Announcements

Conference: Joint Conference on Environmental Chemicals Japan 2023
Date: 30 May–2 June 2023
Location: Tokushima, Japan

MDPI will be attending the Joint Conference on Environmental Chemicals Japan 2023 as an exhibitor; we welcome researchers from different backgrounds to visit and share their latest ideas with us.

This conference is organized by the Japan Society of Endocrine Disruptors Research, the Japanese Society of Environmental Toxicology, and the Japan Society of Environmental Chemistry. The theme of the conference is “Beyond Disciplines to Solve Environmental Chemical Problems: Developing New Research from Diverse Perspectives”. At the conference, specialists will share and discuss the latest research on and applications of environmental and chemical substances to society.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Sustainability;
• Toxics;
• Minerals;
• Atmosphere;
• Environments;
• JoX.

As a leading open access publisher, MDPI provides scholars with a high-quality and rich academic exchange platform by continuously expanding into new and exciting research areas.

In December 2022, MDPI launched five new journals, covering multiple subjects such as life sciences, biology, medicine and pharmacology, social sciences and humanities. These new journals are being edited by established scholars across the world.

If you are interested in creating more open access journals with us to publish cutting-edge research, please send your journal proposal application to newjournal-committee@mdpi.com.

MDPI is pleased to announce that we now display the co-authors’ email addresses in addition to the corresponding author’s email address on the webpage of published papers, protected by Captcha. For more information about this change, please visit the journal’s instructions for authors page. 

We believe this change will facilitate academic discussions and advance our cause of open science and research. The corresponding authors are responsible for communicating with their co-authors and indicating in our system (https://susy.mdpi.com/) if co-authors would prefer for their email addresses not to be displayed.

We are pleased to announce the winner of the Toxics 2022 Outstanding Reviewer Award—Dr. Chris Douvris. The Toxics Editorial Board and editorial team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy dedicated by reviewers in checking the manuscripts submitted to Toxics (ISSN: 2305-6304). It is due to their efforts that the high quality of the journal and quick turnaround is maintained. Congratulations to the winner!

Name: Dr. Chris Douvris

Affiliation: Department of Biological & Chemical Sciences, Theobald-434, New York Institute of Technology, 500 Northern Boulevard, PO Box 8000, Old Westbury, NY 11568-8000, USA

Research Interests: ICP-MS; ICP-OES; NMR spectroscopy; trace metals; transition metal complexes; homogeneous catalysis; polymers; sediments

Prize:
– 500 CHF (Swiss francs);
– An opportunity to publish a paper, free of charge, in Toxics in 2023;
– A certificate.

How to become our reviewer?
If you have not yet reviewed papers for Toxics, but would like to do so, you can register as a reviewer on the following website: https://susy.mdpi.com/volunteer/profile/edit

Dr. Demetrio Raldúa
Editor-in-Chief of Toxics

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

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

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

MDPI's Preprints Platform – Preprints.org

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

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

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

For more information, please visit Preprints.org.

Self-introduction

I am a Research Scientist at the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA) in the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). I obtained my degree in chemistry from the University of Barcelona (UB) in 2001 and earned my Ph.D. in chemistry from the same institution in 2006. In addition, I obtained computer science degree from the Open University of Catalonia in 2009. Before my current position, I worked as a non-tenure assistant professor at the UB until 2012 and as a JAE-DOC postdoctoral researcher at CSIC from 2012 to 2015.

My research is centered on developing and applying data analysis methods, which form the foundation of my multidisciplinary research career. I have used my expertise in various fields, such as molecular biology, process and analytical chemistry, and environmental chemistry. However, in recent years, I have focused my research on developing and applying data analysis tools in environmental omics, aiming to increase our understanding of molecular biological processes through the analysis of large and complex datasets generated in transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic studies.

The following is an interview with Dr. Joaquim Jaumot:

1. Could you please briefly introduce the main content of the winning paper?

The awarded paper discusses the impact of microplastics on environmental health, with a particular focus on the toxicological effects caused by their ability to absorb and transport chemicals (e.g. organic compounds, metals, etc.) in a phenomenon known as the Trojan Horse effect. Our study aims to highlight the main factors that influence the sorption capacity of microplastics and the potential scenarios in which they may significantly contribute to the bioaccumulation and transfer of sorbed chemicals.

2. Could you describe the difficulties and breakthrough innovations in this research field?

Understanding the contamination of microplastics and their interactions with other pollutants is crucial for assessing the risks posed to the environment and human health. These studies require a multifaceted approach, including studying the concentration and release of contaminants sorbed in the microplastics and the possible synergistic or antagonistic effects due to the different toxicity of pollutants and plastics. This research also involves using analytical techniques to examine the molecular exposure impacts and collaboration between researchers from other disciplines to design, conduct, and interpret experiments. Finally, by examining the impact of microplastics and sorbed contaminants, this research can gain insights into the underlying causes of changes in organisms and inform strategies for mitigating these effects.

3. How was your experience submitting to Toxics?

Overall, my experience submitting to the Toxics journal was positive. The submission process was straightforward, and the peer review process was efficient, with helpful feedback from the editor and reviewers.

4. How do you think Open Access impacts authors?

Open Access has several benefits for authors, including increased visibility for both the scientific community and the general public. This greater visibility can result in a higher impact on the research and more citations, recognition, and potential funding opportunities. In addition, Open Access publications allow authors to reach a wider audience and contribute to advancing knowledge in their field.

We want to congratulate Dr. Joaquim Jaumot for winning the Toxics 2022 Best Paper Award.

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

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

The mentee’s responsibilities include:

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

The mentor’s responsibilities include:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Thanks a Million" to all the contributors!

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

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

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

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

The Section “Drugs Toxicity” of Toxics (ISSN: 2305-6304) is recruiting Editorial Board Members. You can check the existing Editorial Board Members by visiting the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/toxics/sectioneditors/drugs_toxicity.

The main responsibilities of the Section Editorial Board Members are as follows:

• Providing scientific supervision for the Section;
• Inviting distinguished scientists to join the Editorial Board;
• Suggesting hot topics for Special Issues;
• Making decisions about the suitability of a paper to enter the peer-review process and about its acceptance at the end of the process;
• Promoting the Section, recommending international conference cooperation, and assisting this Section in holding physical/electronic conferences;
• Providing feedback and suggesting improvements to the journal.

The Section “Drugs Toxicity” of the journal Toxics focuses on studies on the toxicological effects of drugs of abuse and drugs in central nervous and peripheral systems. This Section invites submissions of high-quality manuscripts that report on investigations into the effects of acute or chronic exposure to drugs of abuse and other related drugs in the CNS and PNS. Drugs of abuse may include alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine, nicotine, cathinone, opioids, psychedelics, marijuana, cathinone, ecstasy, LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, PCP, rohypnol, and others. The Section also invites submissions of studies that involve other CNS drugs, including benzodiazepines and antipsychotics. In addition, this Section welcomes submissions of studies that involve pharmacological and experimental methods for the investigation of toxicological effects of drugs of abuse and other drugs that affect the CNS and PNS. Reviews and commentaries are also welcome in this Section.

For more information about this Section and publishing in Toxics, please see the Section’s webpage: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/toxics/sections/drugs_toxicity.

To apply, please send your CV and a cover letter, expressing your suitability for the role and your vision for the journal, to the Toxics Editorial Office (toxics@mdpi.com).

All applications must be received by 28 February 2023 to be considered.