Announcements

The 50th World Polymer Congress will be held from 1 to 4 July 2024 in Coventry, UK. The conference is being organized by the University of Warwick.

The areas of focus for the above conference include the following:

• Bio-based polymer chemistry;
• European polymer journals;
• Polymers at surfaces and interfaces;
• Polymers for data science;
• Dynamic polymer networks;
• Block copolymers and self-assembly;
• Functional and sustainable polymers & elastomers.

The following MDPI journals will be represented at the conference:

• Materials;
• Polymers;
• Molecules;
• Membranes;
• Gels;
• Nanomaterials.

If you are planning to attend the above conference, please feel free to start an online conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you and answering any questions that you may have. Our booth number is awaiting confirmation and will be updated as soon as possible. For more information about the conference, please visit the following link: https://www.macro2024.org/.

Welcome message by webinar chair, Prof. Grzegorz Janusz:

Dear colleagues,

Thank you for your participation in this webinar which will allow us to promote our conference, Oxizymes in Lublin, Poland, 2024, which is related to the MDPI Topic “Recent Advances in Oxidoreductases Biochemistry and Biotechnology”.

Oxidoreductases comprise a large number of enzymes of industrial relevance: peroxidases, peroxygenases, laccases, flavin–containing oxidases, and dehydrogenases, unspecific peroxygenases (UPOs), dye–decolorizing peroxidases (DyPs), copper–containing lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LP.M.Os), etc.

This conference and MDPI Topic aim to cover all aspects of this field, from the discovery of novel oxidoreductases, their mechanisms of action, and their structure–activity relationships to their applications in the production of fine chemicals and polymer building blocks, biosensors, and biomaterials, and their use in biorefineries for a bio–based economy.

Today, I a.m. pleased to introduce three of my colleagues who are involved in this webinar: Prof. Magdalena Jaszek, whose major research area is bioactive compounds, oxidoreductases, and proteases; next, Prof. Clemens Peterbauer, whose main research area is the expression and engineering of microbial enzymes for biomass degradation and biocatalysis; and finally, Dr. Katarzyna Szałapata, whose research interests focus on the bioactive aspects of polymer biomaterials.

Date: 28 May 2024
Time: 9:00 a.m. CEST | 3:00 a.m. EDT | 3:00 p.m. CST Asia
Webinar Announcement: https://sciforum.net/event/Topics–23

Register now for free!

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.

Unable to attend? Register anyway and we will inform you when the recording is available.

Webinar Chair and Keynote Speakers:

• Grzegorz Janusz (Chair), Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Maria Curie–Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland;
• Magdalena Jaszek, Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Maria Curie–Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland;
• Clemens Peterbauer, Department of Food Sciences and Technology, BOKU—University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria;
• Katarzyna Szałapata, Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Maria Curie–Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland.

Relevant Topic:

“Recent Advances in Oxidoreductases Biochemistry and Biotechnology”

Topic Editors: Prof. Dr. Grzegorz Janusz, Dr. Anna Pawlik and Dr. Clemens Karl Peterbauer

Manuscript Submission Deadline: 31 October 2024

We are pleased to announce MDPI’s Transfer Service.

This service provides a convenient method of transferring your manuscript file, along with any reviewer comments, to another journal within our publishing portfolio.

We are committed to helping authors find the right home for their research, and we will provide authors with guidance and technical support through all stages of the transfer process. Authors will be able to choose to transfer in the following two situations:

1. Select alternative journals on submission.

2. Authors are encouraged to transfer manuscripts to other MDPI journals.

More details about the Transfer Service can be found at the following link:

https://www.mdpi.com/authors/transfer-service

In acknowledgment of the groundbreaking achievements of Professor Tu Youyou, the Nobel laureate credited with the discovery of artemisinin, MDPI is proud to announce the Tu Youyou Award. This award, inaugurated in 2016, seeks to honor scholars who excel in the fields of natural products chemistry and medicinal chemistry.

Prize:

• CHF 100,000 in total (If there is more than one winner, the prize will be divided equally amongst the winners);
• An award medal for each winner.

Who should be nominated?

• Scientists with outstanding achievements and contributions in the fields of natural products chemistry and medicinal chemistry.

Who can submit a nomination?

• Academic research institutes
• Universities
• Academic societies

Any personal nominations are not accepted.

How do I submit a nomination?
Candidates’ institutional affiliations need to submit their nominations for final candidates to the Tu Youyou Award Team directly by email after internal screening, and each institution can only nominate a maximum of two candidates for each edition of the Tu Youyou Award. Please note that the nominations cannot be modified once they are submitted and confirmed by the Tu Youyou Award Team.

Required nomination materials:
Nomination Form (Download)

Schedule:
Nomination deadline: 31 December 2024;
Winner announcement: 30 April 2025.

Contact:
Tu Youyou Award Team (tuyouyouaward@mdpi.com)

More information can be found on the Tu Youyou Award official website. For any inquiries, do not hesitate to contact the Tu Youyou Award Team.

MDPI Romania sponsored four events over the month of April, contributing author training sessions to each event.

The NutriSciLabs 2024 conference was held at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy on 12 April 2024. Organized by the Association of Students from the Faculty of Pharmacy Studies, the conference aimed to enhance students’ academic writing and research skills, and bolster their confidence in participating in the academic world. Ioana Paunescu, journal relations specialist for MDPI Romania, led the training session. Paunescu first outlined MDPI’s history and core values, then explained academic writing techniques, ethics, and similarity percentages. The presentation covered the entire editorial process, highlighting the amount of attention paid to details throughout manuscript processing. Paunescu also discussed common errors that authors make while writing, and how to avoid such errors.

On 13 April 2024, the NextGEN 2.0 Student Conference took place at the Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca. NextGen Healthcare organized this event with the university’s European Students’ Society to discuss European and international current affairs. MDPI Romania contributed an author training session called Steps of the Publication Process. Irina Codruta Zaharia, journal relations specialist, began the session with a general introduction of MDPI before diving into different article types, different layout formats, possible journals to submit to, the MDPI submission checklist, and the MDPI editorial process. By explaining the fundamentals of writing and publishing academic papers, Zaharia imparted valuable industry knowledge to the curious minds present. Participants were eager to engage with Zaharia in the subsequent Q&A session.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the International Conference “Students for Students” has long been a gathering place for undergraduate and postgraduate students of all nationalities to present their work and exchange ideas with each other. This year’s conference was held on 18 April 2024, with MDPI Romania contributing an author training session called The World of Open Access. Key speakers included Dr. Norbert Kiss from MDPI Romania and Prof. Dragos Horvath from Strasbourg University. Dr. Kiss discussed the history of open access, differences between open access publishing and traditional publishing, and implications for open access in the future. Attendees expressed keen interest in the subject, approaching Dr. Kiss with questions about academic publishing as well as his career trajectory.

Most recently, on 26 April 2024, MDPI Romania sponsored the National Symposium of Students from Geology and Geophysics Faculties. The AAPG Students Chapter at the Babes-Bolyai University organized this event as an opportunity for geology students from all Romanian universities to present their work and confer with other researchers. Dr. Kiss gave his lecture The World of Open Access at this event as well.

MDPI is thankful to all the participants, speakers, and organizers who attended these events. Through their enthusiasm and dedication, these events were great successes.

MDPI will attend the 34th CCS Congress, which will be held in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China, from 15 to 18 June 2024. Registration for the event opens on 14 June.

This annual congress is hosted by the Chinese Chemical Society (CCS). With the support and active participation of chemists across the country, the annual academic conference of the Chinese Chemical Society has continued to expand in scale and influence and has become a comprehensive academic exchange platform with the most comprehensive categories, the largest scale, and the highest level in chemistry and related fields. The theme of the 34th CCS Congress is “Toward Higher Quality Chemistry Research”. It has established 70 academic branches. The forms of academic exchange include conference plenary reports (PL), keynote reports (KN), invited reports (I), oral reports (O), flash reports (F), and poster reports (P). The annual meeting collects academic papers (abstracts) from chemists. Workers in scientific research, teaching, and industry in chemistry and related fields are welcome to submit papers and actively participate in the meeting.

A series of colorful forums, continuing education, and other activities will be held simultaneously during the annual meeting. An exhibition will also be held, inviting the support and active participation of relevant universities and research institutes, enterprises, book publishing, and academic journals.

The following MDPI journals will be represented at the conference:

• Molecules;
• International Journal of Molecular Sciences;
• Polymers;
• Biomedicines;
• Inorganics;
• Processes;
• Symmetry;
• Separations;
• Membranes;
• Materials;
• Reactions;
• Chemistry;
• Compounds;
• Biomolecules;
• Sustainable Chemistry;
• Chemosensors;
• Applied Sciences.

If you are planning on attending this conference, please do not hesitate to stop by our booth #B37 and start a conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit the following website: https://www.chemsoc.org.cn/meeting/34th/.

We are thrilled to share the updated Exceptional Reviewers List 2024. This program was designed to recognize and honor the scholars who have delivered consistently exceptional review reports to our journal. Committed to fostering rigorous research and promoting knowledge exchange, the journal Molecules (ISSN: 1420-3049) recognizes the significant role that our reviewers play in maintaining the quality and integrity of the articles we publish. According to recent surveys conducted in 2023, 91% of our authors rate the peer review as good or excellent, thanks to our pool of excellent reviewers.

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to all the reviewers who have generously volunteered their time and expertise to assist in the peer-review process of Molecules. Their dedication and attention to detail in evaluating manuscripts, offering valuable feedback, and contributing to academic rigor are truly commendable.

The Exceptional Reviewers List was introduced in April 2024. Each quarter, we will be selecting a group of outstanding reviewers and introducing them here.

Q1:

Name: Prof. Dr. Søren Christensen
Affiliation: The Museum of Natural Medicine & The Pharmacognostic Collection, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Interests: drug development, medicinal chemistry, natural products, pharmacophore mapping

Name: Prof. Dr. Fabio Ganazzoli
Affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Chemical, and Material Engineering “G. Natta”, Polytechnic University of Milan, Milan, Italy
Interests: polymer conformations and dynamics; branched polymers and dendrimers; molecular dynamics simulations; protein adsorption on biomaterials and nanomaterials; modeling of surface physisorption; modeling of molecular recognition

Name: Prof. Dr. John Arron Stride
Affiliation: School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
Interests: quantum dots; nanoparticles; carbon nanotubes; graphene; metal organic frameworks

Name: Prof. Dr. Fernando Carrillo-Hermosilla
Affiliation: Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Orgánica y Bioquímica-Centro de Innovación en Química Avanzada (ORFEO-CINQA), Facultad de Ciencias y Tecnologías Químicas, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain
Interests: catalysis, organometallic chemistry, coordination chemistry, transition metals, main group elements

Name: Dr. Francis Giraud
Affiliation: Université Clermont Auvergne, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Clermont Auvergne Institut National Polytechnique, Institute of Chemistry of Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
Interests: synthesis; inhibitors

MDPI, the leading Open Access (OA) publisher, announced on Monday that it opened its Korean branch office on 29th April 2024. With this addition, MDPI now operates 21 offices in 12 countries worldwide. Claude Seo, with over 20 years of experience in the academic journal publishing industry, including Nature Publishing Group (NPG), has been appointed as the Office Manager of the Seoul office.

With the establishment of a Seoul office, MDPI aims to actively support Korea scientific communities to further promote the publication of OA journals in the region. As of the end of 2023, Korea ranked sixth worldwide in both submissions and publications of MDPI research papers. MDPI is the number one OA publisher in Korea.

Sungkyunkwan University Joins MDPI’s Institutional Open Access Program

In addition, MDPI announced that Sungkyunkwan University joined MDPI’s Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP). This program offers free access to MDPI online submission system for the institutions and APC discounts to affiliated authors. Thirteen major Korean universities, including Sungkyunkwan University, Kyung Hee University, Chung-Ang University and Catholic University of Korea, have adopted IOAP in Korea.

OA aims to break down barriers that have traditionally restricted access to science, ensuring that knowledge is available to all, regardless of financial situation or institutional affiliations. Authors, academia, and scientific communities are rapidly moving toward OA. MDPI has been at the forefront of reshaping the academic publishing landscape, with OA surpassing subscription-based publishing in 2020.

MDPI CEO Visits Seoul, Korea

In March, Stefan Tochev, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MDPI, visited Korea and met with various stakeholders including government agencies, research and academic institutions, universities. During his visit, Stefan highlighted that MDPI continues to pave the way for a world where science is accessible to all, supporting a global community of inclusive innovation and collaborative solutions.

Stefan expressed excitement about the new venture, stating, "Today marks a significant milestone for MDPI as we celebrate the opening of our new office in Seoul, Korea. This expansion is more than just an increase in our physical footprint, it is a pivotal step in our ongoing commitment to making scientific knowledge more accessible, participatory, and inclusive across the globe."

Claude Seo, reflecting on his new role, commented, "I am delighted to have been offered this position of trust within MDPI, the no. 1 scholarly OA publisher. As we establish our presence in Korea, we are dedicated to integrating into the local community and contributing to its vibrant culture. Our commitment goes beyond business growth; it is about creating a more informed and innovative society by embracing and promoting diversity within the scientific community.”

For further inquiries, please contact our Seoul office directly.

About MDPI

A pioneer in scholarly, open access publishing, MDPI has supported academic communities since 1996. MDPI is leading the transition to open science by making more research free and accessible to everyone. Over 3.3 million researchers have entrusted MDPI with publishing their scientific discoveries. MDPI’s editorial process is bolstered by a network of dedicated reviewers, a team of 6000 diligent, well-trained staff members, and an in-house article submission platform that was designed to ensure efficient processes within its 430 fully OA titles.

MDPI will be attending the 18th International Symposium on Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry (ISMSC 2024), which will be held from 6 to 10 May 2024 in Hangzhou, China.

The International Symposium on Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry is the most prestigious international conference in the area of supramolecular science. The history of ISMSC can be traced back to two originally independent symposia, the International Symposium on Macrocyclic Chemistry (ISMC) and the International Symposium on Supramolecular Chemistry (ISSC). The ISMC series was founded by Professors Reed M. Izatt and James J. Christensen and began in 1977, in Provo, Utah, USA. Three years later, the first ISSC was held in Warsaw, Poland. With the increasing overlap of research topics in macrocyclic chemistry and supramolecular chemistry, in 2006, ISMC and ISSC were merged, and the first joint conference was held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The success of this merger served to launch the ISMSC as the premier conference in the field. The ISMSC has been held annually ever since with a hiatus for the pandemic. It moves from one nation to another. The previous meeting was held in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 2023.

ISMSC 2024 will be held at the Blossom Water Museum Hotel Hangzhou (Address: No. 118, Shuibo Road, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China). Hangzhou, the Capital of Zhejiang Province, is one of China’s most enduringly popular holiday spots. More than 1,000 international and domestic researchers, students, and industry representatives in the field of macrocyclic and supramolecular chemistry will attend the conference, including two Nobel Prize Laureates, one Wolf Prize winner, and over 20 academicians from China and overseas.

The following MDPI journals will be represented at the conference:

• Molecules;
• Organics;
• Separations;
• Crystals;
• Polymers;
• Reactions;
• AppliedChem;
• Chemistry;
• Macromol.

If you are planning on attending this conference, please do not hesitate to stop by our booth and start a conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit the following website: https://www.ismsc2024.com/index.