Announcements

The International Day for Biological Diversity will be celebrated on 22 May 2023, under the theme “From Agreement to Action: Build Back Biodiversity”, which aims to raise awareness and understanding of biodiversity issues. Biodiversity refers to the diversity of all life forms on Earth, including genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity. Biological diversity resources are the pillars upon which we build civilizations; however, the loss of biodiversity threatens everything, including our health. We hope that the established MDPI journals on life sciences and biology, including Biology, Diversity, Fishes, Birds, Insects, Water, Forests, Grasses, Life, Seeds, Agriculture, and Agronomy, will provide suitable communication platforms. The aim is to strengthen scientific cooperation in response to the International Day for Biological Diversity and to embrace the potential to promote sustainable development.

“Avifaunal Diversity and Abundance in the Proposed Sarasalai Mangrove Reserve, Jaffna, Sri Lanka”
by Nitharsan Aloysius, Shashi Madhushanka and Chathuri Chandrika
Birds 2023, 4(1), 103-116; https://doi.org/10.3390/birds4010009

“Perils of Underestimating Species Diversity: Revisiting Systematics of Psammocambeva Catfishes (Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae) from the Rio Paraíba do Sul Basin, South-Eastern Brazil”
by Wilson J. E. M. Costa, José Leonardo Mattos, Paulo J. Vilardo, Pedro F. Amorim and Axel M. Katz
Taxonomy 2022, 2(4), 491-523; https://doi.org/10.3390/taxonomy2040032

“Environmental DNA Metabarcoding: A Novel Contrivance for Documenting Terrestrial Biodiversity”
by Shahnawaz Hassan, Sabreena, Peter Poczai, Bashir Ah Ganai, Waleed Hassan Almalki, Abdul Gafur and R. Z. Sayyed
Biology 2022, 11(9), 1297; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11091297

“Dam Construction Impacts Fish Biodiversity in a Subtropical River Network, China”
by Xiongjun Liu, Julian D. Olden, Ruiwen Wu, Shan Ouyang and Xiaoping Wu
Diversity 2022, 14(6), 476; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14060476

“Human Communities in Protected Natural Areas and Biodiversity Conservation”
by Elizabeth Olmos-Martínez, Heidi Leticia Romero-Schmidt, María del Carmen Blázquez, Camilo Arias-González and Alfredo Ortega-Rubio
Diversity 2022, 14(6), 441; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14060441

“Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on the Population Structure and Genetic Diversity of Erythroneurini in the Typical Karst Rocky Ecosystem, Southwest China”
by Chen Xiaoxiao, Jia Jiang, Ni Zhang, Xiao Yang, Yongkuan Chi and Yuehua Song
Insects 2022, 13(6), 499; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13060499

“Application of Ecological Restoration Technologies for the Improvement of Biodiversity and Ecosystem in the River”
by Li Pushuang, Dan Li, Xiaoqing Sun, Zhaosheng Chu, Ting Xia and Binghui Zheng
Water 2022, 14(9), 1402; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14091402

“Conservation-Status Gaps for Marine Top-Fished Commercial Species”
by Imanol Miqueleiz, Rafael Miranda, Arturo Hugo Ariño and Elena Ojea
Fishes 2022, 7(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes7010002

International Day for Biological Diversity

Date and time: 22 May 2023, 9–11 a.m. (CEST)

This is a free webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.

Conference: OceanTech Program 2023
Date: 18–21 May 2023
Location: Zhejiang University Zhoushan Campus, Zhoushan, China

This conference is organized by Zhejiang University and the Committee of Ocean Technology System (OTS), Chinese Society for Oceanography, biennially. OT is an international grand event initiated by China's marine industry that integrates high-tech conferences, exhibitions, offshore demonstrations, technical exchanges, and training.

The conference covers a wide range of topics, such as marine remote sensing and detection equipment technology, new concept submersible technology, underwater optics and intelligent vision technology, ocean "dual carbon" technology, etc.

MDPI will be attending OceanTech Program 2023 as an exhibitor. We welcome researchers from different backgrounds to visit and share their latest ideas with us.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• JMSE;
• Sustainability;
• Water;
• Drones;
• Automation;
• Oceans;
• Coasts.

If you plan to attend this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth at #C050. 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: https://www.oceantech-ap.com/ot-2023.

MDPI is attending the Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2023 (JpGU 2023). The event will be held at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan, from 21 to 26 May 2023, and it is organized by the Japan Geoscience Union (JpGU). JpGU is an academic union that encompasses all the Earth and planetary science disciplines and related fields; additionally, it has been organizing annual meetings since 2005. JpGU 2023 will cover a wide range of Earth and planetary sciences, including space and planetary sciences, atmospheric and hydrospheric sciences, human geosciences, solid Earth sciences, and biogeosciences. The JpGU annual meeting provides participants with a good opportunity to become familiar with cutting-edge research and unique approaches to research objects within their own special field and beyond. Representatives of the following MDPI journals will be attending:

• Land;
• Remote Sensing;
• Minerals;
• Sustainability;
• Drones;
• Geographies;
• Climate;
• Geomatics;
• Geosciences;
• Water;
• Quaternary;
• Sensors;
• Earth.

If you are also attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth (#Pub05). Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit: https://www.jpgu.org/meeting_e2023/.

Toxics (ISSN: 2305-6304) will be attending the 17th Persistent Organic Pollutants Forum and Chemical Environmental Safety Conference as an exhibitor. This meeting will be held in Qingdao, China, from 17 to 19 May 2023.

The Persistent Organic Pollutants Forum and Chemical Environmental Safety Conference (hereinafter referred to as the POPs Forum) was initiated by the Persistent Organic Pollutants Research Center of Tsinghua University in 2006, in cooperation with the Office of the National Coordination Group for the Implementation of the Stockholm Convention of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. A series of annual meetings co-sponsored by the Chinese Society of Environmental Sciences and the Persistent Organic Pollutants Professional Committee had been successfully held for 16 sessions by 2021. The POPs Forum has become a forum for academia, management, and industry in the field of POPs in China to brainstorm and contemplate countermeasures, review the international trends of POPs compliance and China's progress, discuss POPs research hotspots and development trends, and showcase high-tech and advanced products for POPs analysis and control. It is a high-level communication platform.

The forum focuses on new pollutant treatment and invites domestic and foreign experts from various fields of government, industry, academia, and research to discuss and exchange ideas together.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Toxics (leading);
• Water;
• JoX;
• Pollutants.

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to start a conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions you may have. For more information about the conference and our booth, please visit: https://popsforum2022.scievent.com/.

Water is simultaneously our most abundant and scarce resource. Dysfunction throughout the water cycle undermines progress on all major global issues, from health to hunger, gender equality to jobs, education to industry, and disasters to peace. The theme for the 2023 World Water Day is “Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible”. It aims to accelerate change to solve the water and sanitation crisis. Join us to salute those engaged in a challenge whose importance is second to none, as the MDPI is proud to support and publish research that works towards global water security.

Photo by Anonymous, University of Technology of Compiègne	Location: Qingyuan, Liaoning, China Photo by Bo Yu, Nankai University	Location: Can Luojiao, Guangdong, China Da Pang

To access more content about MDPI International Day Campaign Series activities, please click here.

• Groundwater Level Modeling with Machine Learning: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
  Water 2022, 14, 949; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14060949
• A Review on Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Smart Technology in Water Treatment and Monitoring
  Water 2022, 14, 1384; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14091384
• Provision of Desalinated Irrigation Water by the Desalination of Groundwater Abstracted from a Saline Aquifer
  Hydrology 2022, 9, 128; https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology9070128
• A Review on Evapotranspiration Estimation in Agricultural Water Management: Past, Present, and Future
  Hydrology 2022, 9, 123; https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology9070123
• Stabilisation of Ozone in Water for Microbial Disinfection
  Environments 2022, 9, 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments9040045
• Preliminary Studies of Methylene Blue Remotion from Aqueous Solutions by Ocimum basilicum
  Environments 2022, 9, 17; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments9020017

Special Issue: Water Quality Engineering and Wastewater Treatment III	Special Issue: Groundwater Pollution: Sources, Mechanisms, and Prevention
Special Issue: Groundwater Quality and Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment Volume II	Special Issue: Pharmaceuticals in Wastewater and Natural Water: Distribution, Transformation and Removal

MDPI World Water Day Webinar 2023: Accelerating Change

22 Mar 2023, 02:00 (CET)
Free to register for the two sessions.

Recordings will be available on Sciforum shortly afterward.

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.

Conference: 2023 AAG Annual Meeting
Date: 23–27 April 2023
Location: Denver, USA

MDPI will be attending the 2023 AAG Annual Meeting as an exhibitor, and we welcome researchers from different backgrounds to visit and share their latest ideas with us.

This conference is organized by the American Association of Geographers (AAG). The theme of the meeting is “Toward More Just Geographies”. At the meeting, specialists will share and discuss the latest in research and applications in geography, sustainability, and GIScience.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Remote Sensing (leading journal);
• Sustainability (leading journal);
• IJGI;
• Hydrology;
• Land;
• Water;
• Earth;
• Atmosphere;
• IJERPH;
• Fire;
• Oceans;
• GeoHazards;
• Coasts;
• Geomatics.

Remote Sensing (ISSN: 2072-4292, IF: 5.349) publishes regular research papers, reviews, technical notes and communications covering all aspects of remote sensing science, from sensor design and validation/calibration to its application in geosciences, environmental sciences, ecology, and civil engineering. The aim is to publish novel/improved methods/approaches and/or algorithms of remote sensing to benefit the community, open to everyone in need of them.

Sustainability (ISSN: 2071-1050, IF: 3.889) encourages experts to publish their experimental, computational and theoretical research on sustainability. This encompasses topics related to social sciences, natural and applied science and engineering, in order to enable the application and development of sustainability.

If you are planning to attend this conference, please do not hesitate to start an online conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit the following website: https://www.aag.org/events/aag2023/.

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

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

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

MDPI's Preprints Platform – Preprints.org

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

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

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

For more information, please visit Preprints.org.

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

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

The mentee’s responsibilities include:

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

The mentor’s responsibilities include:

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

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

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

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