Announcements

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 the launch of a new initiative—the Water 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’s 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 Special Issue;
• Writing a brief promotion plan for the Special Issue;
• Preparing a list of scholars who may be interested in the issue and personally emailing the 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;
• Overseeing the editorial process of the Special Issue and quality control of the publications 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 for the 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 Water Editorial Office (water@mdpi.com), and we will discuss the process (i.e., mentor collaboration, Special Issue topic feasibility analysis, etc.) in further detail.

In addition to the new Special Issue Mentor Program, Water (ISSN: 2073-4441) continues to welcome all Special Issue proposals focusing on hot research topics.

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.

We are currently recruiting Topical Advisory Panel Members for the journal Water (ISSN: 2073-4441).

The main responsibility of new members of the Topical Advisory Panel is to regularly provide support to Guest Editors and Section Board Members. Full details of the responsibilities of Topical Advisory Panel Members are available at the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/editors#Supporting_Editor_Responsibilities.

Water is an international and interdisciplinary open access journal covering all aspects of water, including water science, technology, management and governance. We are pleased to inform you that applications are open for the Topical Advisory Panel.

The benefits of Topical Advisory Panel Members include the following:

• The opportunity to publish one paper per year with a discount in Water as well as potential discounts for additional papers you invite;
• A certificate of recognition for your position;
• Additional sponsorships for conferences organized by Topical Advisory Panel Members of Water;
• Travel grants for conferences that you attend or organize.

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

• Have expertise and experience in a field related to the journal;
• Have at least six published papers in the last 5 years as a first author or corresponding author;
• Currently hold an independent research position in academia or a government institute.

If you are interested in this position, please apply via the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/water/topical_advisory_panel_application, or send an email to the Editorial Office (water@mdpi.com) with your academic CV. We look forward to hearing from you.

Water Editorial Office

Peer Review Week began 19 September 2022 under the theme of “Research Integrity: Creating and Supporting Trust in Research”. Through various blog articles, podcast, and webinar, we discussed this crucial subject throughout the week, celebrating the essential role peer review plays in maintaining research quality.

To begin, we held a Webinar on the topic. Professor Peter W. Choate and Dr. Emmanuel Obeng-Gyasi joined Dr. Ioana Craciun, one of MDPI’s scientific officers, for an in-depth discussion.

We invite you to view the event recording:

During the week, the MDPI Blog in a series articles highlighted how good Peer Review safeguards research integrity. The following topics were covered:

• Peer Review Week 2022
• Research Integrity
• What We’ve Learned About Peer Review Reports
• 4 Steps to the Perfect Peer Review Report
• How to Write the Perfect Peer Review Report: An Interview
• Inviting Great Peer Reviewers

In a new edition of Insight Faster, an MDPI podcast, we were delighted to talk to the co-chairs of the Peer Review Week committee, Jayashree Rajagopalan (Senior Manager of Global Community Engagement for CACTUS) and Danielle Padula (Head of Marketing and Community Development at Scholastica) to get their take on this year’s event and its related topics.

You can find the Podcast here.

We hope you enjoy the contents!

MDPI will be attending the AGU Fall Meeting 2022 (AGU22), held in Chicago and online, from 12 to 16 December 2022. The AGU Fall Meeting is the most influential event in the world dedicated to the advancement of Earth and space sciences. The conference unites the Earth and space science community to share findings, connect like-minded scientists from around the world, and advance our profession and shared passion for the impact of science. Researchers, scientists, educators, students, policymakers, enthusiasts, journalists, and communicators attend the AGU Fall Meeting to better understand our planet and environment, and our role in preserving its future.

During this conference, MDPI (at booth #1452) will welcome researchers from different backgrounds to visit and share their latest views and research with us.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Water (leading journal);
• Remote Sensing (leading journal);
• Geosciences;
• Climate;
• Hydrology;
• Land;
• Drones;
• Environments;
• Sustainability;
• IJERPH;
• Earth;
• Fire;
• GeoHazards;
• Oceans;
• World.

If you plan on attending this conference, feel free to stop by our booth at #1452. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have.

For more information about the conference, please see the following link: https://igs.org/event/agu22/.

MDPI will be attending the IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition 2022, held in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 11 to 15 September 2022. This is the third edition of IWA, with the topic of “Water for Smart Liveable Cities”, which will engage stakeholders and key contacts within the conventional water sector and beyond. It will bring together core water sector groups, such as those focused on urban water and urban water services, as well as participants from industry and agriculture, architects and urban planners, soil and groundwater experts and hydrologists, social scientists, the ICT sector, the financial sector, and others.

During this conference, MDPI (at booth #C2-383) will welcome researchers from different backgrounds to visit and share their latest inspirations with us.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Water (leading journal);
• Hydrology;
• Sustainability;
• Energies;
• Geosciences;
• Infrastructures;
• Membranes;
• Toxics;
• Resources.

If you plan on attending this conference, feel free to stop by our booth at #C2-383. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have.

For more information about the conference, please see the following link: https://worldwatercongress.org.

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 8 to 10 December 2022.

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, and cooperated 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 cosponsored by the Chinese Society of Environmental Sciences and the Persistent Organic Pollutants Professional Committee have 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 in 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, as well as high-level communication platforms.

The 17th POPs Forum focuses on "new pollutant treatment", and invites domestic as well as foreign experts from various fields of government, industry, academia, and research to discuss and exchange information together.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Toxics (leading);
• Water;
• JoX;
• IJERPH;
• 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 that you may have. For more information about the conference and our booth, please visit the following link: https://popsforum2022.scievent.com/.

A range of MDPI journals will be attending INTECOL 2022 as exhibitors. This meeting will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 28 August to 2 September 2022.

“Frontiers in Ecology – Science and Society” is the general theme of the conference. With an estimated number of 1500 participants coming to Geneva, and as many following the conference from a distance, the conference aims to bring the state-of-the-art expertise in ecology to the forefront of societal challenges.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Diversity (leading);
• Sustainability;
• Forests;
• Ecologies;
• Environments;
• Plants;
• Animals;
• World;
• Quaternary;
• Earth;
• Resources;
• Applied Sciences;
• Birds;
• Climate;
• Water;
• Fishes.

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to start a conversation with us at our booth #03. 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 http://intecol2021.org/, or contact the Diversity Editorial Office at diversity@mdpi.com.

A range of MDPI journals will be attending the 11th National Conference on Environmental Chemistry as an exhibitor. This meeting will be held in Harbin, China, from 25 to 29 July 2022.

The theme of this conference will be “Innovating Environmental Sciences, Low-Carbon Protecting Environment and Health”, which fully reflects the conference’s purpose of innovation, participation, cooperation, and foresight. More than 50 branches have been set up in the fields of interface process, toxicology and health, public health, environmental safety, pollution control, remediation technology, green and low-carbon, and environmental policy, and various well-known experts at home and abroad have been invited to produce conference and branch reports and deliver speeches. We invite experts in the field and environmental protection companies to participate in the exhibition, for which academic activities such as paper exhibitions, postgraduate forums, and Editor-in-Chief meetings have been organized.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Toxics (leading);
• Water (leading);
• Sustainability (leading);
• Applied Sciences;
• JoX;
• Nanomaterials;
• Soil Systems;
• Sustainable Chemistry;
• IJERPH;
• Pollutants;
• Environments.

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 the following link: https://www.ncec2021.com/Home/Default.