Announcements

UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. In 2020 the SDG Publishers Compact was launched, aimed to inspire publishers and accelerate progress to achieve the 17 goals by 2030. Members of the programme are committed to support the publication of materials that will promote and inspire actions towards SDGs.

MDPI is an eager advocate of SDGs and has already been supporting the programme by creating Special Issues and publishing a series of books on SDGs prior to joining the Compact in 2021. MDPI's Sustainability Foundation initiated the World Sustainability Awards in 2016. We fully support UN's goals to promote sustainable actions that make the world a better place for all and, as part of its commitment, we will focus our actions on SDG10: Reduced Inequalities whilst promoting all 17 SDGs. For more details, please visit the programme’s website: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sdg-publishers-compact/.

Joining this initiative was a unanimous decision. MDPI has in its core values the dissemination of science for all, breaking the wall between research access and under-represented members of the scientific community and the general population. To support this initiative further and continue to support under-represented scientists, MDPI will take a series of actions that will be announced once ready.

The first action MDPI takes is to nominate Dr. Liliane Auwerter as the coordinator of the programme. Dr. Auwerter studied Environmental Process Technology (UTFPR, Brazil), obtained her MSc degree in Water and Environmental Engineering (University of Surrey, UK) and in 2020 completed her PhD in self-healing low-friction materials for water transport (Imperial College London, UK), always focusing on diverse scientific projects that would potentially bring sustainability to industrial processes. As a student in Brazil, she engaged in volunteering activities focused on environmental education and took part in the Millennial Development Goals meetings held at the university.

For more information, please contact:
Dr. Liliane Auwerter
Scientific Officer
liliane.auwerter@mdpi.com

We are pleased to announce the Topic “Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition for Sustainable Agriculture” (https://www.mdpi.com/topics/Fertility_Nutrition_Agriculture).

This collection invites contributions on new agricultural practices that maintain or restore soil life and fertility; new methods and technologies for mineral and organic feeding and plant fertilization; new sources of, and processes for, providing healthy food without negative impacts on the soil; the use of cultivars that efficiently valorize soil resources; and the use of plant cover or crop associations. Contributions concerning biocontrol and soilborne disease are also welcome.

The relevant journals are Horticulturae, Plants, Agronomy, Agriculture, and Sustainability. The submission deadline is 31 December 2022. Contributions to the topic are welcome.

We are pleased to announce the Horticulturae 2021 Best Ph.D. Thesis Award (CHF 800) is now open for application. This prize will be awarded to a Ph.D. student who is about to graduate or participate in a graduation thesis. If you are interested, please submit your applications and materials through the following link by 31 December 2021 (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/horticulturae/awards/submit/1399).

The winner will be announced on the journal website on 31 January 2022. For more details about Horticulturae awards, please visit the following link (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/horticulturae/awards).

Horticulturae Editorial Office

We are pleased to announce the new Section “Horticultural Economics, Policy, Business Management and Marketing” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/horticulturae/sections/HEPBMM) in the journal Horticulturae. Prof. Dr. Christian Fischer is serving as the Section Editor-in-Chief.

The “Horticultural Economics, Policy, Business Management and Marketing” (HEPBMM) Section publishes original manuscripts of diverse types related to social science topics such as economics, management science, and political science, which have a significant connection to horticultural production, distribution, and consumption patterns and systems anywhere in the world.

We welcome high-quality submissions of both qualitative and quantitative nature within the scope of this Section. Accordingly, the scope of this Section includes research articles, review articles, methodology articles and, to a limited extent, opinion pieces.

All accepted papers must demonstrate a solid methodological basis and be built on reliable evidence, leading to new insights and tangible knowledge advances. All contributions are subject to a rigorous peer review process aiming to assure high academic quality standards.  

In particular, we are interested in innovative approaches and interdisciplinary studies combining social science with natural science topics and approaches. We invite all interested scientists to serve as Guest Editors of Special Issues on a single and particular theme.

This serves to announce to our valued authors based in Japan that value-added tax, or consumption tax will now be imposed on article processing fees and other service fees for all papers submitted, or resubmitted (assigned new paper IDs), effective from 15 August 2021. The change is in accordance with the Japanese "Act for Partial Revision of the Income Tax Act and Other Acts" (Act No. 9 of 2015), which includes a revision of consumption taxation on cross-border supplies of services such as digital content distribution.

For additional information from the National Tax Agency please see here ("Cross-border supplies of electronic services").

Contact: Setsuko Nishihara, MDPI Tokyo

We are delighted to inform you that the first Impact Factor of Horticulturae is 2.331, based on the Journal Citation Reports®. Horticulturae now ranks 8/37 (Q1) in “Horticulture” according to the newest JCR report. We greatly appreciate our author’s, reader’s, reviewer’s, and Board Member’s contributions to the journal’s development and continuous support for Horticulturae!

Horticulturae is a relatively young but well-established journal that is publishing its 7th volume this year. The journal is focusing on all areas of temperate to tropical horticulture and related disciplines. To expand our offerings to the horticulture community, Horticulturae is recruiting researchers to join the Editorial Board consisting of 15 Sections. If you are interested in this position, please contact the Horticulturae Editorial Office (horticulturae@mdpi.com).

We are pleased to announce the new Section “Insect Pest Management” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/horticulturae/sections/insect_pest_management) in the journal Horticulturae. Dr. Umberto Bernardo is serving as the Section Editor-in-Chief.

The Insect Pest Management (IPM) Section publishes original manuscripts on the biology, ethology, characterization, and control of insects that damage horticultural crops, including vegetables, fruit trees, vines, berries, ornamental shrubs and trees, flowers, and aromatic and medicinal plants. The IPM Section welcomes submissions describing fundamental and applied research on all insect types and in all domains of insect pest management (e.g., morphological and molecular characterization, biology, ecology, plant–insect interactions, host resistance, damage, spread, and insect management).

In particular, IPM welcomes contributions by early-career researchers and proposals for review topics. In addition, we invite senior scientists to initiate and serve as Guest Editors of new Special Issues on timely topics.

The 2020 citation metrics have been officially released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR)!

We are pleased to announce that 85 MDPI journals are included, of which:

• 10 journals received their first impact factor
• 96% of journals increased their impact factor from 2019
• 32 journals (38%) ranked among the top 25% of journals, in at least one category

* Journals given their first Impact Factor in 2021

Source: 2020 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports ® (Clarivate, 2021)

We are pleased to announce that the 2020 CiteScore of Horticulturae is 3.4. It now ranks Q1 in the Horticulture category. The metric reflects citation activity in 2020 in Scopus for papers published in the period 2017‒2020.

For full details of the current CiteScore release, please see the journal's Source profile. The first Impact Factor will be released by the end of June. We also acknowledge the many valuable publications from our authors and the important contribution of our dedicated reviewers.

We are pleased to announce the new Section “Processed Horticultural Products” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/horticulturae/sections/processed_horticultural_products) in the journal Horticulturae. Dr. Rosario Paolo Mauro is serving as the Section Editor-in-Chief.

The “Processed Horticultural Products” Section publishes original manuscripts of diverse types related to comparisons of 1) existing methodologies for production of new products from fruits and vegetables; 2) existing versus new methodologies for production of existing products; 3) different sources of crops (e.g., new cultivars) for production of existing products, and how new and/or existing processing methods affect the retention of important biochemical or phytochemical components, general quality traits, long-term storability, food safety, etc., in marketable products.

In particular, we welcome contributions by early career researchers. We also invite senior scientists to serve as Guest Editors of new Special Issues on a single and particular theme of significant and/or growing importance.