MDPI INSIGHTS: The CEO's Letter #30 - Scaling with Integrity, Highly Cited Researchers, KEMÖ Consortium, Michele Parrinello, and Best PhD Thesis Awards

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 11^th 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:

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!