Announcements

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Adolfo Ballester-Bolinches has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Section "Algebra and Geometry" in Mathematics (ISSN: 2227-7390).

Prof. Dr. Adolfo Ballester-Bolinches graduated from the University of Valencia (UV) Summa Cum Laude in Mathematical Sciences (1986), and is currently a university professor in the area of algebra at the Facultat de Matemàtiques de la UV, the university where he has served since 1986. He has taught undergraduate/graduate courses, and doctorate/master's degrees in mathematics.

Prof. Dr. Ballester-Bolinches has participated in research projects financed by national and international public organizations since 1988, and since 2004 he has served as principal investigator/coordinator of coordinated projects. He has published more than 270 scientific articles in prestigious international journals, of which approximately ninety-five percent appear in the "Mathematics" list of the Journal of Citation Reports Science Edition and eighty percent appear in the first and second third of the aforementioned list. Additionally, he has published two books, Classes of finite groups, with L. Ezquerro, Springer (2006), and Products of finite groups, with R. Esteban Romero and M. Asaad, W. De Gruyter (2010), which are basic references in the abstract theory of groups, with the number of citations to date equal to 605 and 378, respectively, using Google Scholar as a source. The number of citations of his publications is, as of today, 4169 with an h-index equal to 29, using Google Scholar as a source. Since 2017, his research work has received 1421 citations and corresponds to an h-index equal to 15 according to the same source. Currently, he is an advisor (referee) of more than 85 scientific journals, member of the editorial committee of 13 journals and reviewer of the Mathematical Reviews and Zentralblatt MATH. 

Prof. Dr. Ballester-Bolinches has made numerous visits to several foreign universities within the framework of collaborative projects, in which he has taught various postgraduate courses and carried out research tasks. He was a plenary speaker in many international conferences on group theory and its applications. Now he serves as an advisor to Spanish and foreign project evaluation agencies and has been an evaluator of postgraduate works and doctoral theses at various universities. To date, he has supervised 14 doctoral theses and 9 master's theses/third-year research papers. 

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Adolfo Ballester-Bolinches, who shared his vision for the Section with us as well as his views on the research area:

1.What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take the role as its Section Editor-in-Chief?
The main feature of this journal is its interdisciplinarity and its efficiency and speed in publishing articles. This directly affects the impact of these articles and contributes to improving the communication of their results.

2. What is your vision for the Section?
We need to attract quality researchers who publish good articles in this Section. We also must demand in the acceptance of the articles through rigorous selection criteria.

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?
Research in the field of algebra and geometry is an extremely important part of science that is essential for the development of mathematics and its applications in different areas. It is impossible to conceive of a good scientific development without good research in algebra and geometry.

4. What do you think of the development of Open Access in the publishing field?
It is one of the best ways to learn about and disseminate the results of scientific research.

5. What aspects do you focus on when reviewing a manuscript?
The novelty of the results and the techniques used in their development. Its potential impact on the corresponding scientific field.

6. Do you have any suggestions for young researchers in this field?
To work hard to contribute to the development of the area. 

We wish Prof. Dr. Ballester-Bolinches every success in his new position, and we look forward to his contributions to the journal.

Date: 25 November 2022
Time: 02:00 p.m. (CET)
Webinar ID: 881 3441 2882
Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/2516636012244/WN_UMfiT_RKT5ucq1LZ1dfWJw
Participation fee: None
Language: English
Webinar keywords: fractional calculus; history and more recent applications; fractional differential equations; nonlinear dynamics; stochastic fields; analytical and numerical solutions; fractal geometry 

Related Special Issues:

• “Abstract Fractional Integro-Differential Equations and Fixed Point Theory with Applications”;
• “Stability Analysis of Fractional Systems-II”;
• “Fractional Differential Equations and Control Problems”;
• “Fractional-Order Systems: Control, Modeling and Applications 2022”;
• “Applications of Fractional Calculus in Option Pricing”;
• “Fractional Calculus in Kinetic Theory”;
• “Fractional Calculus and Mathematical Applications”.

Chair:

Speakers:

Peer Review Week began 19 September 2022 under the theme of “Research Integrity: Creating and Supporting Trust in Research”. Through various blog articles, podcast, and webinar, we discussed this crucial subject throughout the week, celebrating the essential role peer review plays in maintaining research quality.

To begin, we held a Webinar on the topic. Professor Peter W. Choate and Dr. Emmanuel Obeng-Gyasi joined Dr. Ioana Craciun, one of MDPI’s scientific officers, for an in-depth discussion.

We invite you to view the event recording:

During the week, the MDPI Blog in a series articles highlighted how good Peer Review safeguards research integrity. The following topics were covered:

• Peer Review Week 2022
• Research Integrity
• What We’ve Learned About Peer Review Reports
• 4 Steps to the Perfect Peer Review Report
• How to Write the Perfect Peer Review Report: An Interview
• Inviting Great Peer Reviewers

In a new edition of Insight Faster, an MDPI podcast, we were delighted to talk to the co-chairs of the Peer Review Week committee, Jayashree Rajagopalan (Senior Manager of Global Community Engagement for CACTUS) and Danielle Padula (Head of Marketing and Community Development at Scholastica) to get their take on this year’s event and its related topics.

You can find the Podcast here.

We hope you enjoy the contents!

MDPI will be attending the Conference on Complex Systems (CCS2022) in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, which will take place from 17 to 21 October 2022. The CCS is the largest and most important annual meeting of the international complex systems community. It comes under the auspices of the Complex Systems Society. This edition, organized by IFISC, takes place after previous events held in Lyon, Singapore, Thessaloniki, and Cancun.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Entropy;
• Fractal and Fractional;
• Symmetry;
• Mathematics;
• Dynamics;
• Algorithms;
• Systems;
• Informatics;
• MAKE;
• Information;
• Future Internet;
• Applied System Innovation;
• Data.

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit the following link: https://www.ccs2022.org/.

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Massimiliano Ferrara has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Section "Financial Mathematics" in Mathematics (ISSN: 2227-7390).

Prof. Dr. Massimiliano Ferrara is a Research Affiliate at ICRIOS – Invernizzi Center for Research on Innovation, Organization, Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Bocconi University, and a full professor of Mathematical Economics at “Mediterranea” University of Reggio Calabria. He was a Vice Rector of strategic planning, development and general affairs, a member of the Academic Senate, Department Chairman (Dept. of Law, Economics and Human Sciences) and a Ph.D. School Head. Currently, he is the President of the Scientific Committee of MEDAlics Research Centre and Scientific Director of DECISIONS Lab at Unirc. He was on the General Counsel of “Fondazione Banco di Napoli”, Vice Rector at University for foreigners “Dante Alighieri” of Reggio Calabria. He was a visiting professor at Harvard University, Cambridge (USA), Western Michigan University (USA), Morgan State University, Baltimora (USA), Northeastern University di Boston (USA), Center for Dynamics of Dresden University of Technology (Germany), and Politechnica University of Bucharest—UPB —(Romania). He is a member of the Mathematical Association of America, of the Indian Academy of Mathematics and a member of the AMASES Scientific Committee (2017-2022). He is the Editor, Co-Editor, Associate Editor and Referee of reputable international scientific journals of economics, pure and applied mathematics. He is the author and co-author of more than 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 15 research monographs. His main research interests are mathematical economics, game theory, optimization theory, dynamical systems, epidemic modeling and COVID-19, patterns of growth and sustainable development, applied economics, portfolio management, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Massimiliano Ferrara, who shared his vision for the Section “Financial Mathematics" with us, as well as his views on the research area:

I have previously collaborated with MDPI and joined the Mathematics Editorial Board in 2019. During this time, I was able to observe the increasing quality and the high scientific output of MDPI, focusing on journal metrics and both impactful and reputable performances. I read the Call for Section Editor-in-Chief and I was attracted to this new professional challenge. I was selected, and I wish to thank the MDPI Board for its esteem. I am ready to return this trust with my passion, commitment, and hard and qualified work.

As in every field in which complexity and different kinds of "uncertainty" exist, finance represents a challenge and is a fascinating attractor of arising interests and new frontiers of knowledge. I am sure that in the next two years, we will join a fruitful common path of growth, trying to intercept the new subfield of research born in this specific research context.

The future of this area of research has an excellent scientific basis. New research on the so-called FINTECH, with the strategic role played by artificial intelligence, machine and deep learning in making decisions in a disruptive way compared to the past, gives us the opportunity to explore the field of finance with new approaches and tools, presenting scenarios which were unthinkable until a few years ago.

Open access in research is the future. Innovation and knowledge are increasing, along with tools of pure and applied research, particularly in hard science. Artificial intelligence enabled by machine learning and deep learning are assuming a strategic role on this side. In sustaining this deep process of growth, scientific publishing should adopt open access as natural platform for the exchange of information, data, tools and new findings.

First of all, I try to intercept the scientific message and the real scope of the manuscript after the first reading. This is the basic first step. After this starting point, I study the author’s research profile to try to understand their scientific approach. It is not fundamental where they normally publish—in terms of the journal—but how they publish. During the third step, I begin to technically study the manuscript, following a classic approach.

Young researchers should have a real and deep passion for research, not thinking only of metrics with a maniacal propulsion. It is really important to follow one’s own instincts and curiosity when trying to carry out good research. All researchers need to trust their own capacity and the constant presence of their mentor as a guide, offering messages of trust and human support. The rest, and the most fundamental aspect, always comes down to self-confidence.

We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Massimiliano Ferrara to his role as Section Editor-in-Chief and look forward to his guidance in leading "Financial Mathematics” to more milestones.

MDPI will be attending the 5th China Intelligent Optimization and Scheduling Conference from 12 to 14 August 2022, in Taiyuan, China.

Themed “Intelligent Optimisation for Scheduling”, the conference will focus on big data, artificial intelligence, simulation optimization, intelligent optimization, scheduling optimization, and other directions through conference presentations, group presentations, wall presentations, enterprise application demonstrations, etc., to carry out cutting-edge theories, methods, technologies, and applications, and will invite famous publishers at home and abroad to introduce journal submissions. The conference will select outstanding academic papers, young scientists, outstanding Ph.D. theses, outstanding M.Sc. theses, innovative application practice projects, etc.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Sensors;
• Systems;
• Mathematics;
• Axioms;
• Smart Cities;
• Future Internet;
• Data;
• Algorithms;
• Automation;
• Signals.

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to start a conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you may have.

We are pleased to announce the winner of the Mathematics (ISSN: 2227-7390) 2021 Young Investigator Award, Dr. Marina Murillo-Arcila.

Dr. Marina Murillo-Arcila is currently an associate professor at the Instituto Universitario de Matemática Pura y Aplicada at Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia, Spain. Her research is in the field of the study of abstract evolution equations and linear dynamical systems in infinite dimensions. Contributions to the first line of research on evolution equations emphasize the study of the qualitative properties of linear and nonlinear integrodifferential equations in the context of Banach spaces. Contributions to the research line of linear dynamical systems in infinite dimension focus on the study of properties such as Devaney chaos and other dynamical properties of operators and positive semigroups due to their essential connection with the study of the asymptotic behavior of the solutions of certain partial derivative equations. Additionally, she has been involved in the research collaboration on the application of epidemiological models to describe message dissemination in infrastructure-less and vehicular networks.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Marina Murillo-Arcila for her outstanding achievements.

We want to thank the award committee for their excellent work in the hard task of selecting a winner from such a large number of excellent candidate profiles and all the nominees from the various fields of study for their participation. We will continue to reward young scientists with the Young Investigator Awards and wish them every success in their careers.

For more information about Mathematics awards, please refer to the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/mathematics/awards.

We are proud to recognize the winners of MDPI’s 2021 Travel Awards in the subject area of “Computer Science & Mathematics” for their outstanding presentations and to present them with the prize.

MDPI journals regularly offer travel awards to encourage talented junior scientists to present their latest research at academic conferences in specific fields, which helps to increase their influence.

The winners mentioned below were carefully selected by the journal editors based on an outline of their research and the work to be presented at an academic conference.

We would like to warmly congratulate the winners of Travel Awards for the year 2021 and wish them the greatest success with their future research endeavors.

MDPI will continue to enhance communication among scientists.

Computers:

• Umberto Michieli, University of Padova, Italy

Journal of Imaging:

• Cameron Kaye, University of Manitoba, Canada
• Alexandra Trujillo, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina

Symmetry:

• José María, Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain
• Naser Ojaroudi Parchin, University of Bradford, UK

In order to acknowledge our reviewers, who so generously dedicate their time to reviewing papers and demonstrate diligence, professionalism, and timeliness when reviewing manuscripts, MDPI journals regularly offer outstanding reviewer awards to scholars who participate in the peer-review process.

We are proud to recognize the winners for the year 2021 in the “Computer Science and Mathematics” for their outstanding contributions among extensive competition by presenting them with an Outstanding Reviewer Award.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of the winners on their achievement.

MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community.

Algorithms:

• Maxim A. Dulebenets, SA Florida A&M University-Florida State University, USA
• Artur Jez, University of Wrocław, Poland
• Dmitry Lukyanenko, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

Forecasting:

• Juan Ramón Trapero Arenas, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

Future Internet:

• Pedro Pablo Garrido Abenza, Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, Spain
• Roberto Saia, University of Cagliari, Italy
• Marek Bolanowski, Rzeszow University of Technology, Poland

Journal of Imaging:

• Jung Sun Yoo, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China
• Josemaria Martinezo, University of the Basque Country, Spain

Mathematics:

• Maria Alessandra Ragusa, Università di Catania, Italy; DN University, Russia
• Endre Kovács, University of Miskolc, Hungary
• Roman Vavrek, VŠB-Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic
• Giacomo Ascione, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy
• Giorgio Sonnino, University in the City of Brussels, Belgium

Signals:

• Nina Golyandina, St. Petersburg State University, Russia
• Cataldo Guaragnella, Politecnico di Bari, Italy

Symmetry:

• Stefan Groote, University of Tartu, Estonia
• José Antonio Oller, Universidad de Murcia, Spain
• Kazuharu Bamba, Fukushima University, Japan

MDPI’s Young Investigator Awards recognize promising junior researchers, acknowledge their contributions, and enhance communication among scientists. We are proud to present the winners for the year 2021 in the “Computer Science & Mathematics”, who were selected by the journals’ editors.

We warmly congratulate the awarded Young Investigators for their outstanding contributions.

MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community.

Mathematics:

• Marina Murillo Arcila, Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain

Symmetry:

• Tanmoy Paul, University of Burdwan, India