Announcements

On 9 February 2023, Clarivate, a global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics, added the Preprint Citation Index to the Web of Science platform, streamlining the research process by allowing researchers to locate and link to preprints alongside other trusted content in the database.

The Preprint Citation Index will act as a bridge to connect cutting-edge preprints with peer-reviewed journal articles published within the Web of Science Core Collection. Alerts can be easily set to monitor new research across several repositories and authors will also be able to include preprints on their Web of Science Research Profile to more accurately display their various research outputs.

As of its launch, the Preprint Citation Index will provide nearly two million preprints from various repositories, including MDPI’s own Preprints.org.

MDPI's Preprints Platform – Preprints.org

To advance Open Science and the fast dissemination of research, MDPI offers researchers a free multidisciplinary preprint platform. Preprints.org accepts submissions from all research areas and offers authors high visibility, permanent archiving, article-level Metrics and immediately citable content by assigning a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to all preprints.

During submission to any MDPI journal, authors have the option to share their research as a preprint. After an initial screening, the manuscript is available online in 48 hours or less. Once online, preprints can be downloaded, shared, commented on, and cited, providing authors maximum visibility.

We invite you to join the ranks of the over 100k researchers using Preprints.org and share your research.

For more information, please visit Preprints.org.

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new initiative—the MDPI Special Issue Mentor Program.

This program will enable early career researchers (who must hold a Ph.D. in a related field) to experience editing a Special Issue in MDPI journals, under the mentorship of our experienced Editorial Board Members or other experienced scientists. The mentor program will provide an excellent opportunity for early career scientists to gain editorial experience, and to cultivate their ability to edit scientific research.

The mentee’s responsibilities include:

• Proposing a Special Issue title and assisting the mentor in preparing a summary (around 200–400 words) and 3–10 keywords describing the background, importance, and goal of the Issue;
• Writing a brief promotion plan for the Special Issue;
• Preparing a list of scholars who may be interested in the Issue and personally e-mailing invitations on behalf of Guest Editors;
• Writing an editorial for the online Special Issue together with the mentor.

The mentor’s responsibilities include:

• Conducting a final check before the Special Issue is published online;
• Performing editorial control of the Special Issue and quality control of the publications, both of which must be carried out in a timely manner;
• Providing suggestions to younger scholars if they have any doubts or concerns regarding submissions;
• Organizing video calls with young scholars and the Editorial Office regularly to discuss problems and improvement suggestions for the Special Issue;
• Making and submitting decisions regarding submissions with the assistance of mentees.

Certificates and awards:
After the Special Issue closes, the Editorial Office will provide official certificates for all the mentors and early career researchers.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your Special Issue proposal to the Editorial Office of a journal you choose, and we will discuss the process (i.e., mentor collaboration, Special Issue topic feasibility analysis, etc.) in further detail. The full list of MDPI journals is as follows: https://www.mdpi.com/about/journals.

In addition to the new Special Issue Mentor Program, we will continue to welcome all Special Issue proposals focusing on hot research topics.

MDPI has just become the first open access (OA) publisher to reach the milestone of one million articles published. That is one million articles freely available to all, to circulate and build upon! We are proud to share this special moment with the global scientific community.

This landmark has been reached thanks to the immeasurable support of more than 600,000 expert reviewers, 66,000 editorial board members and 6700 hard-working colleagues across MDPI’s global offices.

Within more than 25 years of publishing, our journals received 2.1 million manuscripts and generated 4.6 million peer review reports to get to one million papers published.

Reaching the milestone of one million articles published reinforces our mission to remove any existing barriers and to make scientific research accessible to all. Since its inception, MDPI’s goal has been to create reliable processes to make science open. This is a path towards facilitating the dissemination of novel insights in scientific communities.

Regular feedback from authors and reviewers shows that our service is greatly appreciated and needed. At the same time, the feedback helps us identify areas for further improvement.

As it stands, a significant share of published research findings remain closed access. More than half of the content published with the most well-known legacy publishers stays behind a paywall, and that is not including articles published in hybrid OA journals, or made available months or years after publication.

A new policy announced by the US administration in August 2022 requires that, as of January 2026, all US federally funded research be made freely and immediately available after publication. While the new policy does not mandate articles be published under an open access license, it is aligned with the open access movement in removing all barriers to research. Similarly, some of the most advanced research institutions in the world intend to have all funded research articles published in open access by 2025.

MDPI is proud to be the leading agent of the transition to open access.

"Thanks a Million" to all the contributors!

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.

1. “Crystallization and Thermal Behaviors of Poly(ethylene terephthalate)/Bisphenols Complexes through Melt Post-Polycondensation”
by Shichang Chen, Shangdong Xie, Shanshan Guang, Jianna Bao, Xianming Zhang and Wenxing Chen
Polymers 2020, 12(12), 3053, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12123053
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/12/12/3053

2. “Injectable Click Polypeptide Hydrogels via Tetrazine-Norbornene Chemistry for Localized Cisplatin Release”
by Zhen Zhang, Chaoliang He and Xuesi Chen
Polymers 2020, 12(4), 884, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12040884
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/12/4/884

3. “Facile Fabrication of High-Performance Thin Film Nanocomposite Desalination Membranes Imbedded with Alkyl Group-Capped Silica Nanoparticles”
by Biqin Wu, Shuhao Wang, Ian Wang, Xiaoxiao Song, Yong Zhou and Congjie Gao
Polymers 2020, 12(6), 1415, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12061415
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/12/6/1415

4. “The Mechanism of Anticorrosion Performance and Mechanical Property Differences between Seawater Sea-Sand and Freshwater River-Sand Ultra-High-Performance Polymer Cement Mortar (UHPC)“
by Tianyu Li, Xin Sun, Fangying Shi, Zheng Zhu, Dezhi Wang, Huiwen Tian, Xiaoyan Liu, Xunhuan Lian, Tengfei Bao and Baorong Hou
Polymers 2022, 14(15), 3105, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14153105
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/15/3105

5. “Synthesis and Characterization of Schiff Base Polymers via Metal Coordination and Its Application in Infrared Stealth Coating”
by Xiangyu Li, Lishuai Zong, Weijie Li, Yibo Wang, Jinyan Wang and Xigao Jian
Polymers 2022, 14(21), 4563, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14214563
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/21/4563

6. “In-Built Fabrication of MOF Assimilated Porous Hollow Carbon from Pre-Hydrolysate for Supercapacitor”
by Xin Zhao, Changwei Li, Lei Sha, Kang Yang, Min Gao, Honglei Chen and Jianchun Jiang
Polymers 2022, 14(16), 3377, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14163377
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/16/3377

7. “Improved Energy Storage Performance of All-Organic Composite Dielectric via Constructing Sandwich Structure”
by Mengjia Feng, Tiandong Zhang, Chunhui Song, Changhai Zhang, Yue Zhang, Yu Feng, Qingguo Chi, Qingguo Chen and Qingquan Lei
Polymers 2020, 12(9), 1972, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12091972
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/12/9/1972

8. “A Micro-Nano Structure Formed by SiC/Graphene Oxide Self-Assembly Improves the Wear Resistance and Corrosion Resistance of an Epoxy-Based Composite Coating”
by Jun Tang, Yali Tan, Fugang Qi, Biao Zhang, Ao Zhou, Nie Zhao and Xiaoping Ouyang
Polymers 2022, 14(21), 4704, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14214704
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/21/4704

9. “Enhancing Chain Mobility of Ultrahigh Molecular Weight Polyethylene by Regulating Residence Time under a Consecutive Elongational Flow for Improved Processability”
by Xiaochuan Chen, Xiaotong Wang, Yanhong Feng, Jinping Qu, Dingshan Yu, Changlin Cao and Xudong Chen
Polymers 2021, 13(13), 2192, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13132192
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/13/13/2192

10. “Influence Mechanism of Ultrasonic Vibration Substrate on Strengthening the Mechanical Properties of Fused Deposition Modeling”
by Wenzheng Wu, Jialin Li, Jili Jiang, Qingping Liu, Aodu Zheng, Zheng Zhang, Ji Zhao, Luquan Ren and Guiwei Li
Polymers 2022, 14(5), 904, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14050904
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/5/904

11. “Enhancing Anti-Static Performance of Fibers by Construction of the Hybrid Conductive Network Structure on the Fiber Surface”
by Congcong Xu, Lin Fang, Mingming Yu, Musu Ren, Jinliang Sun and Liying Zhang
Polymers 2021, 13(14), 2248, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13142248
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/13/14/2248

12. “Developed Chitosan/Oregano Essential Oil Biocomposite Packaging Film Enhanced by Cellulose Nanofibril”
by Shunli Chen, Min Wu, Caixia Wang, Shun Yan, Peng Lu and Shuangfei Wang
Polymers 2020, 12(8), 1780, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12081780
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/12/8/1780

13. “Flame Retardation of Natural Rubber: Strategy and Recent Progress”
by Le Wan, Cong Deng, Ze-Yong Zhao, Hong Chen and Yu-Zhong Wang
Polymers 2020, 12(2), 429, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12020429
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/12/2/429

14. “Gradient Porous Structured MnO2-Nonwoven Composite: A Binder-Free Polymeric Air Filter for Effective Room-Temperature Formaldehyde Removal”
by Zijian Dai, Jianyong Yu and Yang Si
Polymers 2022, 14(12), 2504, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14122504
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/12/2504

15. “Using Epoxidized Solution Polymerized Styrene-Butadiene Rubbers (ESSBRs) as Coupling Agents to Modify Silica without Volatile Organic Compounds”
by Chaohao Liu, Mingming Guo, Xiaobo Zhai, Xin Ye and Liqun Zhang
Polymers 2020, 12(6), 1257, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12061257
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/12/6/1257

16. “Correlation Between the Structure and Compressive Property of PMMA Microcellular Foams Fabricated by Supercritical CO₂ Foaming Method”
by Ruizhi Zhang, Ju Chen, Yuxuan Zhu, Jian Zhang, Guoqiang Luo, Peng Cao, Qiang Shen and Lianmeng Zhang
Polymers 2020, 12(2), 315, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12020315
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/12/2/315

17. “Effect of Storage Conditions on the Thermal Stability and Crystallization Behaviors of Poly(L-Lactide)/Poly(D-Lactide)”
by Tien-Wei Shyr, Huan-Chieh Ko, Tzong-Ming Wu and Meifang Zhu
Polymers 2021, 13(2), 238, https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13020238
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/13/2/238

MDPI will be attending the 14th National Surface Engineering Conference, held in Wuhan, China, from 11 to 13 November 2022. This conference aims to achieve an in-depth exchange of the latest research results in surface engineering and related disciplines and to discuss the frontier trends and future development trends of surface engineering research and engineering application. During this conference, MDPI will welcome researchers from different backgrounds to visit and share their latest ideas with us. 

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Lubricants;
• Applied Sciences;
• Surfaces;
• Polymers;
• Materials;
• QuBS;
• Coatings;
• Clean Technologies. 

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://bmgc2022.aconf.cn/index.html.

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!

Polymers (ISSN: 2073-4360) will attend the 13th National Symposium on the Molecular and Structural Characterization of Polymers, held in Shenzhen, China, from 28 to 30 October 2022. The main theme of the 2022 conference is “Advances in Polymer Characterization”, discussing and communicating pioneering research work on polymer solutions, molecular weight determination, material analysis, molecular chain structure, rheological properties, mechanical properties, dielectric properties, and fluorescence spectroscopy.

During this conference, Polymers will welcome researchers from different backgrounds to visit and share their latest inspirations with us.

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 that you may have.

For more information about the conference, please see the following link: https://poly-struc2022.scievent.com/.

Conference: 49th World Polymers Congress MACRO 2022
Date: 17–21 July 2022
Place: Winnipeg, Canada
Booth: #6

Polymers (ISSN: 2073-4360) and Materials (ISSN: 1996-1944) will be attending the 49th World Polymers Congress MACRO 2022 as exhibitors from 17 to 21 July 2022 in Winnipeg, Canada.

The year 2022 marks the first time that Canada is hosting the World Polymers Congress since it became a biennial event in 1998. The polymer science community of Canada looks forward to connecting at the 49th World Polymers Congress, which is held in the city of Winnipeg from 17 to 21 July 2022. True to its mission, MACRO 2022 will be a forum for international scientists and students who are in various stages of their career development to share knowledge and experiences.

The MACRO 2022 program comprises nine themes that represent the following subjects:

• Polymers for Biomedical Engineering;
• Polymers for Energy and Environmental Applications;
• Polymer Engineering and Rheology;
• Polymers for Nanotechnology;
• Polymer Physics and Characterization;
• Polymers from Renewable Resources and Biodegradable Polymers;
• Polymer Science Education;
• Polymer Synthesis and Kinetics;
• Smart and Functional Polymers.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Polymers;
• Materials;
• Membranes;
• Pharmaceutics;
• Sustainability;
• Bioengineering;
• Gels;
• Electrochem;
• Solar.

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you plan on attending this conference. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you might have.

For more information about the conference, please visit the following website: https://www.macro2022.org/.

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)