Announcements

We are pleased to announce that the website of the MDPI Sustainability Foundation has been revamped! For the past couple of months, our UX UI team and front-end developers have been working hard to launch the website in time for the opening of the Sustainability Awards nominations.

The website is not the only thing that has had a remodeling. Indeed, the format of the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award (ESLA) has been updated. ESLA is now a competition open to individual researchers or start-ups founded by researchers under the age of 35. Nominee applications will go through 2 rounds of selection until the final 3 are decided. The finalists will then be invited to give pitch presentations during the Award Ceremony to win either first place (10,000 USD) or runner-up (2 x 5000 USD).

The World Sustainability Award, on the other hand, remains the same: a total prize money of 100,000 USD is up for grabs by senior individual researchers or groups of researchers from the international research community.

Nominations for both the World Sustainability Award and the Emerging Sustainability Leader award are now open! Check out our new website for more information on how to nominate.

A range of MDPI journals will be attending the Asia Communications and Photonics Conference. This meeting will be held in Shenzhen, China, from 5 to 8 November 2022.

The Asia Communications and Photonics Conference (ACP) is one of the largest conferences in the Asia-Pacific region on optical communication, photonics, and relevant technologies, which has been held annually since 2001 and jointly sponsored by OPTICA, SPIE, IEEE Photonics Society, The Chinese Optical Society, and China Institute of Communications. 

ACP 2022 will be held concurrently with the International Conference on Information Photonics and Optical Communications (IPOC). IPOC was founded by the State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in 2013.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Micromachines (leading journal);
• Photonics;
• Symmetry;
• Optics;
• Fibers;
• J. Imaging.

If you plan on attending this conference, 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 see the following link: http://www.acp2022.org/.

1. “Optical Solitons and Vortices in Fractional Media: A Mini-Review of Recent Results”
by Boris A. Malomed
Photonics 2021, 8(9), 353; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8090353
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/8/9/353

2. “Perspectives on UVC LED: Its Progress and Application”
by Tsung-Chi Hsu et al.
Photonics 2021, 8(6), 196; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8060196
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/8/6/196

3. “In-Fiber Interferometric-Based Sensors: Overview and Recent Advances”
by Amalia Miliou
Photonics 2021, 8(7), 265; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8070265
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/8/7/265

4. “Neural Network DPD for Aggrandizing SM-VCSEL-SSMF-Based Radio over Fiber Link Performance”
by Muhammad Usman Hadi et al.
Photonics 2021, 8(1), 19; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8010019
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/8/1/19

5. “A Review on X-ray Excited Emission Decay Dynamics in Inorganic Scintillator Materials”
by Vineet Kumar et al.
Photonics 2021, 8(3), 71; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8030071
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/8/3/71

6. “Simultaneous Dual-Modal Multispectral Photoacoustic and Ultrasound Macroscopy for Three-Dimensional Whole-Body Imaging of Small Animals”
by Eun-Yeong Park et al.
Photonics 2021, 8(1), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8010013
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/8/1/13

7. “Recent Advances in High Speed Photodetectors for eSWIR/MWIR/LWIR Applications”
by Baile Chen et al.
Photonics 2021, 8(1), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8010014
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/8/1/14

8. “Metasurface Holography in the Microwave Regime”
by Guanyu Shang et al.
Photonics 2021, 8(5), 135; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8050135
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/8/5/135

9. “LIDAR and Beam Steering Tailored by Neuromorphic Metasurfaces Dipped in a Tunable Surrounding Medium”
by Giuseppe Emanuele Lio et al.
Photonics 2021, 8(3), 65; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8030065
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/8/3/65

10. “Advances on Mode-Coupling Theories, Fabrication Techniques, and Applications of the Helical Long-Period Fiber Gratings: A Review”
by Hua Zhao et al.
Photonics 2021, 8(4), 106; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8040106
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/8/4/106

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 6th Micro-Nano Optical Technology and Application Conference (MOTA2022) in Nanjing, China, which will take place from 21 to 23 October 2022. The MOTA2022 is organized by the Chinese Society for Optical Engineering, aiming to build a communication platform between researchers and industrial application teams, as well as promote scientific research progress and the industrialization development of micro-nano optics.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Electronics (leading journal);
• Photonics (leading journal);
• Coatings;
• Sensors;
• Crystals;
• Journal of Imaging.

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 that you may have.

For more information about the conference, please visit the following link: https://b2b.csoe.org.cn/meeting/MOTA2022.html.

The Scientific Conference Programme is coordinated by the European Commission Joint Research Centre and covers the entire range of PV research, technologies and applications focusing on bringing the latest scientific and technological research trends to the market.

It also offers a variety of broader insights into the current developments in the sector, acknowledging that PV integration needs to be approached from all dimensions—scientific, technical, economic, political, business, and also social and educational aspects.

The Programme is structured in plenary, oral, and visual presentations and is divided into 5 topics. These cover the entire range of PV research, technologies, and applications, with a special emphasis on the latest scientific, technological, and market-related trends.

During this conference, MDPI (at booth #B1) will welcome researchers from different backgrounds to visit and share their latest inspirations with us.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Energies (leading journal);
• Materials (leading journal);
• Sustainability;
• Crystals;
• Photonics;
• Nanoenergy Advances;
• Solar.

If you plan on attending this conference, feel free to stop by our booth at #B1. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have.

For more information about the conference, please see the following link: https://www.wcpec-8.com/index.php.

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 this year’s winners in the “Physical Sciences” category 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.

Entropy:

• Jim W. Kay, University of Glasgow, UK;
• Christophe Chesneau, University of Caen, France;
• Esteban Tlelo-Cuautle, Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE), Mexico;
• Dennis Dieks, Utrecht University, The Netherlands;
• Claudio Cremaschini, Silesian University in Opava, Czech Republic.

Photonics:

• Carlos A. F. Marques, University of Aveiro, Portugal;
• Tatiana Latychevskaia, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland.

Universe:

• Amit Kashi, Ariel University, Israel;
• Dominik Elsaesser, Technical University of Dortmund, Germany;
• Isaac Tutusaus, Instituto de Ciencias del Espacio, Spain;
• Jose A.R. Cembranos, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain;
• Kazuharu Bamba, Fukushima University, Japan;
• Przemyslaw Malkiewicz, National Centre for Nuclear Research, Poland;
• Szymon Piotr Harabasz, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany;
• Theocharis Kosmas, University of Ioannina, Greece;
• Viktor Toth, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Canada;
• Vitor De Souza, Universidade de São Paulodisabled, Brazil.

We are proud to recognize the winners of MDPI’s 2021 Travel Awards in the “Physical Sciences” category 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 this year’s Travel Awards and wish them the greatest success with their future research endeavors. MDPI will continue to enhance communication among scientists.

Galaxies:

• Mahdis Ghodrati, Yangzhou University, China;
• Sandra Etoka, University of Manchester, UK.

Instruments:

• Adriana Dias, University of London, UK.

Photonics:

• Aleksandrs Leitis, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland;
• Elena Losero, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland;
• Zhifeng Zhang, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

The purpose of our Best Paper Awards is to promote and recognize the most impactful contributions published within MDPI journals.

The editors of each journal carefully selected reviews and research papers through a rigorous judging process based on criteria such as the scientific merit, overall impact, and the quality of presentation of the papers published in the journal last year.

We are honored to present the winners in the “Physical Sciences” category, who were selected amongst extensive competition, and congratulate the authors for their outstanding scientific publications.

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

Entropy:

• “Classical (Local and Contextual) Probability Model for Bohm–Bell Type Experiments: No-Signaling as Independence of Random Variables”
  By Andrei Khrennikov and Alexander Alodjants
  Entropy 2019, 21(2), 157; doi 10.3390/e21020157
• “Nonlinear Information Bottleneck”
  By Artemy Kolchinsky, Brendan D. Tracey and David H. Wolpert
  Entropy 2019, 21(12), 1181; doi 10.3390/e21121181
• “Dynamic Maximum Entropy Reduction”
  By Václav Klika, Michal Pavelka, Petr Vágner and Miroslav Grmela
  Entropy 2019, 21(7), 715; doi 10.3390/e21070715
• “Topological Information Data Analysis”
  By Pierre Baudot, Monica Tapia, Daniel Bennequin and Jean-Marc Goaillard
  Entropy 2019, 21(9), 869; doi 10.3390/e21090869

Universe:

• “Nonsingular Black Holes in ƒ (R) Theories”
  By Gonzalo J. Olmo and Diego Rubiera-Garcia
  Universe 2015, 1(2), 173-185; doi 10.3390/universe1020173
• “Is It No Longer Necessary to Test Cosmologies with Type Ia Supernovae?”
  By Ram Gopal Vishwakarma and Jayant V. Narlikar
  Universe 2018, 4(6), 73; doi 10.3390/universe4060073
• “A Universe that Does Not Know the Time”
  By João Magueijo and Lee Smolin
  Universe 2019, 5(3), 84 ; doi 10.3390/universe5030084
• “Seeing Black Holes: From the Computer to the Telescope”
  By Jean-Pierre Luminet
  Universe 2018, 4(8), 86; doi 10.3390/universe4080086

The 2021 citation metrics have been released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), and we’re pleased to announce the following results for MDPI journals:

For more information on Impact Factors and what it means to index academic journals, please visit our related blog posts.

* Journals given their first Impact Factor in 2022

Source: 2021 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports ^TM (Clarivate, 2022)