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14 August 2023
MDPI’s Best Paper Awards in Biology and Life Sciences—Winners Announced in 2022


The purpose of our Best Paper Awards is to promote and recognize the most impactful contributions published within MDPI journals.

The editors of each journal carefully selected reviews and research papers through a rigorous judging process based on criteria such as scientific merit, overall impact, and the quality of presentation.

We are honored to present the winners for the year 2022 in biology and life sciences, who were selected amongst extensive competition, and congratulate the authors for their outstanding scientific publications. MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community.

Agronomy:

Biology:

Brain Sciences:

Diversity:

Genes:    

IJMS:     

Insects:  

Life:

Metabolites:          

MPs:

Pathogens:

Plants:

Toxins:

Vaccines:               

Veterinary Sciences:

About MDPI Awards:

In order 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.

28 July 2023
Meet Us at the 118th Congress of the Italian Botanical Society, 13–16 September 2023, Pisa, Italy


MDPI will attend the 118th Congress of the Italian Botanical Society. This event will be hosted by the Italian Botanical Society and will take place from 13 to 16 September 2023 in Pisa, Italy.

There will be speeches by internationally renowned experts in various fields of botany. The conference will introduce several innovations to ensure fair representation of all cultural areas of the association and to maximize the impact of the posters. Each full workshop exchange and each brief oral poster presentation will be associated with 1 of 42 keywords (6–8 from each macro theme), covering the diversity of research areas represented by the Social Work Group.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

If you plan on attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth and speak with us. 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 https://www.societabotanicaitaliana.it/118/eng/detail.asp?idn=5035.

27 July 2023
MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter #2 - Open Peer-Review and IJERPH

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

Open Peer Review Reports

Continuing the topic of openness from my inaugural monthly CEO letter, in these Opening Thoughts, I highlight the growth and importance of open peer-review reports at MDPI. Open peer reports align with the principles of open science, making the publishing process more transparent and facilitating rigorous peer review.

MDPI journals operate an open peer-review option by default, allowing authors to publish review reports and author responses (often referred to as open reports) together with the published paper. Publishing the reviewer reports and author responses together with the article provides greater transparency and trust for readers, as this allows them to track the editorial decision-making process. Open peer-review also encourages reviewers and editors to provide high-quality comments, as these will be made public if the article is accepted for publication.

Start and Growth of Open Peer Review at MDPI

The MDPI journal Life was a pioneer in offering this opportunity to its authors in 2014. The first MDPI article with peer-review reports openly published was a review by the Nobel Laureate Werner Arber, in which the review reports were published as supplementary material. By 2018, open peer-review was available across all MDPI journals. As such, MDPI authors have embraced the open peer-review model, providing a steady increase in the number of MDPI articles. As of 2023, approximately one-third (34.0%) of MDPI articles were published with open review reports.

As at July 2023, the percentage of MDPI articles published with open peer review has increased to 36.2% of the total papers published in 2023 so far, indicating ongoing growth in adoption.

Open peer review continues to play a critical role in the assessment of the peer-review process in Life. For further insights, please see the recent editorial by Dr. Pabulo Henrique Rampelotto, the former Editor-in-Chief of Life, who spearheaded the implementation of the open peer-review process.

Benefits of Open Peer Review

The benefits of open peer review include increased transparency, trust and constructive feedback. To promote open communication further and increase the robustness of the peer-review process, we encourage reviewers to sign their reports so that their name appears on the review report (this process is referred to as open identity). The default option is for reviewers to remain anonymous; however, by signing the reports, reviewers receive direct credit for their contribution to the peer-review process and show their commitment towards open science.

As the leading open access publisher, MDPI remains committed to promoting open peer-review and encourages authors to choose this approach. Our goal is to provide a rigorous and transparent peer-review process that benefits the scientific community, and we believe that open peer-review is a vital step in fostering openness and collaboration in scientific communication.

Impactful Research

MDPI Papers Cited in the News – IJERPH edition

Every month, our corporate marketing team compiles data from Altmetrics to create a list of MDPI papers that have been cited in the news. This list continues to grow as renowned news outlets regularly reference research published by MDPI in their articles.

During 2022, a total of 111,965 MDPI research papers were mentioned in prominent news outlets such as National Geographic, The Washington Post, Forbes, The Guardian, the BBC, CNN, Time, and Harvard Business Review.

Highly Cited Journal Publications

IJERPH, known for publishing impactful research, received the most news mentions among all MDPI journals in 2022, based on Altmetrics data:

  • International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: 3509 mentions
  • Nutrients: 2698 mentions
  • International Journal of Molecular Sciences: 1701 mentions
  • Journal of Clinical Medicine: 1131 mentions
  • Viruses: 1111 mentions

These numbers show the recognition and impact of the articles published in IJERPH. For a more detailed view of the journal’s most cited and viewed papers, you can visit here. In total, IJERPH has garnered over 28,000 mentions in prominent news outlets, and as at July 2023, an impressive count of over 17,000 papers cited 10 times or more. These figures highlight the impactful contribution of IJERPH publications to the scientific community.

Example of Recent Mentions

During May and June 2023, a noteworthy selection of articles from IJERPH was cited in news articles, including:

The Washington Post: “Bringing nature inside can improve your health. Here’s how to do it.”
IJERPH paper:Physiological Benefits of Viewing Nature: A Systematic Review of Indoor Experiments

Harvard Business Review: “How to Take Better Breaks at Work, According to Research
IJERPH paper:Canine-Assisted Therapy Improves Well-Being in Nurses

National Geographic: “Lyme disease is spreading fast—but a vaccine may be on the way
IJERPH paper:Range Expansion of Tick Disease Vectors in North America: Implications for Spread of Tick-Borne Disease

Inside MDPI

MDPI Develops an Artificial Intelligence Tool to Enhance the Peer-Review Process

At MDPI, we believe that rigorous peer-review is the corner-stone of high-quality academic publishing. We are grateful to the scholars who generously dedicate their time to peer-review articles submitted to MDPI journals. Their contributions are invaluable to the advancement of science.

Peer-review is a critical part of the publication process, ensuring that MDPI upholds the highest quality standards for the papers we publish. Every manuscript submitted to our journals undergoes a comprehensive peer-review process conducted by subject-matter experts.

To further enhance our peer-review process, our Data Analytics team has developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool designed to support the selection of reviewers. This proprietary tool utilizes Natural Language Processing (NLP), a specially designed AI language model, to extract information from the title and abstract of submitted papers. It then searches our database for similar manuscripts and suggests potential reviewers based on this analysis. Integrated with MDPI's submission system (SuSy), the AI tool cross-references the suggested candidates with our reviewer database to verify their invitation status and availability.

The goal of this tool is to provide better targeted peer-review invitations, reducing the number of emails sent for each paper and increasing the efficiency of our editorial staff.

In the near future, our Data Analytics team plans to deploy similar AI projects to improve other critical aspects of our services, offering an enhanced experience to our authors and readers.

Click here to learn about MDPI’s review process, including procedures, responsibilities, and benefits.

Read more:

Coming Together for Science

The Future of IJERPH

On 5 July 2023, Prof. Dr. Paul B. Tchounwou, the founding Editor-in-Chief of IJERPH, along with five Section Editors in Chief (Prof. Dr. Germán Vicente-Rodríguez, Prof. Dr. Karl Goodkin, Prof. Dr. William A. Toscano, Prof. Dr. Jimmy T. Efird, and Prof. Dr. William Douglas Evans), gathered in Basel to discuss the future of the journal. The meeting provided an opportunity to address the recent decision by The Web of Science to delist IJERPH due to the journal failing the Content Relevance criterion, and propose best strategies that will ensure high scientific rigor as well as a clear scope and aim of IJERPH, going forward.

While the delisting is disappointing for IJERPH, as well as for our authors, academic editors, and the entire scientific community supporting our journal, we see it as an opportunity to reflect and prepare for the future direction of the journal.

Since its launch in 2004, IJERPH’s vision and mission have evolved to be more complete and comprehensive in engaging scientific communities. In light of this, we will refresh the journal’s aims and scope, ensuring they align with the organic expansion of IJERPH. Additionally, we will restructure the journal sections into broader categories, encouraging collaborative research and transdisciplinary approaches for authors. This is designed to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange among diverse fields, contributing to a holistic understanding of health promotion and disease prevention. We are confident that these next steps will enhance the scientific strength and societal impact of our journal.

Journal Achievements

In addition to the productive discussions, we took the time to celebrate some of the remarkable achievements of IJERPH, which I highlight below:

  • Founded by Prof. Dr. Paul B. Tchounwou in 2004
  • Indexed in PubMed in 2008
  • Received its first Impact Factor in 2012
  • Published its 5000th paper in 2017
  • Over 60,000 papers published as at June 30, 2023
  • 131,628,173 paper views in 2018–2022
  • Over 28,000 mentions in prominent news outlets
  • 17,000 papers cited 10 times or more as at June 30, 2023
  • No.1 journal in the 2022 Google Scholar Metrics in the category of Public Health
  • Awarded several editions of Young Investigator Awards, Travel Awards, and Outstanding Reviewer Awards since 2018.

These achievements showcase the journal’s significant contributions to the field and its impact on global health. We are proud of the exceptional work accomplished by the IJERPH team and look forward to building upon this success in the years to come.

Closing Thoughts

MDPI’s Impact in Spain

During the past month, I had the opportunity to visit our new office building in Barcelona, where I met with our local colleagues to discuss the ways we serve the scholarly community, particularly in Spain. The multi-functional office plays a vital role in supporting various business needs, including editorial, design, conference management, data analytics, journal relationship management, publishing partnerships, and collaborations with societies.

Spain holds a significant position in MDPI’s global market, ranking as the fourth-largest contributor to the total number of papers published by MDPI as at July 2023, ranking next to Italy, the USA, and China, with Germany completing the top five.

The Numbers

Out of the 1,680,000 total MDPI articles published as at 25 July, almost 80,000 articles are contributed by Spanish authors, representing nearly 40,000 unique authors affiliated with Spanish institutions. Remarkably, over 6,300 of these authors hold editorial board member (EBM) positions within MDPI journals, with 30 of them serving as Editors-in-Chief (EiCs).

Our commitment to working with institutions is very evident in Spain, where we have successfully established over 40 Institutional Open Access Programs (IOAP) with esteemed institutions such as the University of Barcelona, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Pompeu Fabra University, the University of Navarre, and Complutense University of Madrid.

Over the past five years, we have successfully organized eight in-person conferences in Barcelona, attracting over 1,150 registrations, with two forthcoming events scheduled for 2024. Barcelona's excellent connectivity to international airports makes it easily accessible to participants from around the world. Its welcoming atmosphere provides us with the perfect environment for knowledge-sharing, networking, and contributing to the local economy.

Our growth and presence in Spain are a true testament to the incredible service we provide to the scholarly community and the relationships we foster through responsive and collaborative communication. We look forward to continuing to support Spanish scholars, providing them a valuable and trusted experience with MDPI, the leader in open access publishing.

Testimonials

I close this letter as I did in the first edition, by sharing testimonials from our stakeholders. Here are a few IJERPH testimonials from a Spanish guest editor and an author:

Guest Editor
“I want to thank the kindness, attention and professionalism of the MDPI team throughout the editorial process of the Special Issue. I believe that it is a very professional and quality editorial process.”
- Professor Víctor Arufe-Giráldez, University of A Coruña
Special Issue in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: Physical Activity in Childhood and Adolescence
Special Issue in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: Physical Education: Present and Future
__
Author
“I want to thank the rigor of the revisions made to the manuscripts to improve their quality, the support to the authors for the editor assignment system they have and the follow-up they carry out, for the speed in answering and in carrying out the entire process of the revision, and for doing all this at an affordable price.”
- Dr. María Paz García-Caro, University of Granada
Article in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: Factors Associated with Suicide Attempts and Suicides in the General Population of Andalusia (Spain)

Stefan Tochev
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG

26 July 2023
New EMBO Members Elected in 2023 Include 20 Authors in IJMS, Other MDPI Titles

The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) captures and promotes excellence in the life sciences. At its core, a community of more than 2000 Members are elected life-long members of the organization who contribute significantly to the advancement of molecular life sciences in Europe and globally, promoting collaboration and innovation within life science communities.

Being an EMBO Member is a prestigious recognition reserved for scientists who have greatly influenced the direction of research. EMBO maintains a fairly limited number of Members to ensure the community remains focused on the highest level of scientific excellence.

Among the new Members elected in 2023 are 20 scholars who have (co-)authored at least one paper in an MDPI journal, including the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Biomolecules, Cells, Genes, and Pathogens.

We would like to congratulate the following researchers on their recent election!

  • Simon Alberti, Dresden, Germany
  • Tiziana Bonaldi, Milan, Italy
  • Bart Deplancke, Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Elke Deuerling, Konstanz, Germany
  • Angela Falciatore, Paris, France
  • Luísa M. Figueiredo, Lisbon, Portugal
  • Uri Gophna, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • Hana Hanzlíková, Prague, Czech Republic
  • Saskia A. Hogenhout, Norwich, UK
  • Meritxell Huch, Dresden, Germany
  • Jacek Jaworski, Warsaw, Poland
  • Katalin Karikó, Philadelphia, US
  • Manfred Kayser, Rotterdam, Netherlands
  • Özlem Keskin, Istanbul, Turkey
  • Annette Oxenius, Zurich, Switzerland
  • Nils Chr. Stenseth, Oslo, Norway
  • Ildikó Szabó, Padova, Italy
  • Hedda Wardemann, Milan, Italy
  • Katja Wassmann, Paris, France
  • Maria Yazdanbakhsh, Leiden, Netherlands

EMBO holds a joint annual meeting with the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB): Cell Bio 23 will take place 2–6 December 2023 in Boston, MA.

26 July 2023
Meet Us at the 45th Congress of the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM 2023), 5–8 September 2023, Zaragoza, Spain


Conference:
The 45th Congress of the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM 2023)
Date: 5–8 September 2023
Place: University of Zaragoza Faculty of Medicine, Zaragoza, Spain
Booth: #30

MDPI journals will be attending the 45th Congress of the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM 2023) as an exhibitor. This meeting will be held in Zaragoza, Spain, from 5 to 8 September 2023.

SEBBM contributed significantly to the creation of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) in 1964, represents Spain in the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB), is one of the founding members of the Confederation of Spanish Scientific Societies (COSCE) and belongs to the Spanish Association of Biocompanies (ASEBIO), which develops activities in the field of biotechnology in Spain.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to start a conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit the following website: https://www.acs.org/meetings/acs-meetings/fall-2023.html.

20 July 2023
Meet Us at the 2023 National Plant Biology Congress, 2–6 August 2023, Lanzhou, China


MDPI will be attending the 2023 National Plant Biology Congress as an exhibitor. This meeting will be held in Lanzhou, China, from 2 to 6 August 2023.

The conference is jointly organized by the Chinese Society of Genetics, Chinese Society of Cell Biology, China Crop Society, Chinese Society of Botany, and Chinese Society of Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology. The conference is scheduled to be held in Lanzhou, Gansu, China. Domestic experts, scholars, and outstanding young scientists who have made outstanding achievements in related fields of plant biology will be invited to give academic reports. The conference aims to promote exchanges and cooperation among plant scientists, promote the transformation and application of plant scientific research achievements in agricultural production practice, and help the revitalization of the seed industry.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to start a conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions you may have. For more information about the conference and our booth, please visit the following link: http://www.ncpb.net/home/index/index.html.

19 July 2023
Meet Us at the 12th International Congress of Plant Pathology, 20–25 August 2023, Lyon, France


MDPI will attend the 12th International Congress of Plant Pathology. This event will be held from 20 to 25 August 2023 in Lyon, France, and is hosted by the International Society for Plant Pathology.

Plant pathologists and plant health researchers from around the world will meet to discuss their latest research as well as the current and future issues facing plant health experts. The host, the French Phytopathological Society, has set an exciting and challenging theme for the congress: “One Health for all plants, crops and trees”. This topic promises to provide a broad platform for talks, posters, and discussions that consider the integral nature of plant health with human, animal, and environmental health. In addition to an excellent program of keynote talks, concurrent sessions, poster presentations, and networking opportunities, there will be a number of satellite events before the meeting dates to provide opportunities for deeper discussions on a number of topics.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

If you plan on attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth and start a conversation with us. 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 https://www.icpp2023.org/.

13 July 2023
Hot Topics Webinar | Unraveling Apoptosis: Insights into Programmed Cell Death, 17 July 2023


The webinar aims to explore the fascinating topic of apoptosis and its underlying mechanisms, significance, and roles in different fields of biology and health.

Keywords: apoptosis; programmed cell death; apoptotic pathways; apoptotic signaling; cell survival; cell death mechanisms; apoptosis inhibitors; caspases; mitochondria; death receptors; cytochrome c; DNA damage
Date: 17 July 2023 at 4:00 p.m. CEST | 10:00 a.m. EDT
Webinar ID: 826 6729 7174

Register now for free!

Program:

Speaker/Presentation

Time in CEST

Time in EDT

Prof. Ioana Berindan-Neagoe

Chair Introduction

4:00–4:10 p.m.

10:00–10:10 a.m.

Prof. János G. Filep

Phagocytosis-Induced Neutrophil Death S: A Target for Promoting the Resolution of Inflammation

4:10–4:40 p.m.

10:10–10:40 a.m.

Prof. Ioana Berindan-Neagoe

Apoptosis in Cancer

4:40–5:10 p.m.

10:40–11:10 a.m.

Q&A Session

5:10–5:20 p.m.

11:10–11:20 a.m.

Prof. Ioana Berindan-Neagoe

Closing of Webinar

5:20 p.m.

11:20 a.m.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.

Unable to attend? Register anyway and we’ll let you know when the recording is available to watch.

Webinar Chair and Keynote Speaker:

  • Ioana Berindan-Neagoe, Research Center for Functional Genomics, Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania;
  • János G. Filep, Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada.

Relevant Special Issue/Topics:

IJMS:
1 "Mitochondrial Medicine: Pharmacological Targeting of Mitochondria in Disease"
2. "Programmed Cell Death and Apoptosis"

Cells:
1. "Programmed Cell Death and Neurodegenerative Diseases"
2. "Mitophagy, Autophagy, Apoptosis and Senescence—the Roles of These Processes in Invasive Cancer Growth"

11 July 2023
MDPI’s Newly Launched Journals in June 2023

With the first issue released in June 2023, five new MDPI journals disseminating multi-disciplinary science are due to launch, which will cover the subjects of medicine & pharmacology, biology and physical sciences.

The newly launched journals will be overseen by professional Editorial Board Members and Editors to ensure an accurate and rapid publication, rigorous peer review and broad visibility.

Please feel free to browse and discover more about the new journals below.

Journal Founding Editor-in-Chief Journal topics (selected)
Prof. Dr. Jun Ma, Peking University, China| Editorial | view inaugural issue growth and development;
diet and nutrients; school health promotion policies and practices; child health and care; adolescent health and wellbeing | view journal scope | submit an article
Prof. Dr. Bernd Rehm, Griffith University, Australia | Editorial | view inaugural issue DNA and gene synthesis; synthetic transcription factors; protein engineering; viral engineering; metabolic engineering | view journal scope | submit an article
Prof. Dr. Varsha Gandhi, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA | Editorial | view inaugural issue lymphatics; cancers associated with lymphocytes and lymphoblasts; lymphatic tissues; lymphoma; lymphoid leukemia | view journal scope | submit an article
Dr. Bradley Turner, University of Melbourne, Australia | Editorial | view inaugural issue multiple sclerosis; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; primary lateral sclerosis; atherosclerosis; systemic sclerosis | view journal scope | submit an article
Prof. Dr. Clemens Burda, Case Western Reserve University, USA | Editorial | view inaugural issue Gamma ray, X-ray, and UV–Vis spectroscopies; NIR/mid-infrared/Raman spectroscopy; microwave and THz spectroscopy; high-resolution gas-phase atomic, molecular, and cluster spectroscopy; MS, NMR, and EPR spectroscopy | view journal scope | submit an article

We wish to thank everyone who has supported the development of open access publishing. You are welcome to submit an application to the New Journal Committee (newjournal-committee@mdpi.com) if you would like to create more new journals.

4 July 2023
Meet Us at the 2023 China Redox Biology and Medicine Conference, 10–13 August 2023, Xiamen, China


Conference: 2023 China Redox Biology and Medicine Conference
Date: 10–13 August 2023
Place: Xiamen, China 

MDPI will be attending the 2023 China Redox Biology and Medicine Conference, which will be held from 10 to 13 August 2023 in Xiamen, China.

The theme of the conference is "Oxidation Reduction and Life and Health". Redox is the most basic reaction in the life process and plays an important role in regulating the function of biological macromolecules, cell signal transduction, physiological and pathological processes, and coping with stress. This meeting will focus on the basic research of redox in life process and the relationship between redox balance and disease and the intervention strategy in the following seven aspects: redox state detection method, endogenous redox active molecules, redox molecule production and metabolism, redox modification and regulation of biological macromolecules, redox regulation and cell fate and quality control, redox regulation and pathophysiological processes (aging, tumors, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, etc.), redox precise intervention and transformation application. 

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

  • Antioxidants;
  • Oxygen;
  • IJMS;
  • CIMB;
  • Life.

Please do not hesitate to reach out (antioxidants@mdpi.com) if you plan on attending this conference. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you might have.

For more information about the conference, please visit the following website: https://meeting.bsc.org.cn/SFRRC2023/.

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