Announcements

The multi-faceted nature and intriguing evolutionary history of mammals have led to today's biodiversity and biogeographic environment, which are intertwined with paleogeography, climate, and environmental changes. This quaternary period recorded the most dramatic changes in the Earth’s climate system. This is of special significance when examining the causal factors leading to the gradual reconstruction of mammalian communities as well as to changes in biogeography and biodiversity. The paper titled "The Preliminary Analysis of Cave Lion Cubs Panthera spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810) from the Permafrost of Siberia" published in Quaternary (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/quaternary) has attracted widespread attention in academia and has been reported by CNN and other media.

The Pleistocene Arctic region of Siberia is full of large mammals, including the cave lion (Panthera spelaea), which is at the top of the terrestrial ecosystem. This article provides a preliminary description of the well-preserved frozen mummies of two cubs of extinct cave lions. The lioness is named "Sparta", and the male lion is named "Boris". It is worth noting that these two lion cubs are quite intact. Their claws are still sharp, their fur is still finished, and even their beards are preserved as if they were just asleep. The two lion cubs lived in different ages, but their individual ages are similar, with both of the cubs being 1 to 2 months old. Researchers conducted microbiological testing and infectious disease testing on the two lion cubs. Additionally, they analyzed the morphology using computer tomography, radioactive dating, pathological testing, genetic identification, and other methods to detect and analyze the lion cubs in all aspects and to explore the living environment of the cave lion and the possible causes of death, the predator structure, and social structure, etc.

For more details, please visit the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/4/3/24/htm.

This article is included in the Special Issue "Advances in Quaternary Studies: The Contribution of Mammalian Fossil Record II", Guest Editor: Prof. Dr. Maria Rita Palombo.

Special Issue information:

This Special Issue "Progress in Quaternary Research: The Contributions of Mammal Fossil Record II" aims to introduce the latest technology and diversity in the field as well as the most advanced research on fauna dynamics, with the purpose of assessing species' contributions to quaternary climate change, the importance of response, and the evolution of the scene in terms of time and space.

Similarly, deciphering the complex mechanism network of the evolution of fauna is of vital importance for understanding the practical significance of the so-called sixth mass extinction and for planning appropriate biodiversity conservation actions in the context of climate warming. This Special Issue allows our imaginations to go beyond the present and to gather insights into the future scenarios of the earth's ecosystem by collecting lessons from the past.

We invite you to scan the QR code below to read more related articles.

“Diatoms in Paleoenvironmental Studies of Peatlands”
Rafael Carballeira et al.
Quaternary 2020, 3(2), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3020010
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/2/10 

“A Top-to-Bottom Luminescence-Based Chronology for the Post-LGM Regression of a Great Basin Pluvial Lake”
Jeffrey S. Munroe et al.
Quaternary 2020, 3(2), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3020011
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/2/11 

“Quaternary Permafrost in China: Framework and Discussions”
Huijun Jin et al.
Quaternary 2020, 3(4), 32; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3040032
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/4/32 

“Detection and Characterisation of Eemian Marine Tephra Layers within the Sapropel S5 Sediments of the Aegean and Levantine Seas”
Christopher Satow et al.
Quaternary 2020, 3(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3010006
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/1/6 

“Between Foragers and Farmers: Climate Change and Human Strategies in Northwestern Patagonia”
Adolfo F. Gil et al.
Quaternary 2020, 3(2), 17; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3020017
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/2/17 

“Rethinking the Disappearance of Microblade Technology in the Terminal Pleistocene of Hokkaido, Northern Japan: Looking at Archaeological and Palaeoenvironmental Evidence”
Jun Takakura
Quaternary 2020, 3(3), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3030021
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/3/21 

“The Climate Fluctuation of the 8.2 ka BP Cooling Event and the Transition into Neolithic Lifeways in North China”
Chao Zhao
Quaternary 2020, 3(3), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3030023
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/3/23 

“Late Quaternary Climate Variability and Change from Aotearoa New Zealand Speleothems: Progress in Age Modelling, Oxygen Isotope Master Record Construction and Proxy-Model Comparisons”
Andrew M. Lorrey et al.
Quaternary 2020, 3(3), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3030024
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/3/24 

“Modern Analogue Approach Applied to High-Resolution Varved Sediments—A Synthesis for Lake Montcortès (Central Pyrenees)”
Teresa Vegas-Vilarrúbia et al.
Quaternary 2020, 3(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3010001
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/1/1 

“The Role of El Niño in Driving Drought Conditions over the Last 2000 Years in Thailand”
Katherine Power et al.
Quaternary 2020, 3(2), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3020018
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/2/18

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.

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.

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.

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
liliane.auwerter@mdpi.com

• “The Dodo and the Red Hen, A Saga of Extinction, Misunderstanding, and Name Transfer: A Review”
  Anthony S. Cheke et al.
  Quaternary 2020, 3(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3010004
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/1/4

• “State of the Art in Paleoenvironment Mapping for Modeling Applications in Archeology—Summary, Conclusions, and Future Directions from the PaleoMaps Workshop”
  Christian Willmes et al.
  Quaternary 2020, 3(2), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3020013
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/2/13 

• “Rethinking the Disappearance of Microblade Technology in the Terminal Pleistocene of Hokkaido, Northern Japan: Looking at Archaeological and Palaeoenvironmental Evidence”
  Jun Takakura
  Quaternary 2020, 3(3), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3030021
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/3/21 

• “Late Quaternary Climate Variability and Change from Aotearoa New Zealand Speleothems: Progress in Age Modelling, Oxygen Isotope Master Record Construction and Proxy-Model Comparisons”
  Andrew M. Lorrey et al.
  Quaternary 2020, 3(3), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3030024
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/3/24 

• “Detection and Characterisation of Eemian Marine Tephra Layers within the Sapropel S5 Sediments of the Aegean and Levantine Seas”
  Christopher Satow et al.
  Quaternary 2020, 3(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3010006
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/1/6

• “Diatoms in Paleoenvironmental Studies of Peatlands”
  Rafael Carballeira et al.
  Quaternary 2020, 3(2), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3020010
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/2/10

• “Magnetostratigraphy and Chronology of the Lower Pleistocene Primate Bearing Dafnero Fossil Site, N. Greece”
  Mouloud Benammi et al.
  Quaternary 2020, 3(3), 22; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3030022
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/3/22 

• “Modeling Incipient Use of Neolithic Cultigens by Taiwanese Foragers: Perspectives from Niche Variation Theory, the Prey Choice Model, and the Ideal Free Distribution”
  Pei-Lin Yu
  Quaternary 2020, 3(3), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3030026
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/3/26

• “Multicore Study of Upper Holocene Mire Development in West-Frisia, Northern Netherlands: Ecological and Archaeological Aspects”
  Bas van Geel et al.
  Quaternary 2020, 3(2), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3020012
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/2/12

• “The Role of El Niño in Driving Drought Conditions over the Last 2000 Years in Thailand”
  Katherine Power et al.
  Quaternary 2020, 3(2), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3020018
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/2/18

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

• “Grain-Size Distribution and Structural Characteristics of Varved Sediments from Lake Żabińskie (Northeastern Poland)”
  Maurycy Żarczyński et al.
  Quaternary 2019, 2(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat2010008
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/2/1/8

• “Human Discovery and Settlement of the Remote Easter Island (SE Pacific)”
  Valentí Rull
  Quaternary 2019, 2(2), 15; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat2020015
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/2/2/15

• “The ‘Anthropocene Proposal’: A Possible Quandary and a Work-Around”
  Martin Bohle et al.
  Quaternary 2019, 2(2), 19; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat2020019
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/2/2/19

• “Speleothem Paleoclimatology for the Caribbean, Central America, and North America”
  Jessica L. Oster et al.
  Quaternary 2019, 2(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat2010005
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/2/1/5

• “Speleothems from the Middle East: An Example of Water Limited Environments in the SISAL Database”
  Yuval Burstyn et al.
  Quaternary 2019, 2(2), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat2020016
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/2/2/16

• “The Asian Summer Monsoon: Teleconnections and Forcing Mechanisms—A Review from Chinese Speleothem δ¹⁸O Records”
  Haiwei Zhang et al.
  Quaternary 2019, 2(3), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat2030026
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/2/3/26

• “Late Quaternary Variations in the South American Monsoon System as Inferred by Speleothems—New Perspectives Using the SISAL Database”
  Michael Deininger et al.
  Quaternary 2019, 2(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat2010006
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/2/1/6

• “Approach for Analysis of Land-Cover Changes and Their Impact on Flooding Regime”
  Badri Bhakta Shrestha
  Quaternary 2019, 2(3), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat2030027
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/2/3/27

• “Speleothem Records from the Eastern Part of Europe and Turkey—Discussion on Stable Oxygen and Carbon Isotopes”
  Zoltán Kern et al.
  Quaternary 2019, 2(3), 31; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat2030031
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/2/3/31

• “The Use of Plant Macrofossils for Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions in Southern European Peatlands”
  Martin Souto et al.
  Quaternary 2019, 2(4), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat2040034
  Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/2/4/34