Announcements

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

Analysis of the Distribution of Some Potentially Harmful Elements (PHEs) in the Krugersdorp Game Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa
Michael Shapi et al
Minerals 2020, 10(2), 151; 10.3390/min10020151

Insights into the CaSO₄–H₂O System: A Raman-Spectroscopic Study
Thomas Schmid et al
Minerals 2020, 10(2), 115; 10.3390/min10020115

Realizing Beneficial End Uses from Abandoned Pit Lakes
Cherie D. McCullough et al
Minerals 2020, 10(2), 133; 10.3390/min10020133

Mineral Processing and Metallurgical Treatment of Lead Vanadate Ores
Ivan Silin et al
Minerals 2020, 10(2), 197; 10.3390/min10020197

Trace Element Distributions in the Zn-Pb (Mississippi Valley-Type) and Cu-Ag (Kupferschiefer) Sediment-Hosted Deposits in Poland
Stanisław Z. Mikulski et al
Minerals 2020, 10(1), 75; 10.3390/min10010075

The Color Palette of the Mosaics in the Roman Villa of Noheda (Spain)
Nadine Schibille et al
Minerals 2020, 10(3), 272; 10.3390/min10030272

3D Mineral Prospectivity Modeling for the Low-Sulfidation Epithermal Gold Deposit: A Case Study of the Axi Gold Deposit, Western Tianshan, NW China
Xiancheng Mao et al
Minerals 2020, 10(3), 233; 10.3390/min10030233

Physicochemical Parameters and Geochemical Features of Ore-Forming Fluids for Orogenic Gold Deposits Throughout Geological Time
Vsevolod Yu. Prokofiev et al
Minerals 2020, 10(1), 50; 10.3390/min10010050

Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Trace Elements in Pyrite: Prediction, Bias and Artefacts in Defining Mineral Signatures
Marija Dmitrijeva et al
Minerals 2020, 10(1), 61; 10.3390/min10010061

The Petyayan-Vara Carbonatite-Hosted Rare Earth Deposit (Vuoriyarvi, NW Russia): Mineralogy and Geochemistry
Evgeniy Kozlov et al
Minerals 2020, 10(1), 73; 10.3390/min10010073

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.

The advantages of the open access model of scientific publishing are being increasingly recognized in the scientific community. It allows new scientific evidence to be accessed from the moment of publication for free by anyone around the globe, boosting the impact of new research. In response, many funders, libraries and universities have been adopting new principles to accelerate the transition to open access.

Recently, “transformative agreements” have been negotiated between traditional publishers and various institutions. While increasing the number of open access papers, these agreements lack binding commitments to a full transition to open access, their conditions vary across different regions, and access is still limited for many users.

MDPI is a co-signatory of the recent position statement raising concerns about potential downsides of transformative agreements and how they may delay a full transition to open access. The statement highlights that these models “risk perpetuating current limitations on access, transparency and market competitiveness, while simultaneously facilitating excessive charges on the public purse”.

As a pioneering open access journal publisher, MDPI is the first to promote the importance of science being made available to everyone. Our peer-reviewed journals, covering diverse academic disciplines, are fully accessible to the public free of charge under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). This is why, along with other open access publishers, MDPI is a proud signatory of the position paper and is committed to contributing to the replacement of weak transitional agreements with “agreements with publishers that are already fully committed to open science and who offer full, immediate and transparent Open Access”.

Read the position paper here

We are pleased to announce that Encyclopedia will be awarding five Outstanding Contributor Awards for researchers in 2020. The nominations and applications will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee consisting of senior scholars from the Encyclopedia Editorial Board.

Prize for Winners

1. An official certificate;
2. A cash award of 500 CHF or an MDPI discount voucher of 800 CHF.

Application Deadline

31 December, 2020 (Please send your application email with a list of all entries you contributed to our office before the deadline: office@encyclopedia.pub)

Candidate Requirements

1. Have a Ph.D. degree;
2. Have more than three qualified entries published in Encyclopedia in 2020.

Evaluation Standards

1. Number of entries published in Encyclopedia in 2020;
2. Quality of entries online (including length, figure quality, and novelty);
3. Impact of entries (including the number of likes, discussion contents, views, and downloads).

If you are a researcher and have not yet contribute entries to Encyclopedia, please do not miss this chance to highlight your research results.

We are pleased to announce that Dr Anna H. Kaksonen has been appointed as Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Mineralogy and Biogeochemistry Section of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). Her term started in January 2020.

Dr Anna H. Kaksonen received her Doctor of Technology degree in Environmental Biotechnology from Tampere University of Technology, Finland in 2004, and currently leads the Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology Group in CSIRO Land and Water, Australia. She develops biotechnological processes for environmental and industrial applications in the mining, energy, water supply, waste, and wastewater treatment industries. Research topics of special interest have included circular economy; mining biotechnology (e.g., bioleaching, biooxidation, bioprecipitation, and bioflotation); bioenergy; the bioremediation of contaminated sites; waste/wastewater treatment and resource recovery; and the mitigation of microbially caused problems such as biofouling, bioclogging, and biocorrosion. She has also applied molecular and culture-based detection and monitoring approaches to microbial communities in natural and engineered environments, and isolated and described novel microorganisms.

The editorial team warmly welcomes Dr Anna H. Kaksonen as Editor-in-Chief of the Environmental Mineralogy and Biogeochemistry Section and looks forward to her contribution to the continued success of Minerals. For further information on the journal sections, please see here.

At the same time, we would like to take the opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to the previous Section Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Karen Hudson-Edwards, for her invaluable contribution to the journal.

We are pleased to announce that Professor Theodore J. Bornhorst has been appointed as Editor-in-Chief of the Mineral Deposits Section of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). His term started in September 2019.

Professor Bornhorst received his PhD in Geology from the University of New Mexico in 1980, and he is Professor of Geology in Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences and Executive Director and Interim Curator of the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum of Michigan Technological University. He has been engaged in teaching, research, and administration for nearly 40 years and brings a wealth of experience with him as Editor-in-Chief of the Mineral Deposits Section of Minerals. Professor Bornhorst has authored or co-authored over 100 reviewed articles, geological field guides, and archival research reports. He has edited or co-edited 15 volumes and Special Issues, including the 2017 Special Issue of Minerals, “Geochemistry and Mineralogy of Hydrothermal Metallic Mineral Deposits”. His research and that of the students he supervised have covered a breadth of topics, with special emphasis on aspects of metallic mineral deposits, the geology and mineral resources of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the geology and mineral resources in Finland, as well as topics involving the environmental geochemistry of metallic mineral deposits, groundwater, and K-12 education. His decades-long teaching responsibilities have varied and include teaching various courses on metallic mineral deposits and exploration, petrology, field geology with engineering applications, environmental geochemistry, and mineralogy at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Professor Bornhorst has significant experience as a consultant on mineral resources and mining-related topics. He has advised the government of the State of Michigan in the areas of low-level radioactive waste disposal, non-ferrous metallic mining regulations, and leasing of state lands for mineral exploration. He was awarded the prestigious Goldich Medal in 2008 from the Institute on Lake Superior Geology for outstanding contributions to Lake Superior geology.

As Executive Director and Interim Curator of the widely recognized A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum, Professor Bornhorst is responsible for all financial and operational aspects of the museum and its staff. He and museum staff prepare educational exhibits at the museum, satellite locations, and for public exhibition at mineral shows. A recently completed exhibit at the museum provided a holistic educational overview of mineral resources from discovery to mine closure. Professor Bornhorst was the museum leader during the relocation of the museum from its previous main campus location of 35 years to its permanent home—a dedicated facility constructed in 2010–2011. In 2015, he negotiated the Michigan Mineral Alliance, a unique agreement between Michigan Tech and the University of Michigan to preserve the legacy of the University of Michigan mineral collection which now resides at the museum.

The editorial team warmly welcomes Professor Theodore J. Bornhorst as Editor-in-Chief of the Mineral Deposits Section and looks forward to his contributions toward the continued success of Minerals. For further information on the journal sections, please see here.

Minerals is recruiting Editorial Board members for the following six sections:

• Mineral Processing and Metallurgy Section
• Mineral Deposits Section
• Environmental Mineralogy and Biogeochemistry Section
• Mineral Geochemistry and Geochronology Section
• Crystallography and Physical Chemistry of Minerals Section
• Clays and Clay Minerals (a new section to be launched)

The journal is looking to expand the Editorial Board and cover areas that are less well-represented by the current team. If you are interested in serving as an Academic Editor on the Editorial Board, or have potential candidates to recommend, please reach out to us by 31 March 2020.

As an Editorial Board member, you have the following responsibilities:

• To make decisions on whether a manuscript can be accepted, or not, based on the reports we collect;
• To serve as Editor of a Special Issue on a topic related to your research interests when it is convenient for you;
• Reviewing some manuscripts in your area of interest and when you are available;
• Recommending timely topics or appropriate conferences;
• Promoting Minerals and increasing its visibility at related academic conferences.

To apply or request further information, please contact the Minerals Editorial Office (minerals@mdpi.com). We look forward to hearing from you soon.