terrestri, Italy

Horticulturae:

• Joshua D. Klein, Agricultural Research Organization—The Volcani Center, Israel
• Ana Cristina S Figueiredo, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

Insects:

• Carmelo Peter Bonsignore, Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Italy
• Klaus H. Hoffmann, University of Bayreuth, Germany
• Ivan Milosavljević, University of California, USA

Metabolites:

• Remigiusz Bachor, University of Wrocław, Poland
• Nguyen Phuoc Long, Inje University College of Medicine, South Korea
• Chi Chen, University of Minnesota, USA

Nutrients:

• Jadwiga Hamułka, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland
• Grace Campbell, University of Sydney, Australia
• Nicholas Norwitz, Harvard Medical School, USA
• Stefan Kabisch, Charité University Hospital Berlin, Germany
• Luis Rodrigo, University of Oviedo, Spain

Veterinary Sciences:

• Carlos Viegas, Univesity of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal
• Arvind Sharma, The University of Queensland, Australia

MDPI’s Young Investigator Awards recognize promising junior researchers, acknowledge their contributions, and enhance communication among scientists. We are proud to present the 2021 winners in the “Biology & Life Sciences” category. The winners were selected by the journals’ editors.

We warmly congratulate the awarded young investigators for their outstanding contributions.

MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community.

Agriculture:

• Carlos Guzmán, University of Cordoba, Spain

Animals:

• Katharina Hohlbaum, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Cells:

• Uri Ben-David, Tel Aviv University, Israel

Diversity:

• Enrico Lunghi, Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China

Foods:

• Guodong Zhang, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Horticulturae:

• Luke Bell, Temperate Horticulture, University of Reading, UK

International Journal of Molecular Sciences:

• Alessandro D’Urso, University of Catania, Italy.
• Apostolos Zaravinos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus
• Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez, University of Pennsylvania, USA
• Maria Teresa Caccamo, Messina University, Italy
• Tiziana Bonifacino, University of Genoa, Italy

Journal of Fungi:

• Federico Baltar, University of Vienna, Austria
• Rebecca Drummond, University of Birmingham, UK
• Miriam Oses-Ruiz, Public University of Navarre, Spain

Life:

• João Pedro da Silva Machado Lobo, University of Porto, Portugal
• Vincenzo Russo, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Italy

Metabolites:

• Gabriele Rocchetti, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Italy

Nutrients:

• Fiona Lavelle, Queen's University Belfast, UK
• Matthew Snelson, Monash University, Australia

Pathogens:

• Si Ming Man, Australian National University, Australia
• Jasper Fuk-Woo Chan, University of Hong Kong, China

Plants:

• Stefania Sut, University of Padova, Italy
• Mohamed Ahmed El-Esawi, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

Vaccines:

• Nicholas M. Provine, University of Oxford, UK

Viruses:

• Nicholas S. Heaton, Duke University, USA