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 ® (Clarivate, 2022)

We are pleased to inform you that the open access journal Processes (ISSN 2227-9717) has received an increased CiteScore of 3.5 in the following categories: “Chemical Engineering: Chemical Engineering (miscellaneous)”, “Chemical Engineering: Process Chemistry and Technology”, and “Chemical Engineering: Bioengineering”. For more detailed information, please see: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes/stats.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the scholars who have published with us for their support in the development of Processes!

Processes Editorial Office

The 2021 citation metrics have been officially released in Scopus!

We are pleased to announce that 182 MDPI journals are included, of which:

● 21 journals received their first CiteScore.
● 85% of journals increased their CiteScore from 2020.
● 155 journals (85%) ranked above average, in at least one category.

The following 65 MDPI journals (36%) ranked among the top 25% of journals, in at least one category:

Source: 2021 CiteScores™ (Elsevier)

1. “Use of Black Soldier Fly Larvae for Food Waste Treatment and Energy Production in Asian Countries: A Review”
Chul-Hwan Kim et al.
Processes 2021, 9(1), 161; 10.3390/pr9010161
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/9/1/161

2. “Palm Oil Mill Effluent Treatment Processes—A Review”
Sharifah Mohammad et al.
Processes 2021, 9(5), 739; 10.3390/pr9050739
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/9/5/739

3. “Capture and Reuse of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) for a Plastics Circular Economy: A Review”
Laura Pires da Mata Costa et al.
Processes 2021, 9(5), 759; 10.3390/pr9050759
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/9/5/759

4. “Heat Transfer Coefficient Estimation and Performance Evaluation of Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Using Flue Gas”
Xuejun Qian et al.
Processes 2021, 9(6), 939; 10.3390/pr9060939
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/9/6/939

5. “Emerging Challenges and Opportunities in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Distribution”
Miriam Sarkis et al.
Processes 2021, 9(3), 457; 10.3390/pr9030457
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/9/3/457

6. “Applying Lean Six Sigma Methodology to a Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Facility: A Case Study”
Brian Byrne et al.
Processes 2021, 9(3), 550; 10.3390/pr9030550
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/9/3/550

7. “A Review of Data Mining Applications in Semiconductor Manufacturing”
Pedro Espadinha-Cruz et al.
Processes 2021, 9(2), 305; 10.3390/pr9020305
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/9/2/305

8. “Synthesis of New 1-Aryl-2-(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)ethanone Oxime Ether Derivatives and Investigation of Their Cytotoxic Effects”
Mehmet Abdullah Alagöz et al.
Processes 2021, 9(11), 2019; 10.3390/pr9112019
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/9/11/2019

9. “Apple Fermented Products: An Overview of Technology, Properties and Health Effects”
Raquel P. F. Guiné et al.
Processes 2021, 9(2), 223; 10.3390/pr9020223
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/9/2/223

10. “Spray Drying for Direct Compression of Pharmaceuticals”
Nizar Al-Zoubi et al.
Processes 2021, 9(2), 267; 10.3390/pr9020267
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/9/2/267

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Evangelos Tsotsas has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Section "Particle Processes" in the journal Processes (ISSN: 2227-9717).

Prof. Dr. Evangelos Tsotsas has held the Chair of Thermal Process Engineering at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg (Germany) since 1994. He obtained his Ph.D. (1985) and habilitation (1990) at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and was the Senior Process Specialist at the Dow Chemical Company from 1991 to 1994. Prof. Dr. Tsotsas currently supervises a group of around 25 Ph.D. and postdoctoral researchers and has published more than 500 papers in highly regarded journals and proceedings. The main focus of his work is porous and granular media, drying and particle formulation (spray fluidized bed agglomeration, granulation and coating). His group has conducted extensive experimental research in these fields, including work on particle characterization, 3D imaging and process monitoring. Significant achievements of their group include novel discrete models (pore network models for wetting and drying, Monte Carlo methods for particulate processes, thermal DEM, combinations of DEM with CFD and the volume of fluid method) and continuous approaches (such as population balances).

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Evangelos Tsotsas, who shared with us his vision for the Section and his views of the research area and open access publishing:

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take on the role as its Section Editor-in-Chief?

Concerning the Section, particles, because particle-based products can be designed for fascinating end-user properties. Regarding the journal, its visibly increasing ability to reach out with scientific results and steer future development.

2. What is your vision for the Section?

A drive for the further development of particle technology and an open forum for scientific discussion as well as interaction with industry.

3. Who should contribute to this Section, and what can readers expect?

The Section will be thematically, and hopefully also in the readership, broad: from product design to process optimization; from mechanics to transport and reactions in particle systems; from experiments to simulations; and also from chemical and process engineering to many other branches of engineering and science.

4. What does the future of this field of research look like?

Future developments will still be based on fundamental results of a generic nature, but applications will stress the crucial goals of sustainability and green transformation in addition to efficient manufacturing.

5. What do you think of the development of open access in the publishing field?

Open access is an opportunity and a challenge. We wish to be fast, big, and open. However, we also wish to keep high standards of quality and discussion of the details. Most importantly, we should be openly accessible not only in academia (i.e., in a closed loop) but in industry and applications, as well as in the use of published results on the ground.

We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Evangelos Tsotsas in his new role as Section Editor-in-Chief, and we look forward to his guidance in helping “Particle Processes” reach many more milestones.

We are pleased to announce the launch of the new Section “Separation Processes” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes/sections/separation_processes) in Processes (ISSN: 2227-9717), which aims to provide a specific venue for this field of research.

Keywords: separation; isolation; purification; absorption/adsorption; extraction; precipitation; centrifugation; crystallization; distillation; flocculation; flotation; chelation; filtration; sedimentation; sublimation; precipitation; desalination.

We are now recruiting Editorial Board Members (EBMs) and Topical Advisory Panel (TAP) Members for this Section. If you are an active researcher in one of the aforementioned fields and are passionate about publishing cutting-edge research, please do not hesitate to get in touch ([email protected]).

The responsibilities of Processes EBMs include the following:

• Pre-screening and making decisions on new submissions related to their research interests;
• Setting up at least one Special Issue during their term on a topic related to their research interests (or supervising related Special Issues);
• Providing input or feedback regarding journal policies;
• Helping to promote the journal among their peers or at conferences;
• Attending board meetings to suggest journal development strategies;
• Reviewing manuscripts.

The responsibilities of the Processes TAP Members include the following:

• Providing regular reviews of manuscripts;
• Setting up at least one Special Issue (SI) in partnership with a senior researcher within two years of appointment and proposing a detailed strategy plan for the SI. The topic of the proposal should be within the scope of the journal. The scope of the Special Issue should be broad enough to attract a reasonable number of submissions but narrow enough to provide a cohesive collection. The Special Issue should cover a small part of the scope of the journal, but not the whole;
• Providing a detailed strategy plan for the SI, including assisting in preparing the Special Issue’s/Topic’s title, aim and scope, summary and keywords; soliciting papers and promoting the SI;
• Providing support for the Special Issues/Topics related to their expertise when the Guest Editor(s) is not available. This includes SI promotion via social media and giving advice on some scientific cases;
• Promoting the journal at conferences (adding 1–2 slides to presentations, distributing flyers, recommending the journal to your colleagues, etc.), on social media and other relevant platforms;
• Participating in working with Editorial Board Members or the Editorial Office in promoting high-quality/featured papers (for example, writing summaries or highlights for selected papers).

We are pleased to announce the launch of the new Section “Particle Processes” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes/sections/particle_processes) in Processes (ISSN: 2227-9717), to provide a specific venue for this field of research.

Topics:

• Particle Synthesis;
• Particle Modification;
• Particle Characterization;
• Particle Measurement;
• Granular Systems;
• Particle Technology.

We are now recruiting Editorial Board Members (EBMs) and Topical Advisory Panel (TAP) Members for this Section. If you are an active researcher in one of the aforementioned fields and are passionate about publishing cutting-edge research, please do not hesitate to get in touch ([email protected]).

The responsibilities of Processes EBMs include the following:

• Pre-screening and making decisions on new submissions related to their research interests;
• Setting up at least one Special Issue during their term on a topic related to their research interests (or supervise related Special Issues);
• Providing input or feedback regarding journal policies;
• Helping to promote the journal among their peers or at conferences;
• Attending board meetings to suggest journal development strategies;
• Reviewing manuscripts.

The responsibilities of the Processes TAP Members include the following:

• Providing regular reviews of manuscripts;
• Setting up at least one Special Issue (SI) in partnership with a senior researcher within two years of appointment and proposing a detailed strategy plan for the SI. The topic of the proposal should be within the scope of the journal. The scope of the Special Issue should be broad enough to attract a reasonable number of submissions but narrow enough to provide a cohesive collection. The Special Issue should cover a small part of the scope of the journal, but not the whole;
• Providing a detailed strategy plan for the SI, including assisting in preparing the Special Issue’s/Topic’s title, aim and scope, summary and keywords; soliciting papers and promoting the SI;
• Providing support for the Special Issues/Topics related to their expertise when the Guest Editor(s) is not available. This includes SI promotion via social media and giving advice on some scientific cases;
• Promoting the journal at conferences (adding 1–2 slides to presentations, distributing flyers, recommending the journal to your colleagues, etc.), on social media and other relevant platforms;
• Participating in working with Editorial Board Members or the Editorial Office in promoting high-quality/featured papers (for example, writing summaries or highlights for selected papers).

It is our great honor to congratulate the Editorial Board Members and Editors in MDPI's journals who have been distinguished as 2021 Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate, according to Web of Science data. We herewith express our gratitude for the immense impact the named researchers continue to make on scientific progress and on our journals' development.

Clarivate's annual list of Highly Cited Researchers^TM identifies the most highly cited scientists for the past decade. Their impactful papers are among the top 1 per cent in the citation distribution of one or more of 22 fields analyzed in the "Essential Science Indicators", distinguishing them as hugely influential among their peers.

The full list of 2021 Highly Cited Researchers  can be accessed at the following webpage in the Web of Science^TM https://recognition.webofscience.com/awards/highly-cited/2021/.

--- Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) is a Clarivate product.

Academic editors play a crucial role in leading our journals and ensuring that each article undergoes a robust and timely peer-review. With the launch of Topics this year and addition of Topic Editors to our family of academic editors, we decided it would be a good time to restructure our academic boards, thus providing more clarity and support for each role. MDPI is pleased to announce the launch of a new position—Topical Advisory Panel Member, that will replace the previous position of Topics Board Member. The Topical Advisory Panel will be comprised of early career researchers eager to gain experience in editorial work.

The main responsibility of the new members of the Topical Advisory Panel is to regularly provide support to Guest Editors, Topic Editors, and Section Board Members. The responsibilities of the Topical Advisory Panel are available here: https://www.mdpi.com/editors.

Each year, the members’ performances are evaluated, and outstanding members are promoted to the Editorial Board by the Editor-in-Chief.

To qualify as a Topical Advisory Panel Member, applicants must:

• Have expertise and experience in the field related to the journal;
• Have received a Ph.D. in the last 10 years, approximately;
• Have at least 6-8 published papers in the last 5 years as first author or corresponding author;
• Currently hold an independent research position in academia or a government institute.

If you are interested in this role, please contact the editorial office by email.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

It is our sincere pleasure and great honor to announce the 1st International Electronic Conference on Processes: Processes System Innovation (ECP2022), organized by the MDPI open-access journal Processes (ISSN: 2227-9717). This conference will be hosted online by https://sciforum.net/event/ECP2022 from 17 to 31 May 2022.

This conference will present the latest studies in process/system-related research in chemistry, biology, material, energy, environment, food, pharmaceutical, and allied engineering fields. The goal is to create an advanced forum for new development, challenges, and opportunities in process systems engineering.

All processes/system-related scientists or researchers are welcome to join this event and share their findings around the following general and related themes including, but not limited to:

• Experimental, theoretical, and computational research on process development and engineering;
• Process modeling, simulation, optimization, and control;
• Integrated process design and scaleup;
• Sustainable and renewable systems engineering;
• Supply chain management;
• Circular economies;
• Eco-friendly processes and methods.

Submitted abstracts will be reviewed by the conference committee. The authors of accepted contributions will be invited to produce an extended abstract for the conference proceedings along with a presentation slide of their work. Following the conference, selected contributions will be invited for submission to the journal Processes (Impact Factor: 2.847).

We look forward to having you join us at this exciting event.

Conference Chair:

Prof. Dr. Giancarlo Cravotto (University of Turin, Italy)

Conference Secretariat:

Ms. Wency Xiang
Ms. Susan Ji
Ms. Elena Shi
Email: [email protected]

1. “Study of Activation Energy on the Movement of Gyrotactic Microorganism in a Magnetized Nanofluids Past a Porous Plate”
Muhammad Mubashir Bhatti et al.
Processes 2020, 8(3), 328. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8030328
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/8/3/328

2. “Alkaline Water Electrolysis Powered by Renewable Energy: A Review”
Jörn Brauns et al.
Processes 2020, 8(2), 248. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8020248
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/8/2/248

3. “Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Wastewater Sludge: A Review of Potential Co-Substrates and Operating Factors for Improved Methane Yield”
Wei Ling Chow et al.
Processes 2020, 8(1), 39. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8010039
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/8/1/39

4. “Review of Evidence Available on Hesperidin-Rich Products as Potential Tools against COVID-19 and Hydrodynamic Cavitation-Based Extraction as a Method of Increasing Their Production”
Francesco Meneguzzo et al.
Processes 2020, 8(5), 549. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8050549
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/8/5/549

5. “Current Advances in Biofouling Mitigation in Membranes for Water Treatment: An Overview”
Daniela Pichardo-Romero et al.
Processes 2020, 8(2), 182. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8020182
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/8/2/182

6. “Kinetics, Isotherms, and Thermodynamic Modeling of the Adsorption of Phosphates from Model Wastewater Using Recycled Brick Waste”
Uduakobong A. Edet et al.
Processes 2020, 8(6), 665. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8060665
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/8/6/665

7. “Thermodynamic Optimization of a Geothermal Power Plant with a Genetic Algorithm in Two Stages”
Mehdi A. Ehyaei et al.
Processes 2020, 8(10), 1277. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8101277
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/8/10/1277

8. “A Review on the Control Parameters of Natural Convection in Different Shaped Cavities with and without Nanofluid”
Sara Rostami et al.
Processes 2020, 8(9), 1011. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8091011
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/8/9/1011

9. “Available Technologies and Materials for Waste Cooking Oil Recycling”
Alberto Mannu et al.
Processes 2020, 8(3), 366. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8030366
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/8/3/366

10. “Plasma Agriculture from Laboratory to Farm: A Review”
Pankaj Attri et al.
Processes 2020, 8(8), 1002. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8081002
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/8/8/1002

Founded in 1996, MDPI was one of the first fully Open Access publisher. Over 25 years MDPI has grown to become the largest Open Access publisher globally, publishing over 160,000 articles across more than 350 journals in 2020. At the core, MDPI was founded in response to a pressing need of fast publication and inclusion. The scholar was set at the centre of the publication process for the first time. Acting as a service provider, rather than a product provider, MDPI exists to help scientists achive their objective to disseminate research results. At MDPI, we believe scientists deserve a better service from the publishing world.

The International Open Access Week (Open Access Week), founded by the SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) Alliance and student partners in 2008, has been successfully running for 13 years. As an advocate and pioneer of open access publishing, MDPI actively responds to the call of International Open Access Week. This year’s theme of “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity” highlights the Recommendation’s call for equitable participation from all authors and readers.

For the last 25 years, MDPI has been committed to disseminating open research. Here is a video showing MDPI’s Commitment to Equity, Inclusion and Diversity for More than 25 Years.

International Open Access Week is an important opportunity to catalyze new conversations, create connections across and between communities that can facilitate this co-design, and advance progress in the building of more equitable foundations for opening knowledge—discussions and actions that need to be continued, year in and year out. MDPI has always aimed to provide professional and efficient publishing services to scholars around the world.

Our mission is to make scientific research accessible to everyone; this year, we interview and hold discussions with open science ambassadors on how to build an equal and inclusive environment for open science. Academic editors help us collaborate with more institutions to advocate for open access ideas.

Read our anniversary blog post: "Sharing 'Collective Human Knowledge': The Benefits of Open Access Publication"

Besides this, our scientific community is a key driver of our success and MDPI’s remarkable growth. Despite the pandemic, we have prepared online conferences and workshops to gather scholars from different communities.

The Basel Sustainable Publishing online forum provides an equal opportunity for stakeholders and researchers from multi-cultural environments to exchange ideas and eliminate barriers to participation.

Conference date: 25 October 2021, online
Conference website: https://bspf2021.sciforum.net/
Main topics: MDPI discusses the current dilemma of open access science from various perspectives such as governments, libraries, and publishers, and related measures on how to change the status quo of discrimination from a global perspective.

We aim to support equality, inclusion, diversity, and accessibility in scholarly communications. We collaborate with universities and key laboratories and have scholarly communications with researchers, teachers, and students on open access workshops.

• 25 October 2021
  Energies journal and Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

• 28 October 2021
  Machines journal and State Key Laboratory of Traction Power, Southwest Jiaotong University

• 29 October 2021
  Processes journal and Beijing Institute of Technology

• 29 October 2021
  Coatings journal and Wuhan University of Technology

MDPI is committed to providing open access and high-quality publishing services for scholars and promoting rapid dissemination of academic achievements. We hope to promote the practices and policies of open access publishing and diversify the dissemination of academic achievements.

It is our great pleasure to announce the launch of the Section “Catalysis Enhanced Processes”, which will provide a specific venue for this field of research in Processes (ISSN: 2227-9717).

We are now recruiting Editorial Board Members (EBMs) and Guest Editors (GEs) for this Section (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes/sections/catalysis_enhanced_processes). If you are an active researcher in the field and passionate about publishing cutting-edge research, please do not hesitate to contact us ([email protected]).

Responsibilities of Processes EBMs include the following:

• Making decisions on whether a manuscript can be accepted or not based on the reports we collect;
• Suggesting special topics or editing a Special Issue on a topic related to your research;
• Promoting the journal and increasing its visibility at related academic conferences;
• Advising on the journal development.

Benefits for Processes EBMs include the following:

• Discounts on the papers you publish;
• A certificate in recognition of your role as an EBM of Processes;
• Additional sponsorships are offered by Processes for conferences that you organize.

Responsibilities of Processes GEs include the following:

• Defining the aims and scope of the Special Issue;
• Carrying out pre-checks and making final decisions as to whether a paper is acceptable (according to the review reports);
• Providing a potential author list and inviting some high-quality contributions.

Benefits for Processes GEs include the following:

• A discount for publication in your Special Issue;
• A certificate in recognition of your role as a GE of Processes;
• A book which could be published if more than five papers are published in the Special Issue;
• Consideration as a Processes Editorial Board Member candidate if the Special Issue is successful.

Rigorous peer-review is the cornerstone of high-quality academic publishing. Over 369,916 scholars served as reviewers for MDPI journals in 2020. We are extremely appreciative of all those who made a contribution to the editorial process in this capacity. At the beginning of every year, journal editorial offices publish a list of all reviewers’ names to express our gratitude. In addition, this year, the MDPI Top Reviewer Award was announced, to recognize the very best reviewers for their expertise and dedication, and their high-quality, and timely review reports. We are pleased to announce the following winners of the 2020 MDPI Top Reviewer Award:

• Adriana Burlea-Schiopoiu;
• Alban Kuriqi;
• Álvaro González-Vila;
• Alessandro Alaimo;
• Alexey Beskopylny;
• Alexander Yu Churyumov;
• Alberto Fernández-Isabel;
• Andrea Mastinu;
• Antonios N. Papadopoulos;
• Anton Rassõlkin;
• Antonio Humberto Hamad Minervino;
• Arkadiusz Matwijczuk;
• Artur Słomka;
• Baojie He;
• Bartłomiej Potaniec;
• Bojan Đurin;
• Camilo Arturo Rodriguez Diaz;
• Carmelo Maria Musarella;
• Chiachung Chen;
• Chiman Kwan;
• Cristian Busu;
• Danil Pimenov;
• Dan-Cristian Dabija;
• Delfín Ortega-Sánchez;
• Demetrio Antonio Zema;
• Denis Butusov;
• Elena Lucchi;
• Gaurab Dutta;
• Livia Anastasiu;
• M. R. Safaei.

For more information about how to become a reviewer of MDPI journals, please see: www.mdpi.com/reviewers.

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Orazio Nicolotti has been appointed Associate Editor-in-Chief of the Section "Pharmaceutical Processes" in the journal Processes (2227-9717).

Prof. Dr. Orazio Nicolotti is a Full Professor of medicinal chemistry at the Dipartimento di Farmacia-Scienze del Farmaco of Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”. His fields of research expertise are drug discovery; QSAR; predictive toxicology; combinatorial library design; evolutionary algorithms and artificial intelligence; and docking and molecular dynamics. He has published over 100 significant scientific papers, with more than 3000 citations (h-index 33).

We are confident that the strong academic background and connections of the new Associate Section Editor-in-Chief will continue to improve the reputation and quality of Processes.

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Hoon Kim has been appointed Associate Editor-in-Chief of the Section "Pharmaceutical Processes" in the journal Processes (ISSN: 2227-9717).

Prof. Dr. Hoon Kim is a Professor at the College of Pharmacy, Sunchon National University. Since 1988, Hoon Kim has published over 100 significant scientific papers, with more than 1800 citations (h-index 26). His fields of research expertise are monoamine oxidase inhibitors; acetylcholinesterase inhibitors; β-secretase inhibitors; pharmaceutical biochemistry; cell wall lytic enzymes (cellulases, xylanases, β-glucosidases, esterases, protease, and chitinases); microbial metagenomes; and antibiotics.

We are confident that the strong academic background and connections of the new section Editor-in-Chief will continue to improve the reputation and quality of Processes.

UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. In 2020 the SDG Publishers Compact was launched, aimed to inspire publishers and accelerate progress to achieve the 17 goals by 2030. Members of the programme are committed to support the publication of materials that will promote and inspire actions towards SDGs.

MDPI is an eager advocate of SDGs and has already been supporting the programme by creating Special Issues and publishing a series of books on SDGs prior to joining the Compact in 2021. MDPI's Sustainability Foundation initiated the World Sustainability Awards in 2016. We fully support UN's goals to promote sustainable actions that make the world a better place for all and, as part of its commitment, we will focus our actions on SDG10: Reduced Inequalities whilst promoting all 17 SDGs. For more details, please visit the programme’s website: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sdg-publishers-compact/.

Joining this initiative was a unanimous decision. MDPI has in its core values the dissemination of science for all, breaking the wall between research access and under-represented members of the scientific community and the general population. To support this initiative further and continue to support under-represented scientists, MDPI will take a series of actions that will be announced once ready.

The first action MDPI takes is to nominate Dr. Liliane Auwerter as the coordinator of the programme. Dr. Auwerter studied Environmental Process Technology (UTFPR, Brazil), obtained her MSc degree in Water and Environmental Engineering (University of Surrey, UK) and in 2020 completed her PhD in self-healing low-friction materials for water transport (Imperial College London, UK), always focusing on diverse scientific projects that would potentially bring sustainability to industrial processes. As a student in Brazil, she engaged in volunteering activities focused on environmental education and took part in the Millennial Development Goals meetings held at the university.

For more information, please contact:
Dr. Liliane Auwerter
Scientific Officer
[email protected]

MDPI will be attending the 20th National Catalysis Conference in Wuhan, China, which will take place from 15 to 20 October 2021. The theme of the conference is “Catalytic Science and Technology for Green, Low-Carbon, High-Quality Economic Development”. The topics include the science and technology of catalytic materials and catalyst preparation, catalytic materials and catalytic reaction characterization technology and theory, green catalysis, environmental catalysis, energy catalysis, and science and technology in the catalysis process of petroleum and chemical industry.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Catalysts;
• Nanomaterials;
• Coatings;
• Inorganics;
• Applied Sciences;
• Sustainable Chemistry;
• Chemistry;
• Processes;
• Reactions;
• Toxics.

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: http://20ncc.mzpco.com/.

The 2021 Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China (CIESC) Annual Meeting will be held in Shenyang from 24 to 26 September 2021. It is an international, multi-disciplinary and trans-regional academic event and plays an important role in promoting the academic prosperity and technological innovation in the field of chemical engineering. This conference will invite experts and students who are engaged in the study of and research into chemical engineering to share their latest progress and new achievements.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Processes
• Applied Sciences
• Energies
• Molecules
• Separations
• Catalysts
• ChemEngineering
• Sci
• Sustainability
• Safety

If you are also attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth #A63. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have.

For more information about the conference, please visit: http://www.ciesc.cn/meeting/2021CIESC/.

It is our great pleasure to announce the launch of the Section “Sustainable Processes”, which will provide a specific venue for this field of research in Processes.

We are now recruiting Editorial Board Members (EBMs) and Guest Editors (GEs) for this Section (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes/sections/sustainable_processes). If you are an active researcher in the field and passionate about publishing cutting-edge research, please do not hesitate to contact us ([email protected]).

Responsibilities of Processes EBMs include the following:

• Making decisions on whether a manuscript can be accepted or not based on the reports we collect;
• Suggesting special topics or editing a Special Issue on a topic related to your research;
• Promoting the journal and increasing its visibility at related academic conferences;
• Advising on the journal development.

Benefits for Processes EBMs include the following:

• Discounts for the papers you publish;
• A certificate in recognition of your role as an EBM of Processes;
• Additional sponsorships are offered by Processes for conferences that you organize.

Responsibilities of Processes GEs include the following:

• Defining the aims and scope of the Special Issue;
• Carrying out pre-checks and making final decisions as to whether a paper is acceptable (according to the review reports);
• Providing a potential author list and inviting some high-quality contributions.

Benefits for Processes GEs include the following:

• A discount for publication in your Special Issue;
• A certificate in recognition of your role as a GE of Processes;
• A book which could be published if more than five papers are published in the Special Issue;
• Consideration as a Processes Editorial Board Member candidate if the Special Issue is successful.

It is our great pleasure to announce the launch of the Section “Pharmaceutical Processes”, which will provide a specific venue for this field of research in Processes.

We are now recruiting Editorial Board Members (EBMs) and Guest Editors (GEs) for this Section (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes/sections/Pharmaceutical_Processes). If you are an active researcher in the field and passionate about publishing cutting-edge research, please do not hesitate to contact us ([email protected]).

Responsibilities of Processes EBMs include the following:

• Making decisions on whether a manuscript can be accepted or not based on the reports we collect;
• Suggesting special topics or editing a Special Issue on a topic related to your research;
• Promoting the journal and increasing its visibility at related academic conferences;
• Advising on the journal development.

Benefits for Processes EBMs include the following:

• Discounts for the papers you publish;
• A certificate in recognition of your role as an EBM of Processes;
• Additional sponsorships are offered by Processes for conferences that you organize.

Responsibilities of Processes GEs include the following:

• Defining the aims and scope of the Special Issue;
• Carrying out pre-checks and making final decisions as to whether a paper is acceptable (according to the review reports);
• Providing a potential author list and inviting some high-quality contributions.

Benefits for Processes GEs include the following:

• A discount for publication in your Special Issue;
• A certificate in recognition of your role as a GE of Processes;
• A book which could be published if more than five papers are published in the Special Issue;
• Consideration as a Processes Editorial Board Member candidate if the Special Issue is successful.

This serves to announce to our valued authors based in Japan that value-added tax, or consumption tax will now be imposed on article processing fees and other service fees for all papers submitted, or resubmitted (assigned new paper IDs), effective from 15 August 2021. The change is in accordance with the Japanese "Act for Partial Revision of the Income Tax Act and Other Acts" (Act No. 9 of 2015), which includes a revision of consumption taxation on cross-border supplies of services such as digital content distribution.

For additional information from the National Tax Agency please see here ("Cross-border supplies of electronic services").

Contact: Setsuko Nishihara, MDPI Tokyo

We are pleased to inform you that the impact factor of Processes has increased to 2.847 in the Category “Engineering, Chemical”. For more detailed information, please see:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes/stats

Since Processes received its first impact factor in 2018, the impact factor has gradually been increasing year by year. All the achievements thus far have benefited from the strong support of all of the scholars that have been involved with the journal. Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the scholars for their contributions to the development of the journal. Looking forward to our future cooperation.

MDPI will be attending the 2nd International Conference for Global Chinese Academia on Energy and Built Environment (CEBE 2021) in Chengdu, China, on 16–19 July 2021. The conference aims at establishing a worldwide platform for promoting global cooperation and innovative communications for ethnic Chinese around the globe, sharing cutting-edge achievements in the utilization of clean energy, the enhancement of energy efficiency via the built environment, and the improvement in environmental quality.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Energies
• Nanomaterials
• Buildings
• Atmosphere
• Clean Technologies
• Processes
• Materials
• Sustainability

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: http://www.cebe2021.com.

The 2020 citation metrics have been officially released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR)!

We are pleased to announce that 85 MDPI journals are included, of which:

• 10 journals received their first impact factor
• 96% of journals increased their impact factor from 2019
• 32 journals (38%) ranked among the top 25% of journals, in at least one category

* Journals given their first Impact Factor in 2021

Source: 2020 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports ® (Clarivate, 2021)

We are pleased to inform you that Processes has received an increased CiteScore of 2.4 in the Categories “Chemical Engineering: Chemical Engineering (miscellaneous)”, “Chemical Engineering: Process Chemistry and Technology”, and “Chemical Engineering: Bioengineering”. For more detailed information, please see: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes/stats.

The development of Processes has been strongly supported by scholars. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all scholars for their support!

To celebrate this great news, we would like to invite you to contact the Processes editorial office ([email protected]) before 31 August 2021 to apply for a discount if you would like to submit a paper to Processes.

The 12th National Conference on Environmental Catalysis and Eco-Materials, organized by the Catalysis Society of China, will be held in Shanghai from 18 to 20 June 2021. This conference will invite experts and students who are engaged in the study of and research into environmental catalysis and materials to share their latest progress and new achievements. It will focus on the international research frontiers, meeting the demands of countries, and encourage active exploration, in order to break through technical bottlenecks and further promote the development and popularization of science and technology in the field of environmental catalysis and materials in China.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Processes
• Catalysts
• Applied Sciences
• Atmosphere
• Sustainability
• Toxics
• Water

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth A16. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have.

For more information about the conference, please visit: http://www.12ncecm.com/.

The 6th China National Young Scholar Meeting on Combustion Research will be held in Hangzhou, China 21–23 May 2021. Approximately 600 delegates will attend and showcase their latest achievements in combustion research. The meeting aims to centralize young researchers in the combustion field and is focused mainly on the current research development in combustion science. Attendees will present their newest research by delivering presentations in their fields. Colloquium topics include laminar flame and chemical reaction kinetics, turbulent flame and numerical combustion, combustion in engines, solid combustion and combustion pollution, fire research, combustion diagnostics, and new combustion technology.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Processes;
• Fire;
• Applied Sciences;
• Energies;
• Fluids.

If you are also 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: http://combustion2020.csp.escience.cn/dct/page/1.

MDPI Books recently released Book Builder, a new online tool to conveniently arrange, design and produce an eBook from any content published in MDPI journals. Book Builder offers two functions: on the one hand (1) Selections, available to every registered user of MDPI; on the other hand (2) Special Issue Reprints, which can be used exclusively by Guest Editors of Special Issues.

Selections

In just a matter of a few clicks, all users are now able to assemble books from MDPI articles and receive instantaneous feedback in the form of a fully produced and compiled book (PDF), which can be downloaded or ordered as print copy. Selections can include any paper published with MDPI, picking and combining content from different journals and special issues.

This way, the user may for example choose to compile an ebook focusing around a particular topic, or assemble articles from a group of others.

We invite you to make yourself familiar with the new tool! The Book Builder can be found here: https://www.mdpi.com/books/book_builder.

Special Issue Reprints

The Book Builder allows Guest Editors of MDPI journals to create a reprint from a successfully completed Special Issue or Topical Collection in book format. If you are a Guest Editor for an MDPI journal, you can use the new tool  to create an PDF document which includes all articles published in the Special Issue as well as a book cover and table of contents.

For Special Issues containing a minimum of 5 articles, the Guest Editor can request its publication on the MDPI Book platform. Published reprints are assigned an ISBN and DOI.

In addition to the PDF copy of the Reprint Book, as a token of our gratitude, MDPI offers every Guest Editor one (1) complimentary print copy (via print-on-demand). All contributors benefit from a discount on orders of any additional print copies, to share with colleagues or libraries or others.

Why choose MDPI Books?

In line with our organization's values, MDPI Books publishes all content in open access, promoting the exchange of ideas and knowledge in a globalized world. MDPI Books encompasses all the benefits of open access—high availability and visibility, as well as wide and rapid dissemination. MDPI Books are distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License, meaning as an author you retain the copyright for your work. In addition, with MDPI Books you can complement the digital version of your work with a high-quality printed counterpart.

If you are interested in editing a book volume or series, or have a monograph manuscript to be considered for publication, please submit your proposal online and look at our Information for Authors.

Contact: Laura Wagner, MDPI Books Manager (email)

To further motivate the scholars who have had a good publication record in the last 3 years, we are pleased to announce that Processes will offer discounts/waivers to the scholars for their next submission to Processes. Please make a pre-submission request, providing your CV with the publication record to [email protected] for application. The final decision will be made by the journal office. The application deadline is 31 May 2021, and the submission deadline is 31 July 2021.

Processes (ISSN 2227-9717) is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal on processes in chemistry, biology, materials, energy, environment, food, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, and allied engineering fields published monthly online by MDPI. Processes is now indexed by SCIE (IF: 2.753), ranks 59/143 (Q2) in the category “Engineering, Chemical”.

For more detailed information, please click: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes.

In June of this year, MDPI will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its foundation. To mark this significant milestone, we have created a 25th Anniversary page on our website that evokes the development of our company over the past quarter-century.

MDPI has been a pioneer of Open Access publishing ever since the concept was first created.

In a wide-ranging interview, our CEO Delia Mihaila reflects on the company’s 25th anniversary and its contribution to the world of scientific publishing.

Delia considers how MDPI has evolved since starting life in 1996 as a visionary ‘project’ run out of an apartment in Basel, Switzerland, by Dr. Shu-Kun Lin. A chemist who was passionate about the long-term preservation of rare chemical sample, Dr. Lin was determined to help scholars publish their findings as quickly as possible and make their research results available to as wide a readership as possible worldwide. That determination remains unchanged 25 years later.

Today, MDPI is an international organization with over 4,000 employees based on three continents and in ten countries, and ranks among the world's top four academic publishers.

MDPI's mission is to accelerate access to new scientific research, delivering insight faster for researchers worldwide. Read more here about the company's remarkable success story and what the Open Access publishing model can offer the global scientific community.

The 3rd National Conference on Energy and Environmental Science and Technology will be held at Southwest University on April 23–26, 2021. The conference is hosted by the China Energy Society, Energy and Environment Committee of China Energy Society and Beijing Energy and Environment Society, undertaken by Southwest University, co-organized by Shenyang Normal University and Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology.

The theme of the conference is "Energy and Environmental Technology in the New Era". The conference will cover cutting-edge technology development and basic research in the fields of materials and catalysts for energy conversion and utilization, emission and control of environmental pollutants, biomass energy and chemicals. This special conference aims to encourage original innovation, enhance cutting-edge exchanges, and promote the integration of disciplines as well as technological progress.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Processes
• Applied Sciences
• Materials
• Sustainability

If you are also 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: http://iee.swu.edu.cn.

To cover more research areas and attract more high-quality papers on processes in engineering fields, we are pleased to announce that the Aims and Scope of Processes have been modified. For more detailed information, please click https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes/about.

Aims

Processes (ISSN 2227-9717) provides an advanced forum for process/system-related research in chemistry, biology, material, energy, environment, food, pharmaceutical, manufacturing and allied engineering fields. The journal publishes regular research papers, communications, letters, short notes and reviews. Our aim is to encourage researchers to publishexperimental, theoretical and computational results in as much detail as possible. There is no restriction on paper length or number of figures and tables.

Scope

• Chemical Systems:
  experimental, theoretical and computational research on process development and engineering; chemical and biochemical reaction processes; mass transfer, separation and purification processes; mixing, fluid processing and heat transfer systems
• Biological Systems:
  biotechnology; cell and molecular biology; life sciences
• Materials Processes:
  materials processing and degradation; processes in biomaterials, energy materials, porous materials, nanomaterials, catalytic materials, and corrosion
• Green Processes:
  environmental processes; biomass processes; new disruptive processes for high efficiency; CCUS processes; distributed production processes
• Pharmaceutical Processes:
  nanomedicine and nanotechnology; pharmaceutical technology, manufacturing and devices; drug delivery and controlled release; pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics; gene and cell therapy; drug targeting and design; biologics and biosimilars
• Food Processes:
  food processing; food production; food preservation; emerging food technologies; food quality; food waste
• Energy Systems:
  energy system planning; energy system transition; changes in energy demand; energy and electricity markets
• Process Control and Supervision:
  simulation and modeling methods; process data-based approaches; model identification; process control; process supervision; process optimization; process intensification
• Manufacturing Processes:
  lithographic methods; fabrication and integration for functional devices; exploitation and control of self-organization phenomena for patterning; further application of the created structures and devices
• Automation Control Systems:
  process automation and monitoring; artificial neural networks; fault detection and diagnosis; intelligent control systems; learning systems; micro- and nano-systems; system condition monitoring; optimization algorithms; control theory; networked systems
• Advanced Digital and Other Processes:
  industry 4.0; digitalization; internet of things (IoT); additive technologies (3D printing); sustainability; blockchain; other processes

In order to specifically develop different research areas and attract more high-quality papers, we are pleased to announce the addition of the following two new sections in Processes to cover all the disciplines of process/systems.

• Manufacturing Processes
• Automation Control Systems

We are now recruiting Editorial Board Members and Topic Editorial Board Member for these sections. If you are an active researcher in one of the aforementioned fields or know of potential candidates to recommend, please do not hesitate to get in touch ([email protected]).

As an Editorial Board Member, you will be responsible for supervising the operation of the journal. These responsibilities include the following:

• Making decisions on whether a manuscript can be accepted or not based on the reports we collect;
• Suggesting special topics or editing a Special Issue on a topic related to your research;
• Promoting the journal and increasing its visibility at related academic conferences.

Processes (ISSN 2227-9717) provides an advanced forum for process/system-related research in chemistry, biology, material, energy, environment, food, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, and allied engineering fields.

At MDPI, we strive to make your online publication process seamless and efficient. To achieve this, our team is continuously developing tools and features to make the user experience useful and convenient.

As the number of academic papers continues to grow, so does the need to analyze and work with them on a large scale. This prompted us to design a new feature aimed at helping researchers find journals that are relevant to their publication by matching their abstract topic. In this regard, we designed a similarity model that automatically identifies the most suitable academic journals for your paper.

We are pleased to introduce Journal Selector, a new feature that measures similarity in academic contexts. By simply entering the title and/or abstract into our Journal Selector, the author will see a list of the most related scientific journals published by MDPI. This method helps authors select the correct journals for their papers, highlighting the time of publication and citability.

The methodology is known as representation learning, where words are represented as vectors in hyperspace. Representation helps us differentiate between different concepts within articles, and in turn, helps us identify similarities between them.

We used an advanced machine learning model to better capture the semantic meanings of words. This helps the algorithm make better predictions by leveraging scientific text representation. In turn, this ensures high precision, helping authors decide which journal they should submit their paper to.

The goal is to support authors to publish their work in the most suitable journal for their research, as fast as possible, accelerating their career progress.

Contact: Andrea Perlato, Head of Data Analytics, MDPI (email)

MDPI is proud to adopt the principles of the Coalition for Diversity & Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC) to support building equity, inclusion, diversity, and accessibility in scholarly communications.

The C4DISC represents organizations and individuals working in scholarly communications and is focused on addressing issues of diversity and inclusion within the publishing industry.

MDPI’s Managing Editors encourage the Editors-in-Chief and Associate Editors to appoint diverse expert Editorial Boards. This is also reflective in our multi-national and inclusive workplace. We are proud to create equal opportunities without regard to gender, ethnicity, geographic location, sexual orientation, age, disability, political beliefs, religion, or socio-economic status. There is no place for discrimination in our workplace and editors of MDPI journals are to uphold these principles in high regard.

Representatives from C4DISC meet monthly, and have started to implement initiatives to shed light and improve on the lack of diversity in scholarly communications. Some of the initiatives include developing a joint statement of principles; conducting market research; providing training resources, best practices, toolkits, and documentation for our collective memberships; and establishing outreach programs, curricula, events, and publications.

The Coalition is committed to:

• eliminating barriers to participation, extending equitable opportunities across all stakeholders, and ensuring that our practices and policies promote equitable treatment and do not allow, condone, or result in discrimination;
• creating and maintaining an environment that respects diverse traditions, heritages, and experiences;
• promoting diversity in all staff, volunteers, and audiences, including full participation in programs, policy formulation, and decision-making;
• raising awareness about career opportunities in our industries to groups who are currently underrepresented in the workforce;
• supporting our members in achieving diversity and inclusion within their organizations.

At MDPI we have slightly revised the layout for articles to be published in the 2021 Volume, starting at the end of December 2020. As of today, the article templates available for download on ‘Instructions for Authors’ pages have been updated.

The most noticeable change can be found on the first page of the article, where a left-hand column has been created to include the following front matter elements: (i) the recommended citation style for the article, (ii) the publishing history, (iii) as well as the Creative Commons Attribution license used (iv) a standard note regarding affiliations. At the same time, the extra spacing on the left means the authors’ affiliations are now more clearly set apart than before. Other front matter key elements such as journal logo, article type, article title, authors, abstract and keywords remain unchanged.

The blank column on the left runs through all pages in an article; as a result, the main text is slightly more condensed, which improve reader friendliness for smaller screens. Small figures/tables are aligned on the left with standard indenture, while large figures/tables are centered and covering the full width of the page. The revised layout was applied in the article pictured below, to serve as an example:

1) Information is displayed in the left information bar.

2) In the main text, there is a blank column on the left.

3) Small tables/figures are aligned on the left, large tables/figures are centered.

We are pleased to acknowledge that many academic editors who have made an impact on MDPI journals as editorial board members, editors-in-chief, or section editors, are recognized as 2020 Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate.

Highly Cited Researchers highlights the top 1% of researchers, by citations, in one or more of the 22 fields used in Clarivate Analytics Essential Science Indicators. We offer our congratulations to 279 academic editors of MDPI journals who were recognized as the most influential scholars in their fields in 2020.

The full list of 2020 Highly Cited Researchers  can be accessed on https://recognition.webofsciencegroup.com/awards/highly-cited/2020/

--- Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) is a Clarivate product.

MDPI will be attending the 2020 Chinese Annual Conference of Process Systems Engineering (PSE2020), Chongqing, China, 13–15 November, 2020.

PSE2020 is hosted by the Committee of Process Systems Engineering, Chinese Society for Systems Engineering. The aim is to strengthen the intersection and integration of PSE and related disciplines to promote the transformation of the latest scientific and technological achievements in process systems engineering, to support scientific and technological progress and the national economic and social development of the process industry, and to provide a platform for domestic and foreign experts, scholars, and engineers in the field of process systems engineering to exchange, discuss, and report the latest research results.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

Processes (leading journal);

Energies;

Electronics;

Mathematics;

Safety;

Sustainability;

Logistics;

Chemengineering;

If you are also 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 http://hgxy.cqu.edu.cn/info/1158/4317.htm.

The journal Processes is launching a new position—Topic Editor. The main responsibilities of Topic Editors are as follows:

1. Promoting the journal at conferences (adding 1–2 slides into your presentation, distributing flyers, recommending the journal to your colleagues, etc.);
2. Promoting the journal on scholarly platforms (ResearchGate, Academia.edu), social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.), or your personal website;
3. Providing support for themed Special Issues that fall into your expertise (when the Guest Editors are not available), including pre-checking new submissions, making decisions, giving advice on scientific cases, etc.

Benefits

Topic Editors are encouraged to apply for travel grants for themselves or their research group after their 2-year tenure has been served. Topic Editors will be preferred as Editorial Board Members whenever we have vacancies.

If you are interested in this role or if you have any suggestions, please feel free to contact us ([email protected]).

Join us in our effort to decrease the reviewing time and to improve the quality of published papers!

In order to maintain high standards and to continue publishing high-quality papers in Processes, we need professional and expert scientists to become reviewers. We are therefore recruiting scientists to join our reviewer board to provide professional comments for submissions that fall within the scope of Processes, as well as to conduct timely and efficient reviews.

The benefits of joining the Reviewer Board of Processes are as follows:

1. You can verify and showcase your peer review and editorial contributions to our journal;
2. Your published papers will receive priority during journal promotions.

Note that choosing to review papers for Processes will not prevent you from reviewing manuscripts for other journals.

If you are interested in this role or if you have any suggestions, please feel free to contact us ([email protected]).

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Blaž Likozar has been appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of the section "Chemical Systems" in the journal Processes.

Prof. Dr. Blaž Likozar has a permanent position as a researcher at the National Institute of Chemistry (head), and is also affiliated with the Pulp and Paper Institute. He graduated in Chemical Engineering, then obtained a PhD in Chemical Engineering as well. He is an expert in chemical reaction, reactor and process engineering, as well as multi-scale modelling simulations. He is experienced in unit operation design, construction and optimization, as well as ab initio modelling. Previously, he worked for one year at the University of Leoben, as well as six months at the University of Delaware (Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation). He is the author of >180 documents (peer-reviewed) (h-index: 25; Scopus). He has been involved in 14 H2020 projects.

We are confident that the strong academic background and connections of the new Section Editor-in-Chief will continue to raise the prestige and quality of Processes.

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Antoni Sanchez was appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of the section "Green Processes" in the journal Processes.

Antoni Sánchez (male, PhD) is Full Professor in the Department of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering at the Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona. His main research activities have been focused on biological waste treatment, especially on composting processes. He is now the Coordinator of the Composting Research Group.

During his research career, he has published more than 180 ISI-refereed papers on different aspects of biotechnology and environmental sciences, and his works have received more than 9000 citations. He has been the supervisor of many PhD, Master and Undergraduate students, and he has act as the principal investigator of numerous research projects from public institutions and contracts with private companies.

More details can be found at:

https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=f2hh0z8AAAAJ&hl=es

We are confident that the strong academic background and connections of the new Section Editor-in-Chief will continue to raise the prestige and quality of Processes.

We are delighted to announce the establishment of our Open Access agreement with Jisc Collections, which will allow UK institutions to benefit from access to article processing charge (APC) discounts and streamlined payment workflows.

All institutions participating in the agreement will also gain access to the MDPI online submission system where they can find full article metadata and pricing information for easy identification and additional transparency.

Eligible authors affiliated with the participating institutions are prompted to choose the corresponding Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) when they submit an article via our online submission system.

About Jisc

Jisc's vision is for the UK to be the most digitally advanced education and research nation in the world. At its heart is the super-fast national research and education network, Janet, with built-in cyber security protection.  Jisc also provides technology solutions for its members (colleges, universities and research centres) and customers (public sector bodies), helps members save time and money by negotiating sector-wide deals and provides advice and practical assistance on digital technology. Jisc is funded by the UK higher and further education and research funding bodies and member institutions.

For more information, contact [email protected]

About MDPI

MDPI is a publisher of fully peer-reviewed, Open Access journals with a focus on thorough and rapid editorial processing. Its aim is to ensure that high-quality research is verified and made available to the research community as quickly as possible. MDPI stands at the forefront of the Open Access movement, having launched its first online journal Molecules in 1996. Today, MDPI is a leader in Open Access publishing with over 250 journals across all research disciplines, and all content published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).

For any questions about this agreement, please contact the MDPI IOAP team at [email protected].

We are pleased to inform you that Processes has received an updated Journal Impact Factor of 2.753 in the recent release of the Journal Citation Reports®. Processes now ranks 59/143 (Q2) in the 'Engineering, Chemical' category. For more detailed information, please see:

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

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Vicenç Puig was appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of the section “Computational Method” in the journal Processes.

Vicenç Puig received his B.Sc./M.Sc. degree in Telecommunications Engineering in 1993 and Ph.D. degree in Automatic Control, Vision, and Robotics in 1999, both from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-BarcelonaTech (UPC). He is Full Professor at the Automatic Control Department of UPC and a researcher at the Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial (IRI), CSIC-UPC. He is Director of the Automatic Control Department and Head of the research group on Advanced Control Systems (SAC) at UPC. He has developed important scientific contributions in the areas of fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control using interval and linear parameter-varying models adopting set-based approaches. He has developed important scientific contributions in the areas of monitoring, control, and supervision of large-scale systems with particular application to systems in the water cycle (drinking water networks, sewage/drainage networks, irrigation networks, waste treatment plants). He has participated in more than 20 European and national research projects in the last decade. He has also led many private contracts with several companies and has published more than 140 journal articles as well as over 400 contributions in international conference/workshop proceedings. He has supervised over 25 PhD dissertations and over 50 Master theses/final projects. He is currently Chair of the IFAC Safeprocess TC Committee 6.4 and served as Vice-Chair from 2016 to 2019. He was the general chair of the 3rd IEEE Conference on Control and Fault-Tolerant Systems (SysTol 2016) and IPC Chair of IFAC Safeprocess 2018.

We are confident that the strong academic background and connections of the new Section Editor-in-Chief will continue to raise the prestige and quality of Processes.

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the 3 winners of the Processes 2020 Best Paper Award, sponsored by MDPI and Processes.

Nominations were selected from the papers published in 2018 by the Editorial Office of Processes. The selection committee is chaired by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Giancarlo Cravotto. We hope this award will encourage the publication of other high-quality papers in the journal in the future.

Article:

GEKKO Optimization Suite
Processes 2018, 6(8), 106; doi: 10.3390/pr6080106
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/6/8/106

Methanol Synthesis: Optimal Solution for a Better Efficiency of the Process
Processes 2018, 6(3), 20; doi: 10.3390/pr6030020
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/6/3/20

Review

Modeling and Simulation of Energy Systems: A Review
Processes 2018, 6(12), 238; doi: 10.3390/pr6120238
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/6/12/238

On behalf of the Prize Awarding Committee and the Editorial Board, we would like to congratulate the authors of the above manuscripts and we also thank Prof. Dr. Giancarlo Cravotto for his excellent work in the hard task of selecting a winner from such a large number of excellent candidate profiles. We are very proud to publish high-quality papers; we will continue to hold the Processes 2020 Best Paper Award and wish all scholars great success in their careers.

Thank you very much for your valuable contribution to the journal and we are looking forward to further collaborating with you.

Processes Editorial Office

Congratulations!

To better categorize papers published within the journal Processes, a new topical Section “Food Processes” was recently established. Prof. Dr. Dariusz Dziki has been appointed as the Section Editor-in-Chief of this new section “Food Processes” in Processes.

Since 2013, Prof. Dr. Dariusz Dziki has been a professor at the Head of the Department of Thermal Technology and Food Process Engineering. He is now also part of the Faculty of Production Engineering, at the University of Life Sciences in Lublin and a member of the Polish Society of Agricultural Engineering.

Dariusz Dziki received his Master of Science degree in Food and Agriculture Engineering from the University of Life Science in Lublin in 1995. He received his Doctor of Science degree in Food and Agriculture Engineering in 2001; cereal processing from the University of Life Science in Lublin. In 2008, he received his Post-doctoral degree and, he received the title of Professor in 2013

He has been the supervisor of two domestic projects: (1) Influence of natural elicitors on nutraceutical potential of wheat sprouts and evaluation of bioaccessibility in vitro and thermostability of bioactive compounds. (2) Preparation of fiber preparation from the husk and fruit-seed coat of oats using innovative hulling and grinding technologies. And he also acted as the main constructor of one foreign and five domestic projects (Polonium).

Moreover, he has been awarded 12 times for scientific activity by the Rector of Agriculture University in Lublin, among other things, receiving the award for the publication with the largest number of citations and the publication with the highest impact factor. His main area of research is Food processing, including drying, milling, grinding, baking, pasta production, food fortification, and food powders production.

We are confident that the strong academic background and connections of the new Section Editor-in-Chief will continue to raise the prestige and quality of Processes.

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Francesca Spyrakis was appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of the section “Biological Systems” of the journal Processes.

Prof. Dr. Francesca Spyrakis is Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Drug Science and Technology (University of Turin), where she leads the molecular modelling group.

She received her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Parma in 2007. Since then, she has been working for the development and application of computational methods to study protein–ligand interactions. Her main research interests include the design of ligands targeting relevant pharmaceutical targets, with particular attention to antimicrobials, as well as the investigation of protein dynamics.

She authored more than 80 publications which have been cited over 1700 times (h-index 25) and several book sections, including the chapter on “Docking, Scoring and Virtual Screening in Drug Design” in Burger’s Medicinal Chemistry, and has presented more than 90 communications at international congresses (ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4016-227X).

Prof. Spyrakis is an active member of the scientific committee of relevant workshops and meetings in the field of computational chemistry, such as the European Workshop on Drug Design and Computationally Driven Drug Discovery.

We are confident that with her strong academic background and connections, our newly appointed Section Editor-in-Chief will continue to raise the prestige and quality of Processes.

In order to better categorize papers published within the journal Processes, a new topical section “Energy Systems” has recently been set up. We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Matti Lehtonen has been appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of this new section.

Since 1999, Prof. Dr. Matti Lehtonen has been a professor at the Helsinki University of Technology, nowadays Aalto University, where he is head of Power Systems and High Voltage Engineering. Matti Lehtonen received both his Master’s and Licentiate degrees in Electrical Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology, in 1984 and 1989, respectively. He received his Doctor of Technology degree from Tampere University of Technology in 1992. The main activities of Dr. Lehtonen include power and energy system planning, power system protection, demand response and applica­tions of informa­tion technology in power and energy systems.

We are confident that the strong academic background and connections of the new Section Editor-in-Chief will continue to raise the prestige and quality of Processes.

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Anet Režek Jambrak has been appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of the section "Advanced Digital and Other Processes" in the journal Processes.

Prof. Dr. Anet Režek Jambrak has been a professor and scientific advisor in food engineering (biotechnical sciences) as part of the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology of the University of Zagreb since 2018. Since 2019, she has been the head of the Laboratory for Sustainable Development. She was trained abroad at Coventry University, UK, and at the University of Avignon, France. Her fields of research include food chemistry, food physics, nonthermal processing, advanced thermal processing, sustainability, food processing, Industry 4.0, and digitalization. Since 2007, Anet Režek Jambrak has published over 100 significant scientific papers, which have been cited more than 2300 times (h-index 25), and has been the author of chapters in books from recognized scientific publishers like Wiley, Elsevier, and Springer. She has received many prizes and awards: in 2019, she was awarded the title of Highly Cited Researcher, placing her among the top 0.1% of scientists around the world (powered by Web of Science https://publons.com/awards/highly-cited/2019); also in 2019, she received the National Award for Science from the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia, Ministry of Science and Education, Government of the Republic of Croatia; in 2016, she was awarded the Young Scientist Award by the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFOST); and in 2011, she received the "Vera Johanides" Young Scientist Award from the Academy of Technical Sciences of Croatia. She also received recognition for highly cited papers from the world-renowned Journal of Food Engineering in 2010.

She teaches courses related to nonthermal and advanced thermal processing, food engineering, physical properties of foods, sustainability, and Industry 4.0 in biotechnical sciences. She is a member of the Global Young Academy (GYA) and the International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST).

We are confident that the strong academic background and connections of the new Section Editor-in-Chief will continue to raise the prestige and quality of Processes.

Processes (ISSN 2227-9717) (IF 1.963, 69/138 (Q2) in 'Engineering, Chemical') is currently recruiting Editorial Board Members.

Processes provides an advanced forum for process/systems-related research in chemistry, biology, materials and allied engineering fields. The journal publishes regular research papers, communications, letters, short notes and reviews. Our aim is to encourage researchers to publish their experimental, theoretical and computational results in as much detail as necessary. There is no restriction on paper length or number of figures and tables.

As an Editorial Board Member, you would have the unique opportunity to help build the Processes community by identifying and introducing suitable collaborators. You would be able to lead specialty sections and direct the focus of research topics to facilitate the publication of key findings and historical advances in a hot research area. Furthermore, you would have an excellent avenue to gain insight into the latest developments in this multidisciplinary field of study. Finally, you would have the privilege of publishing one paper per year totally free of charge after peer review.

More details regarding the Editorial Board of Processes are available via the following link:

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes/editors

If you are interested in this position or have potential candidates to recommend, please contact the Processes Editorial Office at [email protected].

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

We are pleased to announce that starting from 10 April 2020, the editorial leadership of Processes has been taken over by Professor Giancarlo Cravotto (University of Turin)

Prof. Cravotto became a researcher at the Department of Drug Science and Technology (University of Turin), after four years of experience in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. He spent a year at the Techniche Universität in Berlin (Prof. P. Weyerstahl), on an organic synthesis project, funded by DFG and CNR, in 1992.

His research activity in the domain of green organic synthesis and sustainable processes is documented by about 410 scientific, peer-reviewed papers (Scopus—H. Index 50; 10,800 citations), 19 patents, 40 book chapters and 7 books as editor, and more than 400 communications to scientific meetings, including several invited plenary and keynote lectures. The extraction, purification, synthesis, and chemical modification of bioactive natural products has been the focus of his research activity. These studies have paved the way for new, nonconventional energy source driven synthetic procedures (microwaves, ultrasound, hydrodynamic cavitation, mechanochemistry, flow chemistry, etc.), while also prompting the development of innovative hybrid reactors. New enabling technologies have been applied in process intensification with industrial partners across a number of fields, including food processing, phytoextracts, pharmaceutics, fine chemicals, cosmetics, and biomedical polymers. He was the Director of the Department of Drug Science and Technology from 2007 to October 2018, and he is currently Full Professor of Organic Chemistry and vice-Director, leading a research group and a technological platform for process design from lab to pilot scale. In his new role, he will work closely with over 100 Editorial Board Members from across the globe, and we are confident that under his leadership, the journal will continue as a highly respected journal in the field.

We would like to take the opportunity to express our gratitude to the previous Editor-in-Chief Prof. Dr. Michael A. Henson, for his invaluable contributions to the journal.

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: [email protected])

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.