Announcements

MDPI is proud to adopt the principles of the Coalition for Diversity & Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC) to support building equity, inclusion, diversity, and accessibility in scholarly communications.

The C4DISC represents organizations and individuals working in scholarly communications and is focused on addressing issues of diversity and inclusion within the publishing industry.

MDPI’s Managing Editors encourage the Editors-in-Chief and Associate Editors to appoint diverse expert Editorial Boards. This is also reflective in our multi-national and inclusive workplace. We are proud to create equal opportunities without regard to gender, ethnicity, geographic location, sexual orientation, age, disability, political beliefs, religion, or socio-economic status. There is no place for discrimination in our workplace and editors of MDPI journals are to uphold these principles in high regard.

Representatives from C4DISC meet monthly, and have started to implement initiatives to shed light and improve on the lack of diversity in scholarly communications. Some of the initiatives include developing a joint statement of principles; conducting market research; providing training resources, best practices, toolkits, and documentation for our collective memberships; and establishing outreach programs, curricula, events, and publications.

The Coalition is committed to:

• eliminating barriers to participation, extending equitable opportunities across all stakeholders, and ensuring that our practices and policies promote equitable treatment and do not allow, condone, or result in discrimination;
• creating and maintaining an environment that respects diverse traditions, heritages, and experiences;
• promoting diversity in all staff, volunteers, and audiences, including full participation in programs, policy formulation, and decision-making;
• raising awareness about career opportunities in our industries to groups who are currently underrepresented in the workforce;
• supporting our members in achieving diversity and inclusion within their organizations.

At MDPI we have slightly revised the layout for articles to be published in the 2021 Volume, starting at the end of December 2020. As of today, the article templates available for download on ‘Instructions for Authors’ pages have been updated.

The most noticeable change can be found on the first page of the article, where a left-hand column has been created to include the following front matter elements: (i) the recommended citation style for the article, (ii) the publishing history, (iii) as well as the Creative Commons Attribution license used (iv) a standard note regarding affiliations. At the same time, the extra spacing on the left means the authors’ affiliations are now more clearly set apart than before. Other front matter key elements such as journal logo, article type, article title, authors, abstract and keywords remain unchanged.

The blank column on the left runs through all pages in an article; as a result, the main text is slightly more condensed, which improve reader friendliness for smaller screens. Small figures/tables are aligned on the left with standard indenture, while large figures/tables are centered and covering the full width of the page. The revised layout was applied in the article pictured below, to serve as an example:

1) Information is displayed in the left information bar.

2) In the main text, there is a blank column on the left.

3) Small tables/figures are aligned on the left, large tables/figures are centered.

We are pleased to acknowledge that many academic editors who have made an impact on MDPI journals as editorial board members, editors-in-chief, or section editors, are recognized as 2020 Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate.

Highly Cited Researchers highlights the top 1% of researchers, by citations, in one or more of the 22 fields used in Clarivate Analytics Essential Science Indicators. We offer our congratulations to 279 academic editors of MDPI journals who were recognized as the most influential scholars in their fields in 2020.

The full list of 2020 Highly Cited Researchers  can be accessed on https://recognition.webofsciencegroup.com/awards/highly-cited/2020/

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

In the second half of 2020, the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering launched the JMSE 2019 Highly Cited Paper Awards to recognize the most highly cited papers of the past two years. Let us give our cordial congratulations to the winning articles!

1^st Prize:
Sea Level Change and Coastal Climate Services: The Way Forward

Gonéri Le Cozannet, Robert J. Nicholls, Jochen Hinkel, William V. Sweet, Kathleen L. McInnes, Roderik S. W.Van de Wal, Aimée B. A. Slangen, Jason A. Lowe and Kathleen D. White
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2017, 5, 49; doi:10.3390/jmse5040049
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/5/4/49

Winning Article Introduction

Coastal zones are especially in need of climate services for adaptation as rising sea levels increasingly exacerbate flooding, erosion, and salinization hazards. An important component of these services will be sea level scenarios and projections tailored to a wide range of coastal users, such as communities at risk, land use planners, coastal infrastructure owners, or the insurance industry. Coastal scientists involved in the “Regional Sea Level Changes and Coastal Impacts”, part of Grand Challenge of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), have reviewed how annual to multi-decadal sea level projections can be used within coastal climate services. The resulting review article, published in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, examines the current state-of-the-art coastal climate services in the US, Australia, and France, and identifies the lessons learned. More broadly, the article also reviews current barriers in the development of coastal climate services, and identifies research and development efforts for overcoming barriers and facilitating their continued growth. In conclusion, our paper suggests that standard approaches are required to translate relative sea level information into useable forms for coastal management, including coastal adaptation.

Message from the Authors

JMSE has published many strong scientific papers in recent years, and we are confident that the journal will continue with its strong contribution to the coastal adaptation scientific community. Hence, we are very pleased to have received the Highly Cited Paper Award for the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, and we have subsequently decided to donate the 800 CHF prize to Oxfam France, a nonprofit organization acting to reduce inequality and poverty.

2^nd Prize:

Quantifying Economic Value of Coastal Ecosystem Services: A Review
Seyedabdolhossein Mehvar, Tatiana Filatova, Ali Dastgheib, Erik De Ruyter van Steveninck and Roshanka Ranasinghe
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2018, 6, 5; doi:10.3390/jmse6010005
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/6/1/5

Winning Article Introduction

The complexity of quantifying ecosystem services in monetary terms has long been a challenging issue for economists and ecologists. Many case-specific valuation studies have been carried out in various parts of the world. Yet, a coherent review on the valuation of coastal ecosystem services (CES), which systematically describes fundamental concepts, analyzes reported applications, and addresses the issue of climate change (CC) impacts on the monetary value of CES, is still lacking. In our article, we take a step towards addressing this knowledge gap by pursuing a coherent review that aims to provide policy makers, coastal zone managers, and researchers in multidisciplinary teams with a summary of the state-of-the-art and a guideline on the process of economic valuation of CES and potential changes in these values due to CC impacts. The article highlights the main concepts of CES valuation studies and offers a systematic analysis of the best practices by analyzing two global-scale and 30 selected local and regional case studies in which different CES have been valued.

Message from the Authors

It is our great pleasure to be among the three winners of the JMSE 2019 Highly Cited Paper Awards. JMSE has undoubtedly become a popular venue for cutting-edge research and new advances in the broad field of marine science and engineering, providing an attractive online open access format, great support services, and a quick handling process for papers. We look forward to further collaboration, and to the continued growth of the journal in the future.

3^rd Prize

Comparative Analysis of Coastal Flooding Vulnerability and Hazard Assessment at National Scale

Marcello Di Risio, Antonello Bruschi, Iolanda Lisi, Valeria Pesarino and Davide Pasquali
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2017, 5, 51; doi:10.3390/jmse5040051
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/5/4/51

Winning Article Introduction

The evaluation of the coastal hazard and vulnerability caused by storms is crucial when coastal flooding and erosion need to be carefully managed by local authorities in order to limit damage to the coastal infrastructure and to protect human life, habitats, and sensitive species. This issue is usually tackled through common and shared approaches at the regional scale. Nevertheless, when the analysis must be carried out at the national scale, it is necessary to select a suitable dataset. This must be consistent with the whole application area concerning its spatial distribution, reliability, and availability. The aim of the paper is to perform a comparative analysis, using data available at the national and local scale, to highlight the sensitivity of the coastal hazard and vulnerability assessment. The microtidal and dissipative coastal stretches of Montalto di Castro (Tyrrhenian Sea) are used in this case study. Datasets with different spatial resolutions are then used. The results revealed that the use of low-resolution data leads to the overestimation of vulnerability and to the underestimation of hazard.

Message from the Authors

Many years have come and gone since the JMSE published its first issue. Thanks to the great efforts of the editorial office, the editorial board, and a plethora of excellent authors and reviewers, JMSE is now one of the most respected journals in the field of marine science and engineering. We are so proud to receive 3rd prize in the JMSE 2019 Highly Cited Paper Awards.

These three outstanding papers represent some of the most valuable contributions that JMSE has received to date. On behalf of the Editorial Board and Editorial Office, we would like to congratulate these three teams for their excellent work.

We are delighted to announce the establishment of our Open Access agreement with Jisc Collections, which will allow UK institutions to benefit from access to article processing charge (APC) discounts and streamlined payment workflows.

All institutions participating in the agreement will also gain access to the MDPI online submission system where they can find full article metadata and pricing information for easy identification and additional transparency.

Eligible authors affiliated with the participating institutions are prompted to choose the corresponding Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) when they submit an article via our online submission system.

About Jisc

Jisc's vision is for the UK to be the most digitally advanced education and research nation in the world. At its heart is the super-fast national research and education network, Janet, with built-in cyber security protection.  Jisc also provides technology solutions for its members (colleges, universities and research centres) and customers (public sector bodies), helps members save time and money by negotiating sector-wide deals and provides advice and practical assistance on digital technology. Jisc is funded by the UK higher and further education and research funding bodies and member institutions.

For more information, contact helen.dobson@jisc.ac.uk.

About MDPI

MDPI is a publisher of fully peer-reviewed, Open Access journals with a focus on thorough and rapid editorial processing. Its aim is to ensure that high-quality research is verified and made available to the research community as quickly as possible. MDPI stands at the forefront of the Open Access movement, having launched its first online journal Molecules in 1996. Today, MDPI is a leader in Open Access publishing with over 250 journals across all research disciplines, and all content published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).

For any questions about this agreement, please contact the MDPI IOAP team at ioap@mdpi.com.

The updated citation metrics have been released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), published by Clarivate. The recent release of the JCR includes seventy-one MDPI titles. Out of these, 18 titles are newcomers, receiving a first Journal Impact Factor which is based on citation activity in 2019: Actuators, Agriculture, Biology, Biomedicines, Biosensors, Chemosensors, Children, Healthcare, Journal of Fungi, Journal of Personalized Medicine (JPM), Land, Life, Magnetochemistry, Membranes, Pharmaceuticals, Photonics, Separations and Toxics.

• Out of the previously listed journals, a total of 72 percent boast an increased Impact Factor.
• 25 journals are ranked among the top 25% of journals in at least one of the categories they are ranked for.
• Articles published in 2019 in MDPI journals account for approximately 17 percent of of articles published in gold Open Access journals covered in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI).
  
  

First Impact Factors

Updated Impact Factors

In June 2020, the Australia New Zealand Marine Biotechnology Society (ANZMBS) became affiliated to Marine Drugs and the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (JMSE). As part of this collaboration, all members of ANZMBS enjoy a discount on the article processing charges (APC) when submitting articles to these two journals.

The Australia New Zealand Marine Biotechnology Society (ANZMBS) aims to be the primary voice of advocacy and representation for all aspects of marine biotechnology in Australia and New Zealand through developing and engaging in collaborations between scientists, technologists, investors, government, industry and community; informing educators and policy makers; and organizing activities for the enhancement of science and exchange of knowledge and technology.

ANZMBS is a professional organization whose functions are highly relevant to the scope of Marine Drugs and JMSE. We look forward to collaborating with ANZMBS and publishing state-of-the-art research from its members in this field.

Since 1996, MDPI has been committed to supporting the research community by providing the latest research freely available and making relevant and useful research available as quickly as possible. The world is current experiencing a pandemic of COVID-19, and researchers are working extremely hard to understand it and find a cure.

The values MDPI holds strongly are particularly important at the moment, and we will continue to publish relevant, peer-reviewed research as quickly as possible in open access format. This means that it will immediately be available for researchers, health professionals, and the general public to read, distribute, and reuse. We believe that scientific advancements will be crucial to overcoming this pandemic, and will do everything we can to support researchers working looking for solutions.

COVID-19 Academic Resources Center contains a variety of information related to COVID-19 available from MDPI, including journal articles, special issues, and preprints, among others.

For more information, please visit: https://www.mdpi.com/covid-19

As a leading Open Access publisher, MDPI is committed to fostering open scientific exchange in all forms across all disciplines. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, many researchers have to stay at home and many academic conferences have been cancelled or postponed. In light of these changes, MDPI has adopted numerous initiatives that may help accelerate scientific exchange and provide support to the academics during this period.

Scholarly Community—Encyclopedia

Encyclopedia is an online reference created and curated by active scholars. It aims to highlight the latest research results as well as providing benchmark information for researchers and the general public interested in accurate and advanced knowledge on specific topics.

Comprehensive and Free Literature Database—Scilit

Scilit is a comprehensive, free database for scientists that uses a new method to collate data and index scientific material. Our crawlers extract the latest data from CrossRef and PubMed on a daily basis. This means that newly published articles are immediately added to Scilit.

Display Academic Achievements—SciProfiles

SciProfiles is an innovative social network for researchers and scholars that is developed by MDPI. In line with our broad mission, the purpose of SciProfiles is to accelerate discovery and innovation by facilitating immediate access to research results and providing opportunities for academic networking.

Organize and Participate in Conferences Online—Sciforum

Sciforum is an event planning platform that supports open science by offering the opportunity to host and participate in academic conferences. It provides an environment for scholarly exchange, discussion of topics of current interest, building of networks, and establishing collaborations.

Post Early Versions of Research Outputs—Preprints

Preprints is a platform dedicated to making early versions of research outputs permanently available and citable. We post original research articles and comprehensive reviews, and papers can be updated by authors at any time. Content on Preprints is not peer-reviewed, and feedback can be received from readers.

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MDPI remains committed to open science and open data and has signed a statement, along with more than thirty scholarly publishers, showing our intention to facilitate sharing of new research findings as early on as possible. The initiative sees publishers collectively removing barriers to new research, in the face of a global healthcare crisis.

The world is currently suffering from a global pandemic of the corona virus COVID-19. MDPI expresses its sympathies for all of those affected by the virus and stands in solidarity with medical staff and researchers treating patients and searching for scientific solutions.

MDPI has previously published papers covering corona viruses in addition to new papers on the current outbreak, see all papers here. In particular, Viruses has published a number of Special Issues and papers on the topic (see here, here, and here) as well as a forthcoming Special Issue.

Alongside journal articles, MDPI has been a strong supporter of preprints, which are increasingly being used to rapidly disseminate the latest research, and we run the preprint server Preprints.org. Our database of research articles, Scilit, is free to use and covers all publishers including preprint servers. New papers are often in search results within hours of publication and users can set up alerts for new papers.

Our main priority during this period has been the health and safety of staff, and we continue to allow staff to work at home and closely monitor the situation in all locations in which we work. Despite the restrictions, we continue to provide a full publication service and, by close collaboration with our editorial boards and making use our in-house teams, ensure that there are no unnecessary delays in publishing vital research. Fast and open publication has always been at the core of MDPI values and is now more important than ever.

We hope that a solution to the current situation will emerge soon. In the meantime, we will do our best to continue communicating vital research in all fields.