Announcements

People rely on optics every day. By utilizing the knowledge of how light behaves under different conditions, scientists and engineers develop remarkable technologies that improve our world. In expanding our offerings to the field of optics, MDPI will be launching a broad-interest and high-quality journal, Optics, an open access journal that seeks full research articles in all areas of optics and related interdisciplinary areas. Optics will also act as a medium for exchanging ideas and thoughts regarding the impacts of optical research.

Optics is an international, peer-reviewed open access journal which aims to present cutting edge research related to all aspects of optics. We are now seeking a founding Editor-in-Chief to develop Optics into a leading flagship journal in this field.

The main responsibilities of the Editor-in-Chief include the following:

• Setting the scope and direction of the journal;
• Advising on the strategic development of the journal;
• Ensuring the quality of the published content;
• Coordinating the Editorial Board and stimulating their contributions to the journal;
• Promoting the journal at scientific conferences and through other venues.

We also welcome scientists in the field of optics to join our Editorial Board.

A full application for evaluation should include these items:

• An up-to-date CV;
• A description of the candidate’s vision for Optics.

Applications are due by 20 June 2019. Please send your application or any questions to the Optics Editorial Office (optics@mdpi.com).

As the signature event in the burgeoning solar power technology and market sector, the PVSCs have a rich tradition of bringing together students, innovators, researchers and PV leaders in a vibrant and highly integrative forum to share information, gain knowledge, strengthen collaborations and move forward photovoltaic science and technology from basic and applied research into large scale manufacturing and deployments.

Our representatives will be exhibiting our open access journals Energies, Coatings, Sustainability, Catalysts, Nanomaterials, Materials, Electronics, and Applied System Innovation (ASI).

If you will also be in attendance, please stop by our booth (# 110). Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have regarding open access publishing or our journals. For more information about this conference, please visit https://www.ieee-pvsc.org/PVSC46/index.php.

We will be attending the 46th Controlled Release Society Annual Meeting & Exposition. It is one of the biggest events in pharmaceutical field. Representatives of the following open access journals will attend:

Pharmaceutics
JCM
Biomolecules
Materials
IJMS
Molecules
Nanomaterials
Pharmaceuticals
Scientia Pharmaceutica
Vaccines
JPM
Genes
JFB
IJERPH
Biomedicines
Healthcare

If you are also attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth (Booth #303). Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit: https://2019.controlledreleasesociety.org/

In December 2018, the Portuguese Society of Materials (SPM) chose to become affiliated to Materials and Metals. As part of this collaboration, all members of the society enjoy a discount on the article processing charges (APC) when submitting articles to Materials and Metals.

The Portuguese Society of Materials (SPM) is an association of technical and scientific nature, nonprofit, endowed with legal personality and is governed by its own statutes and general regulations. SPM wants to disseminate around the world what is best made in Portugal regarding Science and Technology of Materials. They work to create a network of contacts worldwide to provide exchange of experiences and knowledge.

SPM works to help introducing new concepts for the use of Materials which are economically attractive and sustainable for future generations. They believe that knowledge is the key.

They work to encourage the active participation of all members of the community of Materials, and strengthen the link between universities, research centers, business and industry, and thereby add value and open new opportunities.

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

MDPI will be attending the 26th meeting of the North American Catalysis Society (NAM 26), to be held in Chicago, USA, 23-28 June 2019.

The 26th meeting of the North American Catalysis Society, NAM26, is the premier scientific event in the field of catalysis research and development in 2019. It will feature technological challenges, breakthrough discoveries, and state-of-the art academic and industrial research.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Catalysts
• Materials
• Energies
• Processes
• Molecules
• Inorganics
• Nanomaterials

If you are also attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth (Booth #108). Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit: https://isen.northwestern.edu/nam262019-north-american-catalysis-society-meeting

We are pleased to welcome more universities from Poland, Italy, Germany, Brazil and other parts of the world to MDPI's Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP). A warm welcome to the institutions listed below, who have joined the Program in February and March this year.

Authors affiliated with these institutions can now enjoy a discount on the APC for papers accepted for publication in any MDPI journal. If you would like to learn more about our program, please visit: https://www.mdpi.com/about/ioap or email us at ioap@mdpi.com.

We will be attending the ACS 2019 National Meeting & Exposition. It is an interdisciplinary forum open to anyone with an interest in chemistry and related disciplines. Representatives of the following open access journals will attend:

Biomolecules
Catalysts
Diagnostics
Fibers
Inorganics
Materials
Membranes
Micromachines
Molbank
Molecules
Pharmaceuticals
Processes

If you are also attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth (Booth #1123). Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/meetings/national-meeting.html

We are delighted to announce our participation in Jisc’s Publication Router project, as of March 2019.

Publications Router is a Jisc service that automatically sends notifications about research articles to institutions' systems such as their repositories or CRISs, since May 2015. Through this agreement, MDPI will provide Jisc with daily feeds and information regarding published articles, which will be gathered by their system and delivered to institutions also registered to this service. Nearly all of our articles are published within 15 days of acceptance, so institutions will receive them quite promptly.

The feed will include the full text of the published version of record, with no embargo, so the articles can be exposed immediately for public view. They are accompanied by rich metadata, including confirmation of the immediate CC BY licence, minimising the need for any manual intervention or checking.

For more information about Publications Router, you may contact Jisc’s central helpdesk at help@jisc.ac.uk. For any queries about MDPI’s institutional agreements and collaborations, you may get in touch with MDPI’s Institutional Engagement team at ioap@mdpi.com, which would be very happy to hear from further UK institutions.

Rigorous peer-review is the cornerstone of high quality academic publishing. Over 97,000 scholars served as reviewers for MDPI journals in 2018. 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 all reviewers’ names to express our gratitude. In addition, this year the “MDPI Top Reviewer Awards” are announced, to recognize the very best reviewers for their expertise, dedication, high quality, and timely review reports. We are pleased to announce the following winners of the 2018 MDPI Top Reviewer Awards:

• Ali Behnood
• Andrea Pezzuolo
• Angela Gorgoglione
• Anna D'Auria
• Antonio D'Andrea
• Azhar Abbas
• Bogdan Zagajewski
• Chunhui Chen
• Dominika Głąbska
• Dominika Guzek
• Dragan Pamucar
• Francisco J. G. Silva
• Frank Li
• Gianluca Serafini
• Gyorgy Szekely
• Haozhi Pan
• Helvi Heinonen-Tanski
• José Manuel Gómez-Soberón
• Kathy Lewis
• Klara Kosova
• Luis N. López De Lacalle
• M. Z. Naser
• Malwina Tytła
• Masoume Amirkhani
• Matteo Ghidelli
• Moretti Laura
• Petra Schneider
• Roberto Cerchione
• Spyros Papaefthymiou
• Ştefan Cristian Gherghina

Since 2010, MDPI has run its own online submission system. More recently, we have made the software, with accompanying publishing services, available to other publishers as JAMS (Journal and Article Management System). We are now delighted to announce the launch of JAMS Journals, a standardized platform for operating open access journals at low cost.

JAMS Journals provides a comprehensive service, including a shared submission website, journal websites hosted at a URL provided by the publisher, and a full production service. There is a small setup fee and the cost for each published paper is just a few hundred Swiss francs.

The platform demonstrates that running an open access journal can be straightforward and affordable. The JAMS Journals platform is suitable for

• small publishers or groups of scholars looking to launch their own journal;
• existing publishers or societies seeking to explore open access options;
• publishers looking to convert an existing subscription journal to open access.

JAMS journals launches with two journals from Canadian-based publisher Etcetera Publications:

• Canadian Journal of Pesticides & Pest Management (http://www.cjppm.ca)
• Nanotechnology in Agriculture, Food & Environment (http://www.nanoafe.ca)

Dr AJ Al-Rajab (President of Etcetera Publications) comments:

“In the past few months, we were working on our project to launch new open access scientific journals in the field of agricultural and environmental sciences. We decided to go with JAMS for this venture because of the high quality of their services, reasonable prices, professionalism and easy communication. Our portfolio is expected to grow rapidly during 2019 to include more titles covering different areas in agriculture and environment. MDPI earned already our complete satisfaction and we are looking for a long term cooperation.”

Alongside the new platform, we continue to provide flexible, tailored journal management solutions for existing publishers. For any questions or to request a quotation, contact Dr. Constanze Schelhorn (constanze.schelhorn@mdpi.com).