Announcements

At MDPI, we strive to make your online publication process seamless and efficient. To achieve this, our team is continuously developing tools and features to make the user experience useful and convenient.

As the number of academic papers continues to grow, so does the need to analyze and work with them on a large scale. This prompted us to design a new feature aimed at helping researchers find journals that are relevant to their publication by matching their abstract topic. In this regard, we designed a similarity model that automatically identifies the most suitable academic journals for your paper.

We are pleased to introduce Journal Selector, a new feature that measures similarity in academic contexts. By simply entering the title and/or abstract into our Journal Selector, the author will see a list of the most related scientific journals published by MDPI. This method helps authors select the correct journals for their papers, highlighting the time of publication and citability.

The methodology is known as representation learning, where words are represented as vectors in hyperspace. Representation helps us differentiate between different concepts within articles, and in turn, helps us identify similarities between them.

We used an advanced machine learning model to better capture the semantic meanings of words. This helps the algorithm make better predictions by leveraging scientific text representation. In turn, this ensures high precision, helping authors decide which journal they should submit their paper to.

The goal is to support authors to publish their work in the most suitable journal for their research, as fast as possible, accelerating their career progress.

Contact: Andrea Perlato, Head of Data Analytics, MDPI (email)

To assist health workers and researchers working under challenging conditions to bring this pandemic to its end, Life has created a new section called “COVID and Life”. This section welcomes articles and reviews related to the COVID-19 pandemic and Life is committed to disseminating high-quality research as quickly as possible. All content related to the COVID-19 pandemic is freely available.

The following Special Issues of this section are currently open for submissions:

• Ecology, Evolution and Epidemiology of Coronaviruses (Deadline: 25 May 2021)
• Neutralizing-Antibody-Based Treatments for COVID-19: Achievements and Lessons Learnt for Future Pandemics (Deadline: 31 August 2021)
• Old and New Pandemics: Challenges for Humans (Deadline: 30 September 2021)

Life (ISSN 2075-1729; CODEN: LBSIB7) is an international peer-reviewed open access journal of scientific studies related to the fundamental themes in life sciences, published monthly online by MDPI.

If you are interested in submitting a manuscript to the new sections mentioned above, please click here.

To propose or request further information, please contact the Life Editorial Office (life@mdpi.com).

We are pleased to announce that the winners of the Life 2020 Young Investigator Awards are Prof. Dr. Luning Liu and Dr. David E. Olson.

Prof. Dr. Luning Liu is Chair of Microbial Bioenergetics and Bioengineering and Royal Society University Research Fellow at the Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. His research focuses on the biosynthesis and functions of photosynthetic membranes, macromolecular assemblies, and organelles, as well as engineering bio-machineries for various biotechnological applications. He has published over 60 high-profile papers. As PI and co-PI, Dr. Liu has secured GBP 3.0M and GBP 4.5M funds.

Dr. David E. Olson is a chemical neuroscientist at the University of California, Davis. His research focuses on understanding how small molecules like psychedelics influence neural plasticity, learning, memory, and mood. By harnessing compound-induced neuroplasticity, Dr. Olson’s group is developing next-generation neurotherapeutics to treat a variety of brain disorders.

As awardees, Prof. Dr. Liu and Dr. Olson will each receive an honorarium of 1000 CHF and the opportunity to publish one paper free of charge before 31 December 2021 in Life, after peer review.

We want to thank all the excellent young scientists who applied for this award as their brilliant CVs made the choice very difficult. We would also like to thank all of the Award Committee Members for their thorough evaluation of the applications.

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.

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