Announcements

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.

We are pleased to announce that Professor Pasquale Stano has been appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of the new section “Synthetic Biology and Systems Biology” in Life.

Professor Pasquale Stano joined the Pier Luigi Luisi group in Zürich in February 2002, working on the liposomal drug delivery (of camptothecin derivatives, in collaboration with Sigma-Tau, Pomezia, IT).

In 2004, the group moved to the Department of Biology of the University of Roma Tre (Rome, Italy), where their research focused on the construction and conceptualization of semi-synthetic "minimal cells", thanks to funding from the ‘Enrico Fermi’ Study Center (Rome, Italy), the FP6 European project “Synthcells”, the Human Frontiers Science Program, and the Italian PRIN. Professor Pasquale Stano has significantly contributed to these activities by coordinating research activities together with the group leader P. L. Luisi.

Currently, he is an Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Salento (Lecce, Italy). He mainly promotes a bottom-up approach in synthetic biology, origin of life research, and systems chemistry. Additional interests are green and sustainable chemistry, protein structure and function, and systems thinking and complexity.

He is the author of over 166 scientific international publications, including original research articles, reviews, proceeding papers, and book chapters in the field of synthetic biology, origin of life research, biochemistry, and systems chemistry. He co-edited the book “The Minimal Cell” (Springer, 2011). Moreover, he acted as guest editor for 8 Special Issues.

We warmly welcome Professor Pasquale Stano as the Editor-in-Chief of the section "Synthetic Biology and Systems Biology", and we look forward to Life achieving many milestones under his leadership. For further information on the journal section, please click:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/life/sections/synthetic_biology_systems_biology

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Nicola Smania has been appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of the new section “Physiology and Pathology” in Life.

Professor Nicola Smania is full professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movemen, University of Verona, Italy.

He is Director of the Neuromotor and Cognitive Rehabilitation Research Center at the Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement, University of Verona.

He is Director of the Postgraduate Specialization Program in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the School of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Verona.

He is President of the Bachelors Degree in Physiotherapy of the University of Verona.

He is President of the Master’s Degree in Rehabilitation Science in Healthcare Professions.

Professor Smania is author of over 400 scientific publications on national and international journals, proceeding and books in the field of Neuroscience, Neurorehabilitation and Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine.

We warmly welcome Professor Nicola Smania as the Editor-in-Chief of the section "Physiology and Pathology", and we look forward to Life to achieving many milestones under his leadership. For further information on the journal section, please click https://www.mdpi.com/journal/life/sections/Physiology_and_Pathology

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Bruce J. Nicholson has been appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of the new section “Biochemistry, Biophysics and Computational Biology” in Life.

Dr. Nicholson is a Professor of Biochemistry and Structural Biology, where he served as Chair for 15 years, and Co-Director and Founder of the Center for Innovative Drug Discovery at the University of Texas Health San Antonio. He also serves as the Chief Scientific Officer of Hera Biotech, and has served as President of the Association for Medical and Graduate Departments of Biochemistry, on a number of advisory boards, as Editor-in Chief of Cell Communication and Adhesion and on the Fcaulty of 1000. He is a prior Pew Scholar and recipient of the Max Planck Prize.

His lab has been investigating the permeability characteristics of Connexin channels, which have proven surprisingly selective, and defining the molecular basis of this selectivity and regulation of these channels. Most recently, he has focused efforts on understanding the role of gap junctions in invasive processes in cancer metastasis and endometriosis, a disease affecting 10% of women, and a major contributor to infertility in the world.  

We warmly welcome Dr. Bruce Nicholson as the Editor-in-Chief of the section "Biochemistry, Biophysics and Computational Biology", and we look forward to Life achieving many milestones under his leadership. For further information on the journal section, please click:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/life/sectioneditors/biochemistry_biophysics_computational

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Katalin Prokai-Tatrai has been appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of the new section “Medical Research” in Life.

Prof. Dr. Katalin Prokai-Tatrai is a Professor at the Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of North Texas Health Science Center. Katalin Prokai-Tatrai has long been involved in teaching broad aspects of general and organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and drug discovery & delivery with special emphasis on the central nervous system.

She is a member of the American Chemical Society and has served on the editorial board of numerous journals. Katalin Prokai-Tatrai has been the academic editor of a successful special issue devoted to neuroprotection in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, and have long served as journal and grant reviewer.

Also, she is an inventor in several patents pertaining to the field of translational medicine, drug discovery and site-specific drug delivery. Katalin Prokai-Tatrai is an award-winning scientist and pharmacy educator within SCOP; for example, she is the first recipient of UNT SCOP Faculty Achievement Award that was awarded by her peers in recognition  of excellence in academic activities.

We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Katalin Prokai-Tatrai as the Editor-in-Chief of the section "Medical Research", and we look forward to Life to achieving many milestones under her leadership. For further information on the journal section, please click: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/life/sectioneditors/Medical

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.

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Stefano Gianni has been appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of the new section “Proteins and Proteomics” in Life.

Dr. Stefano Gianni is a professor at the Department of Biochemical Sciences of Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Stefano Gianni complete his undergraduate and PhD studies at the University of Rome, before completing his postdoc at the Centre for Protein Engineering of the Medical Research Council in Cambridge. After this, Prof. Dr. Stefano Gianni returned to Rome, where he established his independent research group and became a professor at the end of 2012. Prof. Dr. Stefano Gianni’s group have solid knowledge of protein engineering and biophysics, with a particular emphasis on protein folding and protein–protein recognition.

Prof. Dr. Stefano Gianni has contributed over 30 talks and seminars in international conferences (including the FEBS annual meeting and two annual Protein Society meetings). Prof. Gianni is the author of over 130 scientific publications in international peer-reviewed scientific journals.

We are confident that the strong academic background and connections of Prof. Dr. Stefano Gianni will continue to raise the prestige and quality of Life.

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

The editors are pleased to inform that Life has received a first Impact Factor of 2.991, as published in the 2019 Edition of the Journal Citation Reports® (Clarivate), released just now. Life ranks 26th out of 93 (Q2) titles in the 'Biology' category.

Thank you to the authors, editorial board members and reviewers for their contribution in achieving this milestone for Life.

To better categorize papers published within the journal Life, a new topical Section “Pharmaceutical Sciences” was recently established. Prof. Dr. Ramón Cacabelos has been appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of this new section.

Dr. Ramón Cacabelos is Professor of Genomic Medicine at the Continental University Medical School, Huancayo, Peru; and President of the EuroEspes Biomedical Research Center, International Center of Neuroscience and Genomic Medicine, Corunna, Spain. He received his MD from Oviedo University, PhD from Santiago University, and DMSci. (Psychiatry) from Osaka University Medical School, Japan. After a decade at the Department of Psychiatry in Osaka, he returned to Spain and focused his research activity on the genomics and pharmacogenomics of neurodegenerative disorders. He was the founder of the first Chair of Genomic Medicine in Spain at Camilo Jose Cela University, Madrid, where he served as Vice-Rector of Research and Science. He has published over 600 papers and 24 books, and also holds the Presidency of the Spanish Society of Genomic Medicine and the World Association of Genomic Medicine.

We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Ramón Cacabelos as the Editor-in-Chief of the section “Pharmaceutical Sciences”, and we look forward to Life to achieving many milestones under his leadership. For further information on the journal section, please click here.