Announcements

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)

We are delighted to welcome the following recognized researchers, who have recently joined the Editorial Board of the Journal of Intelligence (J. Intell., ISSN: 2079-3200):

• Dr. Roger Beaty;
• Dr. Nils Myszkowski;
• Dr. Christopher Draheim.

We wish them every success in developing the journal.

Further details concerning the Editorial Board can be found at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/jintelligence/editors.

It is our great honor to congratulate the Editorial Board Members and Editors in MDPI's journals who have been distinguished as 2021 Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate, according to Web of Science data. We herewith express our gratitude for the immense impact the named researchers continue to make on scientific progress and on our journals' development.

Clarivate's annual list of Highly Cited Researchers^TM identifies the most highly cited scientists for the past decade. Their impactful papers are among the top 1 per cent in the citation distribution of one or more of 22 fields analyzed in the "Essential Science Indicators", distinguishing them as hugely influential among their peers.

The full list of 2021 Highly Cited Researchers  can be accessed at the following webpage in the Web of Science^TM https://recognition.webofscience.com/awards/highly-cited/2021/.

--- Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) is a Clarivate product.

Academic editors play a crucial role in leading our journals and ensuring that each article undergoes a robust and timely peer-review. With the launch of Topics this year and addition of Topic Editors to our family of academic editors, we decided it would be a good time to restructure our academic boards, thus providing more clarity and support for each role. MDPI is pleased to announce the launch of a new position—Topical Advisory Panel Member, that will replace the previous position of Topics Board Member. The Topical Advisory Panel will be comprised of early career researchers eager to gain experience in editorial work.

The main responsibility of the new members of the Topical Advisory Panel is to regularly provide support to Guest Editors, Topic Editors, and Section Board Members. The responsibilities of the Topical Advisory Panel are available here: https://www.mdpi.com/editors.

Each year, the members’ performances are evaluated, and outstanding members are promoted to the Editorial Board by the Editor-in-Chief.

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

• Have expertise and experience in the field related to the journal;
• Have received a Ph.D. in the last 10 years, approximately;
• Have at least 6-8 published papers in the last 5 years as first author or corresponding author;
• Currently hold an independent research position in academia or a government institute.

If you are interested in this role, please contact the editorial office by email.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Founded in 1996, MDPI was one of the first fully Open Access publisher. Over 25 years MDPI has grown to become the largest Open Access publisher globally, publishing over 160,000 articles across more than 350 journals in 2020. At the core, MDPI was founded in response to a pressing need of fast publication and inclusion. The scholar was set at the centre of the publication process for the first time. Acting as a service provider, rather than a product provider, MDPI exists to help scientists achive their objective to disseminate research results. At MDPI, we believe scientists deserve a better service from the publishing world.

The International Open Access Week (Open Access Week), founded by the SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) Alliance and student partners in 2008, has been successfully running for 13 years. As an advocate and pioneer of open access publishing, MDPI actively responds to the call of International Open Access Week. This year’s theme of “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity” highlights the Recommendation’s call for equitable participation from all authors and readers.

For the last 25 years, MDPI has been committed to disseminating open research. Here is a video showing MDPI’s Commitment to Equity, Inclusion and Diversity for More than 25 Years.

International Open Access Week is an important opportunity to catalyze new conversations, create connections across and between communities that can facilitate this co-design, and advance progress in the building of more equitable foundations for opening knowledge—discussions and actions that need to be continued, year in and year out. MDPI has always aimed to provide professional and efficient publishing services to scholars around the world.

Our mission is to make scientific research accessible to everyone; this year, we interview and hold discussions with open science ambassadors on how to build an equal and inclusive environment for open science. Academic editors help us collaborate with more institutions to advocate for open access ideas.

Read our anniversary blog post: "Sharing 'Collective Human Knowledge': The Benefits of Open Access Publication"

Besides this, our scientific community is a key driver of our success and MDPI’s remarkable growth. Despite the pandemic, we have prepared online conferences and workshops to gather scholars from different communities.

The Basel Sustainable Publishing online forum provides an equal opportunity for stakeholders and researchers from multi-cultural environments to exchange ideas and eliminate barriers to participation.

Conference date: 25 October 2021, online
Conference website: https://bspf2021.sciforum.net/
Main topics: MDPI discusses the current dilemma of open access science from various perspectives such as governments, libraries, and publishers, and related measures on how to change the status quo of discrimination from a global perspective.

We aim to support equality, inclusion, diversity, and accessibility in scholarly communications. We collaborate with universities and key laboratories and have scholarly communications with researchers, teachers, and students on open access workshops.

• 25 October 2021
  Energies journal and Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

• 28 October 2021
  Machines journal and State Key Laboratory of Traction Power, Southwest Jiaotong University

• 29 October 2021
  Processes journal and Beijing Institute of Technology

• 29 October 2021
  Coatings journal and Wuhan University of Technology

MDPI is committed to providing open access and high-quality publishing services for scholars and promoting rapid dissemination of academic achievements. We hope to promote the practices and policies of open access publishing and diversify the dissemination of academic achievements.

Prof. Andrew Conway, from the Claremont Colleges, was appointed to the position of Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Intelligence (ISSN: 2079-3200) on 1 October 2021; this follows his role as the Associate Editor, which he has served since 2019.

He is a Professor of Cognitive Psychology at the Claremont Colleges in Claremont, California. In 1991, he earned his BS degree in Computer Science and Psychology from Union College in Schenectady, New York. Following this, in 1996, he completed his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology, with a minor in Statistics, from the University of South Carolina.

Upon receiving his doctorate, Conway began teaching at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), where he served as both an Assistant and Associate Professor. Following on from this role, he worked as a Lecturer, and later as a Senior Lecturer, at Princeton University, before relocating to Claremont in 2015.

Conway has published extensive research on the topics of intelligence, working memory, and cognitive control. His research integrates cognitive psychology, psychometrics, and neuroscience. He is a former Associate Editor for the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, and the Journal of Cognitive Psychology. He also previously served as an Associate Editor here, for the Journal of Intelligence, from 2019 until he took on the role of Editor-in-Chief.

We would like to extend a warm welcome to Prof. Andrew Conway for his role as the new Editor-in-Chief, and we look forward to his valuable input to the Journal of Intelligence for its continued success. As well as this, we would like to sincerely thank Prof. Paul De Boeck (Ohio State University) for his leadership and the exceptional work he has conducted as Editor-in-Chief in the past years!

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Andrew Conway:

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you willing to take on the role of the new Editor-in-Chief?

I have been enthusiastic about the Journal of Intelligence for several years now. As I mentioned in 2014, when the journal was just beginning, recent advances in psychometrics, cognitive science, and neuroscience have set the stage for the development of stronger theories and more sophisticated models of intelligence. Having an open access journal as an outlet for this new research is fantastic.

2. What is your vision for the journal?

Intelligence is a broad field and I welcome submissions from a wide range of sub-disciplines; however, to me, the core of intelligence research is cognitive science, developmental psychology, psychometrics, and neuroscience. That said, I want to encourage authors to submit manuscripts that address relatively novel concepts in the realm of intelligence research; for example, on creativity, rationality, wisdom, metacognitive awareness, and wellbeing, just to name a few. I also welcome submissions from authors who conduct more applied work, particularly developmental research, with a focus on education.

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?

My three predictions are broader conceptions of the meaning of “intelligence”, more sophisticated data collection and cognitive testing methodologies, and more of an emphasis on neuroscience.

4. What do you think of the development of open access in the publishing field?

I see open access, and greater transparency in general, as essential for the field of intelligence and psychological science.

The J. Intell. editorial team warmly welcomes Prof. Dr. Xuezhu Ren, who recently joined our Editorial Board. We look forward to his contribution toward the continued success of J. Intell (ISSN: 2079-3200). 

Prof. Dr. Xuezhu Ren is a Professor at the School of Education and the Research Center for Innovative Education and Critical Thinking at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He earned his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology at Goethe University, Frankfurt, in 2013. Prior to his arrival at Frankfurt, he graduated with an M.E. in Educational Psychology at the State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning at Beijing Normal University in 2010. Prof. Dr. Ren’s research is grounded in the cognitive sciences and learning. He has conducted extensive research on individual differences in human intelligence, with a particular interest on intelligence testing effects (e.g., item position effects, testing speed) and how they might result in differences in test scores. His recent research has focused on exploring the neural underpinnings of critical thinking skills, and he has developed intervention programs to promote the critical thinking of students. Prof. Dr. Ren’s research has been funded by China Social Science Foundation, Hubei Natural Science Foundation, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. His work has been published in Learning and Instruction, Intelligence, Learning and Individual Differences, and Educational Psychology.

Rigorous peer-review is the cornerstone of high-quality academic publishing. Over 369,916 scholars served as reviewers for MDPI journals in 2020. We are extremely appreciative of all those who made a contribution to the editorial process in this capacity. At the beginning of every year, journal editorial offices publish a list of all reviewers’ names to express our gratitude. In addition, this year, the MDPI Top Reviewer Award was announced, to recognize the very best reviewers for their expertise and dedication, and their high-quality, and timely review reports. We are pleased to announce the following winners of the 2020 MDPI Top Reviewer Award:

• Adriana Burlea-Schiopoiu;
• Alban Kuriqi;
• Álvaro González-Vila;
• Alessandro Alaimo;
• Alexey Beskopylny;
• Alexander Yu Churyumov;
• Alberto Fernández-Isabel;
• Andrea Mastinu;
• Antonios N. Papadopoulos;
• Anton Rassõlkin;
• Antonio Humberto Hamad Minervino;
• Arkadiusz Matwijczuk;
• Artur Słomka;
• Baojie He;
• Bartłomiej Potaniec;
• Bojan Đurin;
• Camilo Arturo Rodriguez Diaz;
• Carmelo Maria Musarella;
• Chiachung Chen;
• Chiman Kwan;
• Cristian Busu;
• Danil Pimenov;
• Dan-Cristian Dabija;
• Delfín Ortega-Sánchez;
• Demetrio Antonio Zema;
• Denis Butusov;
• Elena Lucchi;
• Gaurab Dutta;
• Livia Anastasiu;
• M. R. Safaei.

For more information about how to become a reviewer of MDPI journals, please see: www.mdpi.com/reviewers.

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

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