Announcements
15 April 2024
Nutrients | Call for Special Issue Proposals
2 April 2024
MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter #10 - South Korea, IWD, U2A, Japan
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
Left to right: Dr. Jisuk Kang (Scientific Officer, MDPI), Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI), and Dr. Giulia Stefenelli (Chair of Scientific Office Board, MDPI), during media meetings at Prain Agency office in Seoul, South Korea.
Visit to Seoul, South Korea
During my recent visit to South Korea, I had the privilege of meeting various stakeholders, including representatives of government, research institutions, and academia, to understand their needs and communicate MDPI’s commitment to accessible science. Accompanied by my colleagues Dr. Giulia Stefenelli and Dr. Jisuk Kang, I engaged with the Korean scientific community, which is increasingly embracing open access (OA).
As the leading OA publisher in South Korea, MDPI is trusted by local authors and in 2023 enjoyed an approximately 30% share of the OA market. South Korea ranks sixth globally for MDPI in terms of research papers submitted and published.
MDPI and South Korea by Numbers
As at 30 March, over 76,000 MDPI articles have been authored by individuals affiliated with Korean institutions. We have over 1,800 active editorial board members (EBMs) from South Korea, with more than 880 EBMs having an H-index between 26 and 50, including 10 serving as Chief Editors.
“South Korea is the sixth-largest contributor to our total publications”
Over the past five years (2019–2023), nearly 120,000 authors affiliated with South Korean institutes have published with MDPI. Specifically in 2023, we received approximately 25,000 submissions from South Korean authors, publishing close to 13,000 articles, resulting in a rejection rate of 47.4%, which is not far below MDPI’s overall rejection rate of 56.4% in 2023.
Institutional Partnerships with South Korea
I am pleased to share that MDPI has more than 825 institutional partnerships worldwide, with 12 in South Korea, including Kyunghee University, Chung-Ang University, and Inha University, among others.
Left to right: Dr. Jisuk Kang (Scientific Officer, MDPI), Dr. Giulia Stefenelli (Chair of Scientific Office Board, MDPI), and Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI) fielding media questions at Prain PR Agency office in Seoul, South Korea.
Over the past three years (2021–2023), we have had some of the most prestigious academic universities ranked among the top 10 Korean institutions publishing with MDPI. Seoul National University had the highest number of publications with MDPI during those three years, publishing nearly 6,000 papers. Universities such as Korea University and Yonsei University also rank among the top 10 Korean institutions publishing with MDPI.
MDPI Hosts Seminar for Academia and Media
As the world’s leading OA publisher, MDPI is actively democratizing science. This is reflected in the seminars we hosted on 21 March to address questions about our editorial processes and ethical standards. The visit garnered media coverage, reflecting our mission to providing high-quality services and fostering open dialogue in the community.
“MDPI is actively democratizing science”
MDPI in the News
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI) leading a seminar on OA and MDPI at Prain PR Agency office in Seoul, South Korea.
Media coverage generated by our visit to Seoul included the following stories:
“Open access is an unstoppable trend…it will lead the development of the knowledge ecosystem.”
I greatly appreciate the contributions of everyone who took the time to meet with us, share their stories, and hold us accountable for continuing to provide high-quality publishing services while identifying areas for improvement. I am also excited to announce that we have opened an MDPI office in Seoul and will release a press release on MDPI.com, with details, by the end April 2024. The purpose of the office is to establish a local presence to connect with and support the South Korean academic community through institutional partnerships, conferences, author workshops, stakeholder communications, and more.
Impactful Research
Featured Articles on Women’s Leadership and Healthcare
In celebration of International Women’s Day (8 March 2024), MDPI curated a collection of research articles on various topics, including women’s leadership, reproductive health, preventive healthcare, and a selection of articles from our journal Women.
Women’s Leadership
- Women Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development: Bibliometric Analysis and Emerging Research Trends
Sustainability 2022, 14, 9160. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159160 - Refugee Women Business Mentors: New Evidence for Women’s Empowerment
Sustainability 2022, 14, 9154. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159154 - Women and Leadership in Higher Education: A Systematic Review
Soc. Sci. 2023, 12, 555. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12100555 - Understanding Needs and Potentials for Gender-Balanced Empowerment and Leadership in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in Africa
Sustainability 2022, 14, 9410. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159410 - Challenges Women Experience in Leadership Careers: An Integrative Review
Merits 2023, 3, 366-389. https://doi.org/10.3390/merits3020021
Women’s Reproductive Health
- Recreational Female Athletes’ Understanding of and Perceived Impact of the Menstrual Cycle on Physical Performance, Mood, and Sleeping Behaviour
Women 2023, 3, 445-456. https://doi.org/10.3390/women3030034 - Difficulties in Adaptation of the Mother and Newborn via Cesarean Section versus Natural Birth—A Narrative Review
Life 2023, 13, 300. https://doi.org/10.3390/life13020300 - The Main Theories on the Pathogenesis of Endometriosis
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24, 4254. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24054254
Women’s Preventive Healthcare
- Insulin Metabolism in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: Secretion, Signaling, and Clearance
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24, 3140. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24043140 - Assessing Barriers Encountered by Women in Cervical Cancer Screening and Follow-Up Care in Urban Bolivia, Cochabamba
Healthcare 2022, 10, 1604. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10091604 - Updates on HPV Vaccination
Diagnostics 2023, 13, 243. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13020243
Featured Articles in MDPI Journal Women
Below are a few articles from Women, our journal focused on women’s health, the social determinants of health, and the healthcare system that serves women. The aim of Women is to encourage academics to publish their experimental and theoretical results in detail, to aid reproducibility, and in an engaging style, to aid comprehensibility.
- Premenstrual Syndrome and Exercise: A Narrative Review
Women 2023, 3, 348-364. https://doi.org/10.3390/women3020026 - Increasing Awareness of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine for Women 18–45 Years of Age
Women 2023, 3, 365-373. https://doi.org/10.3390/women3030027 - Addressing Women’s Needs with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Enhancing the Visibility of Pharmacists in the Public Health Arena
Women 2022, 2, 346-352. https://doi.org/10.3390/women2040032
Inside MDPI
Championing Women’s Healthcare and Access to Healthcare Information
MDPI colleagues from our offices joined in celebrating #IWD2024. In doing so, we emphasized key missions that encompass:
- Empowering women to assume leadership and decision-making roles in both business and science.
- Helping women and girls make informed decisions about their health.
- Recruiting and developing female talent and fostering inclusive workplace environments.
“We are thrilled to recognize the accomplishments of women scientists”
I am proud to see our colleagues enthusiastically supporting the International Women’s Day call to ‘Inspire Inclusion!’ The heart-hands in the collage below symbolize our appreciation of the achievements of women researchers and the recognition of the trailblazers who have courageously made a mark on societies past and present.
We are thrilled to recognize the accomplishments of women scientists through our many MDPI awards and by highlighting success stories. As inspirational figures, female scientists are paving the way for the next generation of women aspiring to pursue careers in engineering, life sciences, computing, and various other STEM fields.
“I consider myself lucky because I work with incredibly talented women who inspire me every day.”
– Dr. Alessandra Pasut, Winner of MDPI's ‘Biology 2023 Young Investigator Award’
“It’s really important to find a supportive and enabling environment in which to do your science; it would have a big impact on you as a person and on your scientific outputs.”
– Dr. Rhea Longley, Winner of the ‘Pathogens 2023 Young Investigator Award’
Open-access publishing, in particular, allows early-career women researchers to share their work more widely, potentially attracting mentorship opportunities and collaborations. This support is crucial for career development and advancement.
Coming Together for Science
MDPI Joins United2Act in Collective Fight to Stop Paper Mills
In my February 2024 CEO Letter, I highlighted some of our recent initiatives aimed at bolstering our commitment to research integrity, including joining the STM Integrity Hub and expanding our Research Integrity and Publication Ethics team (RIPE). Continuing our efforts in coming together for science, I am pleased to share our participation in the United2Act initiative.
The text below is taken from our official announcement:
United2Act represents an international group of stakeholders in the publishing industry committed to addressing the collective challenge posed to research integrity by paper mills.
Scientists and academic publishers have increasingly noted the alarming proliferation of paper mills, recognized as fraudulent entities seeking to manipulate the publication process for financial profit. These entities engage in fraudulent practices such as falsifying or fabricating data, selling co-authorship of fake papers, manipulating peer review, and including inappropriate citations. These actions pose a significant threat to the integrity of the scholarly record, prompting widespread concern among those involved in the academic community.
MDPI has been actively contributing to combat the undermining of the scientific record. Our editors employ a set of tools to detect potential ethical breaches within a manuscript and to tackle the issue of fake papers.
United2Act’s consensus statement is the outcome of a virtual summit held in May 2023. It involved the participation of research bodies, publishers, researchers/sleuths, universities, and publishing infrastructure from 15 countries and resulted in a Consensus Statement outlining five key areas of action for all stakeholders:
- Education and awareness
- Improve post-publication corrections
- Facilitate and organise research on paper mills
- Enable the development of trust markers
- Facilitate dialogue between stakeholders
MDPI is committed to promoting transparency and integrity in scholarly publishing and is continuing to work closely with the scientific community toward this goal.
Closing Thoughts
Left to right: Ryo Hirayama (Marketing Specialist, MDPI), Takashi Sasabe (Marketing Specialist, MDPI), Dr. Giulia Stefenelli (Chair of Scientific Office Board, MDPI), Dr. Izumi Yamamoto (Marketing Manager, MDPI), and Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI), at MDPI’s office in Tokyo, Japan.
Visit to Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan
In March, I had the opportunity to visit our Tokyo office and engage with stakeholders in Tokyo and Kyoto. During the visit, I also recorded a video message to welcome Japanese scholars working with MDPI and to highlight our operations in Japan.
We held meetings with Editors-in-Chief, librarians, scholars, and external consultants to gather feedback on our efforts to enhance our reputation and explore additional steps we can take in that direction. Japan's rich cultural heritage, characterized by tradition, respect, and formality, provided valuable insights into meeting the publishing needs specific to Japan.
Japan’s Open Access statistics
Over the years, we have seen a shift from subscription-only to gold OA publishing in Japan, despite the lack of an official mandate. Here are some statistics:
- 2012: 68% of articles were subscription-only, 6% were green Open Access, and 8% were gold Open Access.
- 2016: 55% of articles were subscription-only, 6% were green Open Access, and 20% were gold Open Access.
- 2022: 43% of articles were subscription-only, 7% were green Open Access, and 39% were gold Open Access.
To learn more about the history of OA in Japan as well as about future trends, please read this blog post.
“Japan is the ninth-largest contributor to our total publications”
Left to right: Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI), Dr. Izumi Yamamoto (Marketing Manager, MDPI), and Dr. Giulia Stefenelli (Chair of Scientific Office Board, MDPI) visiting Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan.
MDPI and Japan by Numbers
As at 1 April, over 50,000 MDPI articles have been authored by scholars affiliated with Japanese institutions, making the country the ninth-largest contributor to our total publications. Over the past three years (2020–2023), nearly 90,000 authors affiliated with Japanese institutes have published with MDPI, and we have collaborated with over 4,600 Guest Editors from Japan.
In 2023, we published over 8,200 papers from authors associated with Japanese institutions. MDPI collaborates with 41 institutional partnerships in Japan, including the University of Tokyo, Hokkaido University, and Nagoya University. We have over 2,100 active EBMs from Japan, more than 1,050 EBMs having an H-index between 26 and 50, including 13 serving as Editors-in-Chief.
General Feedback – a side note
A general takeaway from our discussions with stakeholders from around the world is that negative perceptions of MDPI often stem from misinformation, misconceptions, or misunderstandings about MDPI and our practices. While we acknowledge our mistakes and work diligently to address them, maintaining a strong editorial procedure and robust peer-review process, I find that educating stakeholders about our how we do what we do and our ongoing improvements tends to help shift opinions.
That said, we recognize the importance of addressing individual concerns. We take feedback seriously and are continuously working to get better while not compromising the core principles that millions of authors appreciate about MDPI.
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
29 March 2024
Nutrients | Invitation to Read the Updated Editor's Choice Articles Published in 2021–2024
29 March 2024
Meet Us at the 20th Annual International Conference of the Metabolomics Society (Metabolomics 2024), 16–20 June 2024, Osaka, Japan
6 March 2024
Interview with Prof. Dr. Mauro Lombardo, the Event Chair of the 4th International Electronic Conference on Nutrients—Plant-Based Nutrition Focusing on Innovation, Health, and Sustainable Food Systems (IECN 2024)
4 March 2024
MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter #9 - Romania, Research Integrity, Viruses
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
Reka Kovacs (Deputy Office Manager, MDPI), Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI), and Sandra Ana Spatariu (Office Manager, MDPI) at the MDPI office in Cluj, Romania.
MDPI’s Impact on Romania
In February, I visited our office in Cluj, Romania. I worked closely with our senior office managers and various teams, including the departments of training, marketing and conferences, as well as our journal relationship specialists, reviewing our service to the local scholarly community. During the visit, I also met with representatives from Babes-Bolyai University and the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca. Our multifunctional Romanian office plays an important role in supporting our collaborations with the local market as well as helping to meet MDPI’s overall business needs.
Feedback and strategy meeting with a group of MDPI’s Journal Relationship Specialists at the MDPI office in Cluj, Romania.
With 22,436 articles, Romania ranks as a top 20 contributing country to MDPI’s total number of papers published as at 28 February 2024. This highlights the importance of our collaboration with Romanian-affiliated authors and the growing opportunity to support their publishing needs. MDPI is one of the few academic publishers with a significant presence in Romania, boasting over 360 colleagues across our offices in Bucharest and Cluj. We are also proud to hire colleagues from local institutions to launch their careers within publishing.
Romania ranks as a top 20 contributing country.
The Numbers: 2019–2023
MDPI has seen a healthy increase in submissions from Romanian authors over the past three years, from 8,439 in 2021 to 11,866 by end of 2023, with most submissions going to journals such as Sustainability, Medicina, Diagnostics, IJMS, Applied Sciences, and JCM. From 2019 to 2023, MDPI published articles from 32,145 authors affiliated with Romanian institutions. Over those years, we have worked with Romanian Guest Editors on nearly 3,000 occasions to support their Special Issue and Topical collections.
With more than 300 Editorial Board Members from Romania, 34 appear on the board of Mathematics, 27 on Materials, 19 on Polymers, 18 on Coatings, and 16 on Molecules, while three serve as Section Editors-in-Chief (SEiC) on our journals Coatings (3.4 IF, 4.6 Citescore), Magnetochemistry (2.7 IF, 3.5 Citescore), and Chemosensors (4.2 IF, 3.9 Citescore).
Institutional Open Access Programs
Our commitment to working with institutions is evident in Romania, where we have established eight Institutional Open Access Programs (IOAP) with esteemed institutions such as the University of Bucharest, the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca, and most recently the National Institute for Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics.
Our growth and presence in Romania are a true testament.
We also have IOAP agreements with Babes-Bolyai University and the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, where I had the opportunity to meet senior stakeholders during my visit. Below are a few photos capturing our meeting with Prof. Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu (Head of Faculty of Chemistry, Babes-Bolyai University) at the MDPI office in Cluj, Romania, along with a photo from our meeting with Vice Deans Nicoleta Cobarzan, Nicoleta Ilies, and Hoda Gavril, from the faculty of Civil Engineering at the Technical University of Cluj, Romania.
Our growth and presence in Romania are a true testament to the service we provide to the scholarly community and the relationships we foster in that region. We look forward to continuing to support Romanian scholars and institutions by providing a valuable and trusted experience with MDPI, the leader in open access publishing.
Impactful Research
MDPI Joins the STM Integrity Hub
MDPI has long been a supporter and partner of STM, with our involvement ranging from sponsoring and attending events to helping organize event programs. By joining the STM Integrity Hub, we aim to further our commitment to STM initiatives aimed at safeguarding the integrity of science.
“We are pleased to welcome MDPI as the 35th organisation participating in the Hub. This expansion is critical, as every new member enhances our capacity to prevent fraudulent submissions from entering the academic record.”
Joris van Rossum, Director of Research Integrity, STM
MDPI operates in full alignment with STM Integrity Hub's values of shared data and experiences. We strongly believe in collaboration and open exchange for the purposes of creating a holistic approach to support research integrity at MDPI itself and across the entire academic publishing industry. The Integrity Hub is an excellent example of how publishers can come together to jointly address industry-wide challenges related to research integrity, such as manuscripts that breach research integrity standards and paper-mills.
I look forward to our Research Integrity and Publication Ethics Team (RIPE) team immersing themselves in this initiative, exchanging information, best practices, and tools for the benefit of the entire scholarly ecosystem. We believe that ethical publishing standards should be implemented across the board, and we aim to be rigorous in our approach, addressing research integrity issues and improving the impact of published research.
Inside MDPI
MDPI Expands Research Integrity and Publication Ethics Team (RIPE)
In addition to external collaborations and joint initiatives aimed at further strengthening our commitment to research integrity, we are also enhancing our internal efforts. This includes improving our processes and guidelines and expanding our teams and departments to ensure quality assurance throughout our publishing process.
We are pleased to announce the expansion of our Research Integrity and Publication Ethics Team (RIPE) at MDPI. The RIPE team has recently welcomed new colleagues, each bringing unique skills and a personal commitment to prioritize ethical considerations in all our work.
The demand for research integrity and high ethical standards in academic publishing is steadily rising across our industry. Our expanded RIPE team will work to enhance and align our practices with industry best practices, ensuring excellence in research integrity and publication ethics.
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI) introduces Dr. Tim Tait-Jamieson (Research Integrity Lead, MDPI) for his presentation on MDPI’s Retraction and Approval Process to a group of Journal Relationship Specialists at the MDPI office in Cluj, Romania: “The demand for research integrity and publication ethics is steadily rising across our industry.”
Introducing our Research Integrity and Publication Ethics Team
Led by Dr. Tim Tait-Jamieson (Research Integrity Lead), the RIPE team comprises Dr. Ivana Resanovic (Research Integrity Manager), Dr. Lavinia Rogojina (Research Integrity Manager), Ms. Diana Apodaritei (Research Integrity Specialist), Dr. Zoltan Mihaly (Research Integrity Specialist), Mr. Aleksandar Đukić (Research Integrity Specialist), Ms. Ana Stankovic (Research Integrity Specialist), and Ms. Anna Pena (Publication Ethics Assistant).
Please click here to access everything that you need to know about MDPI’s Research and Publication Ethics.
With this span of complementary roles, the RIPE team collaborates directly with journal editorial teams and works closely with various departments, including our Scientific Office Board and our Journal Relationship Specialists. The team’s primary objectives are to help prevent issues regarding research integrity and publication ethics during peer review, uphold MDPI’s ethics policies, adhere to industry standards, and resolve publication ethics and research integrity issues and complaints.
Quality Updates to Special Issues Oversight
At MDPI, we are committed to reviewing policies pertaining to the quality of research. In this blog post, Shaheena Patel (Communications Associate, MDPI), outlines two recent updates to MDPI journal processes. These updates pertain to Special Issue (SI) quality guidelines, in line with criteria provided by COPE and DOAJ. Alongside the SI updates, details regarding the new minor corrections policy introduced in 2024 are provided in the blog.
The two updates we implemented include greater oversight and the verification of Guest Editor credentials. These guidelines require that Editors-in-Chief (EiCs) and Editorial Board Members (EBMs) take responsibility for overseeing SIs.
PS. Thank you, James Butcher, for featuring this up in your 67th issue of the Journalogy newsletter.
Read more:
Coming Together for Science
Viruses 2024 – A World of Viruses
I am pleased to share the success of our MDPI conference Viruses 2024 – A World of Viruses, held 14-16 February, in Barcelona. With 240 registrations, this event brought together top scientists, researchers, and industry experts from 40 countries to share their findings on the latest developments in viral pathogenesis and immune responses.
Attendees gathered for the 5th edition of the Viruses’ conference, where we hosted influential keynote speeches from Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Charles M. Rice and ‘Distinguished Senior Virologist’ Prof. Luis Enjuanes, along with 14 invited speakers, 47 selected speakers, and nine flash poster presenters, to discuss the most significant issues in virology today.
Recap on the #Viruses2024 Conference
Take a look at the key moments from MDPI’s Viruses event and please join us in commemorating a gathering for global knowledge and cooperation. A heartfelt thank-you to all attendees; their passion and engagement played a crucial role in making this event an engaging success!
Below are calls to action from the keynote speakers encouraging collaboration and communication:
“There’s never been a better time than now to really take the power that we have both in terms of basic research and also in biotech and pharma to develop antiviral agents.” - Dr. Charles M. Rice, The Rockefeller University, New York, USA
“The collaboration between labs is absolutely essential. Improving initial detection and improving communication is a must for all of us working in science.” - Prof. Dr. Luis Enjuanes, National Center of Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC), Madrid, Spain
Our thanks go to our sponsors and partnering societies, our Viruses journal and editorial team, our Barcelona colleagues, and the social media, conference and other MDPI teams for making this event a memorable occasion. View the event gallery here.
Upcoming In-Person Event
24–26 April, 2024
4th MMCS – Harnessing the Power of New Drug Modalities
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Esteemed speakers at MMCS 2024 include Prof. Arun K. Ghosh, the mind behind the Darunavir molecule, and Prof. Paul Brennan, CSO of Alzheimer's Research UK Oxford Drug Discovery Institute.
Find more upcoming MDPI events here.
Organize Your Event with MDPI’s Sciforum
Sciforum is MDPI’s platform dedicated to the organization of scientific events. In line with our mission to promote science, Sciforum supports scholars, societies, research networks, and universities at all stages of organizing in-person events, virtual events and webinars. Our platforms are efficient, user-friendly, and cost-effective. We handle all steps related to event management. Contact us for details.
Closing Thoughts
Researcher to Reader (R2R) Conference
From 20–21 February 2024, I had the pleasure of attending the Researcher to Reader (R2R) conference in London, which MDPI has proudly sponsored over the years. The conference programme offered a variety of session formats, including workshops, panel discussions, debates, interviews, presentations, and lightning talks, with opportunities to discuss relevant topics.
We take pride in supporting the scientific community, bringing researchers across the world together to network, exchange ideas and share the latest in science and publishing. In 2023, MDPI invested close to 2 million CHF in sponsoring over 2,000 scientific and publishing-related conferences worldwide.
R2R Peer Review Innovations Workshop
I found the R2R conference to be engaging, with the workshops being particularly enjoyable. My colleague Giulia Stefenelli (Chair of Scientific Office Board) and I participated in the “Peer Review Innovations” workshop, which spanned four sessions over the two days. These sessions explored the future of peer review and how we can improve the peer review process for everyone involved. Notably, the large majority of attendees expressed their opinion that peer review, as currently practiced, requires significant improvement. Together, we collaborated on potential immediate and long-term improvements and innovative processes, aiming to create an ecosystem beneficial to all stakeholders by strengthening submission systems with the aim of reducing threats and making authors more responsible for their work. We also discussed the opportunity for academic institutions to better scrutinize the quality of the work produced and submitted to journals.
Our group comprised publishers, software providers, librarians, and more, bringing diverse perspectives to the discussions. These interactions were relevant to MDPI’s ongoing conversations, providing insights to our efforts. The session also made me appreciate that MDPI is doing well, as the group discussions included the subject of various quality checks that we have already embedded in our processes, ensuring that we keep abreast of industry standards.
The need for an optimized system to incentivize the activities of editors and reviewers was also a focus of discussion, as well as the support that reviewers need from publishers via the provision of strong reports through fixed forms, questionnaires and training.
At MDPI, we are currently auditing our reviewer program to improve reviewer recognition, guidelines, and methods for identifying suitable reviewers, while maintaining our commitment to quality and timeliness.
Congratulations to Mark Carden, Conference Director, and the R2R team for organizing a productive and successful event. PS: The break times were greatly appreciated as well!
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
7 February 2024
Nutrients | Highly Cited Papers in 2021–2022 in the Section “Pediatric Nutrition”
7 February 2024
Nutrients | Highly Cited Papers in 2021–2022 in the Section “Nutrition and Metabolism”
7 February 2024
Nutrients | Highly Cited Papers in 2022 in the Section “Clinical Nutrition”
7 February 2024
Nutrients | Highly Cited Papers in 2021–2022 in the Section “Carbohydrates”
6 February 2024
Nutrients | Highly Cited Papers in 2022 in the Section “Nutrition and Public Health”
5 February 2024
Acknowledgment of the Reviewers of Nutrients in 2023
31 January 2024
MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter #8 - Altmetric and Flat Fee Agreement
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
MDPI and Digital Science Meeting
At MDPI, we are committed to providing our authors with the essential tools to publish, promote, and track their research. In line with this commitment, we have established a longstanding collaboration with Digital Science, a company specializing in research data and analytical insights for the research community. Our collaboration integrates their Altmetric tool, offering us and our authors the ability to track a variety of sources that monitor and report attention surrounding publications.
As part of our collaboration, we recently hosted Cathy Holland, Director of Global Publisher Business Development, and Helen Cooke, Managing Director of Publisher Sales, from Digital Science, at our MDPI headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.
Left to right: Facundo Santomé (Senior Marketing Manager, MDPI), Constanze Shelhorn (Indexing Manager, MDPI), Cathy Holland (Director of Global Publisher Business Development, Digital Science), Helen Cooke (Managing Director of Publisher Sales, Digital Science), and Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI) in front of MDPI headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.
During our meeting, we discussed MDPI’s publishing philosophy and explored further avenues for collaboration. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Digital Science, aiming to improve our services yet further and meet the needs of our authors more closely than ever.
What is Altmetric?
You will notice that MDPI articles feature an Altmetric score, a colourful doughnut capturing the score in the upper right corner of the article page. This score represents ‘alternative metrics,’ as distinct from traditional metrics such as Impact Factor, CiteScore, and Scimago Journal Rank.
Altmetrics complement traditional citation-based metrics by capturing online discussions related to a specific research topic. By analyzing both sets of data, we can obtain a comprehensive understanding of the attention a particular research output receives and the sources in which it is mentioned.
“Almetric provides visual insights into where research is being discussed”
Sources Tracked by Altmetric
Altmetric badge showing the Altmetric score and colour-coded mention sources.
Altmetric monitors various sources, categorizing them into segments such as policy documents, peer reviews, Wikipedia, news and blogs, and social media, among other sources. Each category is identifiable by a specific colour.
The Altmetric badge provides visual insights into where the research is being discussed. A more colourful badge indicates broader mentions across multiple platforms. Such tracking enables us to gauge the extent of an article’s online dissemination, noting that increased visibility may correlate with higher citation rates.
Read more:
Impactful Research
Ten High-Altmetric Articles Published by MDPI
As at 30 January 2024, Altmetric has tracked 670,500 MDPI research outputs from MDPI, resulting in over 4.3 million mentions. This includes over 71,894 mentions in policy and patents and 294,714 mentions in news and blogs, with some achieving an Altmetric score as high as 28,754.
So, what is a good Altmetric score? There are various ways to put this score into context. You can find out more about the score in context and how to evaluate your work by this means.
Here are ten MDPI papers ranking in the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric.
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“Accuracy in Wrist-Worn, Sensor-Based Measurements of Heart Rate and Energy Expenditure in a Diverse Cohort” J. Pers. Med. 2017, 7(2), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm7020003 Altmetric page: https://mdpi.altmetric.com/details/20477344 Altmetric shows that this article appeared in 253 news stories from 209 outlets including Forbes, BBC, and Fox News. |
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“Daylight Saving Time and Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Meta-Analysis” J. Clin. Med. 2019, 8(3), 404; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm8030404 Altmetric page: https://mdpi.altmetric.com/details/57654628 Altmetric shows that this article appeared in 295 news stories from 207 outlets including Forbes, The Atlantic, and New York Times. |
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“The Preliminary Analysis of Cave Lion Cubs Panthera spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810) from the Permafrost of Siberia” Quaternary 2021, 4(3), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat4030024 Altmetric page: https://mdpi.altmetric.com/details/111086701 Altmetric shows that this article appeared in 182 news stories from 134 outlets including CBC News, CNN, and National Geographic. |
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“Not the Cat’s Meow? The Impact of Posing with Cats on Female Perceptions of Male Dateability” Animals 2020, 10(6), 1007; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10061007 Altmetric page: https://mdpi.altmetric.com/details/83796184 Altmetric shows that this article appeared in 124 news stories from 98 outlets including VICE, CNN and The Guardian. |
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“Behaviour and Welfare Impacts of Releasing Elephants from Overnight Tethers: A Zimbabwean Case Study” Animals 2022, 12(15), 1933; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12151933 Altmetric page: https://mdpi.altmetric.com/details/133463915 Altmetric shows that this article appeared in 192 news stories from 186 outlets. |
How do I use altmetrics?
Altmetric Explorer provides a detailed step-by-step guide and instruction video for first-time users of the tool. The guide includes useful diagrams that make it easy to get started.
Sharing Research Online
For research to be tracked across different sources, Altmetric needs a research output with a persistent identifier: a DOI, ISBN, PubMed ID, handle ID, etc. When sharing research, it is important to include a link to the original research output.
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“An Update on Eukaryotic Viruses Revived from Ancient Permafrost” Viruses 2023, 15(2), 564; https://doi.org/10.3390/v15020564 Altmetric page: https://mdpi.altmetric.com/details/142929875 Altmetric shows that this article appeared in 250 news stories from 180 outlets including CTV, Fox News, and CNN. |
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“The Global Problem of Insufficient Sleep and Its Serious Public Health Implications” Healthcare 2019, 7(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare7010001 Altmetric page: https://mdpi.altmetric.com/details/53406248 Altmetric shows that this article appeared in 252 news stories from 168 outlets including BBC, Harvard Business Review, and Forbes. |
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“A Detailed Review Study on Potential Effects of Microplastics and Additives of Concern on Human Health” Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(4), 1212; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17041212 Altmetric page: https://mdpi.altmetric.com/details/86529137 Altmetric shows that this article appeared in 197 news stories from 150 outlets including BBC, The Tribune, and World Economic Forum. |
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“An Empirical Study of Chronic Diseases in the United States: A Visual Analytics Approach to Public Health” Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(3), 431; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15030431 Altmetric page: https://mdpi.altmetric.com/details/34714141 Altmetric shows that this article appeared in 232 news stories from 149 outlets including Forbes, New York Times, and Harvard Business Review. |
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“Garden Scraps: Agonistic Interactions between Hedgehogs and Sympatric Mammals in Urban Gardens” Animals 2023, 13(4), 590; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13040590 Altmetric page: https://mdpi.altmetric.com/details/142934305 Altmetric shows that this article appeared in 172 news stories from 168 outlets including BBC. |
Inside MDPI
MDPI Annual Meeting Celebrations in China
On Thursday 25 January, over 1,300 MDPI colleagues from our two offices in Beijing gathered to kick off MDPI’s traditional ‘Annual Meetings.’ These celebrations take place in MDPI’s offices across China, including Dalian, Tianjin, Wuhan, and Nanjing.
The evenings include performances, informative talks and presentations, awards, and entertainment, providing an ideal platform to recognize our colleagues, celebrate their achievements, and set our sights on the future.
“It is essential that we stay connected and share best practices”
I sent a video congratulating everyone on their work and sharing our vision of building MDPI into the most trusted OA publisher, highlighting the roles each of us has to play in achieving that goal.
Unfortunately I could not join in person, but you may recall my recent trip, when I visited our offices in Beijing and Wuhan, which I look forward to visiting again this year.
Although our headquarters are in Basel, Switzerland, and we are expanding throughout Europe and North America, the majority of MDPI’s workforce is in China and throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including offices in Singapore, Thailand, Japan, and newly opened office in South Korea. It is essential that as a global organization, we stay connected and share best practices in order to grow collectively and continue providing the exceptional service to our authors.
The Annual Meeting is a moment to reflect and enjoy the year’s hard work and dedication.
I extend our best wishes to all for the Chinese New Year (Xīnnián kuàilè)!
Coming Together for Science
MDPI and TU Delft Adopt Flat Fee Model in Extended Partnership
We are excited to announce a renewed three-year partnership with Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands. This collaboration introduces a fixed lump-sum fee, covering publishing costs from 2024 to 2026.
“This initiative reflects our dedication to transparent and inclusive publishing”
TU Delft-affiliated authors will enjoy cost-free publishing in any MDPI journal during this period, aligning with our commitment to removing barriers for open access publishing. The agreement supports Plan S compliance and facilitates a seamless publishing process for TU Delft corresponding authors. This initiative reflects our dedication to transparent and inclusive publishing, providing stability and predictability both for authors and for institutions.
For further details on our Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP), please contact us.
Benefits to MDPI’s IOAP
At MDPI we have a long tradition of partnerships, including our Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP). IOAP supports institutions through simplification, access, transparency, APC discounts, and institutional repository deposits. The program simplifies administrative processes, offers central payment, and allows easy opting in and out. Participants gain free access to Susy, MDPI’s online submission system, with extensive article metadata and exportable data. APC discounts and Book Processing Charge discounts are available for affiliated authors. Automated deposits to institutional repositories and streamlined matching of papers to IOAP participants enhance the overall experience.
For further information, see our IOAP FAQ.
Closing Thoughts
Reflections on the 2024 APE Conference
MDPI was proud to co-sponsor the Academic Publishing in Europe (APE) 2024 Conference that took place in Berlin, Germany, from 9–10 January 2024.
The conference theme, ‘Keep the Conversation Going!’, explored the evolving landscape of scholarly communication. APE is one of the key conferences I make a point to attend each year. January offers a valuable opportunity to engage with new contacts, reconnect with familiar faces, and participate in impactful discussions and presentations among professionals, scholars, and practitioners in the field.
“It's fascinating to see how other publishers are leveraging AI”
Highlights
Some of the standout panels for me include: the role of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the publishing industry. It was encouraging to hear the current status quo, though I was eager also to learn about the exciting projects planned for 2024 and beyond. These will allow us to track progress in subsequent years. At MDPI, we remain committed to promoting Open–Access (OA) content on SDGs through scientific articles and books. Furthermore, we extend our commitment to sustainability by financially supporting researchers through initiatives such as the World Sustainability Award and the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award, as well as waiving the APC for feature papers on each SDG.
In recent years, discussions on AI have become increasingly prominent at such conferences. It’s fascinating to see how other publishers are leveraging AI to meet the evolving needs of their audiences while at the same time using it to safeguard the scientific process. Other engaging panels that I enjoyed included updates on transformation beyond transformative agreements, the principles of lean change, incentive structures related to research integrity, and the panel on reviewer incentives.
“We can share best practices and lessons learned”
Incorporating MDPI’s Insights into Conferences
I must confess that I sometimes feel overlooked when MDPI is not invited to participate in crucial industry discussions. As the leading open access publisher and the third-largest publisher overall, we possess extensive experience in many of these areas and can offer valuable contributions to these discussions. We can share best practices, lessons learned, and our thinking about future trajectories. For instance, in panels discussing reviewer incentives, at MDPI we offer a discount voucher to reviewers for future submissions, reflecting our commitment to fostering a robust peer review process. In 2022 alone, MDPI collected over 1.4 million peer review reports, informing the decision-making processes of our editors. Given our expertise in these areas, it would be natural to include MDPI in such discussions. I therefore extend an invitation to future conference organizers to consider MDPI for speaking engagements and collaborative opportunities.
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
5 January 2024
Nutrients | Highly Cited Papers in 2021–2022 in the Section “Sports Nutrition”
5 January 2024
Nutrients | Highly Cited Papers in 2021–2022 in the Section “Proteins and Amino Acids”
5 January 2024
Nutrients | Highly Cited Papers in 2021–2022 in the Section “Prebiotics and Probiotics”
2 January 2024
MDPI Insights: The CEO’s Letter #7 - Nobel Laureates Entrust MDPI with Their Research
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
Nobel Prize Laureates Entrust MDPI with Their Research
The Nobel Prize stands as a hallmark of distinction, honouring ground-breaking research across disciplines. Annually, the Nobel Prizes are awarded in six categories: Physics, Chemistry, Medicine or Physiology, Literature, Peace, and Economic Sciences.
Through the years, renowned scholars have entrusted MDPI with their work. As at December 2023, 26 Nobel laureates have contributed to more than 75 articles across 25 MDPI journals, including: Antibiotics, Applied Sciences, Biology, Biomedicines, Cancers, Catalysts, Cells, Crystals, Entropy, Games, IJMS, Life, Materials, Micromachines, Molecules, Pharmaceuticals, Pharmaceutics, Photonics, Quantum Beam Science, Remote Sensing, Sensors, Solids, Universe, Vaccines, and Viruses.
The best of the best trust us with their work.
Nobel Prize Laureates Who Have Published with MDPI
We are proud to list the names of Pierre Agostini, Hiroshi Amano, Werner Arber, Aaron Ciechanover, Robert H. Grubbs, Oliver Hart, Gerard ‘t Hooft, Michael Houghton, Harald zur Hausen, Katalin Karikó, Jean-Marie Lehn, Gérard Mourou, Ferid Murad, Shuji Nakamura, William Nordhaus, Kostya S. Novoselov, Giorgio Parisi, Charles M. Rice, Alvin E. Roth, Donna Strickland, K. Barry Sharpless, George F. Smoot, Anne L’Huillier, Drew Weissman, Kurt Wüthrich, Ada Yonath.
The privilege of hosting such contributors resonates deeply with our editorial teams. For instance, in this interview, the Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of Universe speaks on the significance of publishing a paper by Nobel laureate Gerard ’t Hooft within the journal.
2023 Nobel Prize Winners Published by MDPI
Nobel Prize Winners, 2023: Katalin Karikó, Drew Weissman, Anne L’Huillier (Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach)
Three laureates from the 2023 Nobel Prize cohort have trusted MDPI as their publishing platform. Notably, in a 2022 Pharmaceutics paper, molecular biologist Katalin Karikó and her team presented a methodology for evaluating mRNA capping efficiency, pivotal for therapeutic applications. Pharmaceutics had previously dedicated a Special Issue to “mRNA Therapeutics: A Themed Issue in Honor of Professor Katalin Karikó”, spotlighting ten articles from August 2021 to February 2022.
In the journal Vaccines, Professor Drew Weissman, collaborating with scholars from Pennsylvania University and George Mason University, contributed an influential review titled “Nanomaterial Delivery Systems for mRNA Vaccines”. His collaborative efforts spanned five papers across MDPI journals between 2021 and 2023.
Furthermore, Anne L'Huillier of Lund University, only the fifth female recipient of the Physics Prize, co-authored an article in Applied Sciences focusing on "Advanced EUV and X-Ray Optics". Similarly, Pierre Agostini, an Emeritus Professor from Ohio State University, co-authored an article featured in the special issue "Attosecond Science and Technology: Principles and Applications".
We extend heartfelt congratulations to all Nobel Prize laureates and express sincere gratitude for their confidence in MDPI as a platform for their scholarly contributions.
Read more:
Impactful Research
MDPI Journals Newly Indexed in 2023
The aim of indexing is to enhance the quality and credibility of published research, ensuring that researchers access the most credible resources available. While the principle behind citation indexing is straightforward, it remains one of the most dependable methods for tracking an idea's evolution across various scientific disciplines.
Throughout the year, MDPI works to expand the reach of our publications across premier multidisciplinary databases like Web of Science, Scopus, EBSCO, and ProQuest. This initiative is spearheaded by MDPI's Indexing team, under the leadership of Dr. Constanze Schelhorn.
In 2023, MDPI achieved 54 new acceptances in Scopus, 29 in Web of Science, 52 in EBSCO, and 83 in DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals.
The team prioritizes ensuring that our journals feature in numerous specialized databases, including PMC, PubMed, MEDLINE, Inspec, CAS, and FSTA, among others. Currently, MDPI collaborates with over 65 renowned international databases, consistently enhancing our database affiliations annually.
MDPI’s journals are indexed in all major global databases.
Furthermore, we collaborate with universities and government organizations to list our journals in country-specific ranking lists and relevant institutional repositories. This ensures compliance with requirements often set by funders or institutions for authors to publish in specific journals.
Web of Science Adds 24 MDPI Journals to Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)
Clarivate recently analysed MDPI’s new journals, resulting in 24 journals, mainly established in 2020, being added to the ESCI in November and December 2023. Additionally, five journals passed this assessment earlier in the year. For a complete list of our journals in Web of Science, refer here. Journals in the ESCI meet 24 quality criteria, ensuring editorial rigor. They may be considered for inclusion in broader indices like the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), or the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), based on four impact criteria.
Read more:
Inside MDPI
MDPI Appoints New Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Alistair Freeland returned to MDPI and assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer in November 2023, a position he previously held from 2013 to 2019. He succeeds Dr. Yu Lin, who will remain a member of MDPI’s Board of Directors, overseeing significant financial decisions for the company. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Yu Lin for his service as COO.
Alistair brings extensive experience not only in scholarly publishing but also in technology and business management. Prior to rejoining MDPI, he was associated with SIX Group, the entity responsible for Switzerland's financial market infrastructure. There, he played a pivotal role in developing the blockchain-based platform SDX (SIX Digital Exchange), which has gained traction among major Swiss banks and the Swiss National Bank.
As COO, Alistair will collaborate with the MDPI management team to improve the practices and services we offer to scholarly communities. I am pleased to welcome Alistair back to MDPI and look forward to his contributions going forward.
Coming Together for Science
MDPI’s 2024 In-Person Academic Events Schedule
MDPI's Conference Team is dedicated to organizing and hosting in-person academic events across Europe, Asia-Pacific, and North America. We recognize conferences as invaluable platforms for scientific collaboration, scholarly exchange, discussions on contemporary topics, networking, and forging collaborations.
Here's a glimpse of the notable events we currently have scheduled for 2024:
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14–16 February, 2024 |
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24–26 April, 2024 |
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28–31 May, 2024 |
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1–4 August, 2024 |
Upcoming events with details to be announced:
- September 2024, Materials 2024 – Basel, Switzerland
- 19–21 September 2024, International Conference on Nanomaterials Sciences 2024 – Beijing, China
- October 2024, ncRNA 2024 – Basel, Switzerland
- November 2024, Pharmaceuticals 2024 – Barcelona, Spain
- 22–26 November 2024, International Conference on Science of Electronics – Wuhan, China
- Stay tuned for more details on the Sustainable Publishing Forum 2024.
Click here for all upcoming MDPI events.
Organize Your Event with MDPI’s Sciforum
Sciforum is MDPI’s platform dedicated to the organization of scientific events. In line with our mission to promote science, Sciforum supports scholars, societies, research networks, and universities at all stages of organizing in-person events, virtual events and webinars. Our platforms are efficient, user-friendly, and cost-effective. We handle all steps related to event management. Contact us for details.
Closing Thoughts
Reflecting on 2023 and Looking Ahead to 2024
As we approach 2024, I reflect on the incredible journey we’ve had together at MDPI this year. The past 12 months have been marked by ambitious projects and initiatives to improve our internal processes, and a commitment to continue delivering top-notch services to our stakeholders. I’d like to thank each and every one of our staff members for contributing to the positive experiences our stakeholders have reported in our surveys. Your dedication to speed, efficiency, and effective communication with our stakeholders is very much recognized and appreciated.
Becoming a stronger organisation
While we have encountered challenges in 2023, it’s important to understand that these are a part of our growth process. Difficulties provide us with opportunities to reflect, address problems at their roots, and ultimately evolve into a stronger organization. Our stakeholders expect us to overcome tough times, and it’s an expectation that we have for ourselves.
I extend my sincere appreciation to every MDPI employee, from our editorial office and IT department to marketing, indexing, IOAP, societies, Scientific Office board, products, production, conferences, finance, operations, admin, and beyond. To our newest team members, a warm welcome; to our longstanding colleagues, your dedication is invaluable.
“I am committed to taking MDPI to a new level of excellence.”
Interacting with many of you during my visits to our offices and representing MDPI at external events has been a personal highlight. I am deeply grateful to Dr. Lin for entrusting me with the role of CEO of MDPI. Looking forward, I am committed to working closely with our management team to lead MDPI and take it to a new level of excellence, aiming to establish it as the most trusted publisher in open access worldwide. This is a collective endeavour, with each of us shaping MDPI’s reputation. I therefore encourage us to take pride in our work, as it represents not only our craft but also MDPI as a whole.
Accountability and communication
As we look forward to 2024, there’s a lot to be excited about. Together, we’ll navigate challenges, seize growth opportunities, and refine our practices. To solidify MDPI’s position as the premier open access publisher globally, we must bolster accountability, improve stakeholder communication, share MDPI’s best practices, champion the open access philosophy, and educate stakeholders about our mission, methodologies, and motivations.
Thank you for engaging with the CEO Letter over the past six months of 2023. I will continue to release this newsletter as a method of sharing the great work being done at MDPI. Please feel free to connect directly with any insights or questions.
Here’s to a joyous and prosperous 2024!
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
29 December 2023
Nutrients | Invitation to Read the Current Editor’s Choice Articles Published in 2021–2023
27 December 2023
Meet Us Online at the 4th International Electronic Conference on Nutrients (IECN 2024), 16–18 October 2024
22 December 2023
Nutrients Webinar | Functional Foods and Sustainable Health, 31 January 2024
Functional foods have become a growing trend worldwide due to consumers’ demand for foods with health-promoting effects as well as manufacturers’ interest in a rapidly growing market. The inclusion of functional foods in a balanced dietary plan may have an impact on the prevention and management of diseases, and consequently it can support health sustainability and economic growth.
The Special Issue “Functional Foods and Sustainable Health” aims to highlight the use of functional foods for the prevention and management of chronic diseases and healthy aging, as well as the underlying mechanisms connecting functional foods/ingredients with beneficial effects on target body functions.
In the context of this Special Issue, this webinar aims to discuss different aspects of the research in the field of functional foods, including the following:
- Ethical issues and concerns with the use of animals in food science;
- Practical issues for the bioactivity assessment of functional foods during nutritional interventions/clinical trials;
- Generation of novel food products using functional ingredients.
Date: 31 January 2024 at 10:00 a.m. CET | 5:00 p.m. CST Asia
Webinar ID: 847 4883 5937
Webinar website: https://sciforum.net/event/Nutrients-12
Register now for free!
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Speaker |
Presentation |
Time in CET |
Time in CST Asia |
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Dr. Amalia Yanni and Prof. Dr. Yiannis Kourkoutas |
Chair Introduction |
10:00–10:10 a.m. |
5:00–5:10 p.m. |
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Dr. Nikolaos Kostomitsopoulos |
Ethical Issues and Concerns on the Use of Animals in Food Science |
10:10–10:30 a.m. |
5:10–5:30 p.m. |
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Dr. Antonios E. Koutelidakis and Dr. Olga Papagianni |
Nutritional Interventions-Clinical Trials: Practical Issues for Bioactivity Assessment of Innovative Functional Foods |
10:30–10:50 a.m. |
5:30–5:50 p.m. |
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Prof. Dr. Andreas Tzakos |
Exploiting the Epirusherbs Database to Generate Novel Products |
10:50–11:10 a.m. |
5:50–6:10 p.m. |
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Q&A Session |
11:10–11:25 a.m. |
6:10–6:25 p.m. |
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Dr. Amalia Yanni and Prof. Dr. Yiannis Kourkoutas |
Closing of Webinar |
11:25–11:30 a.m. |
6:25–6:30 p.m. |
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.
Unable to attend? Register anyway and we will let you know when the recording is available to watch.
Webinar Chairs and Keynote Speakers:
- Dr. Amalia Yanni, Laboratory of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Physical Chemistry of Foods, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece;
- Prof. Dr. Yiannis Kourkoutas, Laboratory of Applied Microbiology & Biotechnology, Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece;
- Dr. Nikolaos Kostomitsopoulos, Senior Research Scientist, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, Athens 115 27, Greece;
- Dr. Antonios E. Koutelidakis, Unit of Human Nutrition, Laboratory of Nutrition and Public Health, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of the Aegean, 81400 Lemnos, Greece;
- Dr. Olga Papagianni, Unit of Human Nutrition, Laboratory of Nutrition and Health, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of the Aegean, 81400 Lemnos, Greece;
- Dr. Andreas Tzakos, Section of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GR-45110, Greece.
Relevant Special Issue:
“Functional Foods and Sustainable Health”
Guest Editors: Amalia Yanni and Yiannis Kourkoutas
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 March 2024
12 December 2023
Editorial Board Members from Nutrients Featured in the 2023 Highly Cited Researchers List Published by Clarivate
7 December 2023
Nutrients | Highly Cited Papers in 2021–2022 in the Section “Micronutrients and Human Health”
7 December 2023
Nutrients | Highly Cited Papers in 2021–2022 in the Section “Geriatric Nutrition”
6 December 2023
Nutrients 2023 Young Investigator Award—Winner Announced
30 November 2023
MDPI Insights: The CEO’s Letter #6 - MDPI Spain Summit and ResearchGate
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
MDPI Spain Summit
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI) gives the opening speech at the MDPI Spain Summit.
On Friday 10 November 2023 I was in Barcelona, Spain, to deliver the opening presentation and participate in a panel at MDPI’s Spain Summit, a two-day event, inspired by our salon events in China.
With 16 Editors-in-Chief (EiCs) and 20 Editorial Board Members (EBMs) in attendance, the event, organized by our conference team and Barcelona office, featured presentations on open access (OA), MDPI, and publishing market trends in Spain.
The event provided a great opportunity to engage with stakeholders from various MDPI journals, including Nutrients, Vaccines, Buildings, IJMS, and others. We were able to gather feedback and have open conversations around manuscript quality, the peer-review process, and journal development, as well as accreditation agencies.
Connecting with Editorial Board Members
Stefan Tochev in conversation with Summit participants: "Our EBMs are passionate about the journals they serve."
Interacting with our EBMs in person provides a valuable opportunity to show how important it is to us to connect with them, hear their perspectives on their journals and learn more about their own experience collaborating with MDPI.
From my conversations, it was clear that our EBMs are passionate about the journals they serve. I know the advice they provide may sometimes involve just small tweaks, but these can lead to important improvements. As the saying goes, small hinges swing open big doors.
As at November 2023, MDPI has over 6,300 EBMs affiliated with Spanish institutions, with more than 30 of them serving as EiCs or section EiCs. Furthermore, over 68,000 Spanish scholars have contributed as reviewers in MDPI journals.
Open Access in Spain
In 2023, Spain implemented legislation mandating immediate OA for all publicly funded research, aligning with the EU’s Plan S initiative to expedite the transition to OA. The Spanish government also approved a four-year, €23.8 million annual budget for the first national OA strategy, aiming to make publicly funded research freely accessible upon publication. This strategy aims to strengthen the quality and transparency of research in Spain, and to help promote movement towards a digital, low-carbon economy.
For further details of Spain's OA policy and the history of government mandates, click here.
Spain has already seen a notable decline in subscription-only articles, decreasing by 62% over a 10-year period, while gold OA increased by 42%. Green OA slightly decreased, suggesting a shift towards publishing in gold OA journals rather than traditional subscription-based ones. Here are some statistics from Scopus.
A big thank-you to the various MDPI teams, including our conference team and the Barcelona office, for organizing this very successful event!
MDPI colleagues from various offices gathered to host and support the first MDPI Spain Summit, in Barcelona, Spain.
I think this type of gathering has the potential to become an annual event in various locations. For example, Manchester could be an option, as we have over 30 EiCs and over 3,000 EBMs in the UK, a top market for MDPI that publishes high-quality research.
Impactful Research
769 Editorial Board Members of MDPI Journals Recognized as Highly Cited Researchers in 2023
Congratulations to our 769 Editorial Board Members from 40 countries/territories who have been awarded Highly Cited Researcher status for 2023 by Clarivate. This recognition is based on their outstanding scientific research contributions and significant influence in various fields, as evidenced by Web of Science data.
Click here to view the full list of 769 Editorial Board Members.
Clarivate's Highly Cited ResearchersTM list identifies individuals with exceptional impact in scientific and social science domains over the past decade. Their papers rank in the top 1% of citations in 21 fields analysed in ‘Essential Science Indicators,’ showcasing their substantial influence.
This year, 7,125 Highly Cited Researcher 2023 designations were issued to 6,849 individuals from 67 countries, representing just 1 in 1,000 researchers worldwide.
These researchers demonstrate exceptional influence, representing a small fraction of contributors pushing the boundaries of knowledge, contributing to global well-being, sustainability, and security.
Congratulations to these scholars for their remarkable achievement: we are honoured to have them on board with our journals!
Inside MDPI
Corporate Marketing and Communications Strategy Session
Members of MDPI’s Corporate Marketing & Communications team.
For the past few years, I have led the Corporate Marketing & Communications department in our annual strategy session.
This typically involves 2–3 days of focused sessions covering key topics including budgeting, hiring targets, campaign reviews, and planning for the upcoming year, department strategy, and structure.
We are constantly exploring ways to optimize the Corporate Marketing & Communications department to support MDPI’s primary objectives and better convey the MDPI story while serving the scholarly community.
The strategy session also serves as a team-building activity, during which the team voted on bowling!
Strategy Session
In this strategy session, we looked at how to align our teams in order to better streamline our content with our campaigns, build a dedicated marketing team to strategically support our core MDPI products, expand our communications teams and functionalities to focus on company-critical campaigns and press releases, align our new brand design system with our marketing initiatives, set up a community and engagement team to support various teams with their outreach and communication efforts, and increase our use of data in the evaluation of campaign performance.
To grow in these areas, we will be hiring for various positions, including those of Public Relations Manager, Communications Manager, Internal Communications Manager, Campaign Manager, Marketing Associate, and Editorial Engagement Manager.
I am grateful for the way our Corporate Marketing & Communications department has grown and gelled over the years, and I look forward to supporting the department teams and their ideas for the future.
Coming Together for Science
ResearchGate and MDPI Partner to Boost the Visibility of Open Access Content through Journal Home
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI) and Sören Hofmayer (Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, ResearchGate) meet in Berlin, Germany to take their ongoing discussion further.
When I assumed the role of CEO at MDPI, my primary focus was to initiate the building of essential partnerships and collaborations within our industry. After all, I am a firm believer in achieving our goals by helping others achieve theirs and focusing on co-opetition wherever there is an opportunity. I first touched on the notion of co-opetition in MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter #3, particularly when discussing collaborations with Elsevier.
In light of this, Sören Hofmayer (Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at ResearchGate) and I connected recently to continue a discussion that had been ongoing for months. I was quickly brought up to speed and felt there was an opportunity for MDPI journals to pilot the Journal Home service that ResearchGate had launched. This would provide a new way for MDPI to engage with authors and readers and amplify the visibility of our journals.
While I receive many offers and opportunities for discussions with vendors, I am a firm believer that timing is everything, and in this case, the time for us is now. Sören and I met in person during my recent visit to Berlin and decided to proceed with piloting ten MDPI journals with the Journal Home service.
The press release below provides further details.
Press Release: Berlin (Germany) and Basel (Switzerland), 15 November 2023
ResearchGate, the professional network for researchers, and MDPI, the largest open access publisher in the world and a pioneer in open access publishing, today announced a partnership that will see ten of MDPI’s open access journals benefit from an enhanced presence on ResearchGate through its innovative Journal Home offering.
This new partnership will expand the reach and visibility of MDPI’s participating flagship journals with ResearchGate’s highly relevant community of more than 25 million researchers globally.
Around 210,000 version-of-record articles from these 10 titles will be readily available on ResearchGate, including the full archive material and all new articles as they are published. These journals also benefit from enhanced brand visibility, with dedicated journal profiles, prominent representation on all associated article pages and all relevant touchpoints across the ResearchGate network – keeping the journals top-of-mind with their reader and author audiences. All articles covered by the new partnership will automatically be added to the authors’ publication records in ResearchGate. This not only reduces MDPI authors’ needs for direct management but also offers them valuable insights into the impact of their work, including data about readership and citations.
Closing Thoughts
November is Men’s Health Awareness Month
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI) listening to music as he writes at a coffee shop in Basel, Switzerland.
November is dedicated to raising awareness of various men’s health issues. I have been fortunate to have positive male role models in my life, and I strive to share my experiences with others.
I used to take part in Movember, growing my moustache throughout November to raise awareness and funds and to help “change the face of men’s health.” With male family and friends impacted by physical and mental health issues, I have recently become more interested in men’s overall well-being.
Men often face stigma involving the perceived need always to be strong and have things figured out. Recently, I’ve had meaningful conversations with male friends and colleagues about issues we rarely discuss, and it was a positive experience.
Various factors impact men’s health and well-being, all too easily leading to risky health behaviours including a lack of health awareness, poor health education, and negative, culturally induced, behaviour patterns in our work and personal lives. I hope we can break down these barriers in our work environment.
Healthy men help build healthy families and a healthy society
Men are less likely than women to seek help with their physical and mental health struggles. This is a reminder to prioritize your overall well-being. I hope that as men, we will continue to open up to one another, becoming vulnerable in order to share what we are going through. By sharing and by supporting each other, we can learn and grow together. You are not alone, and when you fall, you can still get up and stand tall.
From one broski to another, you are loved and appreciated. I hope this mindset carries into December and beyond.
Mindfulness
Our content team recently released a handful of articles on mindfulness, a practice that I believe provides a good opportunity for stress release and self-reflection:
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
22 November 2023
Recruiting Reviewer Board Members for Nutrients
21 November 2023
769 Editorial Board Members of MDPI Journals Achieve Highly Cited Researcher Recognition in 2023
15 November 2023
Nutrients | Highly Cited Papers in 2021 in the Section “Nutrition and Public Health”
15 November 2023
Nutrients | Highly Cited Papers in 2021 in the Section “Clinical Nutrition”
13 November 2023
Nutrients | Highly Cited Papers in 2021–2022 in the Section “Nutritional Policies and Education for Health Promotion”
11 November 2023
Nutrients | Highly Cited Papers in 2021–2022 in the Section “Nutrition in Women”
11 November 2023
Nutrients | Highly Cited Papers in 2021–2022 in the Section “Phytochemicals and Human Health”
1 November 2023
MDPI Insights: The CEO’s Letter #5 - OA Week, UK, and Strategy
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
Open Access Week 2023 – the Global Drive to Open Continues
As the world's largest open-access (OA) publisher, we believe that unrestricted access to research findings is the cornerstone of transparency, efficiency, and quality control across scientific disciplines. At MDPI, we provide free, immediate access to scientific papers, empowering scientists to examine, validate, replicate, and build upon existing results. This minimizes redundancy, optimizes resources, and fosters innovative approaches.
International OA Week, held from 23 to 29 October 2023, provided a unique opportunity to link the global movement toward open sharing and open science with the progress of policy changes at the local level. Our mission, during OA Week and all the year round, is to offer educational resources highlighting the benefits of open-access publishing. The MDPI Blog is a valuable resource for information on open access and open science.
Core principles of OA publishing
Accessibility, transparency, and collaboration are core principles of OA publishing. OA aims to break down barriers that have traditionally restricted research access, ensuring that knowledge is available to all, regardless of financial situation or institutional affiliations. Our commitment to diverse pathways for OA publishing worldwide includes discounts for researchers. You can learn more about how MDPI supports scientific communities here.
One of the key strengths of OA publishing is its ability to facilitate interdisciplinary research. By removing paywalls and promoting knowledge-sharing across disciplines, OA encourages collaboration and innovation. Researchers from various fields can access and build upon each others’ work, fostering a holistic approach to addressing complex global challenges.
OA holds the potential to democratize knowledge, advance science, and drive positive societal change.
Policy driving change
Governments, institutions, and funding agencies have recognized the transformative potential of OA and have implemented policies to promote it. These policies often require publicly funded research to be made openly accessible, accelerating the growth of OA repositories and journals. Check out our spotlights on OA policies in the US, EU and China.
OA publishing is continuously evolving, with community-driven models and technologies shaping its future. Initiatives such as “Plan S” and “cOAlition S” promote OA publishing from the perspective of national funders, requiring grantees to publish their research openly. A new policy announced by the US administration last year mandates that, with effect from January 2026, all US federally funded research should be freely and immediately available after publication.
Additionally, preprint servers such as MDPI's Preprints.org, which allow researchers to share their findings before formal peer review, have gained popularity, enhancing the speed at which new knowledge is disseminated. The rise of blockchain technology is also being explored to ensure transparency and authenticity in scholarly publishing.
For more than two decades, OA publishing has been revolutionizing academic publishing by promoting accessibility, transparency, and collaboration. Its support for interdisciplinary research, evolving policies, and innovative practices all contribute to its growing influence in the global research community. As OA continues to expand, it holds the potential to democratize knowledge, advance science, and drive positive societal change.
MDPI is proud to lead the transition to open access.
Read more:
Impactful Research
Spotlight on Smart Cities
Smart cities will serve as a cornerstone for future human development. Their implementation will help us tackle many of the significant challenges we are facing – climate change, ageing populations, waste management, public safety, travel, and so on. Recognising the importance of this multifaceted field, MDPI launched the inaugural issue of Smart Cities in 2018 to provide an advanced forum for research into smart technology and society. Here we take a look at how this journal has developed, and its impact in this exciting field.
As at 30 October, 2023, Smart Cities has published 421 papers and has an Impact Factor of 6.4. It also has a CiteScore of 8.5, and more than one quarter of its published papers – 124 – have been cited 10 times or more.
Highly cited papers in Smart Cities
Below are several highly cited papers recently published in Smart Cities. Citation metrics are current as at 31 October 2023.
1. “Introducing the “15-Minute City”: Sustainability, Resilience and Place Identity in Future Post-Pandemic Cities”
Authors: Carlos Moreno, Zaheer Allam, Didier Chabaud, Catherine Gall and Florent Pratlong
Smart Cities 2021, 4(1), 93-111; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities4010006
Citations: Crossref (338), Scopus (366), Web of Science (270), Google Scholar (710)
The paper discusses the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 on cities, including increasing inequalities and rising unemployment. It introduces the concept of the "15-Minute City," a form of "chrono-urbanism," as a response to the challenges posed by the pandemic.
2. “A Review on Electric Vehicles: Technologies and Challenges”
Authors: Julio A. Sanguesa, Vicente Torres-Sanz, Piedad Garrido, Francisco J. Martinez and Johann M. Marquez-Barja
Smart Cities 2021, 4(1), 372-404; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities4010022
Citations: Crossref (359), Scopus (363), Web of Science (268), Google Scholar (558)
This paper provides an overview of the progress in Electric Vehicles (EVs), focusing on battery technology, charging methods, and emerging research challenges. It also analyzes the global EV market and its future outlook.
3. “IoT in Smart Cities: A Survey of Technologies, Practices and Challenges”
Authors: Abbas Shah Syed, Daniel Sierra-Sosa, Anup Kumar and Adel Elmaghraby
Smart Cities 2021, 4(2), 429-475; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities4020024
Citations: Crossref (121), Scopus (151), Web of Science (91), Google Scholar (215)
This paper gives an overview of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the context of Smart Cities, discussing the fundamental components, technologies, architectures, networking technologies, and artificial algorithms that underpin IoT-based Smart City systems.
4. “Artificial Intelligence Techniques in Smart Grid: A Survey”
Authors: Olufemi A. Omitaomu and Haoran Niu
Smart Cities 2021, 4(2), 548-568; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities4020029
Citations: Crossref (76), Scopus (94), Web of Science (57), Google Scholar (120)
This survey paper reviews the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques in the context of the smart grid. It covers various applications of AI in load forecasting, power grid stability assessment, fault detection, and security issues in the smart grid and power systems.
5. “The Metaverse as a Virtual Form of Smart Cities: Opportunities and Challenges for Environmental, Economic, and Social Sustainability in Urban Futures”
Authors: Zaheer Allam, Ayyoob Sharifi, Simon Elias Bibri, David Sydney Jones and John Krogstie
Smart Cities 2022, 5(3), 771-801; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities5030040
Citations: Crossref (72), Scopus (75), Web of Science (43), Google Scholar (176)
This paper discusses the concept of the Metaverse, a virtual world introduced by Meta (formerly Facebook), and its potential impact on urban life. It explores how emerging technologies such as AI, Big Data, IoT, and Digital Twins could reshape urban design and services in the context of the Metaverse.
Testimonial
“It was indeed a great and pleasant experience with MDPI regarding our recent publication. The submission process was very straightforward and less time-consuming than the norm. The review process was very fast compared to many other open access journals, which is praiseworthy. The support from the Editorial Office during the revision process was highly useful as well. We look forward to publishing with MDPI in the future, and I will most definitely recommend MDPI to my colleagues and collaborators.” – Dr. Luís Rosa, University of Minho
Article in Smart Cities: Mobile Networks and Internet of Things Infrastructures to Characterize Smart Human Mobility
Inside MDPI
MDPI Manchester office, UK Visit
Allie Shi (Editorial Director, MDPI), Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI), Jamie Anderson (Manchester Office Manager, MDPI), Michael O’Sullivan (Senior Scientific Officer, MDPI), Hushneara Akhtar, and Becky Castellon (IOAP Team Lead, MDPI), dining out in Manchester, UK.
In October, I visited MDPI’s new office in Manchester. During the visit, I connected with our English Editing (EE) managers, Scientific Officer, members of the Editorial team, the Marketing team, and IOAP Team Lead.
Our Manchester office focuses primarily on EE services and provides local support for the UK market. Additionally, we regularly visit Editorial Board members and participate in local conferences.
I would like to thank Jamie Anderson, Manchester Office Manager, and her team, for their deep commitment to our Manchester staff and to MDPI’s impact on the UK market.
The UK by numbers
The UK is a hub for the world’s top universities, making it a key market for MDPI and the publishing world in general. It is home to two of the top-five-ranked universities globally, 11 in the top 100, and 15 in the top 200.
As a result, the UK plays a key role in MDPI’s global market. As at October 2023, it ranks as the seventh-largest contributor to the total number of papers published by MDPI. We have 3,500 Editorial Board members affiliated with UK institutions, including 34 serving as Editors-in-Chief (EiCs). Our commitment to collaboration with institutions is evident in the UK, where we have successfully established some 60 Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) agreements with esteemed institutions, such as the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, the University of Edinburgh, and more.
According to InCites Dataset + ESCI for the period 2018–2022, as at October 2023, nearly 65% of UK papers are now published as OA. Just over 10% of total OA publications are by UK authors. UK papers are known for their high quality, with an average of 11 citations per paper. Furthermore, 2.16% of UK papers are in the top 1% of cited papers, and 14.61% are in the top 10% of cited papers, showcasing their impact.
We are currently hiring EEs in various locations worldwide.
English Editing at MDPI
Our English Editing (EE) department consists of two main branches, Quality Control and Learning and Development, reflecting our priorities. We are continuously enhancing the quality of our English Editing services and have raised the relevant standards, which now extend to company-wide communications. English editors participate in international interviews, conduct English assessments, and provide colleagues with presentations on ways to improve their use of written and spoken English.
While expanding, the EE department has proactively refocused its efforts on the quality of our work and how the English Editing department can benefit the company more broadly. We currently have approximately 140 full-time English Editors based across five offices worldwide, supplemented by over 700 freelance English editors.
Our Manchester office serves as the hub for the EE Department, with EE Managers situated there, except for Kurtis Jackson, who serves as the Head of EE and is located in our Basel office. Manchester EEs play a critical role in establishing and developing EE teams in our other offices, overseeing management and recruitment. The EE department plays a vital role in MDPI’s operations, as it is the department that touches every published paper. If this work interests you, I encourage you to explore our available EE positions, whether you are seeking full-time or freelance opportunities.
Testimonials
“MDPI provides an excellent service compared to any other previously used services. It delivers fast and high-quality results but at an affordable price.” – Ardha Apriyanto, University of Potsdam
“In my role as a professor, I consider that MDPI Author Services offer an excellent quality in the editing of Western academic writing while maintaining the required standards of clarity, precision and rigor. Additionally, delivery times are fast compared to other available services.” – Jesus Insuasti, University of Nariño
Read more:
Coming Together for Science
STM and Frankfurt Book Fair
Attending STM
MDPI has been a proud sponsor of the STM Conference for several years. The STM Conference is a dynamic event featuring interactive sessions, expert panellists, idea-sharing, and ample networking opportunities. On 16 October, the event kicked off with arrival drinks, sponsored by MDPI, followed by a welcoming dinner, providing a great chance to connect and network with industry professionals. The following day was filled with speakers, sessions, and further opportunities to connect. STM exemplifies the collaborative spirit of the scientific community, with session topics including achieving open, visible, and impactful research at scale; maintaining research integrity in a rapidly changing world; and exploring the impact of ever-evolving technology in the scholarly community.
Meeting with Web of Science
On a personal note, one of the highlights of STM was a candid and productive conversation with Nandita Quaderi, Editor-in-Chief and SVP at Web of Science. During our discussion, we talked about MDPI, Web of Science, the IJERPH delisting, and ways of moving forward. This open conversation aimed at fostering better collaboration for the future.
“We discussed ways to improve our communication and collaboration.”
I appreciated our frank discussion and felt that Nandita wholeheartedly supports open access. She also expressed her appreciation for the monthly CEO Letter, which she sees as a way to add personality to the MDPI brand and provide insight into the great work we do at MDPI. While we highlighted the positives, we also discussed ways to improve our communication and collaboration moving forward. This meeting alone made the trip worthwhile, and I hope Nandita doesn’t mind my sharing that she found our chat to be “the most honest and constructive discussion” she’s had with someone from MDPI in recent years.
75th Frankfurt Book Fair
Jelena Milojevic (Book Editor, MDPI), Jovana Dubajic (Book Editor, MDPI), Evan Escamilla (Project Manager, MDPI), Laura Wagner (Head of Books, MDPI), and Jenny Knowles (Commissioning Editor, MDPI), at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
For the 75th time, the Frankfurter Buchmesse opened its doors in October to celebrate exciting stories and their authors. If you haven’t yet had the chance to visit the Frankfurt Book Fair, I highly recommend it. It’s the largest book fair in the world, attracting thousands of visitors from around the globe. This is the place to gain valuable industry insights from top-class publishing professionals, connect with publishers directly, and learn about the latest trends in publishing.
MDPI Books
Our Books team was also present at the Frankfurt Book Fair, networking and learning from various panels. Did you know that our MDPI Books department publishes OA Books?
The book publishing program includes monographs, book series, edited books and reprints of special issues and topical collections, among other book types.
If you have a book proposal you would like to discuss, please feel free to contact our Books team to understand the benefits and methods of publishing your next book with the OA model.
Closing Thoughts
MDPI Strategy Meeting
As the newly appointed CEO, this is my first year leading the MDPI Senior Management Strategy session. I saw it as an opportunity to explore what MDPI has the potential to become in the next five years. Guided by the vision of its founder and President, Dr. Shu-kun Lin, the company has accomplished remarkable feats over the past 27 years and currently holds the position as the world’s third-largest academic publisher, following Springer Nature and Elsevier.
Our primary objective is to build upon the milestones of the past decades and consolidate MDPI’s position as well-established publishing brand. The two-day meeting emphasized the importance of communicating MDPI’s values more actively via its brand and adopting a straightforward yet impactful approach to managing MDPI as a mature academic publisher.
“Our primary objective is to consolidate MDPI’s position as well-established publishing brand”
As the world’s number one open-access publisher, MDPI has long been a game-changer in the scholarly community, serving millions of authors. The challenge in being a trailblazer is the need to continuously improve and at the same time explore the next blue-ocean strategy, while also maintaining the smooth operation of the business. Our collection model, featuring guest-curated thematic topics in the form of Special Issues, has disrupted the industry. Other publishers closely study us and attempt to replicate our models. The future of this collection model is something we are actively addressing – while, of course, looking ahead to what comes next!
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
30 October 2023
Nutrients | Top 10 Highly Cited Papers in 2022
30 October 2023
Nutrients | Top 10 Highly Cited Papers in 2021
27 October 2023
Nutrients | Top 10 Highly Cited Papers in 2021–2022 Written by Editorial Board Members
19 October 2023
Open Access Week 2023 – the Global Drive to Open Continues
13 October 2023
Meet Us at the 14th European Nutrition Conference, 14–17 November 2023, Belgrade, Serbia
13 October 2023
Meet Us at the 34th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Clinical Sports Medicine, 11–12 November 2023, Tokyo, Japan
11 October 2023
Nutrients | Invitation to Read the Updated Editor’s Choice Articles Published in 2021–2023
8 October 2023
Meet Us at APHA’s 2023 Annual Meeting and Expo, 12–15 November 2023, Atlanta, USA
2 October 2023
MDPI Insights: The CEO’s Letter #4 - MDPI Presence in China
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
Open Access in China
It is Saturday, 23 September, and I have just returned from an unforgettable 12-day trip to China, visiting our main offices in Beijing and Wuhan. In the wake of a packed and very enjoyable agenda of internal and external meetings, I would like to use this edition of the CEO Letter to showcase how MDPI supports the scholarly community in China.
Coincidentally, Jack McKenna, Communications Associate from MDPI’s corporate content team, has just released a blog article discussing China’s open access (OA) policy. It is a timely read, providing a concise overview of the development of the OA movement in China and reflecting on its future. I shall draw some content from Jack’s piece and use this edition of the CEO Letter to highlight the various ways in which MDPI is involved in this market. And it would be remiss of me not to include some pictures and highlights from my travels!
Open Access Policy in China
As per Jack’s post, in 2020, China became the world’s leading producer of research articles. Today, China is experiencing a “substantial growth rate in OA [Open Access] publication”. This growth is supported by the State’s commitment to research & development and its policy “requiring the promotion of open science”.
Over the past two decades, there have been gradual developments in China’s OA framework, with repositories and platforms being developed in a consistent manner. Currently, key institutions across China – including the National Science Library, the National Science and Technology Library, and the Natural Science Foundation of China – support OA. The State aims to establish consistent policies across government agencies – a framework for a more encompassing embrace of OA across institutions.
In China, the number of subscription-only articles decreased by nearly 30% over the 10-year period of 2011–2021, while gold OA increased by 22%. Between 2017 and 2020 alone, China published 800,921 academic papers in an OA format.
In 2023, as the leading publisher of academic research, China is pursuing “self-reliance”. Therefore, the State will be establishing consistent policies across government agencies, including those related to OA. Additionally, it will want to ensure that Chinese people can access the research that is supported by Chinese funding and produced by Chinese academics. For this reason, “Open Access is a matter of priority in China”.
MDPI Offices in China
While the history of MDPI begins in Basel, Switzerland, the story of MDPI’s founder is very much rooted in China. Dr. Shu-kun Lin, Founder and President of MDPI, graduated with a BSc from Wuhan University in 1982. He also studied physical chemistry at the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (1982–1986; MSc in 1985), and at the University of Louisville, USA (1987–1989). Dr. Lin completed his doctorate in organic chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH-Zürich) in 1992.
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI) at MDPI’s Wuhan office.
In 2002, MDPI’s Basel headquarters moved to Matthäusstrasse 11, 4052 Basel, and Dr. Lin opened an editorial office in Qingdao, China, which launched the journal Marine Drugs in the following year. Below is a list of MDPI’s current offices in China and their respective dates of inauguration:
- 2008: Beijing (Tongzhou, Haidian)
- 2013: Wuhan (Hankou, Guanggu)
- 2019: Tianjin
- 2021: Dalian
- 2021: Nanjing
Our Strength is in Our People
With over 6,000 MDPI staff, across 20 offices in 11 countries, MDPI is able to offer authors responsive and efficient round-the-clock support, enabling a rapid publication process.
In my experience, stakeholders are genuinely surprised when they realize the extent of our global operations. My response is to reiterate that our people are our strength. This is why we have fast and efficient processes and top-notch responsiveness. Our global presence ensures that your manuscript is constantly attended to, rather than sitting on someone’s desk. We prioritize our authors’ needs and act quickly to move things through the various stages of publication. MDPI is built on speed, convenience, and competence, which I believe are core pillars for success in any industry. We continually strive to improve our systems and processes on the basis of these core strengths. We literally have over 6,000 staff worldwide dedicated to serving your needs. It’s not magic: it’s people; it’s real.
Impactful Research
MDPI Awards
To support the academic community, and especially young researchers, and also to enhance communication among scientists, MDPI journals offer various awards in specific fields. We serve the scientific community by funding research to facilitate the development of sustainable global solutions through our annual World Sustainability Award and Emerging Sustainability Leader Award.
In 2022, MDPI made awards totalling over US$1 million in recognition and support of researchers worldwide.
Across our journal catalogue, we have granted over 2,000 awards to recognize and support researchers from all disciplines. Since 2016, these awards have served as a source of recognition, acknowledging the impact of research by heightening the influence of talented individuals. The award types mainly include the Young Investigator Award, the Best PhD Thesis Award, the Best Paper Award, and the Outstanding Reviewer Award.
To learn more about MDPI Awards and to find out which are currently available, please click here.
MDPI Awards to Scholars from China
Since 2021, there have been 23 Best Paper Awards granted to authors affiliated with Chinese institutions, identifying their papers as having high-quality scientific impact. A total of 45 Chinese scholars have received awards such as the Young Investigator Award, the Best PhD Thesis Award, the Outstanding Reviewer Award, and the Tu Youyou Award, among others. Prizes for these awards include MDPI grants for paid publications, totalling over CHF 70,000 for scholars affiliated with Chinese institutions.
MDPI’s Tu Youyou Award
Prof. Tu Youyou (left), Dr. Shu-Kun Lin (President, MDPI).
In 2015, Professor Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria.” In order to commemorate Professor Tu’s contributions to human health and to promote the passion and spirit conveyed by her experiences, MDPI in 2016 established the ‘Tu Youyou Award’, which runs biennially to recognize outstanding scholars dedicated to the research of natural products and medicinal chemistry.
The 2022 Tu Youyou Award was granted to Prof. Dr. Xiaoguang Lei of Peking University. Click here to access the interview with the winner.
2015 Nobel Prize for Medicine Awarded to Professor Youyou Tu
Professor Tu’s work was celebrated in a Special Issue from Molecules on the occasion of her 80th birthday. The Special Issue: 'Artemisinin (Qinghaosu): Commemorative Issue in Honor of Professor Youyou Tu on the Occasion of her 80th Anniversary” was created five years before she won the Nobel Prize, highlighting the visibility MDPI provides researchers and their work.
Highly Cited Articles by Chinese Scholars Published in MDPI
Click here to access the most cited MDPI papers published by scholars affiliated with Chinese institutions. This list presents the most influential research from the more than 287,000 MDPI papers published by Chinese scholars. With over 9 million total citations, I encourage you to maximize your visibility and impact by publishing with MDPI, the number one most cited open access publisher.
Read more:
- Tu Youyou Award
- World Sustainability Awards
- Available Awards
Inside MDPI
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI) with the Beijing Marketing team.
Marketing Department in China
During my visit to our offices in Beijing and Wuhan, I had the opportunity to meet with, and to present to, our local marketing teams. These teams are responsible for various journal-related and corporate promotional activities, including newsletters, conferences, seminars, author training, journal awards, content creation, digital marketing, and social media.
I was pleased by the ambition and curiosity of our marketing colleagues. They showed a strong desire to collaborate and acquire knowledge and tactics to effectively market and promote MDPI-journal-related activities. I presented some of the principles and objectives that we apply in the Corporate Marketing and Communications department, and used the opportunity to strengthen our collaborative communications across offices.
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI) with the Wuhan Marketing team.
Coming Together for Science
Collaborations, Scholarships and Meetings
MDPI maintains partnerships with nearly 190 learned societies and over 800 institutions and consortia, helping to facilitate the transition to OA publishing. Our commitment to working with institutions is evident in China, where we have successfully established over 35 Institutional Open Access Programs (IOAP) with esteemed institutions such as the Tsinghua University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Our institutional partnerships, waiver programs, and article processing cost discounts create diverse pathways to OA publishing for researchers worldwide.
Scholarships in China
Since 2021, several MDPI journals (Sensors, Photonics, Coatings, Materials, Energies, and Journal of Fungi) have funded full scholarships for four Master’s and five Ph.D. projects in China. These scholarships align with Tianjin University, Wuhan University of Technology, Central South University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the China University of Petroleum (Beijing).
Meeting with the Society of Chinese University Journals (CUJS)
Prof. Tieming Zhang (President of CUJS, centre) and MDPI colleagues at CUJS office.
I am pleased to have participated in some highly productive meetings during my visit to China, including one with the Society of Chinese University Journals (CUJS). The meeting involved Prof. Tieming Zhang (President of CUJS), Assoc. Prof. Xin Zhang (Vice President and Secretary General), and Dr. Fei Gao (Executive Member of CUJS). Alongside my colleagues Dr. Guoshi Liu, Dr. Giulia Stefenelli, and Anita Sun, I represented MDPI and held an open discussion to address any questions regarding OA and MDPI.
We discussed several methods for collaboration, including a workshop on the future of peer review, MDPI sponsoring a funding grant for early-career researchers, and transitioning journals from diamond to gold OA. I am thankful for the opportunity to have met our colleagues at CUJS in person and feel very confident about our future collaborations in support of OA publishing in China.
MDPI hosts free academic seminars, author training sessions, and academic conferences as part of its commitment to enrich and support the scholarly community. CUJS often stages academic events (e.g., conferences, editor training, and editor competitions), and I believe there are great opportunities for CUJS and MDPI to collaborate accordingly.
Meeting with National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSLC)
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI), Dr. Giulia Stefenelli (Chair of Scientific Officers, MDPI), Anita Sun (PR Manager, MDPI) and Dr. Guoshi Liu (Managing Director, MDPI) at the National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
We also visited the NSLC Director, Xiwen Liu, and colleagues Ying Jin, Zhesi Shen, and Sichao Tong. Following our introductions, we gave a presentation on the history and editorial process at MDPI, discussing specific details related to MDPI’s business and data. We highlighted the status of our IOAP collaborations in China and the makeup of our author base, specifically in China, and drew attention to the fact that MDPI has published research by authors from every country in the world. We then discussed the design indicators, calculation methods and implementation purposes of the ‘Early Warning Journal List’ and how we can have open communication to provide any data regarding MDPI journals. I am pleased to report that we reached a consensus on future communications, and am grateful to NSLC for hosting us in their offices.
In-person meetings with stakeholders provide an invaluable opportunity to communicate what MDPI is about and the various ways in which we serve the scholarly community. While digital marketing and online communication are essential, they are no replacement for the understanding and trust that come about through in-person interactions.
The Numbers
As at September 2023, China holds the largest position in MDPI’s global market, ranking as the largest contributor to the total number of papers published by MDPI.
At this point in time, there were more than 847,000 China mainland scholars who have published with MDPI, 51 of whom are Section-Editors-in-Chief (SEiC) of MDPI journals, with seven serving as Editors-in-Chief (EiCs) for journals such as Air, Big Data and Cognitive Computing, Blockchains, Future, Nanoenergy Advances, and Targets.
Our growth and presence in China are a true testament to the service we provide to the scholarly community, and to the relationships we foster through collaborative activities. We look forward to continuing to support the growth of the scholarly community in China, providing a valuable and trusted experience with MDPI.
Closing Thoughts
Final Reflections on our MDPI Offices in Beijing and Wuhan
Stefan Tochev (CEO, MDPI), Dr. Constanze Schelhorn (Indexing Manager, MDPI), Jiale Shang (Admin, Tongzhou, MDPI) at Beijing Capital International Airport, Beijing.
I spent approximately two weeks visiting some of our offices in China, and the first word that comes to mind when describing my experience is ‘hospitality.’ My colleagues and I were met with enthusiasm and delight at the airport by the Tongzhou Admin team (thank you, Jiale Shang, and thank you, Eric Wang, for keeping us organized on this trip!) and were taken care of with great attention. From hotels to transportation, dinners, and meetings, our stay was catered for perfectly.
Perhaps this is where MDPI’s focus on customers and service originates. At our core, we are a service company that provides a publishing platform for its authors. It’s therefore no surprise that authors consistently rate their experience with MDPI very highly.
95% of submitting authors rate their overall experience with the MDPI publication process as Excellent or Good (Springer Nature report 90%).
91% of submitting authors rate their overall experience with the MDPI peer review process as Excellent or Good.
Speed/Efficiency and Editorial Relationship are two key reasons underlying this high satisfaction score. ‘Editorial Relationship’ can be further explored, but in the past month, the most commonly noted aspects were the professionalism, kindness, availability, communicativeness, and personalized assistance provided by our editorial staff throughout the process. These attributes are at the core of our work across all our offices and continents.
Hospitality and Service
Just as our Chinese colleagues strove to keep us engaged by showing us the city sights (thank you, Thea Pan, and Jason Wu from the Wuhan Marketing team!) and sharing a variety of wonderful meals, our editorial staff are committed to serving our authors throughout their publishing journey. Our aim is to place the author at the centre of everything we do, eager to welcome our ‘guests’ and provide them with a pleasant publishing experience.
I asked my colleague Francis Wu (Senior Publisher, Wuhan office) where this hospitality originates. He responded that it is part of Chinese culture. I reflected long and deep on this answer. China is a vast country, and when visitors arrive, hosts want to ensure they feel welcomed and taken care of in order to maximize their time and visit. I can’t think of a better analogy for how I would want our authors to feel when they visit MDPI for their publishing needs. A company culture that prioritizes service, something that goes beyond products and productivity, and focuses on the overall experience. Over 6,000 people, across all MDPI offices, are ready, willing and able to go the extra mile for their colleagues and their customers. This is something I am truly proud of.
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
27 September 2023
Meet Us at the Micronutrient Forum 6th Global Conference (MNF2023), 16–20 October 2023, The Hague, the Netherlands
25 September 2023
Meet Us at the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting, 8–12 November 2023, Tampa, Florida, USA
18 September 2023
Meet Us at the 4th Conference on Food Bioactives & Health, 18–21 September 2023, Prague, Czech Republic
6 September 2023
Recap of Awards Granted to Scholars in 2022
30 August 2023
MDPI Insights: The CEO’s Letter #3 - Sustainability and Co-opetition
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
Our Commitment to Sustainability
As a pioneer in academic open access publishing since 1996, MDPI has always been dedicated to facilitating scientific exchange across all disciplines. Our approach to open science is guided by principles such as Open Access (OA), Timeliness and Efficiency, Simplicity, High-Quality Service, Flexibility, and a commitment to Sustainability. This commitment involves preserving published papers for the long term and supporting the future of science through partnerships, sponsorships, and awards.
In this edition of the CEO Letter, I will delve into MDPI’s various sustainability initiatives. As a leader in OA publishing, we are able to provide the public with a significant amount of environment-related content at no cost.
MDPI and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
In 2020, the SDG Publishers Compact was launched to accelerate implementation of the SDGs by promoting content that informs, develops, and inspires action. MDPI joined this initiative in 2021 and subsequently launched the MDPI SDG Hub in 2022, offering free access to recent research within the scope of each of the 17 SDGs. We also support authors from underrepresented communities by waiving publication charges for selected SDG-related papers. Detailed sustainability practices and supported publications are available in the report under each Goal page.
“More than 80% of MDPI articles and reviews published in 2022 relate to the Sustainable Development Goals.” [source: InCites, Accessed on 21.08.2023]
As at August 2023, MDPI boasts 14 journals dedicated to sustainability-related topics. Our first journal in this area, Sustainability, has published over 29,000 articles on the SDGs, accumulating over 240,000 citations (source: InCites, as at 1 January 2023). These journals serve as vital platforms for researchers to share insights and address environmental challenges. In addition:
MDPI journals specializing in sustainability-related topics:
- 2009: Sustainability
- 2012: Resources
- 2013: Climate
- 2014: Environments
- 2016: Recycling
- 2019: Clean Technologies
- 2020: Sustainable Chemistry
- 2021: Wind, Biomass, Conservation, Pollutants, Solar
- 2022: Waste, Microplastics
Read more:
Impactful Research
Highly Cited Articles in Sustainability
In 2022, content published in Sustainability and indexed in Journal Citation Reports (JCR) received nearly 190,000 citations. This highlights the fact that Sustainability publishes highly cited research articles related to environmental sciences and SDG-related topics such as climate action.
We are pleased to share that Sustainability received a 2022 CiteScore of 5.8, marking a 16% increase from the 2021 metric. Specifically, the CiteScore positions Sustainability as follows: Q1 (27 out of 163) in the “Environmental Science (miscellaneous)” category, and Q1 (101 out of 779) in the “Geography Planning and Development” category. For additional journal statistics, please visit here.
“Sustainability received a 2022 CiteScore of 5.8”
While MDPI journals such as Climate and Atmosphere have a distinct focus on atmosphere pollution and its impact on climate processes, journals like Sustainability, Environments, Water, Remote Sensing, and IJERPH publish content related to climate change. These journals have published over 32,300 articles related to SDG 13: Climate Action.
Highly Cited Papers in Sustainability
Below are several highly cited papers published in Sustainability over the past three years. Citation metrics are current as at 15 August 2023.
1. “A Global Assessment: Can Renewable Energy Replace Fossil Fuels by 2050?”Authors: Jerry L. Holechek, Hatim M. E. Geli, Mohammed N. Sawalhah, and Raul Valdez
Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4792; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084792
Citations: Crossref (97), Scopus (91), Web of Science (82), Google Scholar (125)
This paper addresses one of the most significant challenges of climate change – achieving Net Zero Carbon by 2050. The meta-analysis suggests that while difficult, this transition is possible through the concerted application of pathways, lifestyle changes, and global cooperation.
2. “Anxiety and the Ecological Crisis: An Analysis of Eco-Anxiety and Climate Anxiety”Author: Panu Pihkala
Sustainability 2020, 12(19), 7836; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12197836
Citations: Crossref (144), Scopus (121), Web of Science (159), Google Scholar (382)
This paper has received substantial media attention, including coverage by The Guardian, BBC, Vice, and CNBC. An interview with Dr. Panu Pihkala, a leading interdisciplinary researcher on the topic, can be found on MDPI’s podcast: Insight Faster, Episode 1.
3. “Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture and Its Mitigation Strategies: A Review”Authors: Gurdeep Singh Malhi, Manpreet Kaur, and Prashant Kaushik
Sustainability 2021, 13(3), 1318; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031318
Citations: Crossref (207), Scopus (221), Web of Science (186), Google Scholar (355)
This paper reviews literature on climate change, addressing its causes, future projections, impact on agriculture, including plant physiology, growth, productivity, pest infestation, and the economic implications of mitigation strategies.
4. “Impacts of Plastic Pollution on Ecosystem Services, Sustainable Development Goals, and Need to Focus on Circular Economy and Policy Interventions”Authors: Rakesh Kumar, Anurag Verma, Arkajyoti Shome, Rama Sinha, Srishti Sinha, Prakash Kumar Jha, Ritesh Kumar, Pawan Kumar, Shubham, Shreyas Das, Prabhakar Sharma, and P. V. Vara Prasad
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9963; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179963
Citations: Crossref (134), Scopus (136), Web of Science (113), Google Scholar (184)
This review aims to assess the adverse effects of plastic pollution on ecosystems, link the management of plastic with the SDGs, and propose policy measures using transdisciplinary approaches. Empowering communities to reduce plastic use is crucial. Addressing global plastic pollution is a priority.
Sustainability is an international, cross-disciplinary, open access journal that explores environmental, cultural, economic, and social sustainability of human beings. It provides a forward-looking platform for research on sustainability and sustainable development, and is published semi-monthly online by MDPI. Sustainability is affiliated with The Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC) and The International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB).
Read more:
- Testimonials: See what our editors and authors say about Sustainability.
Inside MDPI
President of Ireland Authors Editorial in MDPI Journal Sustainability
It’s a very special occasion when the president of a country takes the initiative to write an editorial for a journal. Michael D. Higgins, President of the Republic of Ireland, has contributed his insights to a forthcoming Special Issue in Sustainability:
This Special Issue, focusing on “making sustainable development happen” at grassroots levels, allows for perspectives from, and on, the major world faiths, exploring how challenges have been conceptualised and addressed, in addition to case studies of faith-based sustainability initiatives in practice.
The experience of faith institutions and communities in translating theological and moral commitments to sustainable development into action is now a topic we must examine with urgency; one on which I am so glad this Special Issue focuses.
As President of Ireland, I very much support this Special Issue of Sustainability. It is my great hope that the contents of the papers contained herein will assist in making sustainable development happen at grassroots levels across the world so that we can cooperate together, people of faith and of none, to ensure a just, inclusive and sustainable future for all on our fragile planet.
Read the completed editorial here:
Special Issue “Faith and Sustainable Development: Exploring Practice, Progress and Challenges among Faith Communities and Institutions”: Foreword by the President of Ireland
Author: Michael D. Higgins
Sustainability 2023, 15(12), 9683; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129683
Coming Together for Science
The World Sustainability Forum 2023
The World Sustainability Forum (WSF) is a biennial MDPI event focused on sustainability. WSF 2023 marks the tenth anniversary of the conference series, taking place on 14 September. For the first time, the event will be hosted as a 24-hour conference across three locations – Singapore, Basel in Switzerland, and Toronto in Canada – alongside virtual streaming.
This unique format allows us to span three time zones, providing live coverage of critical sustainability-related topics throughout the day:
- The Singapore Hub, chaired by Professor Horn Mun Cheah and Associate Professor Renee Tan, will explore “Sustainability for Social and Community Impact”.
- The Basel Hub, chaired by Prof. Dr. Anet Režek Jambrak and Dr. Lela Mélon, will delve into “Sustainability in the industry, and at university and corporate settings”.
- The Toronto Hub, led by Dr. Umberto Berardi, will discuss “The Sustainable Built Environment”.
MDPI Sustainability Foundation: Recognizing Excellence in Sustainability Research
The MDPI Sustainability Foundation supports researchers through two sustainability-focused awards:
- The World Sustainability Award, amounting to USD 100,000, is given to senior researchers.
- The Emerging Sustainability Leader Award, valued at USD 20,000, sponsored by the journal Sustainability, is presented to early-career researchers.
The winners of the Sustainability Foundation will be formally awarded during the WSF2023 on 14 September. Interviews with the award winners and finalists are available below.
2023 World Sustainability Award Winners
Interviews with 2023 Emerging Sustainability Leader Award Finalists
- Dr. Bahareh Kamranzad
- Dr. Youjin Kim
- Dr. Julia Lohmann
As a hybrid event, WSF23 provides scholars with the option to attend in person at one of the conference sites or, for a more sustainable approach, virtually. All sessions will be recorded and archived for future access. Registration is open until 3 September 2023, with in-person and virtual tickets available here.
Read more:
Closing Thoughts
“Co-opetition”: Collaboration Plus Healthy Competition – A Visit to Elsevier
I firmly believe in fostering collaboration and at the same time promoting healthy competition within the academic publishing industry. The market offers ample room for publishers and related companies to provide valuable services and products that enrich the academic community. While MDPI is recognized for its efficient and streamlined processes –thanks to our over 6,000 colleagues, in-house tools, and initiatives that support the author journey – our ethos has always involved learning from and collaborating with other organizations.
MDPI’s Interaction with Elsevier
In January 2023, I had a brief conversation with Judy Verses, President of Global Academic and Government Markets at Elsevier, following her participation in a panel discussion at the Academic Publishers Europe event in Berlin. One of the highlights for me was Judy’s insight into the impact of research, particularly her emphasis on the role of collaboration, including policy and showing the impact of research to influence on funding decisions.
“Such collaborations drive forward-looking strategies to elevate our support for the scholarly community”
Judy and I resumed our discussion in August, when I visited Elsevier's office to review current projects, such as our recent agreement with Science Direct and the continued indexing of MDPI journals in Scopus (indexing database owned by Elsevier). We also explored possible opportunities for the future, including a potential collaboration to expand MDPI’s Scilit data infrastructure. This endeavour aims to aggregate and provide access to scholarly metadata encompassing journal articles, conference papers, books, preprints, and more. While these discussions are ongoing, the underlying principle remains that such collaborations drive forward-looking strategies to elevate our services and support for the scholarly community.
It was great that Judy and I acknowledged the merits of 'co-opetition,' a concept based of the belief that fostering cooperation alongside healthy competition can lead to shared advancements for both individual companies and the industry at large.
‘Fully OA’ Organizations Dedicated to Open Access
MDPI proudly aligns with the ‘Fully OA’ group, a collaborative initiative comprising nine organizations dedicated to Open Access. Our monthly meetings, including an OASPA representative, serve as platforms to share non-confidential information, resources, and projects. These gatherings also facilitate discussions on topics relevant to fully OA organizations. Occasionally, joint actions spring from these interactions, such as collaborative blog posts on pertinent subjects and joint statements, such as a recent response to the House Appropriations Committee.
This display of cooperation among competing entities forms a strategic alliance focused on nurturing the best interests of the OA publishing model.
As I wrap up this third edition of the CEO Letter, I encourage you to seize opportunities for collaboration and contribute to advancing our shared academic culture. As the African proverb has it, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
25 August 2023
Meet Us at the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) 100th Annual Conference, 30 October–2 November 2023, Atlanta, USA
23 August 2023
Meet Us at the 14th Asian Congress of Nutrition (ACN), 14–17 September 2023, Chengdu, China
14 August 2023
MDPI’s 2022 Young Investigator Awards in Biology and Life Sciences—Winners Announced
14 August 2023
MDPI’s 2022 Travel Awards in Biology and Life Sciences—Winners Announced
14 August 2023
MDPI’s 2022 Outstanding Reviewer Awards in Biology and Life Sciences—Winners Announced
14 August 2023
MDPI’s 2022 Best PhD Thesis Awards in Biology and Life Sciences—Winners Announced
14 August 2023
MDPI’s Best Paper Awards in Biology and Life Sciences—Winners Announced in 2022
10 August 2023
Recruiting Editorial Board Members for Beverages
10 August 2023
Beverages | Call for Special Issue Proposals and Recruiting Guest Editors
2 August 2023
Recruiting Topical Advisory Panel Members for Nutrients
2 August 2023
Recruiting Reviewer Board Members for Nutrients
28 July 2023
Nutrients | Invitation to Read the Updated Editor's Choice Articles Published in 2021, 2022 and 2023
27 July 2023
MDPI Insights: The CEO’s Letter #2 - Open Peer-Review and IJERPH
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
Open Peer Review Reports
Continuing the topic of openness from my inaugural monthly CEO letter, in these Opening Thoughts, I highlight the growth and importance of open peer-review reports at MDPI. Open peer reports align with the principles of open science, making the publishing process more transparent and facilitating rigorous peer review.
MDPI journals operate an open peer-review option by default, allowing authors to publish review reports and author responses (often referred to as open reports) together with the published paper. Publishing the reviewer reports and author responses together with the article provides greater transparency and trust for readers, as this allows them to track the editorial decision-making process. Open peer-review also encourages reviewers and editors to provide high-quality comments, as these will be made public if the article is accepted for publication.
Start and Growth of Open Peer Review at MDPI
The MDPI journal Life was a pioneer in offering this opportunity to its authors in 2014. The first MDPI article with peer-review reports openly published was a review by the Nobel Laureate Werner Arber, in which the review reports were published as supplementary material. By 2018, open peer-review was available across all MDPI journals. As such, MDPI authors have embraced the open peer-review model, providing a steady increase in the number of MDPI articles. As of 2023, approximately one-third (34.0%) of MDPI articles were published with open review reports.
As at July 2023, the percentage of MDPI articles published with open peer review has increased to 36.2% of the total papers published in 2023 so far, indicating ongoing growth in adoption.
Open peer review continues to play a critical role in the assessment of the peer-review process in Life. For further insights, please see the recent editorial by Dr. Pabulo Henrique Rampelotto, the former Editor-in-Chief of Life, who spearheaded the implementation of the open peer-review process.
Benefits of Open Peer Review
The benefits of open peer review include increased transparency, trust and constructive feedback. To promote open communication further and increase the robustness of the peer-review process, we encourage reviewers to sign their reports so that their name appears on the review report (this process is referred to as open identity). The default option is for reviewers to remain anonymous; however, by signing the reports, reviewers receive direct credit for their contribution to the peer-review process and show their commitment towards open science.
As the leading open access publisher, MDPI remains committed to promoting open peer-review and encourages authors to choose this approach. Our goal is to provide a rigorous and transparent peer-review process that benefits the scientific community, and we believe that open peer-review is a vital step in fostering openness and collaboration in scientific communication.
Impactful Research
MDPI Papers Cited in the News – IJERPH edition
Every month, our corporate marketing team compiles data from Altmetrics to create a list of MDPI papers that have been cited in the news. This list continues to grow as renowned news outlets regularly reference research published by MDPI in their articles.
During 2022, a total of 111,965 MDPI research papers were mentioned in prominent news outlets such as National Geographic, The Washington Post, Forbes, The Guardian, the BBC, CNN, Time, and Harvard Business Review.
Highly Cited Journal Publications
IJERPH, known for publishing impactful research, received the most news mentions among all MDPI journals in 2022, based on Altmetrics data:
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: 3509 mentions
- Nutrients: 2698 mentions
- International Journal of Molecular Sciences: 1701 mentions
- Journal of Clinical Medicine: 1131 mentions
- Viruses: 1111 mentions
These numbers show the recognition and impact of the articles published in IJERPH. For a more detailed view of the journal’s most cited and viewed papers, you can visit here. In total, IJERPH has garnered over 28,000 mentions in prominent news outlets, and as at July 2023, an impressive count of over 17,000 papers cited 10 times or more. These figures highlight the impactful contribution of IJERPH publications to the scientific community.
Example of Recent Mentions
During May and June 2023, a noteworthy selection of articles from IJERPH was cited in news articles, including:
The Washington Post: “Bringing nature inside can improve your health. Here’s how to do it.”
IJERPH paper: “Physiological Benefits of Viewing Nature: A Systematic Review of Indoor Experiments”
Harvard Business Review: “How to Take Better Breaks at Work, According to Research”
IJERPH paper: “Canine-Assisted Therapy Improves Well-Being in Nurses”
National Geographic: “Lyme disease is spreading fast—but a vaccine may be on the way”
IJERPH paper: “Range Expansion of Tick Disease Vectors in North America: Implications for Spread of Tick-Borne Disease”
Inside MDPI
MDPI Develops an Artificial Intelligence Tool to Enhance the Peer-Review Process
At MDPI, we believe that rigorous peer-review is the corner-stone of high-quality academic publishing. We are grateful to the scholars who generously dedicate their time to peer-review articles submitted to MDPI journals. Their contributions are invaluable to the advancement of science.
Peer-review is a critical part of the publication process, ensuring that MDPI upholds the highest quality standards for the papers we publish. Every manuscript submitted to our journals undergoes a comprehensive peer-review process conducted by subject-matter experts.
To further enhance our peer-review process, our Data Analytics team has developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool designed to support the selection of reviewers. This proprietary tool utilizes Natural Language Processing (NLP), a specially designed AI language model, to extract information from the title and abstract of submitted papers. It then searches our database for similar manuscripts and suggests potential reviewers based on this analysis. Integrated with MDPI's submission system (SuSy), the AI tool cross-references the suggested candidates with our reviewer database to verify their invitation status and availability.
The goal of this tool is to provide better targeted peer-review invitations, reducing the number of emails sent for each paper and increasing the efficiency of our editorial staff.
In the near future, our Data Analytics team plans to deploy similar AI projects to improve other critical aspects of our services, offering an enhanced experience to our authors and readers.
Click here to learn about MDPI’s review process, including procedures, responsibilities, and benefits.
Read more:
Coming Together for Science
The Future of IJERPH
On 5 July 2023, Prof. Dr. Paul B. Tchounwou, the founding Editor-in-Chief of IJERPH, along with five Section Editors in Chief (Prof. Dr. Germán Vicente-Rodríguez, Prof. Dr. Karl Goodkin, Prof. Dr. William A. Toscano, Prof. Dr. Jimmy T. Efird, and Prof. Dr. William Douglas Evans), gathered in Basel to discuss the future of the journal. The meeting provided an opportunity to address the recent decision by The Web of Science to delist IJERPH due to the journal failing the Content Relevance criterion, and propose best strategies that will ensure high scientific rigor as well as a clear scope and aim of IJERPH, going forward.
While the delisting is disappointing for IJERPH, as well as for our authors, academic editors, and the entire scientific community supporting our journal, we see it as an opportunity to reflect and prepare for the future direction of the journal.
Since its launch in 2004, IJERPH’s vision and mission have evolved to be more complete and comprehensive in engaging scientific communities. In light of this, we will refresh the journal’s aims and scope, ensuring they align with the organic expansion of IJERPH. Additionally, we will restructure the journal sections into broader categories, encouraging collaborative research and transdisciplinary approaches for authors. This is designed to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange among diverse fields, contributing to a holistic understanding of health promotion and disease prevention. We are confident that these next steps will enhance the scientific strength and societal impact of our journal.
Journal Achievements
In addition to the productive discussions, we took the time to celebrate some of the remarkable achievements of IJERPH, which I highlight below:
- Founded by Prof. Dr. Paul B. Tchounwou in 2004
- Indexed in PubMed in 2008
- Received its first Impact Factor in 2012
- Published its 5000th paper in 2017
- Over 60,000 papers published as at June 30, 2023
- 131,628,173 paper views in 2018–2022
- Over 28,000 mentions in prominent news outlets
- 17,000 papers cited 10 times or more as at June 30, 2023
- No.1 journal in the 2022 Google Scholar Metrics in the category of Public Health
- Awarded several editions of Young Investigator Awards, Travel Awards, and Outstanding Reviewer Awards since 2018.
These achievements showcase the journal’s significant contributions to the field and its impact on global health. We are proud of the exceptional work accomplished by the IJERPH team and look forward to building upon this success in the years to come.
Closing Thoughts
MDPI’s Impact in Spain
During the past month, I had the opportunity to visit our new office building in Barcelona, where I met with our local colleagues to discuss the ways we serve the scholarly community, particularly in Spain. The multi-functional office plays a vital role in supporting various business needs, including editorial, design, conference management, data analytics, journal relationship management, publishing partnerships, and collaborations with societies.
Spain holds a significant position in MDPI’s global market, ranking as the fourth-largest contributor to the total number of papers published by MDPI as at July 2023, ranking next to Italy, the USA, and China, with Germany completing the top five.
The Numbers
Out of the 1,680,000 total MDPI articles published as at 25 July, almost 80,000 articles are contributed by Spanish authors, representing nearly 40,000 unique authors affiliated with Spanish institutions. Remarkably, over 6,300 of these authors hold editorial board member (EBM) positions within MDPI journals, with 30 of them serving as Editors-in-Chief (EiCs).
Our commitment to working with institutions is very evident in Spain, where we have successfully established over 40 Institutional Open Access Programs (IOAP) with esteemed institutions such as the University of Barcelona, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Pompeu Fabra University, the University of Navarre, and Complutense University of Madrid.
Over the past five years, we have successfully organized eight in-person conferences in Barcelona, attracting over 1,150 registrations, with two forthcoming events scheduled for 2024. Barcelona's excellent connectivity to international airports makes it easily accessible to participants from around the world. Its welcoming atmosphere provides us with the perfect environment for knowledge-sharing, networking, and contributing to the local economy.
Our growth and presence in Spain are a true testament to the incredible service we provide to the scholarly community and the relationships we foster through responsive and collaborative communication. We look forward to continuing to support Spanish scholars, providing them a valuable and trusted experience with MDPI, the leader in open access publishing.
Testimonials
I close this letter as I did in the first edition, by sharing testimonials from our stakeholders. Here are a few IJERPH testimonials from a Spanish guest editor and an author:
Guest Editor
“I want to thank the kindness, attention and professionalism of the MDPI team throughout the editorial process of the Special Issue. I believe that it is a very professional and quality editorial process.”
- Professor Víctor Arufe-Giráldez, University of A Coruña
Special Issue in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: Physical Activity in Childhood and Adolescence
Special Issue in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: Physical Education: Present and Future
__
Author
“I want to thank the rigor of the revisions made to the manuscripts to improve their quality, the support to the authors for the editor assignment system they have and the follow-up they carry out, for the speed in answering and in carrying out the entire process of the revision, and for doing all this at an affordable price.”
- Dr. María Paz García-Caro, University of Granada
Article in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: Factors Associated with Suicide Attempts and Suicides in the General Population of Andalusia (Spain)
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
26 July 2023
Meet Us at the 69th International Congress of Meat Science and Technology, 20–25 August 2023, Padova, Italy
26 July 2023
Meet Us at the 11th International Symposium of Food Science, 6–8 August 2023, Nanjing, China
24 July 2023
Nutrients Webinar | Advances in Grain Nutrition, Omics and Cardiometabolic Health, 4 August 2023
Grains are widely consumed all over the world as they provide calories, macronutrients, micronutrients, dietary fibers, minerals, and plenty of phytochemicals that may have prolonged effects on human metabolism. High-throughput omics techniques enable a comprehensive understanding of the biological perturbations associated with dietary intake and other environmental exposures. A combination of traditional populations studies, such as cohorts, and RCTs, with multi-omics measurement, provide great opportunities to advance our knowledge of how the consumption of different grains affects human health. With particular interest in the effects of whole grains, refined grains, or staple foods, we are very excited to have invited outstanding pioneer scientists in the fields of nutritional epidemiology, precision nutrition, and multi-omics studies to this webinar to share their research output with the nutrition academic communities. The duration of these presentations will be 20 minutes each, after which a Q&A session will be held.
Date: 4 August 2023 at 4:00 p.m. CST Asia | 10:00 a.m. CEST
Webinar ID: 840 8887 6896
Register now for free!
Program
|
Speaker/Presentation |
Time in CST Asia |
Time in CEST |
Time in CDT |
|
Dr. Xin Liu and Dr. Liang Sun |
4:00–4:10 p.m. |
10:00–10:10 a.m. |
3:00–3:10 a.m. |
|
Dr. Lin Shi |
4:10–4:30 p.m. |
10:10–10:30 a.m. |
3:10–3:30 a.m. |
|
Dr. Wanglong Gou |
4:30–4:50 p.m. |
10:30–10:50 a.m. |
3:30–3:50 a.m. |
|
Prof. Rikard Landberg |
4:50–5:10 p.m. |
10:50–11:10 a.m. |
3:50–4:10 a.m. |
|
Q&A Session |
5:10–5:25 p.m. |
11:10–11:25 a.m. |
4:10–4:25 a.m. |
|
Dr. Xin Liu and Dr. Liang Sun |
5:25–5:30 p.m. |
11:25–11:30 a.m. |
4:25–4:30 a.m. |
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar.
Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.
Unable to attend? Register anyway and we’ll let you know when the recording is available to watch.
Webinar Chairs and Keynote Speakers:
- Dr. Xin Liu, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Global Health Institute, School of Public Health, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710061, China;
- Dr. Liang Sun, Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China;
- Dr. Lin Shi, School of Food Engineering and Nutritional Science, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China;
- Dr. Wanglong Gou, Research Center for Industries of the Future, Key Laboratory of Growth Regulation and Translational Research of Zhejiang Province, School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310030, China;
- Prof. Rikard Landberg, Department of Life Sciences, Food and Nutrition Science, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden;
Relevant Special Issue:
“Effects of Grain Consumption on Human Metabolome and Cardiometabolic Health”
Guest Editors: Dr. Xin Liu, Dr. Liang Sun and Dr. Lin Shi
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2023
11 July 2023
MDPI’s Newly Launched Journals in June 2023
With the first issue released in June 2023, five new MDPI journals disseminating multi-disciplinary science are due to launch, which will cover the subjects of medicine & pharmacology, biology and physical sciences.
The newly launched journals will be overseen by professional Editorial Board Members and Editors to ensure an accurate and rapid publication, rigorous peer review and broad visibility.
Please feel free to browse and discover more about the new journals below.
| Journal | Founding Editor-in-Chief | Journal topics (selected) |
 |
Prof. Dr. Jun Ma, Peking University, China| Editorial | view inaugural issue | growth and development; diet and nutrients; school health promotion policies and practices; child health and care; adolescent health and wellbeing | view journal scope | submit an article |
 |
Prof. Dr. Bernd Rehm, Griffith University, Australia | Editorial | view inaugural issue | DNA and gene synthesis; synthetic transcription factors; protein engineering; viral engineering; metabolic engineering | view journal scope | submit an article |
 |
Prof. Dr. Varsha Gandhi, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA | Editorial | view inaugural issue | lymphatics; cancers associated with lymphocytes and lymphoblasts; lymphatic tissues; lymphoma; lymphoid leukemia | view journal scope | submit an article |
 |
Dr. Bradley Turner, University of Melbourne, Australia | Editorial | view inaugural issue | multiple sclerosis; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; primary lateral sclerosis; atherosclerosis; systemic sclerosis | view journal scope | submit an article |
 |
Prof. Dr. Clemens Burda, Case Western Reserve University, USA | Editorial | view inaugural issue | Gamma ray, X-ray, and UV–Vis spectroscopies; NIR/mid-infrared/Raman spectroscopy; microwave and THz spectroscopy; high-resolution gas-phase atomic, molecular, and cluster spectroscopy; MS, NMR, and EPR spectroscopy | view journal scope | submit an article |
We wish to thank everyone who has supported the development of open access publishing. You are welcome to submit an application to the New Journal Committee (newjournal-committee@mdpi.com) if you would like to create more new journals.
4 July 2023
Nutrients Webinar | Role of Fatty Acids in Metabolic Dysfunction—Associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD) and Concomitant Cardiovascular Risk, 13 July 2023
Welcome message by Dr. Alexander V. Sorokin, the webinar Chair:
Cardiometabolic disorders represent a significant public health concern and they put millions of people worldwide at a higher risk of developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes and come with associated healthcare expenses. Among the established risk factors comprising cardiometabolic disorders, such as abdominal obesity, insulin resistance and hypertension, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been of particular clinical interest. Moreover, accompanying dyslipidemia, elevated triglycerides and impaired resolution of inflammation have compelled international experts to revise the current understanding of NAFLD and propose a new definition which more accurately represents the pathophysiological mechanisms behind NAFLD and cardiometabolic complications. Thus, the term metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) has been coined. With the recent progress in fatty acids research and clinical application of n–3 fatty acids, this seminar aims to summarize the current knowledge and increase awareness among healthcare providers.
Date: 13 July 2023 at 4:00 p.m. CEST | 10:00 a.m. EDT | 10:00 p.m. CST Asia
Register now for free!
Program:
|
Speaker/Presentation |
Time in CEST |
Time in EDT |
|
Dr. Alexander V. Sorokin |
4:00–4:10 p.m. |
10:00–10:10 a.m. |
|
Dr. You Zhou |
4:10–4:30 p.m. |
10:10–10:30 a.m. |
|
Dr. Trisha Jean Grevengoed |
4:30–4:50 p.m. |
10:30–10:50 a.m. |
|
Q&A Session |
4:50–5:05 p.m. |
10:50–11:05 a.m. |
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Dr. Alexander Sorokin |
5:05–5:10 p.m. |
11:05–11:10 a.m. |
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.
Unable to attend? Register anyway to be notified when the recording is available to watch.
Webinar Chair and Keynote Speakers:
- Dr. Alexander V. Sorokin, Section of Inflammation and Cardiometabolic Disease, Cardiovascular Branch, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892-1666, USA;
- You Zhou, Division of Infection & Immunity, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, UK;
- Trisha Jean Grevengoed, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, 1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
Relevant Special Issue:
“Biological and Clinical Implication of Fatty Acids in Liver and Cardiometabolic Disorders”
Edited by: Dr. Alexander V. Sorokin
3 July 2023
MDPI Insights: The CEO’s Letter #1 - Open Access and Impactful Research
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
The Future is Open, and MDPI is Leading the Way
I strongly believe in a future that embraces openness, where open source, open information, and open access (OA) take center stage. This belief that led me to join MDPI in 2020, and I am honored to have recently been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In this capacity, and operating in close liaison with Dr. Lin and MDPI’s senior management, I shall work to build on Dr. Lin’s achievements of the past quarter-century. In this role, I will focus on communication initiatives to promote MDPI's remarkable work and continue to build our company as a trusted leader in OA publishing. For over two decades, MDPI has been at the forefront of reshaping the academic publishing landscape, with OA surpassing subscription-based publishing in 2020. This trajectory is deeply rooted in our history and reflects our unwavering commitment and vision for an open future.
1 Million Published Articles
2023 began with a remarkable achievement for MDPI, as we became the first OA publisher to reach the milestone of 1 million published articles. This represents 2.7 million unique authors who have trusted us with their work, or about a third of all researchers worldwide. As the world's most cited OA publisher, we are proud in sharing these significant milestones.
Our mission remains unchanged: to make science open and accessible to all. We understand the importance of knowledge access, empowering researchers to stay at the forefront of a rapidly changing world. Our diverse range of journals covers a wide spectrum of disciplines, offering cutting-edge insights, trusted tools, and crucial knowledge to address global challenges.
Liberating Science
As the world’s leading OA publisher, MDPI is actively liberating science. We are committed to eliminating the frustrations researchers and the general public face when accessing information, ensuring it is not locked behind paywalls. We firmly believe that everyone has a right to information, and our commitment to open access publishing drives our work.
In this inaugural edition of Insights: The CEO's Letter, I draw inspiration from the upcoming 20th anniversary of the Berlin Declaration on Open Access. Its stated mission reminds us that true impact is achieved when knowledge is widely and readily available to society:
"Our mission of disseminating knowledge is only half complete if the information is not made widely and readily available to society”
Impactful Research
MDPI Publishes Impactful Research: Recognized by Leading Indexing Databases
MDPI journals are indexed in every single top database in the world.
As of June 2023, we have 214 journals indexed within Web of Science, 223 indexed within Scopus, 87 indexed within PubMed and PMC, and 17 indexed within MEDLINE, and these numbers increase every month. We constantly strive to expand the coverage of our journals within leading multi-disciplinary and scope-specific databases, resulting in an incredibly broad range of journals that are indexed within a variety of databases. MDPI has active relationships with approximately 65 well-known databases around the world, and we continue to expand our portfolio every year so that your work can be found, cited, and referenced with ease.
Continued Growth of MDPI Journals
The 2022 Scopus and Web of Science journal citation metrics were officially released in June, and I am pleased to report that 31 MDPI journals received their first CiteScore, taking the total number of journals with a CiteScore to 216. The number of MDPI journals receiving an Impact Factor (IF) also continues to grow with 111 receiving their first, by being covered in the ESCI, bringing our total number of journals with an IF to 208 of which 41 journals received an IF above 4.0. Looking at 2022 CiteScores in the Scopus database, 80% of MDPI journals have a score that ranks them in Q1 or Q2 in at least one subject category.
Publishing impactful science would not be possible without all of our authors, editors and reviewers. Thank you for your contribution and continued support! Together we share the latest scientific insights faster and ensure that your work is accessible to all.
Read more
Inside MDPI
Preprints.org: Clarivate adds the Preprint Citation Index to the Web of Science
At MDPI, we are dedicated to driving the advancement of science. Through our initiative, Preprints.org, researchers can publish their work and gain valuable feedback from the broader research community, ensuring rapid progress in their respective fields. This is particularly crucial during times of health and climate challenges, where timely dissemination of findings is essential.
Increased Visibility for Preprints
I am pleased to share that Clarivate recognizes the significance of preprints and has taken a crucial step to enhance their visibility. Clarivate has added the Preprint Citation Index to the Web of Science, encompassing preprints published not only on Preprints.org but also on other reputable repositories.
Looking ahead, the future of preprints appears promising, bolstered by the recent indexing announcement from the Web of Science. As a result, preprints will receive increased visibility, serving as a valuable resource for staying informed about the latest research developments.
Read more
What are Preprints?
The Pros and Cons of Preprints
Preprints and COVID-19
Preprints—The Future of Open Access Publishing?
Coming Together for Science
The First International Conference on Antioxidants: Sources, Methods, Health Benefits and Industrial Applications
In this edition of ‘Coming Together for Science,’ I am pleased to highlight the First International Conference on Antioxidants organized by our conference team in the beautiful city of Barcelona, Spain. The conference attracted over 130 attendees, who engaged in 42 talks, and 89 poster presentations spread across several sessions.
Working Together
Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Alessandra Napolitano (Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples ‘Federico II’, Naples, Italy) and Prof. Dr. Rosa M. Lamuela Raventos (Department of Nutrition, Food Sciences and Gastronomy, University of Barcelona, Spain) as chairs, and supported by the committee members, 10 invited keynote speakers, poster presenters, and all the attendees, this dedicated group of academics came together to discuss the natural sources, methodologies, health benefits, and industrial applications of antioxidants.
Especially noteworthy is the positive feedback received from attendees, with 94% rating the overall organization of the conference as good or excellent. I particularly love the picture above, capturing the gathering of some of the participants. You can browse through more photos in the event gallery located here.
Managing Events With Sciforum
If you are considering hosting your own academic event, I highly recommend checking out Sciforum, MDPI's event management platform. Sciforum simplifies the entire process, making it easy to host your own event by allowing you to focus on what really matters: Science!
Read more
Closing Thoughts
Stefan Tochev, Dr. Shu-Kun Lin, Dr. Eric O. Freed, Peter Roth, Wynne Wang, Allison Yang
Viruses and Editorial Quality: Acknowledging the Dedication of our Viruses Journal Team
During a June meeting with Dr. Eric O. Freed, the founding and current Editor-in-Chief of our journal Viruses, I was reminded of the exceptional dedication of our editorial board. Meeting with Eric is a pleasure, as he has a strong commitment and clear vision for the journal. Over the course of two days, we gained a deep understanding of the journal’s expectations and focus on strategic growth, editorial board representation, and engagement.
I am pleased to share that Viruses holds a CiteScore of 7.1 (an increase of 7.57% versus the 2021 metric) and an Impact Factor of 4.7. You can view the journal statistics here. Viruses publishes highly cited papers, and is indexed in renowned databases such as Scopus, SCIE (Web of Science), PubMed, and others, and maintains affiliations with prestigious societies. Moreover, the Viruses team has recently announced an exciting upcoming event titled ‘Viruses 2024 – A World of Viruses,’ scheduled to take place in Barcelona, Spain, from 14–16 February 2024.
Testimonials
If you notice my enthusiasm regarding our editorial service, it’s because the surveys and testimonials we receive speak volumes about the experiences of our authors, reviewers, and guest editors who collaborate with MDPI. The purpose of these letters is to highlight the exceptional work that we do and the experiences we create for the scholars – thus, let me end with this testimonial from an author:
“It was a great pleasure to publish in Viruses Special Issue [Emerging Viruses in Aquaculture]. The submission process was easy. Guest editors were very helpful and provided all the guidance and support as needed. The handling of the manuscript by the Editorial Team was very fast, efficient, and professional. The reviewer’s comments were insightful, and the publication processes were remarkably rapid.”
– Ms. Magdalena Stachnik, Państwowy Instytut Weterynaryjny | PIWet
Article in Viruses: Emerging Viral Pathogens in Sturgeon Aquaculture in Poland: Focus on Herpesviruses and Mimivirus Detection
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
28 June 2023
2022 Impact Factors for MDPI Journals
The 2022 citation metrics have been released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), and we’re pleased to announce the following results for MDPI journals:
We are thrilled to announce that 90% of our ranked MDPI journals, specifically 86 out of 96 (captured in the table below), are performing above average in Q1 or Q2. This year, Clarivate has expanded its Impact Factor (IF) awards to include journals in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), providing greater transparency for the full set of journals indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. As a result, 111 of MDPI journals have received their first IF in 2023, with 37 journals surpassing an IF of 3.0. In total, 208 MDPI journals have been honored with an IF.
Clarivate explains that by "expanding the coverage but holding to highly selective standards, the [Impact Factor] is now a reliable indicator of trustworthiness, as well as a measure of scholarly impact, at the journal level."
Please visit our blog post where we discuss the release of the latest citation metrics with our Indexing Manager, Dr. Constanze Schelhorn, to find out what's different this time around and how to make use of different metrics available.
| Journal | Impact Factor | Rank Quartile | Category |
| Vaccines | 7.8 | Q1 | Immunology |
| Medicine, Research & Experimental | |||
| Antioxidants | 7.0 | Q1 | Food Science & Technology |
| Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | |||
| Chemistry, Medicinal | |||
| Cells | 6.0 | Q2 | Cell Biology |
| Nutrients | 5.9 | Q1 | Nutrition & Dietetics |
| International Journal of Molecular Sciences | 5.6 | Q1 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
| Q2 | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research | 5.6 | Q2 | Business |
| Biomolecules | 5.5 | Q1 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
| Biosensors | 5.4 | Q1 | Chemistry, Analytical |
| Instruments & Instrumentation | |||
| Q2 | Nanoscience & Nanotechnology | ||
| Fractal and Fractional | 5.4 | Q1 | Mathematics, Interdisciplinary Applications |
| Marine Drugs | 5.4 | Q1 | Chemistry, Medicinal |
| Pharmacology & Pharmacy | |||
| Pharmaceutics | 5.4 | Q1 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
| Nanomaterials | 5.3 | Q1 | Physics, Applied |
| Q2 | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Nanoscience & Nanotechnology | |||
| Cancers | 5.2 | Q2 | Oncology |
| Foods | 5.2 | Q1 | Food Science & Technology |
| Polymers | 5.0 | Q1 | Polymer Science |
| Remote Sensing | 5.0 | Q1 | Geosciences, Multidisciplinary |
| Q2 | Remote Sensing | ||
| Imaging Science & Photographic Technology | |||
| Environmental Sciences | |||
| Antibiotics | 4.8 | Q1 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
| Q2 | Infectious Diseases | ||
| Drones | 4.8 | Q2 | Remote Sensing |
| Journal of Functional Biomaterials | 4.8 | Q2 | Engineering, Biomedical |
| Materials Science, Biomaterials | |||
| Biomedicines | 4.7 | Q1 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
| Q2 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | ||
| Medicine, Research & Experimental | |||
| Journal of Fungi | 4.7 | Q2 | Mycology |
| Microbiology | |||
| Viruses | 4.7 | Q2 | Virology |
| Bioengineering | 4.6 | Q2 | Engineering, Biomedical |
| Gels | 4.6 | Q1 | Polymer Science |
| Molecules | 4.6 | Q2 | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary |
| Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | |||
| Pharmaceuticals | 4.6 | Q2 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
| Chemistry, Medicinal | |||
| Toxics | 4.6 | Q1 | Toxicology |
| Q2 | Environmental Sciences | ||
| Biomimetics | 4.5 | Q1 | Engineering, Multidisciplinary |
| Q2 | Materials Science, Biomaterials | ||
| Microorganisms | 4.5 | Q2 | Microbiology |
| Plants | 4.5 | Q1 | Plant Sciences |
| Biology | 4.2 | Q2 | Biology |
| Chemosensors | 4.2 | Q2 | Instruments & Instrumentation |
| Chemistry, Analytical | |||
| Electrochemistry | |||
| Membranes | 4.2 | Q2 | Engineering, Chemical |
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Chemistry, Physical | |||
| Polymer Science | |||
| Toxins | 4.2 | Q1 | Toxicology |
| Q2 | Food Science & Technology | ||
| Metabolites | 4.2 | Q2 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
| Batteries | 4.0 | Q2 | Electrochemistry |
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Q3 | Energy & Fuels | ||
| Catalysts | 3.9 | Q2 | Chemistry, Physical |
| Journal of Clinical Medicine | 3.9 | Q2 | Medicine, General & Internal |
| Land | 3.9 | Q2 | Environmental Studies |
| Sensors | 3.9 | Q2 | Instruments & Instrumentation |
| Chemistry, Analytical | |||
| Engineering, Electrical & Electronic | |||
| Sustainability | 3.9 | Q2 | Environmental Sciences (SCIE) |
| Environmental Studies (SSCI) | |||
| Q3 | Green & Sustainable Science & Technology (SCIE) | ||
| Green & Sustainable Science & Technology (SSCI) | |||
| Buildings | 3.8 | Q2 | Construction & Building Technology |
| Engineering, Civil | |||
| Agronomy | 3.7 | Q1 | Agronomy |
| Q2 | Plant Sciences | ||
| Fermentation | 3.7 | Q2 | Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology |
| Pathogens | 3.7 | Q2 | Microbiology |
| Agriculture | 3.6 | Q1 | Agronomy |
| Diagnostics | 3.6 | Q2 | Medicine, General & Internal |
| Genes | 3.5 | Q2 | Genetics & Heredity |
| Journal of Intelligence | 3.5 | Q2 | Psychology, Multidisciplinary |
| Lubricants | 3.5 | Q2 | Engineering, Mechanical |
| Processes | 3.5 | Q2 | Engineering, Chemical |
| Coatings | 3.4 | Q2 | Materials Science, Coatings & Films |
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Q3 | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | ||
| ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information | 3.4 | Q2 | Geography, Physical |
| Q3 | Computer Science, Information Systems | ||
| Remote Sensing | |||
| Materials | 3.4 | Q2 | Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering |
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Physics, Condensed Matter | |||
| Q3 | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Chemistry, Physical | |||
| Micromachines | 3.4 | Q2 | Instruments & Instrumentation |
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Chemistry, Analytical | |||
| Q3 | Nanoscience & Nanotechnology | ||
| Water | 3.4 | Q2 | Water Resources |
| Environmental Sciences | |||
| Brain Sciences | 3.3 | Q3 | Neurosciences |
| Energies | 3.2 | Q3 | Energy & Fuels |
| Fire | 3.2 | Q1 | Forestry |
| Q2 | Ecology | ||
| Life | 3.2 | Q2 | Biology |
| Current Issues in Molecular Biology | 3.1 | Q3 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
| Horticulturae | 3.1 | Q1 | Horticulture |
| Animals | 3.0 | Q1 | Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science |
| Veterinary Sciences | |||
| Insects | 3.0 | Q1 | Entomology |
| Atmosphere | 2.9 | Q3 | Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences |
| Environmental Sciences | |||
| Electronics | 2.9 | Q2 | Engineering, Electrical & Electronic |
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Q3 | Computer Science, Information Systems | ||
| Forests | 2.9 | Q1 | Forestry |
| Inorganics | 2.9 | Q2 | Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear |
| Journal of Marine Science and Engineering | 2.9 | Q1 | Engineering, Marine |
| Q2 | Oceanography | ||
| Engineering, Ocean | |||
| Metals | 2.9 | Q2 | Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering |
| Q3 | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease | 2.9 | Q2 | Tropical Medicine |
| Parasitology | |||
| Q3 | Infectious Diseases | ||
| Universe | 2.9 | Q2 | Astronomy & Astrophysics |
| Physics, Particles & Fields | |||
| Healthcare | 2.8 | Q2 | Health Policy & Services (SSCI) |
| Q3 | Health Care Sciences & Services (SCIE) | ||
| Applied Sciences | 2.7 | Q2 | Engineering, Multidisciplinary |
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Q3 | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Crystals | 2.7 | Q2 | Crystallography |
| Q3 | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Entropy | 2.7 | Q2 | Physics, Multidisciplinary |
| Magnetochemistry | 2.7 | Q2 | Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear |
| Q3 | Chemistry, Physical | ||
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Symmetry | 2.7 | Q2 | Multidisciplinary Sciences |
| Actuators | 2.6 | Q2 | Instruments & Instrumentation |
| Engineering, Mechanical | |||
| Aerospace | 2.6 | Q1 | Engineering, Aerospace |
| Behavioral Sciences | 2.6 | Q2 | Psychology, Multidisciplinary |
| Current Oncology | 2.6 | Q3 | Oncology |
| Machines | 2.6 | Q2 | Engineering, Mechanical |
| Q3 | Engineering, Electrical & Electronic | ||
| Medicina | 2.6 | Q3 | Medicine, General & Internal |
| Separations | 2.6 | Q3 | Chemistry, Analytical |
| Minerals | 2.5 | Q2 | Mining & Mineral Processing |
| Mineralogy | |||
| Geochemistry & Geophysics | |||
| Children | 2.4 | Q2 | Pediatrics |
| Diversity | 2.4 | Q2 | Biodiversity Conservation |
| Q3 | Ecology | ||
| Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease | 2.4 | Q3 | Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems |
| Mathematics | 2.4 | Q1 | Mathematics |
| Photonics | 2.4 | Q3 | Optics |
| Veterinary Sciences | 2.4 | Q1 | Veterinary Sciences |
| Fishes | 2.3 | Q2 | Marine & Freshwater Biology |
| Fisheries | |||
| Axioms | 2.0 | Q2 | Mathematics, Applied |
| Systems | 1.9 | Q2 | Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary |
| Tomography | 1.9 | Q3 | Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging |
Note: The Journal of Personalized Medicine's Impact Factor was omitted in the original release and will be assigned separately. Please find the data on the journal webpage in due course.
Source: 2022 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports TM (Clarivate, 2023)
27 June 2023
Prof. Dr. Jean-Louis Guéant Appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of Section “Nutrition and Metabolism” in Nutrients
19 June 2023
Nutrients Receives an Increased CiteScore of 9.0
12 June 2023
Nutrients | Invitation to Read 2021–2022 Highly Cited Papers in Web of Science
23 May 2023
Nutrients | 2021–2022 Highly Cited Papers in Web of Science about Prebiotics and Probiotics
23 May 2023
Nutrients | 2021–2022 Highly Cited Papers in Web of Science about Nutritional Epidemiology
23 May 2023
Nutrients | 2021–2022 Highly Cited Papers in Web of Science about Nutrition and Metabolism
23 May 2023
Nutrients | 2021–2022 Highly Cited Papers in Web of Science about Clinical Nutrition
21 May 2023
Nutrients | 2021–2022 Highly Cited Papers in Web of Science about Micronutrients and Human Health
21 May 2023
Nutrients | 2021–2022 Highly Cited Papers in Web of Science about Nutrition and Public Health
21 May 2023
Nutrients | 2021–2022 Highly Cited Papers in Web of Science about Phytochemicals and Human Health
19 May 2023
Prof. Dr. George Moschonis Appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of Section “Nutrition Methodology & Assessment” in Nutrients
16 May 2023
Meet Us at the 19th Annual International Conference of the Metabolomics Society, 18–22 June 2023, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
24 April 2023
Nutrients | Invitation to Read 2021–2022 Hot Topic Papers in Web of Science
7 April 2023
World Health Day–Health for All
On 7 April 2023—World Health Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) will observe its 75th anniversary. In 1948, countries of the world came together and founded the WHO to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable, so that everyone, everywhere, can attain the highest level of health and well-being. The WHO’s 75th anniversary is an opportunity to look back at public health successes that have improved quality of life over the last seven decades. It is also an opportunity to motivate action to tackle the health challenges of today and tomorrow. In order to encourage everyone to understand health and pay attention to health, we have also curated a list of publications on topics related to universal health coverage, healthy diet, and mental health. We also want to remind everyone that all research published in MDPI journals is available in an open access format, allowing practitioners, policy makers, and people around the world to access the latest scientific knowledge to build upon and share. Although we still have a long way to go to achieve universal health, this day also provides an opportunity to celebrate the progress made and inspire further action toward a more just and equitable world. Join us on a journey at MDPI to achieve Health for All.
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- The Antioxidant Potential of the Mediterranean Diet as a Predictor of Weight Loss after a Very Low-Calorie Ketogenic Diet (VLCKD) in Women with Overweight and Obesity
Antioxidants 2023, 12(1), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox12010018
- Effectiveness of Non-Contact Dietary Coaching in Adults with Diabetes or Prediabetes Using a Continuous Glucose Monitoring Device: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Healthcare 2023, 11(2), 252; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11020252
- The Association between Advanced Liver Fibrosis and Mortality Is Modified by Dietary Quality among Korean Adults: Results from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey with Mortality Data
Nutrients 2023, 15(6), 1501; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15061501
- Physical Exercise and Diet: Regulation of Gut Microbiota to Prevent and Treat Metabolic Disorders to Maintain Health
Nutrients 2023, 15(6), 1539; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15061539
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Section: Nutrition and Public Health |
Special Issue: Dietary Antioxidants and Cardiovascular Health |
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- Modelling and Prediction of the Spread of COVID-19 in Cameroon and Assessing the Governmental Measures (March–September 2020)
COVID 2021, 1(3), 622-644; https://doi.org/10.3390/covid1030052
- SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Health Care Workers of Trieste (North-Eastern Italy), 1 October 2020–7 February 2022: Occupational Risk and the Impact of the Omicron Variant
Viruses 2022, 14(8), 1663; https://doi.org/10.3390/v14081663
- Vaccination Coverage during Childhood and Adolescence among Undergraduate Health Science Students in Greece
Children 2022, 9(10), 1553; https://doi.org/10.3390/children9101553
- Determinants of Equity in Coverage of Measles-Containing Vaccines in Wales, UK, during the Elimination Era
Vaccines 2023, 11(3), 680; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11030680
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Section: School Health
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Topical Collection: Poxviruses
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- Sex Differences in Substance Use, Prevalence, Pharmacological Therapy, and Mental Health in Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(5), 590; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12050590
- Impact on Students of the Act–Belong–Commit Mentally Healthy Schools Framework
Children 2023, 10(3), 548; https://doi.org/10.3390/children10030548
- Psychological Health and Drugs: Data-Driven Discovery of Causes, Treatments, Effects, and Abuses
Toxics 2023, 11(3), 287; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11030287
- Characterizing Touch Discrimination Impairment from Pooled Stroke Samples Using the Tactile Discrimination Test: Updated Criteria for Interpretation and Brief Test Version for Use in Clinical Practice Settings
Brain Sci. 2023, 13(4), 533; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13040533
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Special Issue: Disruptive Behavior Disorders: Symptoms, Evaluation and Treatment |
Special Issue: Organophosphate-Induced Neurotoxicity: Countermeasures, Mechanisms, and Physiology |
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4 April 2023
Meet Us at the 11th AOHUPO and 7th AOAPO Congress, 8–10 May 2023, Singapore
13 March 2023
MDPI’s Newly Launched Journals in December 2022
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.
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Prof. Dr. Fabio Gresta, University of Messina, Italy| Editorial | view inaugural issue |
grass/forage/turf production; grassland management; pasture monitoring; grazing and livestock; grass agro-ecosystems| view journal scope | submit an article |
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Prof. Dr. Christos G. Athanassiou, University of Thessaly, Greece| Editorial | view inaugural issue |
pesticides; fungicides; herbicides; fertilizers; soil conditioners| view journal scope | submit an article |
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Prof. Dr. Stephen H. Safe, Texas A&M University, USA| Editorial | view inaugural issue |
receptor structure; receptor function; receptor signaling; receptor expression and regulation; receptor interactions with drugs| view journal scope | submit an article |
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Dr. Jean Jacques Vanden Eynde, University of Mons-UMONS, Belgium| Editorial | view inaugural issue |
drug discovery; medicinal chemistry; preclinical and clinical research; marketed drugs; intellectual property and regulatory affairs| view journal scope | submit an article |
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Prof. Dr. Heather Kanuka, University of Alberta, Canada| Editorial | view inaugural issue |
higher education; tertiary education; policy and practice in higher education; educational leadership in higher education; educational administration and management in higher education| view journal scope | submit an article |
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.
7 March 2023
Displaying Co-Authors’ Email Addresses on the Webpage of Published Papers
16 February 2023
Increasing Visibility for Preprints.org – Clarivate adds the Preprint Citation Index to the Web of Science
1 February 2023
Prof. Dr. Jaime Uribarri Appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of Section “Clinical Nutrition” in Nutrients
3 January 2023
Nutrients | Invitation to Read the Current Editor’s Choice Articles Published in 2021–2022
3 January 2023
Nutrients | Issue Cover Papers in 2022
28 December 2022
Nutrients | Season’s Greetings from the Editors-in-Chief
23 December 2022
Nutrients | Issue Cover Papers in 2021
22 December 2022
Special Issue Mentor Program
14 December 2022
"Thanks a Million!" – One Million Articles Published in MDPI Journals
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!
12 December 2022
Editorial Board Members from Nutrients Featured in the 2022 Highly Cited Researchers List Published by Clarivate
8 December 2022
MDPI Sustainability Foundation: New Look and Nominations for the 2023 Sustainability Awards Now Open
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.
24 November 2022
Editorial Board Members from Nutrients Featured among the World’s Top 2% Scientists in 2022
23 November 2022
Nutrients | Top 10 Selected Papers in 2020–2021 in the Section “Nutrition and Public Health”
17 November 2022
Nutrients | Top 10 Selected Papers in 2020–2021 in the Section “Clinical Nutrition”
17 November 2022
Nutrients | Top 10 Selected Papers in 2020–2021 in the Section “Nutritional Immunology”
17 November 2022
Nutrients | Top 10 Selected Papers in 2020–2021 in the Section “Nutrition Methodology & Assessment”
16 November 2022
Nutrients | Top 10 Selected Papers in 2020–2021 in the Section “Nutritional Epidemiology”
8 November 2022
Nutrients | Top 10 Selected Papers in 2020–2021 in the Section “Sports Nutrition”
8 November 2022
Nutrients | Top 10 Selected Papers in 2020–2021 in the Section “Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics”
8 November 2022
Nutrients | Top 10 Selected Papers in 2020–2021 in the Section “Prebiotics and Probiotics”
8 November 2022
Nutrients | Top 10 Selected Papers in 2020–2021 in the Section “Nutrition and Metabolism”
4 November 2022
Nutrients | Top 10 Selected Papers in 2020–2021 in the Section “Micronutrients and Human Health”
4 November 2022
Nutrients | Top 10 Selected Papers in 2020–2021 in the Section “Phytochemicals and Human Health”
4 November 2022
Meet Us at the 27th Congress of the Chinese Pediatric Society, 15–18 December 2022, Changsha, China
MDPI will be attending the 27th Congress of the Chinese Pediatric Society, held in Changsha, China, from 15–18 December 2022.
The following MDPI journals will be represented:
- Children (leading journal);
- JPM;
- Medicina;
- Audiology Research;
- JCM;
- Healthcare;
- Diagnostics;
- Metabolites;
- Cancers;
- Nutrients.
If you plan on attending this conference, feel free to stop by our booth: #B67. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions that you may have.
For more information about the conference, please see the following link: https://nccps2022.tiemeeting.com/CN.
28 October 2022
Nutrients | Top 10 Cited Special Issues in 2021
28 October 2022
Nutrients 2022 Best Paper Award—Winners Announced
21 October 2022
Nutrients | Editor’s Choice Articles in 2020–2021
19 October 2022
Recruiting Editorial Board Members for Nutrients
28 September 2022
Peer Review Week 2022 – Research Integrity: Creating and Supporting Trust in Research
26 September 2022
Nutrients | Top 10 Cited Papers in 2020
26 September 2022
Nutrients | Top 10 Cited Papers in 2021
27 July 2022
Nutrients | Special Issue Mentor Program
We are pleased to announce the launch of a new initiative—the Special Issue Mentor Program.
This program intends to provide an opportunity for early career scientists to enhance their editing, networking, and organizational skills, as well as to work closely with our journal to gain more editorial experience. Early career scientists who have novel ideas for new Special Issues of Nutrients (ISSN: 2072-6643) will act as Guest Editors under the mentorship of an experienced scientist; this mentor could be a member of the Nutrients Editorial Board or be from other well-established research institutes or laboratories, etc.
If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your Special Issue proposal to the Nutrients Editorial Office (nutrients@mdpi.com), and we will discuss the process (i.e., mentor collaboration, Special Issue topic feasibility analysis, etc.) in further detail. When the Special Issue is closed, our Editorial Office will provide certificates to all the mentors and to those who complete the program. Younger scholars will be prioritized as candidates for our journal award.
In addition to the new Special Issue Mentor Program, Nutrients will continue to welcome all Special Issue proposals based on hot research topics in the field.
26 July 2022
Meet Us at the China Functional Foods Conference 2022, 1–3 August 2022, Nanjing, China
Conference: China Functional Foods Conference 2022
Date: 1–3 August 2022
Place: Nanjing, China
Booth Number: #A19
Theme: Functional Foods and Human Health
Nutrients (ISSN: 2072-6643) will be attending the China Functional Foods Conference 2022 as exhibitors from 1 to 3 August in Nanjing, China.
Conference program:
(I) Invited reports:
- Development status and trending of global nutritional functional foods;
- Nutrition, healthcare for special food regulations and standards;
- Current situation and development of a special food industry;
- Future trends of personalized precision nutrition.
(II) Thematic forums:
- Technological innovation and industrial development of special medical use formula food;
- Technological innovation and industrial development of probiotics;
- Technological innovation and industrial development of bioactive peptides;
- Development and application of functional food raw materials/ingredients;
- Food nutrition and human health;
- Functional food development and industrial development of marine resources;
- Homology of medicine and food and development and industrial development of natural products;
- Functional polysaccharide nutrition and development and application;
- Cereal food nutrition and intensive processing.
Booth information:
The following MDPI journals will be represented:
Please do not hesitate to reach out if you plan on attending this conference. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you might have.
For more information about the conference, please visit the following website: http://guohsushipn.mikecrm.com/0EYH8vK.
20 July 2022
Meet Us at the 15th China Nutrition Science Congress, 29–31 July 2022, Wuhan, China
28 June 2022
2021 Impact Factors - Released
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:
| Journal | Impact Factor | Rank | Category |
| Antioxidants | 7.675 | Q1 | Food Science & Technology |
| Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | |||
| Chemistry, Medicinal | |||
| Cells | 7.666 | Q2 | Cell Biology |
| Nutrients | 6.706 | Q1 | Nutrition & Dietetics |
| Cancers | 6.575 | Q1 | Oncology |
| Pharmaceutics | 6.525 | Q1 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
| International Journal of Molecular Sciences | 6.208 | Q1 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
| Q2 | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Marine Drugs | 6.085 | Q1 | Chemistry, Medicinal |
| Pharmacology & Pharmacy | |||
| Biomolecules | 6.064 | Q2 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
| Batteries * | 5.938 | Q2 | Electrochemistry |
| Energy & Fuels | |||
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Viruses | 5.818 | Q2 | Virology |
| Biosensors | 5.743 | Q1 | Chemistry, Analytical |
| Instruments & Instrumentation | |||
| Q2 | Nanoscience & Nanotechnology | ||
| Journal of Fungi | 5.724 | Q1 | Mycology |
| Q2 | Microbiology | ||
| Nanomaterials | 5.719 | Q1 | Physics, Applied |
| Q2 | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Nanoscience & Nanotechnology | |||
| Metabolites | 5.581 | Q2 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
| Foods | 5.561 | Q1 | Food Science & Technology |
| Drones * | 5.532 | Q2 | Remote Sensing |
| Remote Sensing | 5.349 | Q1 | Geosciences, Multidisciplinary |
| Imaging Science & Photographic Technology | |||
| Q2 | Remote Sensing | ||
| Environmental Sciences | |||
| Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research | 5.318 | Q2 | Business |
| Antibiotics | 5.222 | Q1 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
| Q2 | Infectious Diseases | ||
| Pharmaceuticals | 5.215 | Q1 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
| Q2 | Chemistry, Medicinal | ||
| Biology | 5.168 | Q1 | Biology |
| Fermentation | 5.123 | Q2 | Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology |
| Toxins | 5.075 | Q1 | Toxicology |
| Q2 | Food Science & Technology | ||
| Bioengineering * | 5.046 | Q2 | Engineering, Biomedical |
| Polymers | 4.967 | Q1 | Polymer Science |
| Journal of Clinical Medicine | 4.964 | Q2 | Medicine, General & Internal |
| Vaccines | 4.961 | Q2 | Immunology |
| Medicine, Research & Experimental | |||
| Molecules | 4.927 | Q2 | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary |
| Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | |||
| Microorganisms | 4.926 | Q2 | Microbiology |
| Journal of Functional Biomaterials * | 4.901 | Q2 | Engineering, Biomedical |
| Materials Science, Biomaterials | |||
| Biomedicines | 4.757 | Q2 | Medicine, Research & Experimental |
| Pharmacology & Pharmacy | |||
| Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | |||
| Plants | 4.658 | Q1 | Plant Sciences |
| International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health | 4.614 | Q1 | Public, Environmental & Occupational Health (SSCI) |
| Q2 | Public, Environmental & Occupational Health (SCIE) | ||
| Environmental Sciences (SCIE) | |||
| Membranes | 4.562 | Q1 | Polymer Science |
| Q2 | Engineering, Chemical | ||
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Chemistry, Physical | |||
| Pathogens | 4.531 | Q2 | Microbiology |
| Catalysts | 4.501 | Q2 | Chemistry, Physical |
| Toxics | 4.472 | Q2 | Toxicology |
| Environmental Sciences | |||
| Gels | 4.432 | Q1 | Polymer Science |
| Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease | 4.415 | Q2 | Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems |
| Chemosensors | 4.229 | Q1 | Instruments & Instrumentation |
| Q2 | Chemistry, Analytical | ||
| Q3 | Electrochemistry | ||
| Genes | 4.141 | Q2 | Genetics & Heredity |
| Diagnostics | 3.992 | Q2 | Medicine, General & Internal |
| Agronomy | 3.949 | Q1 | Agronomy |
| Plant Sciences | |||
| Land | 3.905 | Q2 | Environmental Studies |
| Sustainability | 3.889 | Q2 | Environmental Sciences (SCIE) |
| Environmental Studies (SSCI) | |||
| Q3 | Green & Sustainable Science & Technology (SCIE) | ||
| Q4 | Green & Sustainable Science & Technology (SSCI) | ||
| Sensors | 3.847 | Q2 | Instruments & Instrumentation |
| Chemistry, Analytical | |||
| Engineering, Electrical & Electronic | |||
| Materials | 3.748 | Q1 | Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering |
| Q2 | Physics, Applied | ||
| Physics, Condensed Matter | |||
| Q3 | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Chemistry, Physical | |||
| Biomimetics * | 3.743 | Q2 | Engineering, Multidisciplinary |
| Q3 | Materials Science, Biomaterials | ||
| Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease * | 3.711 | Q1 | Tropical Medicine |
| Q2 | Parasitology | ||
| Q3 | Infectious Diseases | ||
| Lubricants * | 3.584 | Q2 | Engineering, Mechanical |
| Fractal and Fractional | 3.577 | Q1 | Mathematics, Interdisciplinary Applications |
| Water | 3.530 | Q2 | Water Resources |
| Q3 | Environmental Sciences | ||
| Micromachines | 3.523 | Q2 | Instruments & Instrumentation |
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Chemistry, Analytical | |||
| Q3 | Nanoscience & Nanotechnology | ||
| Journal of Personalized Medicine | 3.508 | Q2 | Medicine, General & Internal |
| Health Care Sciences & Services | |||
| Agriculture | 3.408 | Q1 | Agronomy |
| Processes | 3.352 | Q2 | Engineering, Chemical |
| Separations | 3.344 | Q2 | Chemistry, Analytical |
| Magnetochemistry | 3.336 | Q2 | Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear |
| Q3 | Chemistry, Physical | ||
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Brain Sciences | 3.333 | Q3 | Neurosciences |
| Buildings | 3.324 | Q2 | Construction & Building Technology |
| Engineering, Civil | |||
| Forests | 3.282 | Q1 | Forestry |
| Energies | 3.252 | Q3 | Energy & Fuels |
| Life | 3.251 | Q2 | Biology |
| Coatings | 3.236 | Q2 | Materials Science, Coatings & Films |
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Q3 | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Animals | 3.231 | Q1 | Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science |
| Veterinary Sciences | |||
| Journal of Intelligence * | 3.176 | Q2 | Psychology, Multidisciplinary |
| Fishes | 3.170 | Q1 | Marine & Freshwater Biology |
| Q2 | Fisheries | ||
| Healthcare | 3.160 | Q2 | Health Policy & Services (SSCI) |
| Health Care Sciences & Services (SCIE) | |||
| Inorganics * | 3.149 | Q2 | Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear |
| Insects | 3.139 | Q1 | Entomology |
| Atmosphere | 3.110 | Q3 | Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences |
| Environmental Sciences | |||
| Current Oncology | 3.109 | Q3 | Oncology |
| ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information | 3.099 | Q2 | Geography, Physical |
| Q3 | Computer Science, Information Systems | ||
| Remote Sensing | |||
| Diversity | 3.029 | Q2 | Biodiversity Conservation |
| Ecology | |||
| Tomography | 3.000 | Q3 | Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging |
| Current Issues in Molecular Biology | 2.976 | Q3 | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
| Medicina | 2.948 | Q3 | Medicine, General & Internal |
| Symmetry | 2.940 | Q2 | Multidisciplinary Sciences |
| Horticulturae | 2.923 | Q1 | Horticulture |
| Machines | 2.899 | Q2 | Engineering, Mechanical |
| Engineering, Electrical & Electronic | |||
| Systems * | 2.895 | Q2 | Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary |
| Applied Sciences | 2.838 | Q2 | Engineering, Multidisciplinary |
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Q3 | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | |||
| Children | 2.835 | Q2 | Pediatrics |
| Minerals | 2.818 | Q2 | Mining & Mineral Processing |
| Mineralogy | |||
| Geochemistry & Geophysics | |||
| Universe | 2.813 | Q2 | Astronomy & Astrophysics |
| Q3 | Physics, Particles & Fields | ||
| Journal of Marine Science and Engineering | 2.744 | Q1 | Engineering, Marine |
| Q2 | Oceanography | ||
| Engineering, Ocean | |||
| Entropy | 2.738 | Q2 | Physics, Multidisciplinary |
| Fire * | 2.726 | Q2 | Forestry |
| Q3 | Ecology | ||
| Metals | 2.695 | Q2 | Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering |
| Q3 | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Electronics | 2.690 | Q3 | Engineering, Electrical & Electronic |
| Computer Science, Information Systems | |||
| Physics, Applied | |||
| Crystals | 2.670 | Q2 | Crystallography |
| Q3 | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | ||
| Aerospace | 2.660 | Q1 | Engineering, Aerospace |
| Mathematics | 2.592 | Q1 | Mathematics |
| Photonics | 2.536 | Q3 | Optics |
| Actuators | 2.523 | Q2 | Instruments & Instrumentation |
| Q3 | Engineering, Mechanical | ||
| Veterinary Sciences | 2.518 | Q2 | Veterinary Sciences |
| Behavioral Sciences * | 2.286 | Q3 | Psychology, Multidisciplinary |
| Axioms * | 1.824 | Q2 | Mathematics, Applied |
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 TM (Clarivate, 2022)
9 June 2022
2021 CiteScores - Released
2 June 2022
MDPI’s 2021 Outstanding Reviewer Awards in “Biology & Life Sciences”—Winners Announced
2 June 2022
MDPI’s 2021 Young Investigator Awards in “Biology & Life Sciences”—Winners Announced
2 June 2022
MDPI’s 2021 Travel Awards in “Biology & Life Sciences”—Winners Announced
2 June 2022
MDPI’s 2021 Best Paper Awards in “Biology & Life Sciences”—Winners Announced
7 April 2022
Nutrients | Highly Cited Papers in Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) in the Web of Science in 2021
21 March 2022
Nutrients | Recruiting Editorial Board Members for Section “Nutrition and Obesity”
21 March 2022
Nutrients | New Section “Hydration” Established
17 March 2022
Nutrients | Recruiting Editorial Board Members for Section “Prebiotics and Probiotics”
17 March 2022
Nutrients | Call for Special Issue Proposals for Section “Prebiotics and Probiotics”
28 February 2022
Nutrients | Recruiting Editorial Board Members for New Section “Sports Nutrition”
21 February 2022
Nutrients | Recruiting Editorial Board Members for Section “Micronutrients and Human Health”
21 February 2022
Nutrients | Call for Special Issue Proposals for Section “Micronutrients and Human Health”
21 February 2022
Nutrients | Recruiting Editorial Board Members for New Section “Protein”
21 February 2022
Nutrients | Recruiting Editorial Board Members for New Section “Nutrition in Women”
14 February 2022
Nutrients | Recruiting Editorial Board Members for New Section “Geriatric Nutrition”
14 February 2022
Nutrients | Call for Special Issue Proposals for New Section “Geriatric Nutrition”
10 February 2022
Nutrients | Recruiting Editorial Board Members for New Section “Nutrition and Diabetes”
10 February 2022
Nutrients | Call for Special Issue Proposals for New Section “Nutrition and Diabetes”
10 February 2022
Nutrients | Special Issue “Advances in Nutrition: Opportunities and Challenges in 2022”—Open for Submission
24 January 2022
Nutrients | Call for Special Issue Proposals for Section “Nutritional Immunology”
13 January 2022
Nutrients | Call for Special Issue Proposals for Section “Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics”
13 January 2022
Nutrients | Call for Special Issue Proposals for New Section “Carbohydrates”
6 January 2022
Nutrients | Recruiting Editorial Board Members for New Section “Hydration”
30 December 2021
Nutrients | Two New Sections Established
We are pleased to announce that we are launching two new Sections in the open-access journal Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643), which publishes reviews, research papers, and communications in all areas of hydration and geriatric nutrition research.
The two new Sections being launched are as follows:
If you are interested in publishing your research, please do not hesitate to contact us at nutrients@mdpi.com; we welcome original research articles and reviews in the above-mentioned fields.
Nutrients Editorial Office
29 December 2021
Nutrients | Season’s Greetings from Editorial Board Members
Video message from the Editor-in-Chief of Nutrients (ISSN: 2072-6643) and the Section Editors-in-Chief:
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Prof. Dr. Federica I. Wolf Editor-in-Chief of the “Micronutrients and Human Health” Section |
Dear readers,
Notwithstanding the viral storm that has blasted the world over the last two years, we are here to talk about science, ready to start the new year with unfailing enthusiasm.
It has been a difficult time for us all. Both our work environments and our social lives have been greatly affected, and we have experienced an unprecedented feeling of social isolation and restraint, as well as anxiety for the future of ourselves and the whole community.
Fortunately, we were blessed by the might of the web, which has helped us in the face of so many difficulties. We have learned how to explore and communicate in a virtual world—slang such as call and link and tele-this or tele-that has penetrated our language and become our leitmotiv to survive isolation and loneliness. This could not in any way compensate for the collapse of personal interactions, but it removed what was initially perceived as an insurmountable wall between us and the others, helping us to realize we were not alone after all. In looking back at the last two years, we might conclude that the Sars-Cov2 pandemic changed our lifestyle and made our days less frantic and neurotic. We suddenly found ourselves with plenty of time for thinking, putting ideas together, and brainstorming in the search for new scientific avenues.
In reviewing how the scientific literature embraced thousands of solid or naïve reports on the evil virus, I have the impression that we never stopped conducting science. Looking at how our journal faired during the pandemic, it is clear that our authors faced the challenges presented to them head on and broadened their focus on what a healthy lifestyle means. We all became, more than ever, aware of the importance of nutrition as a preventive or curative indispensable strategy. As a result, nutrition research is stronger than before and represents a unique arena to welcome translational collaborations and efforts to fight COVID-19. More importantly, nutrition research has become a flagship of a revitalized interest in life and the environment.
I wish you all a healthy and fruitful 2022!
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Prof. Dr. Yvan Vandenplas Editor-in-Chief of the “Pediatric Nutrition” Section |
The whole team in “Pediatric Nutrition” wishes all co-workers and authors a very happy 2022 and we thank you for your devotion and interest.
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Dr. Javier Gómez-Ambrosi Editor-in-Chief of the “Nutrition and Obesity” Section Co-Editor-in-Chief of the “Nutrition and Diabetes” Section |
On behalf of the Editorial Office of Nutrients we would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Nutrients’ authors, readers, Editorial Board members, and reviewers, thanking them for their kind and continued participation in the journal in 2021.
This year, we have published many relevant findings in the field of human nutrition. For example, several important papers have highlighted the role of vitamin D in reducing the severity and mortality rate of COVID-19, or other factors such as vitamin K or zinc, and how the pandemic has changed the dietary habits and physical activity due to lockdowns. Nutrients has also published studies demonstrating the positive health effects of nuts and coffee and has reviewed the benefits of fasting and its application. We have also seen research concerning meta-analysis, showing that animal protein tends to be more beneficial for lean mass than plant protein, a work suggesting that a ketogenic low-carbohydrate high-fat diet induces a deleterious blood lipid profile, and an innovative study using a metagenomics and metabolomics approach to show how western and Mediterranean diets differently affect gut microbiota metabolism. Finally, some studies have also shed more light on controversial topics such as the effects of the consumption of potatoes and saturated fats on health.
In 2021, the impact factor of Nutrients has increased to 5.719 and thanks to all the excellent papers we have published in 2021, we expect to further increase the impact of Nutrients in 2022.
We wish you a very happy new year, and we welcome submissions of even more excellent articles in 2022.
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Prof. Dr. David C. Nieman Editor-in-Chief of the “Sport Nutrition” Section |
Wishing you health and happiness in the New Year ahead.
Sports nutrition is a rapidly expanding area of scientific investigation. The interaction of exercise and nutrition is compelling and complex. Advances in measurement technologies have allowed hundreds of metabolites, proteins, lipids, and genes to be measured simultaneously. This approach has improved the capacity to provide accurate and practical guidelines for athletes. The “Sports Nutrition” Section of the journal Nutrients is devoted to advancing scientific understanding, and I encourage you to send us your best papers in 2022.
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Prof. Dr. Yan Chen Editorial Board Member in Nutrients |
Wish for Nutrients to be nutritious and important to all fields of biological research.
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Prof. Dr. Gloria Lena Vega Editor-in-Chief of the “Nutrition and Metabolism” Section |
Dear readers,
Congratulations to all those who contributed to this year’s “Nutrition and Metabolism” Section and to our supportive readers and editorial staff. We were pleased to receive very informative manuscripts on diverse topics. The Section published about 400 manuscripts representing the scientific activities of researchers and scholars from the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The scope of the science is broad reflecting the many aspects of nutrition and metabolism research being conducted in well-established research centers.
We look forward to your continued support by submitting reviews, original research, and/or editorials on topics that are of greatest importance to nutrition and metabolism. In these challenging times of the pandemic, scientists are to be commended for their resilience and commitment to their work. As we learn to navigate the present health challenge, we anticipate additional submissions on new aspects of the role of the immune system in metabolism and new strategies to enhance immunity through nutrition. We encourage you to continue to submit your research findings to this section next year. We urge you to encourage your fellows and students to publish their thesis work and to use this forum as a key resource of innovative research in nutrition and metabolism.
We extend to our readership, authors, and very able editorial staff best wishes for a productive 2022 and for better control of the healthcare challenges we confront worldwide.
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Prof. Dr. Luis A. Moreno Editor-in-Chief of the “Nutritional Epidemiology” Section |
Dear readers,
On behalf of the “Nutrition Epidemiology” Section of our journal Nutrients, we wish all authors and readers a happy Christmas time and a scientifically productive 2022, with our best wishes for your personal and familial life.
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Prof. Dr. Ina Bergheim Editor-in-Chief of the “Clinical Nutrition” Section |
Dear readers and authors,
The last two years have been very challenging to all of us. People all over the world lost loved ones and many suffered economic hardship. Even though the pandemic is not over, it is thanks to the outstandingly fast development of COVID-19 vaccines that many of us will be able to meet friends and family in this holiday season and hopefully lead a more normal life in 2022. Therefore, I would like to take the opportunity to send a word of gratitude to our fellow scientists who worked hard to develop the COVID-19 vaccines.
Additionally, I would also like to take the opportunity to thank you, the readers and the authors, for following Nutrients and for publishing more than 400 excellent original manuscripts and review articles this year in the “Clinical Nutrition” Section. Indeed, if I look at the many submissions and manuscripts published in this Section, but also the journal in general throughout the past year, I have the impression we never stopped engaging with science, and that nutrition research is an ever-developing discipline being one of the keys to a healthy life.
Happy Holidays to everyone and a healthy and fruitful 2022!
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Prof. Dr. Kimber L. Stanhope Editor-in-Chief of the “Carbohydrates” Section |
As we near the end of another challenging year, a Season’s Greeting full of enthusiasm for the progress we have made in the world of nutrition research and optimism for our future progress is the order of the day. It is easy for me to be enthusiastic about progress. I was lucky to stumble on a research path that has made particularly impressive progress during the last two decades—the metabolic effects of added sugar consumption. I assess this progress starting in 2001 with our NIH summary statement for our first R01 proposal to conduct a well-controlled dietary intervention study on the metabolic effects of fructose and glucose. A reviewer panned our hypothesis that fructose consumption increased risk factors for CVD, stating that it had already been disproven 30 years ago when it was proposed by John Yudkin (eventually, and luckily, we got funded anyway). Fast forward to 2015, reviewers of our new proposals were questioning the need for any more dietary intervention studies on added sugar. Specifically, one reviewer wrote that everyone, except those associated with the sugar industries, knows that the consumption of sugar is bad for health. While the comment is arguable, specifically concerning the “everyone knows” part, it certainly suggests a lot of results were generated and a lot of learning occurred in only 13 years! We can also reasonably claim that the change in the 2015 US Dietary Guideline for the upper limit of added sugar consumption is indicative of outstanding progress; down from 25% of daily energy to 10% of daily energy. However, the U.S. per capita consumption of added sugar (sucrose plus HFCS) has only decreased 17% since 2002 (from 350 to 292 Kcal/day), therefore the average level of added sugar consumption in the U.S. is still closer to 15% of daily energy than 10%. Furthermore, the decrease consisted of solely high fructose corn syrup (HFCS); sucrose intake has increased by 16 kcal/day since 2002. (Nutrition educators, please broadcast the finding of our latest publication: Liver fat, insulin resistance, circulating lipids/lipoproteins, and uric acid are significantly increased by consumption of sucrose, and the increases are comparable to those caused by consumption of HFCS.)
Clearly, we need to keep adding to the evidence base that demonstrates that the refined Western diet is a mediator of chronic disease, ensure that the evidence is translated to dietary advice and education for the public, and develop and test new strategies that will promote dietary change. Does my enthusiasm for our recent progress on the topic of added sugar translate to optimism that we can make equally impressive progress on the goals stated above? I am not sure. I worry that the challenge of obtaining funding to conduct a clinical dietary intervention study, the gold standard of nutrition research, has sky-rocketed alarmingly during the last decade. The researcher must not only meet the NIH standards for being significant and innovative (a challenge in itself), but many reviewers are judging the study design (approach) based on the same standards set for evidence-based medicine. These evidence-based medicine standards for sample size, duration, direct disease outcomes, blinding, control of confounding variables, and compliance monitoring are achievable for a Phase III drug study, for practical, ethical, and methodological reasons, they are not realistic standards for clinical dietary intervention studies.
Furthermore, I think summary statements from my recent unfunded NIH proposals illustrate additional challenges that face nutrition researchers who are seeking funding for clinical dietary intervention studies. For example, in the same summary statement, two reviewers offered completely non-reconcilable critiques of my plan to provide the human subjects with 6 weeks of standardized meals and beverages prepared in our metabolic kitchen. The first reviewer described the dietary protocol as a weakness as it “...is so tightly controlled it is unclear how generalizable these findings will be”; the second reviewer described the dietary protocol as a weakness as the subjects “are not brought into a monitored or controlled setting” for meal consumption, thus may cheat.
I was also disconcerted when a reviewer of my most recent unfunded proposal stated that it was unclear how elucidating the mechanism between consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain would result in public health policy to reduce the availability of SSB. It is the objective of nearly all dietary intervention studies to generate results that will influence public health policy. While many of us researchers put substantial effort into trying to ensure our published results have an impact, the role of translating research evidence into public health policy belongs to others specifically trained for this. Luckily, more and more of our young people are embracing this role, and from 1992 to 2016 the number of post-graduate degrees conferred in public health has more than tripled.
One of the hurdles that the current and future public health advocates have to deal with in their efforts to impact dietary policy is gaps in the evidence base. Filling these gaps is our role, and it takes three types of studies to do this: 1. The observational studies that can show associations between dietary components and health or disease; 2. The basic animal research that can demonstrate causal mechanism between dietary components and health or disease; and 3. Clinical dietary intervention studies to test the relevance of the mechanisms in humans using surrogate markers of health and disease. With all three, we will arm the public health advocates with the best possible evidence base. Therefore, we have to work to ensure that unrealistic standards do not impede the conduct of clinical dietary intervention studies. Dietary intervention studies will never test CVD or diabetes as outcomes, only their surrogates. They will never have sample sizes or durations to rival Phase III drug studies. If they use a free-living/free-choice dietary protocol, the results are subject to confounding by other dietary variables. If they use the standardized dietary protocol in which subjects are confined to consuming only the study diet, mis-compliance is still possible and the results may not be generalizable to real-world diets. While it may be my fantasy, it is not possible, even with unlimited funding, to conduct a dietary intervention study that will not have limitations and that will single-handedly impact dietary policy and consumer behavior. This must not become an excuse not to conduct them. Let us work together to ensure that it does not!
Happy Holidays to everyone!
|
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Prof. Dr. Guansheng Ma Editorial Board Member in Nutrients |
As the pandemic continues to rage around the world in 2021, nutrition research is still being conducted, despite the impact. To fight against COVID-19, the link between vitamin D, zinc, polyphenols, other nutrients and resistance to infection and immune function has received particular attention. The results of these studies have shown that adequate and appropriate intake of nutrition is essential for strengthening immunity and preventing the infection of COVID-19. Investigations have concluded that quarantine does changes dietary behavior and physical activity, eventually impacting the health of the population. Nutrition and healthy aging, food allergies, mechanisms and effects of dietary factors on chronic diseases are the focus of research; moreover, the food environment, food systems, low carbon and sustainability are the focus of researchers.
In the coming year, 2022, as researchers, our scientific research in nutrition and health will never stop. We will continue to make new advances in our own research fields in order to benefit both mankind and nature.
Happy Holidays! I wish you all a healthy and fruitful 2022!
22 December 2021
Nutrients | Call for Special Issue Proposals for New Section “Protein”
20 December 2021
Nutrients | Call for Special Issue Proposals for New Section “Lipids”
22 November 2021
722 MDPI Editorial Board Members Receiving "2021 Highly Cited Researchers" Distinction
18 November 2021
Nutrients | Call for Special Issue Proposal for New Section “Nutrition and Obesity”
16 November 2021
Topical Advisory Panel Established to Support Editorial Board
25 October 2021
Open Access Week 2021 | It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity, 25–31 October
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.
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.
23 September 2021
2020 MDPI Top Reviewer Award—Winners Announced
22 September 2021
MDPI Joins SDG Publishers Compact
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
18 September 2021
Nutrients | Four New Sections Established
16 September 2021
Nutrients Webinar | Sports Nutrition Current Trends and Insights, 20 September 2021
27 August 2021
Nutrients Webinar | Nutrigenetics: Translation into Clinical and Nutritional Practice, 7 September 2021
3 August 2021
Announcement on Japanese Consumption Tax (JCT)
30 June 2021
2020 Impact Factors - Released
29 June 2021
Nutrients 2nd Webinar | Dietary Patterns, Dietary Behaviour in Children and Adolescents
Dietary behaviours develop from early stages of life. Dietary patterns start to be established during childhood. Early interventions should be able to positively influence the development of healthy dietary patterns. In order to design intervention programs, the first step is to know what the main determinants of dietary behaviours and dietary patterns in children and adolescents are. Several strategies have been proposed to deal with optimal behaviour development. Of recent interest are the support of food literacy in families and co-creation strategies to improve energy balance-related behaviours. All the previously mentioned topics will be covered during the present webinar.
Date: 5 July 2021
Time: 3 p.m. (CEST)
Webinar ID: 917 5682 3262
Register for free here: https://nutrients-2.sciforum.net/#registration
Program
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Speaker/Presentation |
Time in CEST |
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Prof. Dr. Luis A. Moreno Chair Introduction |
3:00–3:10 pm |
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Dr. Antje Hebestreit Determinants of Dietary Patterns and Dietary Behaviour in Children and Adolescents |
3:10–3:35 pm |
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Dr. Jess Haines Strategies to Support Food Literacy Among Families |
3:35–4:00 pm |
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Prof. Dr. Mai Chin A Paw Co-Creating Interventions to Improve Energy Balance Behaviours |
4:00–4:25 pm |
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Q&A and Discussion |
4:25–4:45 pm |
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Conclusion & Closing of Webinar |
4:45–5:00 pm |
Chair:
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Prof. Dr. Luis A. Moreno "Growth, Exercise, Nutrition and Development" (GENUD) Research Group, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain Luis A. Moreno is Professor of Public Health at the University of Zaragoza (Spain). He did his training as Medical Doctor and his PhD thesis at the University of Zaragoza. He studied Human Nutrition and Public and Community Health at the University of Nancy (France). He has participated in several research projects supported by the Spanish Ministry of Health, and the European commission (HELENA, IDEFICS, EURRECCA, ENERGY, ToyBox, iFamily, Feel4Diabetes, GrowH! And DigiCare4You). He has published more than 700 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He is the coordinator of the GENUD (Growth, Exercise, Nutrition and Development) research group, at the University of Zaragoza. He is a former member of the ESPGHAN Committee of Nutrition and former President of the Spanish Nutrition Society. |
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Speakers:
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Dr. Antje Hebestreit Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology—BIPS GmbH, Germany Dr. Antje Hebestreit is head of the Unit Lifestyle-Related Disorders at the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology—BIPS, in Bremen, Germany. After her PhD in Nutritional Sciences and Home Economics, and further training in epidemiology, she worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow for Harvard University and as a consultant for the UN World Food Programme. Over the years, her work has focused on studying the role of dietary intake, dietary behaviour, and their determinants in the development of non-communicable diseases, as well as primary prevention strategies for childhood obesity. |
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Dr. Jess Haines Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, University of Guelph, Canada Jess Haines is a dietitian and a Professor of Applied Nutrition at the University of Guelph in Canada. Dr. Haines’ research aims to bridge epidemiologic research on the determinants of health behaviours with the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions to support children’s healthy eating and growth. Dr. Haines is the Co-Director of the Guelph Family Health Study, a longitudinal family-based cohort, and the Director of the Parent–Child Feeding Laboratory, which focuses on identifying how parent–child feeding interactions influence children’s eating behaviours. |
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Prof. Dr. Mai Chin A Paw Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands Mai Chin A Paw dreams of a world where children grow up healthy and happy. Such a world provides plenty of opportunities for active play, inspiring education, and nutritious and delicious foods. Mai is fascinated by why we do what we do and how this affects health, with a particular interest in youth. As university chair of the Child and Adolescent Public Health research section of Amsterdam University Medical Center, she combines her scientific expertise in human movement science and epidemiology to unravel working mechanisms using innovative methodologies, exploring unique intervention strategies and creatively combining multiple disciplines. Mai is the current president of the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity until June 2021. Growing up in a multicultural family, she learned to observe the world from various perspectives, enjoy diversity, believe in serendipity and search beyond the expected. This sculpted her unique scientific frame of mind. |
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For any questions about the webinar, please send an email to nutrients.webinar@mdpi.com.
29 June 2021
Nutrients | New Section “Lipids” Established
We are pleased to announce the new Section “Lipids” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients/sections/Lipids) in the journal Nutrients. Prof. Dr. Manohar Garg is serving as the Section Editor-in-Chief.
Lipids are no longer considered to only be important as energy-rich nutrients, and specific fatty acids and lipid-soluble substances are now known to act as metabolic regulators. Lipids also play an important role in the development of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mental illness. Some fatty acids and lipid-soluble substances have shown the ability to modulate the pathophysiology of these lifestyle diseases due to their unique route of absorption, selective incorporation into various tissues, and influence on metabolic pathways, resulting in alteration of blood lipid levels, pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators, platelet aggregation, eicosanoid production, and hormonal responses. The “Lipids” Section of Nutrients is open for contributions from health professionals and clinicians researching the area of lipids, including but not limited to:
- Medium chain fatty acids;
- Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids;
- Monounsaturated fatty acids;
- Oils;
- Cholesterol;
- Fat-soluble vitamins;
- Lipids in pathology of the disease;
- Blood lipids and lipoproteins;
- Membrane lipids;
- Impact on inflammation, platelet aggregation, and blood pressure;
- Functional foods and lipids;
- Carotenoids;
- Polyphenols.
To access more detailed information, please see here: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients/sections/Lipids.
28 April 2021
Book Builder—Compile a Customized E-Book from Your Favorite MDPI Open Access Content
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)
15 April 2021
MDPI Celebrates Company Milestone With 25th Anniversary Page
"We exist to help scientists achieve their own objectives"
10 March 2021
Journal Selector: Helping to Find the Right MDPI Journal for Your Article
4 March 2021
Nutrients Established New Section—“Nutrition in Women”
15 December 2020
MDPI adopts C4DISC principles to improve diversity and inclusion in scholarly communications
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.
14 December 2020
Article Layout and Templates Revised for Future Volumes
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.
11 December 2020
2020 "Highly Cited Researchers" on MDPI Journal's Editorial Boards
23 July 2020
The 1st International Electronic Conference on Nutrients (IECN)—Open for Submission
9 July 2020
Open Access Agreement Between Jisc Collections and MDPI
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 helen.dobson@jisc.ac.uk.
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 ioap@mdpi.com.
29 June 2020
Updated Impact Factors Released in the Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate)
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
| Journal | Impact Factor | Rank | Category | Details |
| Actuators | 1.957 | 31/64 (Q2) | • Instruments & Instrumentation | Link |
| Agriculture | 2.072 | 25/91 (Q2) | • Agronomy | Link |
| Biology | 3.796 | 19/93 (Q1) | • Biology | Link |
| Biomedicines | 4.717 | 30/138 (Q1) 36/270 (Q1) |
• Medicine, Research & Experimental • Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
Link |
| Biosensors | 3.240 | 24/86 (Q2) | • Chemistry, Analytical | Link |
| Chemosensors | 3.108 | 16/64 (Q1) 27/86 (Q2) 13/27 (Q2) |
• Instruments & Instrumentation • Chemistry, Analytical • Electrochemistry |
Link |
| Children | 2.078 | 50/128 (Q2) | • Pediatrics | Link |
| Healthcare | 1.916 | 62/102 (Q3) 45/87 (Q3) |
• Health Care Sciences & Services (SCIE) • Health Policy & Services (SSCI) |
Link |
| Journal of Fungi | 4.621 | 5/29 (Q1) 31/135 (Q1) |
• Mycology • Microbiology |
Link |
| Journal of Personalized Medicine | 4.433 | 24/165 (Q1) 10/102 (Q1) |
• Medicine, General & Internal • Health Care Sciences & Services |
Link |
| Land | 2.429 | 58/123 (Q2) | • Environmental Studies (SSCI) | Link |
| Life | 2.991 | 26/93 (Q2) 109/267 (Q2) |
• Biology • Microbiology |
Link |
| Magnetochemistry | 1.947 | 22/45 (Q2) 109/159 (Q3) 201/314 (Q3) |
• Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear • Chemistry, Physical • Materials Science, Multidisciplinary |
Link |
| Membranes | 3.094 | 53/143 (Q2) 129/314 (Q2) 23/89 (Q2) |
• Engineering, Chemical • Materials Science, Multidisciplinary • Polymer Science |
Link |
| Pharmaceuticals | 4.286 | 49/270 (Q1) | • Pharmacology & Pharmacy | Link |
| Photonics | 2.140 | 48/97 (Q2) | • Optics | Link |
| Separations | 1.900 | 53/86 (Q3) | • Chemistry, Analytical | Link |
| Toxics | 3.271 | 32/92 (Q2) 92/265 (Q2) |
• Toxicology • Environmental Sciences |
Link |
Updated Impact Factors
| Journal | Impact Factor | Rank | Category | Details |
| Agronomy | 2.603 | 18/91 (Q1) 65/234 (Q2) |
• Agronomy • Plant Sciences |
Link |
| Animals | 2.323 | 10/63 (Q1) 14/142 (Q1) |
• Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science • Veterinary Sciences |
Link |
| Antibiotics | 3.893 | 23/93 (Q1) 64/270 (Q1) |
• Infectious Diseases • Pharmacology & Pharmacy |
Link |
| Antioxidants | 5.014 | 10/139 (Q1) 56/297 (Q1) 7/61 (Q1) |
• Food Science & Technology • Biochemistry & Molecular Biology • Chemistry, Medicinal |
Link |
| Applied Sciences | 2.474 | 161/314 (Q3) 32/91 (Q2) 88/177 (Q2) 62/154 (Q2) |
• Materials Science, Multidisciplinary • Engineering, Multidisciplinary • Chemistry, Multidisciplinary • Physics, Applied |
Link |
| Atmosphere | 2.397 | 48/93 (Q3) | • Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences | Link |
| Biomolecules | 4.082 | 98/297 (Q2) | • Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | Link |
| Brain Sciences | 3.332 | 113/271 (Q2) | • Neurosciences | Link |
| Cancers | 6.126 | 37/244 (Q1) | • Oncology | Link |
| Catalysts | 3.520 | 65/159 (Q2) | • Chemistry, Physical | Link |
| Cells | 4.366 | 70/195 (Q2) | • Cell Biology | Link |
| Coatings | 2.436 | 10/21 (Q2) | • Materials Science, Coatings & Films | Link |
| Crystals | 2.404 | 10/26 (Q2) 165/314 (Q3) |
• Crystallography • Materials Science, Multidisciplinary |
Link |
| Diagnostics | 3.110 | 39/165 (Q1) | • Medicine, General & Internal | Link |
| Diversity | 1.402 | 119/168 (Q3) | • Ecology | Link |
| Electronics | 2.412 | 125/266 (Q2) | • Engineering, Electrical & Electronic | Link |
| Energies | 2.702 | 63/112 (Q3) | • Energy & Fuels | Link |
| Entropy | 2.494 | 33/85 (Q2) | • Physics, Multidisciplinary | Link |
| Foods | 4.092 | 27/139 (Q1) | • Food Science & Technology | Link |
| Forests | 2.221 | 17/68 (Q1) | • Forestry | Link |
| Genes | 3.759 | 53/177 (Q2) | • Genetics & Heredity | Link |
| Insects | 2.220 | 18/101 (Q1) | • Entomology | Link |
| International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) | 2.849 | 58/193 (Q2) 32/170 (Q1) 105/265 (Q2) |
• Public, Environmental & Occupational Health (SCIE) • Public, Environmental & Occupational Health (SSCI) • Environmental Sciences (SCIE) |
Link |
| International Journal of Molecular Sciences (IJMS) | 4.556 | 74/297 (Q1) 48/177 (Q2) |
• Biochemistry & Molecular Biology • Chemistry, Multidisciplinary |
Link |
| ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (IJGI) | 2.239 | 31/50 (Q3) 18/30 (Q3) |
• Geography, Physical • Remote Sensing |
Link |
| Journal of Clinical Medicine | 3.303 | 36/165 (Q1) | • Medicine, General & Internal | Link |
| Journal of Marine Science and Engineering | 2.033 | 31/66 (Q2) | • Oceanography | Link |
| Marine Drugs | 4.073 | 16/61 (Q2) | • Chemistry, Medicinal | Link |
| Materials | 3.057 | 132/314 (Q2) | • Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | Link |
| Mathematics | 1.747 | 28/324 (Q1) | • Mathematics | Link |
| Medicina | 1.205 | 107/165 (Q3) | • Medicine, General & Internal | Link |
| Metabolites | 4.097 | 95/297 (Q2) | • Biochemistry & Molecular Biology | Link |
| Metals | 2.117 | 18/79 (Q1) 185/314 (Q3) |
• Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering • Materials Science, Multidisciplinary |
Link |
| Micromachines | 2.523 | 56/92 (Q3) 23/64 (Q2) |
• Nanoscience & Nanotechnology • Instruments & Instrumentation |
Link |
| Microorganisms | 4.152 | 37/135 (Q2) | • Microbiology | Link |
| Minerals | 2.380 | 6/21 (Q2) 11/30 (Q2) |
• Mining & Mineral Processing • Mineralogy |
Link |
| Molecules | 3.267 | 70/177 (Q2) 141/297 (Q2) |
• Chemistry, Multidisciplinary • Biochemistry & Molecular Biology |
Link |
| Nanomaterials | 4.324 | 89/314 (Q2) 42/103 (Q2) |
• Materials Science, Multidisciplinary • Nanoscience & Nanotechnology |
Link |
| Nutrients | 4.546 | 17/89 (Q1) | • Nutrition & Dietetics | Link |
| Pathogens | 3.018 | 65/135 (Q2) | • Microbiology | Link |
| Pharmaceutics | 4.421 | 44/270 (Q1) | • Pharmacology & Pharmacy | Link |
| Plants | 2.762 | 58/234 (Q1) | • Plant Sciences | Link |
| Polymers | 3.426 | 16/89 (Q1) | • Polymer Science | Link |
| Processes | 2.753 | 59/143 (Q2) | • Engineering, Chemical | Link |
| Remote Sensing | 4.509 | 9/30 (Q2) | • Remote Sensing | Link |
| Sensors | 3.275 | 22/86 (Q2) 77/266 (Q2) 15/64 (Q1) |
• Chemistry, Analytical • Engineering, Electrical & Electronic • Instruments & Instrumentation |
Link |
| Sustainability | 2.576 | 120/265 (Q2) 26/41 (Q3) 53/123 (Q2) 6/8 (Q3) |
• Environmental Sciences (SCIE) • Green & Sustainable Science & Technology (SCIE) • Environmental Studies (SSCI) • Green & Sustainable Science & Technology (SSCI) |
Link |
| Symmetry | 2.645 | 29/71 (Q2) | • Multidisciplinary Sciences | Link |
| Toxins | 3.531 | 21/92 (Q1) 34/139 (Q1) |
• Toxicology • Food Science & Technology |
Link |
| Universe | 1.752 | 18/29 (Q3) 42/68 (Q3) |
• Physics, Particles & Fields • Astronomy & Astrophysics |
Link |
| Vaccines | 4.086 | 57/158 (Q2) 50/138 (Q2) |
• Immunology • Medicine, Research & Experimental |
Link |
| Viruses | 3.816 | 12/37 (Q2) | • Virology | Link |
| Water | 2.544 | 31/94 (Q2) | • Water Resources | Link |
Source: Clarivate 2020, InCites Journal Citation Reports®.
25 June 2020
The Spanish Nutrition Society (SEÑ) is Now an Affiliated Society Member of Nutrients
In June 2020, the Spanish Nutrition Society (SEÑ) became affiliated to Nutrients. As part of this collaboration, all members of SEÑ enjoy a discount on the article processing charges (APC) when submitting articles to Nutrients.
The Spanish Nutrition Society (SEÑ) was founded in 1978 to promote the development, innovation, research and education of Nutrition in Spain. It organizes scientific meetings and seeks other means of establishing and maintaining contact between Spanish nutritionists as well as between them and foreign scientists.
SEÑ is a professional organization whose functions are highly relevant to the scope of Nutrients. We look forward to collaborating with SEÑ and publishing state-of-the-art research from its members in this field.
24 June 2020
Nutrients Free Webinar: Diet and CKD: Old and New Concepts—8 June 2020
MDPI has provided several Free Open Platforms that may help to accelerate scientific exchange and provide support to academics during this particularly tough period. Thanks to our brilliant technical support, we are pleased to report that the first Nutrients webinar on Diet and CKD: Old and New Concepts is coming soon.
Date: Wednesday 8 June 2020 | 03:00 pm (CEST) | 09:00am (EDT) | 09:00pm (CST)
Duration: Maximum 2 hours
Webinar ID: 886 7523 9724
Register for Free Here: https://sciforum.net/conference/Nutrients-1
Chair:
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Presentation: His main fields of clinical and research interest are kidney transplantation, clinical nephrology, CKD-MBD, acid-base and electrolyte disturbances. |
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Prof. Dr. Piergiorgio Messa Guest Editor of “Renal Nutrition and Metabolism” |
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Speakers:
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Presentation: CKD progression, kidney failure, hypertension, dialysis, and CV risk in uremic patients. |
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Prof. Dr. Francesca Mallamaci |
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Presentation: His main research interests include the pathological mechanisms involved in extraosseous calcifications, and the phosphate and vitamin D metabolism in chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD), and he has served as principal investigator in several clinical multicentre trials in the CKD-MBD field. |
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Prof. Dr. Markus Ketteler |
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Presentation: His main research interests include various aspects of inflammation, wasting, and metabolism in chronic kidney disease patients. |
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Prof. Dr. Peter Stenvinkel |
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For any questions about the webinar, please send an email to webinars@mdpi.com.
13 May 2020
COVID-19 Academic Resources Center
20 April 2020
Meet us at the 2020 IAFP (International Association for Food Protection) Annual Meeting, held in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, 25–28 October 2020.
9 April 2020
Free Open Platforms to Support Academics During the COVID-19 Pandemic
25 March 2020
MDPI Comment on the COVID-19 Virus
19 March 2020
Nutrients Award for Young Investigator 2020
Dear Colleague,
We are inviting nomination for the Nutrients Award for Young Investigators 2020, which will be given for remarkable research achievements or for career achievements. The nominations will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee presided by the Editors-in-Chief of Nutrients Prof. Dr. Lluis Serra-Majem and Prof. Dr. Maria Luz Fernandez.
Nutrients AWARD
FOR YOUNG INVESTIGATOR 2020
Candidates’ Requirements:
- Ground-breaking contribution to the advancement of Nutrition and Dietetics
- 35 years age and under (by 30 September 2020)
- Candidates must be nominated by their supervisor(s).
Required Nomination Documents:
- Curriculum Vitae and a list of publications
- A description of the candidate’s research and a scanned copy of the candidate’s doctorate certificate
- Nomination letter from your supervisor in Nutrition and Dietetics field
The Award will consist of 2000 Swiss Francs and a waiver of the 2000 Swiss Francs article processing fee for a manuscript accepted for publication in Nutrients, and there will be two awardees.
Please send the nomination by 30 September 2020. The winners will be announced in Nutrients by 30 November 2020.
Please send your nomination to the Nutrients Editorial Office at nutrients@mdpi.com by 30 September 2020.
Nutrients Editorial Office
St. Alban-Anlage 66
CH-4052, Basel, Seitzerland
nutrients@mdpi.com
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients
18 March 2020
MDPI Co-Signed Position Statement on Transformative Agreements
16 March 2020
Encyclopedia Outstanding Contributor Awards 2020 - Open for Application
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
- An official certificate;
- 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: office@encyclopedia.pub)
Candidate Requirements
- Have a Ph.D. degree;
- Have more than three qualified entries published in Encyclopedia in 2020.
Evaluation Standards
- Number of entries published in Encyclopedia in 2020;
- Quality of entries online (including length, figure quality, and novelty);
- 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.
19 February 2020
Meet Us at the 2020 Annual Meeting of American Society for Nutrition (Nutrition 2020) in Seattle, WA, USA, 30 May–2 June 2020
20 November 2019
Meet Us at ICoFF2019 and ISNFF2019 in Kobe, Japan, 1–5 December 2019
11 October 2019
Introducing SciProfiles, an Academic Social Network
MDPI is pleased to announce the release of SciProfiles, its social network platform for researchers and scholars.
The purpose of SciProfiles is aligned with MDPI’s broad mission to accelerate discovery and innovation by facilitating immediate access to research results and to serve scholars and communities by providing opportunities for academic networking.
SciProfiles also ambitions to serve as a sustainable, transparent and community-driven research evaluation system aligned with the DORA principles (https://sfdora.org/). Through their scientific profiles, academics can highlight their contribution to research communities, and measure their impact on their field, beyond publication numbers and impact factors. SciProfiles is currently a beta version and will enrich to give researchers the possibility to highlight all of their contributions to science and their scientific communities as authors, reviewers, editors, conference organizers, conference panelists, conference keynote speakers, or even as lecturers or student mentors at their University.
The classic components of popular community social networks, including follower/following, classical metrics, endorsements and recommendations (https://www.mdpi.com/about/announcements/1690), comments (https://www.mdpi.com/about/announcements/1397) are or will be very soon highlighted in SciProfiles as open science contributions.
To help increase the impact and visibility of articles and their authors to an appropriate audience, the platform offers a NewsFeed that includes recommendations of relevant content based on interests, publication history, saved searches or colleagues’ recommendations.
SciProfiles’ avatars are now being integrated on several MDPI platforms, meaning that you will directly access researchers’ profiles from any of the MDPI platforms:
MDPI's journal publishing website: www.mdpi.com
MDPI's conference hosting and management website: www.sciforum.net
MDPI's pre-print website : www.preprints.org
MDPI's knowledge sharing website : www.encyclopedia.pub
MDPI's books store: www.mdpi.com/books
MDPI's literature database : www.scilit.net
SciProfiles aims to serve scientific communities at large. It can be embedded into third-party websites and also welcomes integration of data from third-parties.
Dr. Shu-Kun Lin: https://sciprofiles.com/profile/2
Dr. Franck Vazquez: https://sciprofiles.com/profile/FranckVazquez
Dr. Martyn Rittman: https://sciprofiles.com/profile/martynrittman
2 October 2019
Winners of the 2019 MDPI Writing Prize
We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2019 MDPI Writing Prize. Entrants were asked to write on the theme "Judging research: How should research and researchers be evaluated and rewarded?" We received a large number of excellent essays from PhD students and postdocs, and the process of shortlisting and choosing winners was not an easy one. The winners demonstrated excellent writing skills alongside interesting and thought-provoking ideas.
As last year, we will begin the process of collating all entries into a book that will be available in open access format. Alongside promoting good writing skills, we see the prize as a way to promote the voices of early career researchers within broader debates and policy discussions.
Congratulations to all of the participants and especially the winners. The winners are:
1st Prize (500 CHF):
Albin Nilsson (National Centre for Nuclear Research, Warsaw, Poland)
[Read here]
2nd Prize (250 CHF):
Qi Zhang (Shandong University, Jinan, China)
[Read here]
Igor Ogashawara (Indiana University, Indianapolis, US)
[Read here]
3rd Prize (100 CHF):
Margaret Sivapragasam (Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Perak, Malaysia)
[Read here]
Arvind Sharma (The University of Queensland, Gatton, Australia)
[Read here]
Jose Flores-Guerrero (University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands)
[Read here]
The MDPI Writing Prize is an annual award supported by MDPI Author Services, which provides services including language editing, reformatting, plagiarism checks, and image editing.
20 September 2019
MDPI Now Gives Scholars the Possibility to Endorse and Recommend Articles
MDPI is pleased to announce the release of a new functionality giving the possibility for researchers and scholars to endorse, and formally recommend articles to their colleagues.
MDPI was an early signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (https://sfdora.org/read/) which calls for improvement in how quality and impact of scholarly research outputs are evaluated, especially in moving beyond journal-based citation metrics (journal Impact Factor, Scopus Citescore, etc.).
MDPI supports the establishment of article-level impact metrics, including citations, views, downloads, and Altmetric scores. These measures serve as an impact indicator for research articles on a case–by-case basis, assessing paper on its own merit. However, these metrics are also subjective and can give a biased picture of the article impact: they do not directly reflect the quality or the intrinsic scientific value of the article.
In our view, community engagement with publications based on community-driven metrics can help to overcome this limitation. We have therefore launched an option for scholars to endorse articles, indicating their own assessment of its content and making a recommendation to their community. This follows our implementation of the open source Hypothesis commenting tool, which has been available for all articles published by MDPI for over a year (https://www.mdpi.com/about/announcements/1397). Both endorsement and commenting are available for all previously published and forthcoming MDPI articles.
In addition to potentially serving as a sustainable solution to article assessment, endorsements will help scientific communities to identify the most relevant articles, independently of the journal in which it was published.
The code for the endorsing functionality, which relies on DOIs and ORCIDs, will be made available on GitHub with an open source license.
Dr. Shu-Kun Lin, President and Founder
Dr. Franck Vazquez, Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Martyn Rittman, Publishing Director
11 September 2019
Create an Entry in Encyclopedia to Get a 100 CHF Voucher in Publishing in MDPI Journals
Encyclopedia is a free online reference created and curated by active scholars. It aims to highlight the latest research results as well as provide a comprehensive record of scientific development. If you have any suggestions or questions, please feel free to contact us via office@encyclopedia.pub.
6 August 2019
Preprints Reaches 10,000 Posted Articles Milestone
We are pleased to announce that Preprints has passed the milestone of 10,000 posted preprints. We are delighted to have reached this after just over three years of operation. Our congratulations and thanks go to our authors and advisory board who have supported growth of the platform and been crucial to its operation.
You can find further details at https://www.preprints.org/announcement/show/37.
2 August 2019
DeepGreen Partnering with Publishers and Universities in Distributing Open Access Content to Institutional Repositories
Last week, the DeepGreen initiative in Germany started into an advanced test phase with the publishing partners S. Karger AG, SAGE Publishing, MDPI, Frontiers and De Gruyter, as well as 27 universities from all over Germany, from Hamburg University of Applied Sciences to University of Konstanz.
DeepGreen aims at lowering the barriers for open access publishing by automatically delivering metadata and full text publications from participating publishers to authorized repositories at German universities.
In preparation for a later live operation, the advanced test phase serves to gain experience with extensive data deliveries from publishers and also handling different repository software (including OPUS4, DSpace, EPrints, MyCoRe). DeepGreen thereby acts as a sophisticated platform, receiving articles published by authors affiliated with German universities and depositing these articles to respective university repositories, based on the affiliation metadata. For more information about DeepGreen: https://deepgreen.kobv.de
Karger AG has been a close cooperation partner of the DeepGreen consortium since 2016. S. Karger has more than 80 subscription-based and around 20 open access journals covering a wide spectrum in health science. DeepGreen will assign S. Karger articles to authorized institutions on the legal basis of German alliance and national licenses.
SAGE Publishing was founded by Sara Miller McCune in 1965 to support the dissemination of usable knowledge and educate a global community. SAGE publishes more than 1,000 journals and over 600 new books each year, spanning a wide range of subject areas. Our growing selection of library products includes archives, data, case studies and video. SAGE remains majority owned by our founder and after her lifetime will become owned by a charitable trust that secures the company’s continued independence. Principal offices are located in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC and Melbourne. SAGE Publishing has been a close cooperation partner of DeepGreen since 2016.
MDPI is a scientific open access publisher and has been a partner of DeepGreen since 2017. MDPI comprises 205 peer-reviewed journals of various disciplines. All articles are published under a CC-BY license and are freely available without embargo period.
Frontiers is a scientific open access publisher with 61 journals of over 600 academic disciplines. All articles are peer-reviewed and published freely available under CC-BY license.
De Gruyter is an academic publisher with more than 700 subscription-based and open access journals of 29 disciplines. Articles provided by De Gruyter will be assigned to institutions with German alliance and national licenses.
There is promising communication with other publishers.
DeepGreen is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the consortium comprises six institutions: the Cooperative Library Network Berlin-Brandenburg, Bavarian State Library, Bavarian Library Network, University Library of the Technische Universität Berlin, University Library of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Helmholtz Open Science Coordination Office at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences.
If you would like to know in more detail which institutions take part in the advanced test phase of DeepGreen, you can find more information here.
17 July 2019
First Basel Sustainable Publishing Forum
The University of Basel and the MDPI Sustainability Foundation are organizing the First Basel Sustainable Publishing Forum on 9th September 2019.
The aim of this event is to provide background and perspectives on Plan S to Learned Societies, which have to make well-informed decisions to transition their journals to Open Access (OA).
The BSPF will bring together several representatives of Learned societies, Plan S architects as well as representatives from various publishers and publishing platforms. After getting the big picture from cOAlition S, panel discussions will allow to better understand the diverse challenges that Learned societies are facing to transition their journals to OA as well as to identify sustainable, implementable and scalable solutions for successful Open Access transition.
For program details and registration, please follow the link below:
https://sciforum.net/conference/SustainableSolutionsToOpenAccess
20 June 2019
Nutrients Receiving 2018 Updated Impact Factor of 4.171
We are pleased to inform that Nutrients received an updated Journal Impact Factor of 4.171 in the recent release of the Journal Citation Reports®. The journal's 5-Year Impact Factor is 4.813. Nutrients now ranks 16/86 (Q1) in the category 'Nutrition & Dietetics'.
Evolution of Impact Factor, Citations and Publications for Nutrients:
Source: data according to Journal Citation Reports®, 2018 release, a Clarivate Analytics product; and Scopus journal metrics.
28 May 2019
Meet US at the 2019 Annual Meeting of ASN in Baltimore, MD, USA, 8–11 June 2019
28 May 2019
Meet US at the 52nd Annual Meeting of ESPGHAN in Glasgow, Scotland, 5–8 June 2019
9 May 2019
Obituary—Prof. Dr. Valerio Nobili
20 March 2019
Fostering Open Access Publishing Worldwide: New IOAP Participants in February and March 2019
We are pleased to welcome more universities from Poland, Italy, Germany, Brazil and other parts of the world to MDPI's Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP). A warm welcome to the institutions listed below, who have joined the Program in February and March this year.
Authors affiliated with these institutions can now enjoy a discount on the APC for papers accepted for publication in any MDPI journal. If you would like to learn more about our program, please visit: https://www.mdpi.com/about/ioap or email us at ioap@mdpi.com.
5 March 2019
MDPI Joins Jisc’s Publications Router Service
1 February 2019
2018 MDPI Top Reviewer Award—Winners Announced
Rigorous peer-review is the cornerstone of high quality academic publishing. Over 97,000 scholars served as reviewers for MDPI journals in 2018. 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 all reviewers’ names to express our gratitude. In addition, this year the “MDPI Top Reviewer Awards” are announced, to recognize the very best reviewers for their expertise, dedication, high quality, and timely review reports. We are pleased to announce the following winners of the 2018 MDPI Top Reviewer Awards:
- Ali Behnood
- Andrea Pezzuolo
- Angela Gorgoglione
- Anna D'Auria
- Antonio D'Andrea
- Azhar Abbas
- Bogdan Zagajewski
- Chunhui Chen
- Dominika Głąbska
- Dominika Guzek
- Dragan Pamucar
- Francisco J. G. Silva
- Frank Li
- Gianluca Serafini
- Gyorgy Szekely
- Haozhi Pan
- Helvi Heinonen-Tanski
- José Manuel Gómez-Soberón
- Kathy Lewis
- Klara Kosova
- Luis N. López De Lacalle
- M. Z. Naser
- Malwina Tytła
- Masoume Amirkhani
- Matteo Ghidelli
- Moretti Laura
- Petra Schneider
- Roberto Cerchione
- Spyros Papaefthymiou
- Ştefan Cristian Gherghina
24 January 2019
JAMS Journals: A Low-Cost Publishing Platform
24 January 2019
Popularity of Preprints Continues to Grow
2018 was a great year for preprints, with increasing numbers of authors looking to make their papers available online before peer review. Along with other preprint servers, our platform Preprints.org saw an increase in the uptake from authors, and more than double the number of announced papers compared to 2017. In fact, we recently passed two important milestones: 8000 preprints online and 30,000 authors.
We believe that the whole research community has the opportunity to benefit from work being available online as early as possible. We thank and congratulate our authors for supporting us to make this goal a reality.
In 2019, we will be looking carefully at how to provide better value for authors, maintain efficiency while growing in size, and make sure we remain well-connected with the research community.
If you want to participate, you can consider screening preprints or joining our advisory board. And, of course, posting your own work.
9 January 2019
Open Access Agreement between the Austrian Academic Library Consortium (KEMÖ), the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), and MDPI
We are delighted to announce the establishment of our national Open Access agreement with the Austrian Academic Library Consortium (KEMÖ) and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Through this national agreement, the Austrian institutions listed below as well as FWF will cover the Article Processing Charges (APC) of manuscripts published by eligible corresponding or funded authors in MDPI journals as long as central funds are available.
All participating institutions have gained access to the MDPI online submission system where they can find full article metadata and pricing information as well as Funder and Grant ID details for easy identification and additional transparency. At the same time eligible authors are benefited from an APC discount which comes at no cost for the institutions.
Eligible corresponding 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. The program will be selected automatically if authors submit their papers using their institutional email address. To claim their discount, FWF funded authors should choose the particular funder and add their Grant ID upon online submission of their manuscript. The institutions will then crosscheck the information and confirm the APC funding.
Eligible authors that have their APC covered by their institution or funder are advised to include the following sentence in their acknowledgments: "Open Access Funding by the [name of the institution/funder]".
The full text of the agreement is openly available online at: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2536007
For any questions about the agreement, please contact the KEMÖ Consortium at emedien@obvsg.at, FWF at Katharina.Rieck@fwf.ac.at, or the MDPI IOAP team at ioap@mdpi.com.
The Austrian institutions participating in this agreement are:
- Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
- University for Continuing Education Krems
- University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna
- University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
- University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien
- Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
- Institute of Science and Technology Austria
- MCI Management Center Innsbruck
- University of Graz
- University of Linz
- University of Salzburg
- Graz University of Technology
- TU Wien
- University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna
- University of Vienna
This is our first collective agreement with a national library consortium, while the individual institutions around the world participating in our IOAP are now more than 500 - see details here: https://www.mdpi.com/about/ioap. We would be mostly interested in discussing about possible collaborations with other consortia, funders, and institutions in our mutual efforts to accelerate Open Access.
2 January 2019
Encyclopedia—the Scholarly Community Encyclopedia
3 December 2018
Nutrients Young Investigator Award Winners Announced
We are pleased to announce that the winners of the 2018 Nutrients Young Investigator Awards are Dr. Rachel Murphy (School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada) Dr. Hannah Holscher (Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois, Urbana, USA).
For more information about Nutrients Awards, please visit: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients/awards.
5 November 2018
Blog │ Funders Push for a Full Transition to Open Access: Plan S
30 October 2018
Institutional Open Access Agreement between Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and MDPI
2 October 2018
MDPI Welcomes Plan S
Recently, it was announced that a group of European funders supported 10 principles that will help to expand open access, known as Plan S. MDPI warmly welcomes this move as a step towards achieving more open and accessible communication of research across all disciplines. Some aspects remain to be clarified, however the details given so far match the aims and values that MDPI has held over the past two decades.
We believe that open access publishers should be active participants in discussions around Plan S, particularly regarding potential new business models and practical aspects of implementation. MDPI supports APCs as a transparent unit of payment for article publishing, however we are committed to exploring other measures and recently signed the Jussieu Call. Sustainability is a key value for MDPI, and future funding models should have at their heart the sustainability of knowledge and research dissemination. Plan S provides an opportunity for funders and publishers to directly discuss funding of open access journals in ways that are beneficial to all parties involved.
7 September 2018
Professor Lluis Serra-Majem and Professor Maria Luz Fernandez Appointed Editors-in-Chief of Nutrients
We are pleased to announce that starting from 1st September 2018 the editorial leadership of Nutrients has been taken over by Professor Lluís Serra-Majem (University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) and Professor Maria Luz Fernandez (University of Connecticut).
Maria-Luz Fernandez is Full Professor of Nutrition at the Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Connecticut (USA) where she has been a faculty member since 1997.
Dr. Fernandez’ research focuses on the effects of dietary strategies and drug treatment to prevent cardiovascular disease. She has employed different dietary regimes in her research, including the Mediterranean diet, carbohydrate restricted diets, inclusion of antioxidants from grapes, and more importantly she has established the lack of association between eggs and heart disease risk factors. She has ongoing collaboration studies with reserch centers in Mexico to determine the effects of egg intake in diverse populations, including children and diabetic individuals; she has also conducted a study in the United Arab Emirates to evaluate risk factors for metabolic syndrome in this population. Dr. Fernandez was a member of the FDA Nutrition committee from 2010–2014.
Dr. Fernandez has authored 251 peer-review papers, 14 book chapters, and 235 scientific abstracts. She has been invited to present her work in the international arena including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. During her tenure at the University of Conneticut, Dr. Fernandez has graduated 34 PhD and 20 Master’s students from all over the world, who studied in the area of diet and heart disease and currently hold prominent positions in academia, industry and government agencies.
Lluís Serra-Majem is a medical doctor with a Ph.D. specializing in Preventive Medicine and Public Health Nutrition. In 1988, he became Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the School of Medicine of the University of Barcelona, where he founded and is the Director of the Community Nutrition Research Centre of the University of Barcelona Science Park. In 1995 he became Full Professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Senior Consultant at the Preventive Medicine Service at CHUIMI. He also holds the UNESCO Chair for Local Health Systems and Food Systems as well as serves as Director of the Biomedical and Health Research Institute (IUIBS), where he also leads the International Chair for Advanced Studies on Hydration and the program The Island in your Plate. He is colligated with the Spanish Ministry of Health’s Thematic Centre of Obesity and Nutrition Research (CIBER OBN group coordinator) and participates in the PREDIMED Study and Network.
In 1989 he founded the Spanish Society of Community Nutrition, of which he served as President from 2000 to 2006. He is President and founder of the NGO Nutrition without Borders, as well as of the Nutrition Research Foundation (FIN); he also served as President of the Mediterranean Diet Foundation (from 1995 to 2012) where he was leading the candidacy of the Mediterranean Diet as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO. He chairs the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Food Sciences, and the International Foundation of Mediterranean Diet (IFMeD), and he is a visiting professor at several universities. He has published 75 books and 538 peer reviewed scientific papers with an impact factor over 2300 and an H-index of 56 (80 in Google Scholar). His main areas of research are public health nutrition, Mediterranean diet, obesity prevention and hydration. He was the President of the I and III World Congress of Public Health Nutrition.
They will work closely with over 100 Editorial Board Members from across the globe.
We are confident that under their 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. Jon Buckley, and the founding Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Peter Howe for their invaluable contributions to the journal.
30 August 2018
MDPI establishes Open Access agreement with Qatar National Library
We are happy to announce the establishment of an Open Access (OA) agreement with Qatar National Library (QNL). QNL is committed to supporting and helping Qatar authors publish OA at no cost. Through this national agreement, QNL will cover the Article Processing Charges (APC) of manuscripts published by Qatar-based corresponding authors in MDPI journals.
Eligible corresponding authors affiliated with Qatar research centers and universities are prompted to choose QNL as part of our Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) when they submit an article via our online submission system. The program will be selected automatically if authors submit their papers using their institutional email and/or a computer registered with the institution’s IP range. QNL will then crosscheck the information and confirm the APC funding.
Qatar authors that have their APC covered by QNL are advised to include the following sentence in their acknowledgments: "The publication of this article was funded by Qatar National Library".
For more information, please visit Open Access at QNL or email the QNL Open Access team at openaccess@qnl.qa.
26 June 2018
2017 Impact Factor Released for Nutrients: 4.196
We are pleased to inform that Nutrients received an updated Journal Impact Factor of 4.196 in the June 2018 release of the Journal Citation Reports®. The journal's 5-Year Impact Factor is 4.603. Nutrients now ranks 18/81 (Q1) in the category 'Nutrition & Dietetics.'
Overview of Citation Metrics:
- Journal Impact Factor, 2 yrs (2017): 4.196
- 5-Year Impact Factor (2017): 4.603
- CiteScore, 3 yrs (Scopus): 4.35
- SJR Scimago Journal Rank 2017 (SJR): 1.557
- Source Normalized Impact 2017 (SNIP): 1.403
Evolution of Impact Factor, Citations and Publications for Nutrients:
Source: data according to Journal Citation Reports®, 2018 release, a Clarivate Analytics product; and Scopus journal metrics.
1 June 2018
Nutrients 2017 CiteScore™ Announced - 4.35
We are pleased to report Nutrients received a CiteScore of 4.35 for 2017. The metric reflects citation activity in 2017 in Scopus for papers published in the period 2014‒2016.
Nutrients ranks among the Top 10% of journals in the 'Nutrition and Dietetics' and 'Food Science' categories.
For the full details in the current CiteScore release, please see the journal's Source profile. To check the full list of MDPI journals receiving CiteScores, please see here.
31 May 2018
2017 CiteScore™ Metrics Released
30 April 2018
Winners of the First MDPI Writing Prize
23 March 2018
Check for Updates: A New Function in the Article PDF Version
At MDPI, we always want to keep you up to date. Even for already published articles, some corrections or minor changes may occur. To prevent you from missing any updates, from now on you will be able to access the latest version of any manuscript by clicking on the “check for updates” logo that you can find in the PDF file, even if you have saved the file on your computer.
15 March 2018
Congratulations to Eleven Journals for Publishing the Tenth Volume in 2018
Congratulations to the journals Cancers, Diversity, Future Internet, Nutrients, Polymers, Pharmaceutics, Remote Sensing, Sustainability, Symmetry, Toxins and Water for publishing their 10th volume in 2018!
We would like to send warm wishes from the Editors-in-Chief of these journals and look to the future. Acknowledgement of our past achievements provides the strongest stimulus for future endeavor.
To date, the journal Cancers has published more than 1000 papers and will receive its first impact factor in June. This milestone could not be achieved without our readers, authors, peer reviewers, editors, and all the people working for the journal who, for years, have contributed their tremendous efforts.
— Prof. Dr. Samuel Mok
Editor-in-Chief of Cancers
Ten years is a long time but a short period for a new journal. When we started Diversity 10 years ago, we had hoped that a journal with such a broad coverage of topics would attract potential authors and good contributions. We are very satisfied that our vision became reality.
Today, Diversity is home to interesting studies on different aspects of diversity mainly in biology, ranging from systematics, phylogeny and evolution, to ecology, biodiversity and conservation issues. I am confident that the next 10 years will witness the further growth of Diversity both in quality and quantity.
— Prof. Dr. Michael Wink
Editor-in-Chief of Diversity
Ten years have passed from the foundation of the “Future Internet” MDPI journal. We have witnessed the positive evolution of our journal, with ever-increasing interest from potential authors. The increasing fundamental eco-systemic importance of the journal’s subjects has also had positive effects. Therefore, the journal is currently evolving to cope with the increasing interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary views.
Past achievements and future prospects give us reason to celebrate ten years since the journal’s foundation. We will also set up a commemorative Special Issue.
— Prof. Dr. Dino Giuli
Editor-in-Chief of Future Internet
It is with great pride that Nutrients enters its 10th year of publication. Through the hard work and dedication of its Editorial Board, journal staff, and individuals who have unselfishly given their time to peer-review manuscripts, the journal has grown to become a leading publisher of nutrition research. During this 10th Anniversary year of Nutrients, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all who have contributed to the journal during its first decade.
— Prof. Dr. Jonathan Buckley
Editor-in-Chief of Nutrients
I am pleased and honored to celebrate the first decade of Pharmaceutics, as the founding Editor-in-Chief. This is also an opportunity for me to thank our authors, readers, reviewers, and editorial board members for their continuous support. We will receive our first impact factor in June 2018, in recognition of the great efforts made in the past ten years. We shall strive to improve the journal in the next ten years.
— Prof. Dr. Yvonnne Perrie
Editor-in-Chief of Pharmaceutics
Since its foundation in 2009, Polymers has evolved into an internationally renowned and successful Open Access journal. The core concept, namely that Open Access publishing can stand for high-quality publications, is working well. On a daily basis, ever since the journal’s foundation, the editorial team and the editorial board dedicate themselves to ensuring a high-quality rigorous peer-review process: only 30 to 50% of the submissions will be published in Polymers. This strategy been complemented by, among other features, the increasing impact factor of Polymers, the most recent one being 3.364. On the occasion of Polymers’ 10th anniversary, we would like to thank all authors who have contributed to the success of the journal by submitting their high-quality research papers. We look forward to your continuous support and the continued growth of the journal in the next decade.
— Prof. Dr. Alexander Böker
Editor-in-Chief of Polymers
MDPI’s Open Access journal Remote Sensing is now one of the top international scientific journal 's in remote sensing science. Well known scientists in the subject, from all over the world, publish in it on a regular basis. It has an outstanding and dedicated editorial team, editorial office, and reviewers. We pride ourselves on publishing high-quality original scientific articles. Our goal remains to become # 1 Journal in Remote Sensing Science.
— Dr. Prasad S. Thenkabail
Editor-in-Chief of Remote Sensing
The tenth anniversary of Sustainability is a momentous milestone, and it has been a privilege for me to be a part of it as Editor-in-Chief. This anniversary demonstrates the growing interest in and recognition of the importance of sustainability. The journal has been able to showcase the many advances made over the last decade in the thinking, methods and applications surrounding sustainability. Recently, the content of the journal has reflected the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that was adopted by the United Nations in September 2015. Sustainability has had a notable impact and expects to have an even greater impact over its next decade through publishing research on new advances in sustainability and fostering critical discussion.
— Prof. Dr. Marc A. Rosen
Editor-in-Chief of Sustainability
Our journal Symmetry celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2018. During the last 10 years, the journal has become one of the leading journals among all multi-science journals. This shows the fundamental role played by the symmetries of nature in natural science. This also reflects the huge number of researchers whose work relates to symmetry. We hope to achieve even better results in the coming years.
— Prof. Dr. Sergei D. Odintsov
Editor-in-Chief of Symmetry
It is my honor as Editor-in-Chief of Toxins to inaugurate the 10th anniversary of the journal’s inception. From the founding EIC, Professor Florian Lang and EIC Vernon Tesh and the many Section EICs and Editorial Board Members, the combined leadership of this effort to provide an outstanding vehicle for the dissemination of the results of high-quality scientific investigations and in-depth, insightful comprehensive reviews has resulted in the flagship journal of toxinology as we know it today. The publication metrics associated with Toxins support this claim by virtue of our increase in manuscript submissions and publications and annual citation rate of articles published in Toxins. Importantly, the impact factor for Toxins remains strong and representative of the significance of the science published in Toxins. As we progress in this anniversary year, we will celebrate the 10th anniversary with a continuation of our acclaimed travel award program for Post-Doctoral Fellows in the field of Toxinology as well as our soon to be announced “Toxins' 10th Anniversary Top Cited Researcher Award” program.
Thus, 2018 will be an exciting year, celebrating the 10th anniversary of Toxins, but also a year of looking forward for the best practices by which the journal can serve the toxinology community. With that in mind, please join us in celebrating the journal by submitting your work to Toxins and as always I welcome your suggestions for the improvement of “our” journal.
— Prof. Dr. Jay W. Fox
Editor-in-Chief of Toxins
Thank you to all the dedicated researchers, reviewers and editors who have made Water a success. The journal has become a popular outlet for cutting-edge research in the broad field of water science, technology, management and governance. The Open Access format has proven to be attractive, and authors highly value the quick handling of papers. After ten years, Water has become an established journal in the field.
— Prof. Dr. Arjen Y. Hoekstra
Editor-in-Chief of Water
To mark the anniversaries, we have established a Special Issue to look back over the previous decade of outstanding accomplishments and highlight innovative frontier research perspectives. We encourage you to keep an eye on the publications in this Special Issue and this journal, and hope you consider it as a venue for your future publications.
13 March 2018
MDPI Becoming a Member of UKSG
We are proud to announce that MDPI is now a member of UKSG, the UK´s largest scholarly communications community. Through UKSG, different stakeholders share their knowledge and experience in order to improve the knowledge and information environment for researchers. UKSG´s members include universities, publishers, content providers, intermediaries, and other similar organisations. Members participate in discussions and events on issues around scholarly communications.
The UKSG Annual Conference and Exhibition is a flagship initiative from the UKSG and one of the most stimulating events in the scholarly communications calendar. It is held annually and attracts a large number of delegates. More information is available at https://www.uksg.org/events/annualconference
MDPI is delighted to be a part of this active community and we look forward to making our own contribution. We will continue to support organisations and initiatives that boost collaboration and vision within scholarly communication.
More information about UKSG can be found at https://www.uksg.org/. The full membership list is available at: https://www.uksg.org/members.
1 February 2018
MDPI Signed the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA)
The DORA initiative addresses the need for advanced approaches in the evaluation and measurement of the quality of scientific research outputs. It is a worldwide initiative covering all scholarly disciplines. MDPI proudly joins a list of more than 400 organizations around the world which support DORA’s recommendations for improving the way the quality of research results is evaluated.
More info can be found at http://www.ascb.org/dora/
22 January 2018
Meet Us at the Experimental Biology 2018 (21–25 April 2018) in San Diego, CA, USA
19 December 2017
Announcing the MDPI English Writing Prize
15 December 2017
UCL Press Adopts the MDPI Editorial Platform JAMS
23 November 2017
New Participants in the Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP)
10 November 2017
Available Journal Awards at MDPI
7 November 2017
MDPI has signed the Jussieu Call for Open Science and Bibliodiversity
The Jussieu Call aims to develop and implement alternative models to meet the aims of open science while promoting bibliodiversity. In particular it wishes to promote new business models for funding open access publication. It was drafted on the Jussieu campus in Paris by a group of French researchers and scientific publishing professionals.
MDPI supports scholarly communities and initiatives that innovate and further promote Open Access publishing. There is a need to explore different frameworks to fund open access in ways that ensure that excessive funds are not diverted from research towards publishing. Many fair funding models already exist, and they can be further developed and extended. These include institutional support, library contributions or subsidies, premium services, participatory funding, etc. For this reason, MDPI has signed up to the Jussieu call and welcomes its aims.
More information can be found at http://jussieucall.org/ (archived here)
6 October 2017
Dr. Franck Vazquez, MDPI CEO, Interviewed by Scholarly Kitchen
19 September 2017
A Warm Welcome to the New IOAP Participants
23 June 2017
Congratulations for Publishing the 100,000th Peer-Reviewed Article
14 June 2017
2016 Impact Factor Released for Nutrients – 3.550
Nutrients now ranks 23/81 (Q2) in the category ‘Nutrition & Dietetics’. The journal continues to rank second among ten other Open Access journals in nutrition and dietetics.
Evolution of Impact Factor, Citations and Publications for Nutrients:
6 June 2017
CiteScore™ Metrics Released for Scopus Journals
17 May 2017
Three New Institutional Memberships Established
We are pleased to announce that the Goethe University of Frankfurt, the Technical University of Hamburg (TU Hamburg-Harburg), as well as the Humboldt University of Berlin, in Germany, have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from these instititions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
4 May 2017
MDPI Supports the Initiative for Open Citations (I4OC)
2 May 2017
Publons Peer Review Academy Goes Live
24 April 2017
Two New Institutional Memberships Established
We are pleased to announce that the following universities have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, USA and the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia. Primary authors from these instititions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
30 March 2017
Credit for Preprints Comments via Publons
Preprints.org is a platform run by MDPI that allows authors to make early versions of manuscripts available before peer review has been completed.
One of the major benefits of putting a preprint online is to get feedback before journal submission. Until now, however, the feedback has been on a voluntary basis. Preprints is delighted to be the first preprint server to collaborate with Publons to acknowledge substantial comments as reviews and give commentators the opportunity to receive credit for their efforts.
When you add a comment to any article, there is a check box to click for it to appear on Publons. If you have already linked your account it will be passed on automatically. If you don't already have a Publons account, you will be contacted soon afterwards with instructions on how to create one.
We appreciate the enthusiasm and cooperation of Publons in this project and expect it to be of great benefit to authors and commenters alike.
20 March 2017
MDPI 2016 Annual Report Released
15 March 2017
Our 100,000th Article Could be Yours!
After the 20th anniversary of MDPI in 2016, we will reach another milestone this year and will publish the 100,000th peer-reviewed article in one of our 170+ open access journals.
We would like you to be part of this great achievement and so are offering to publish the 100,000th accepted paper free of charge.
To be in with a chance, select a journal in one of our 10 scientific subject areas and submit your paper.
Access the live tracker on published articles here.
3 March 2017
1000 Preprints Online
We are delighted that Preprints now has 1000 papers online since its launch on 3 May 2016.
For more information, see the editorial here.
9 February 2017
Hero Scientists Publish Paper in Nutrients
The research aims to demonstrate that the partial substitution of refined cereals by wholegrain cereals was not affecting the sensorial acceptability of the infant cereals in both infants and parents.
Read the full Hero press release here.
The Hero Group is an international food company focused on branded nutritional food products, founded in 1886 in Lenzburg, Switzerland.
9 February 2017
Minister and State Secretaries Visit MDPI Office at STP, Belgrade, Serbia
Earlier this week the Science Technology Park in Belgrade, Serbia was visited by Swiss Secretary of State Dr. Mauro Dell’Ambrogio, as well as Serbian Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Ana Brnabic, State Secretary Dr. Vladimir Popovic and Mayor of Belgrade Mr. Siniša Mali.
During the visit to the STP they had a short presentation from MDPI’s CEO Dr. Franck Vazquez and IT Manager Mr. Miloš Čučulović, and further discussed important issues such as Open Access and Open education. Dr. Dell'Ambrogio said he was impressed with the potential for development and ideas for business.
For more information please see:
http://bit.ly/2kpIu7k and http://bit.ly/2kpUQfz
7 February 2017
The 6th World Sustainability Forum: Final Press Release
Basel, 29 January 2017
The 6th World Sustainability Forum #WSF2017SA: African universities critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
Jeffrey and Sonia Sachs win first World Sustainability Award.
Universities need to take the lead in solving the greatest challenges the world faces today, particularly in Africa. They need to do this not only through education – teaching the next generation to think critically and creatively to find sustainable solutions – but also through research that cuts across a range of disciplines. To ensure these solutions are implemented, they need to partner with the private sector and with government.
This was the key message from the 6th World Sustainability Forum (WSF2017), which took place in Cape Town on 27 and 28 January 2017. Sponsored by MDPI and the journal Sustainability under the patronage of the Universities of the Western Cape (UWC), Cape Town (UCT), University of Basel and the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa, the conference was attended by key national and international speakers, including world-leading economist Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, senior United Nations (UN) advisor and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
The WSF is an annual sustainability conference which addresses research in a range of areas related to sustainable development and sustainability globally. This was the first WSF to take place on the African continent. Discussions at the 2017 conference were driven by the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) adopted as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the UN in September 2015.
Achieving the SDGs “is the moonshot for our generation,” said Sachs. “Like the moonshot [moon landing] of the 1960s, these are tough, bold and achievable objectives.”
“This is a nasty, tough world we live in, and our world agrees on very little. So when 193 governments agree on something, that is important. And when they agree on something as important as sustainable development, that is really something for us to grab hold of – that is a lifeline.”
There was agreement at the WSF that the SDGs are particularly important for Africa, and that African universities in particular have a role to play in achieving them.
Said Professor Tyrone Pretorius, vice-chancellor of UWC: “The quest for sustainable development can only be met through education. Universities today are the oil that fuels the knowledge economy.”
As part of the drive to develop academic capacity to provide the knowledge needed to meet the SDGs, WSF2017 was preceded by the 1st Postgraduate Forum on Sustainability. “A series of workshops for postgraduate education linked to WSF are important, in order to equip postgraduates with the skills necessary to promote sustainability,” said Professor Thandi Mgwebi, director for research at UWC. A second postgraduate forum will take place alongside the WSF2018 in Beijing.
This capacity development is particularly critical to Africa. Said Sachs: “African universities need to do research to find solutions to Africa’s development challenges, because no other university will.”
The UN set a target of achieving the SDGs by 2030: “I regard this as the breakthrough period to end extreme poverty on the continent,” said Sachs, “and for Africa to become one of the most dynamic centres of the world economy.”
It is a critical time for South African universities, said Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, deputy vice-chancellor for research and internationalisation at UCT: “Higher education is at a crossroads, and there is much polarisation. We need to think carefully about how this sustainable development agenda is owned by all so that it is inclusionary.”
There was also strong emphasis on public–private partnerships – for universities, business and government to work together to achieve the goals.
Said Professor Francis Petersen, deputy vice-chancellor at UCT and vice-chancellor designate at the University of the Free State: “Business sustainability has become critical, because there is increasing demand and complexity of demand on business from the natural, social and economic environment. Sustainability cannot be a standalone issue, divorced from business as usual. Sustainability needs to be embedded into business.”
Environmental crises and climate change was also high on the WSF agenda. In his keynote address, Sachs noted the irreversibility of the climate- and environmental-related challenges.
“If we don’t get our act together, we lose the chance of safety,” he said.
Said Professor Mark New, pro vice-chancellor and director of the African Climate and Development Initiative at UCT: “We have a fundamental challenge in responding to climate change, and we must go further than just putting a plaster on a wound. We need to address the deep structural issues, to move from our current model of development into climate-compatible development.”
“This requires researchers to find the evidence for the correct development pathways to take, and then support the ability of policymakers at all levels to enable the shift to climate-compatible development planning.”
Said Dr. Aldo Stroebel, executive director of international relations and cooperation at the NRF, in closing: “We have seen over the past two days an urgency towards the next step of thinking, that critical type of framework that we all must engage with, not only from an academic perspective, but further up into the policy environment and into rural-based environments where one can clearly see the links and effectiveness of the work.”
World Sustainability Awards
The first World Sustainability Award and the first Emerging Sustainability Leader Awards were presented by Prof. Thandi Mgwebi, Director of Research at UWC, and Dr. Franck Vazquez, CEO of MDPI, during the ceremony on 27 January 2017 as part of the gala dinner of the 6th World Sustainability Forum in South Africa.after day one of proceedings of the 2017 World Sustainability Forum South Africa.
Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs and Dr. Sonia Ehrlich Sachs are the joint recipients of the first World Sustainability Award. Jeffrey Sachs is a world-renowned economist and senior United Nations (UN) advisor and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Sonia Sachs is a paediatrician and public health specialist, and director of the Health Centre at the Centre for Sustainable Development, also at Columbia University.
The joint recipients of the first Emerging Sustainability Leader Award are Dr. Esther Ngumbi and Dr. Xiaosong Hu. Esther Ngumbi is a postdoctoral researcher at Auburn University in Alabama USA and serves as a 2015 Clinton Global University Mentor for agriculture. Xiaosong Hu is a professor at the Chongqing University in China and specialises in automotive control systems and mechanical engineering.
The World Sustainability Award and the Emerging Sustainability Leader Awards are funded to encourage new initiatives and developments in sustainability with the ultimate aim of fostering the transition to sustainable practices and societies.
The World Sustainability Award is funded by the MDPI Sustainability Foundation, and included a monetary prize of USD 100,000 to Jeffrey and Sonia Sachs. The Emerging Sustainability Leader Award is funded by the journal Sustainability, awarded to researchers under 40, and included a monetary prize of USD10,000.
Issued jointly by: UCT Global Strategy and Visibility, Research Office, UWC Communications & Media and MDPI AG
Conference photos are free available at: https://sciforum.net/conference/wsf-6/page/175 Photo credit: Matthias Burkhalter
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Carla Bernardo |
Luthando Tyhalibongo |
Matthias Burkhalter |
31 January 2017
Three New Institutional Memberships Established
We are pleased to announce that the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, the University of Manitoba, Canada and the Technical University of Cartagena, Spain, have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from these institutions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
27 January 2017
6th World Sustainability Forum under way in South Africa
The 6th World Sustainability Forum is currently being held at the Cape Sun Hotel until 28 January 2017.
The Forum will showcase the work of internationally renowned researchers and include more than 150 presentations. During the conference dinner, the World Sustainability Award, associated with a US$ 100,000 prize, will be announced, as well as the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award, associated with a US$ 10,000 prize. The prizes are sponsored by the MDPI Sustainability Foundation and Sustainability, an academic open access journal by MDPI.
Here are some pictures from the forum so far:
To see the full WSF2017 program and schedule, please see here: https://sciforum.net/conference/wsf-6/page/schedule
19 January 2017
Cape Town to Host the 6th World Sustainability Forum
Cape Town will host the 6th World Sustainability Forum at the Cape Sun Hotel on 27 and 28 January 2017. This prominent event, held for the first time in Africa, will include many illustrious South African and international experts, such as Her Excellency Graça Machel (Sustainable Development Advocate for the United Nations, Mozambique), Joyene Isaacs (HoD Agriculture Western Cape Government), Jeffrey Sachs (Columbia University, USA), Max Bergman (SRaM, University of Basel), Mark New (Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of Cape Town), Frans Swanepoel (FutureAfrica, University of Pretoria) and Francis Petersen (Vice-Chancellor-designate, University of the Free State). The Forum will provide a stage for national and international debates on sustainability in South Africa, the African continent, and about international perspectives on sustainability. It brings together researchers and representatives from government and the business sector to discuss a wide-ranging set of issues associated with sustainability, including food security, water and energy scarcity, mining, poverty reduction, climate change, and urbanisation.
The next few decades will be marked by profound changes in the relationships between global economics, national societies, and the environment. We have entered what some call the Anthropocene, an age in which human activity dominates the climate and the environment. These changes will have numerous consequences on societies around the globe. South Africa and Africa will play a central role, for better or worse, in creating opportunities and risks during these changing times as Africa is profoundly influencing and being influenced by global developments.
The adoption of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015 was accompanied by what insiders considered an optimism they have not experienced in relation to UN resolutions before. The relative efficiency in the drafting, the lack of trenches between East and West, or between North and South, and the unanimity of support of the 193 countries speak volumes. In stark contrast, sustainability seems to go against a changing economic and political tide, where waves of nationalism and protectionism from some of the most powerful countries risk the wellbeing of the rest of the world. The 6th World Sustainability Forum will enable fruitful exchanges, which sensitise South African and international communities to the global urgency and specifics of sustainability.
The Forum will showcase the work of internationally renowned researchers and include more than 150 presentations. During the conference dinner, the World Sustainability Award, associated with a US$ 100 000 prize, will be announced, as well as the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award, associated with a US$ 10 000 prize. The prizes are sponsored by the MDPI Sustainability Foundation and Sustainability, an academic open access journal by MDPI. The World Sustainability Forum is preceded by the Postgraduate Forum on Sustainability, which will introduce more than 100 young scholars from South Africa and the African continent to sustainability research. Both events are organized and sponsored by the University of Cape Town, the University of the Western Cape, the University of Basel, MDPI, and by the National Research Foundation of South Africa.
Contacts:
Scientific Matters: Prof Manfred Max Bergman, Social Research and Methodology Group (SRaM), University of Basel, Switzerland; Email: max.bergman@unibas.ch
Press Accreditation and General Enquiries: Mr Matthias Burkhalter, MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland; Email: burkhalter@mdpi.com; Tel. +41 61 683 77 34
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#WSF2017SA
6 January 2017
MDPI Supports the OA2020 Initiative
MDPI is now a proud supporter of the OA2020 Initiative.
Open Access 2020 is an international initiative that aims to induce the swift, smooth and scholarly-oriented transformation of today’s scholarly journals from subscription to open access publishing.
MDPI is participating in the upcoming Berlin13 conference in March 2017, where we are contributing to the initiative by aiding in the design of the roadmap which will make OA the default publishing model.
For more information please see here.
5 January 2017
Three New Institutional Memberships Established
We are pleased to announce that the University of Texas at Arlington, USA, the Harbin Institute of Technology, China and TU Darmstadt, Germany, have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from these institutions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
22 December 2016
Happy Festive Season!
Season's greetings from everyone at MDPI!
22 December 2016
Two New Institutional Memberships Established
We are pleased to announce that the Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Germany and the University of California, Berkeley, USA, have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from these instititions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
19 December 2016
MDPI and Wellcome Trust Compliance
The Wellcome Trust has, for a number of years, required that the results of its funded projects are published in open access format. Recently it announced criteria that publishers must fulfil for publication fees to be paid by the Trust. MDPI is pleased to have been added to the list of compliant publishers.
Only publishers who have confirmed their compliance by 16 December 2016 will be eligible to receive payment of APCs by the Wellcome Trust as of 1 April 2017. For more information on the criteria and a full list of publishers that meet them, see here.
13 December 2016
Meet MDPI at the 2016 AGU Fall Meeting
MDPI is currently attending the 2016 AGU Fall Meeting (12–16 December, 2016)
If you are also attending the conference, please feel free to stop by our booth (Booth #1147) and meet the representative editors.
Conference details:
2016 AGU Fall Meeting
12–16 December 2016
Moscone Center
747 Howard St
San Francisco, CA 94103, USA
8 December 2016
Three New Institutional Memberships Established
We are pleased to announce that Purdue University, USA, the Universitat Politécnica de Valencia, Spain and the Queensland University of Technology, Australia, have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from these instititions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
16 November 2016
World Sustainability Award - Final Extension
The deadline for the World Sustainability Award has been extended for one last time! You now have one more month to nominate an individual researcher, group or project! The final deadline for nominations will be December 15, 2016.
For full details, please visit here.
11 November 2016
Three New Institutional Memberships Established
We are pleased to announce that the University of Minnesota, USA, the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from these instititions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
4 November 2016
MDPI Joins the United Nations Global Compact
MDPI has become a member of the United Nations Global Compact to support corporate sustainability and have committed ourselves to the ten principles associated with the Compact.
Sustainability has always been at the core of MDPI’s values, starting with the collection and preservation of rare chemical samples that started in 1996 and led to the first journal, Molecules. Sustainability has become one of our flagship journals and we have supported and organized several conferences and events based on Sustainability, including the upcoming 6th World Sustainability Forum. As a global enterprise, we see it as our duty to promote responsible practices that will ensure a bright future for our planet. Given this, the choice to join the Global Compact was an easy one and we will do our utmost to fully implement it.
3 November 2016
MDPI Now a Member of SPARC Europe
We are delighted to announce that MDPI has become a member of SPARC Europe, an organization that works for open scholarship in Europe, including support of open access publication.
As one of the few publishers to join SPARC Europe to date, MDPI looks forward to making a contribution that puts open scholarship on a positive and sustainable path. We fully support the goals of open scholarship that allow the largest number of people possible to benefit from work of researchers in all disciplines. We hope that our membership will enable us to work with other stakeholders to find the best possible solution.
2 November 2016
World Sustainability Award Deadline Extension
The deadline for the World Sustainability Award has been extended! You now have until November 15, 2016 to nominate an individual researcher, group or project!
For full details, please visit here.
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26 October 2016
Four New Institutional Memberships Established
We are pleased to announce that the Wuppertal Institut, Germany, the University of Girona, Spain and Central South University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from these instititions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
24 October 2016
International Open Access Week 2016
Meet us during International Open Access Week 2016! We will be presenting at various locations in Europe and China.
To get involved and for full details see the complete list of events organised by MDPI here.
18 October 2016
Institutional Membership established with Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain and Aalto University, Finland
We are pleased to announce that the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain and Aalto University, Finland, have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from these universities will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
12 October 2016
Institutional Membership Established with Iowa State University and the University of North Texas, USA
We are pleased to announce that the Iowa State University and the University of North Texas, USA, have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from these universities will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
7 October 2016
MDPI at Open Access Days in Munich, 10-11 October 2016
Meet MDPI during the Open Access Days held from 10-11 October 2016 at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany.
The two-day event will feature experts from the open access sector, scientists from all disciplines, publishing representatives and supporters of scientific research and communication from libraries as well as research institutes and funding institutions. Join us!
For more information about the event and to see the program, visit the event webpage.
7 October 2016
Institutional Membership Established with the University of Sevilla and the University of Alicante, Spain
We are pleased to announce that the University of Sevilla and the University of Alicante, Spain have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from these universities will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
29 September 2016
Institutional Membership Established with the University of Delaware
We are pleased to announce that the University of Delaware, USA, has joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from this university will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
19 September 2016
Peer Review Week 2016
As an open access publisher indebted to the work of our peer reviewers, we are proud to support Peer Review Week 2016. As part of the week's activities and to celebrate this year's theme "Recognition for Review", MDPI will host two webinars that anyone can join.
These webinars will explore the role and value of reviewers and the recognition they receive from a publishers perspective, with examples from MDPI's experience in publishing nearly 80,000 peer reviewed papers, along with evidence from reviewer surveys. It will also touch upon potential changes in how review is carried out and tips for early career researchers who want to be involved in the review process.
Details and links to join can be found below:
Wednesday September 21, 08:00 (CEST)
Friday September 23, 16:00 (CEST)
For more information about all the activites taking place, please visit the Peer Review Week website.
6 September 2016
Institutional Membership established with Kansas State University and Northwestern University, USA
We are pleased to announce that Kansas State University and Northwestern Universty, USE, have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from these universities will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
5 September 2016
Institutional Membership Established with University College Cork
We are pleased to announce that University College Cork, Ireland, has joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from this university will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
22 August 2016
MDPI New Office Location
We are pleased to announce that MDPI has now moved to a new permanent address:
MDPI AG
St. Alban Anlage 66
CH-4052 Basel
Postfach, CH-4020 Basel
Switzerland
Telephone and fax numbers remain unchanged.
10 August 2016
Institutional Membership established with the University of Texas at Austin, USA, the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland and the University of Granada and the Compultense University of Madrid, Spain
We are pleased to announce that the following institutions have joined MDPI's institutional membership program in August 2016:
- University of Texas at Austin, USA
- Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland
- University of Granada, Spain
- Compultense University of Madrid, Spain
Authors affiliated with these institutions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
18 July 2016
Institutional Membership established with Louisiana State University and Florida State University, USA, Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, University of Rostock, Germany, AGH University of Science and Technology, Poland and Southeast University, China
We are pleased to announce that the following institutions have joined MDPI's institutional membership program in July 2016:
- Louisiana State University, USA
- Florida State University, USA
- Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland
- University of Rostock, Germany
- AGH University of Science and Technology, Poland
- Southeast University, China
Authors affiliated with these institutions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
12 July 2016
MDPI Moving to New Office Location in Basel (Switzerland) in August 2016
As of 20 August 2016, MDPI's new address in Basel will be:
MDPI AG
St. Alban-Anlage 66
CH-4052 Basel
Switzerland
Telephone and fax numbers remain unchanged.
St. Alban-Anlage 66 was built from 1947 to 1948 and initially the home of the "Bühler AG", a book printing business.
For more information about this building, see: https://www.mdpi.com/about/headquarters
21 June 2016
"Behind the Scenes of Academic Publishing—A Publisher's Perspective" - MDPI's Lecture at the University of Basel
From the 15-16 September, 2016, MDPI will run a course on Academic Publishing at the University of Basel.
In this two day workshop, MDPI will look in detail at the role performed by academic journal publishers and how they interact with academics. Ethical dimensions, what happens when problems occur and how the publisher coordinates all aspects of the submission process will also be covered.
For more detailed information about the program, trainers and registration please visit the course webpage.
14 June 2016
2015 Impact Factors Released
14 June 2016
2015 Impact Factor Released for Nutrients – 3.759
We are pleased to inform you that the new Impact Factor of Nutrients has been released. According to the Journal Citation Reports®, published by Thomson Reuters in June 2016, the new Impact Factor is 3.759, and the 5-Year Impact Factor is 4.064. Compared to last year, the Impact Factor has increased by 15 percent (see figures below).
Nutrients now ranks 16/78 (Q1) in the category ‘Nutrition & Dietetics’. The journal ranks second highest among the Open Access journals in nutrition and dietetics.
Evolution of Impact Factor, Citations and Publications for Nutrients:
26 May 2016
Institutional Membership established with University of Bremen, Germany, Koç University, Turkey, IIASA, Austria and Jilin University and Kunming Institute of Botany, CAS, China
We are pleased to announce that the following institutions have joined MDPI's institutional membership program in May 2016:
- Unversity of Bremen, Germany
- Koç University, Turkey
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria
- Jilin University, China
- Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Authors affiliated with these institutions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
23 May 2016
Institutional Membership Established with the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden and the South China University of Technology, Beijing University of Technology and Southern Medical University, China
We are pleased to announce that the following institutions have joined MDPI's institutional membership program in April and May 2016:
- KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
- South China University of Technology, China
- Beijing University of Technology, China
- Southern Medical University, China
Authors affiliated with these institutions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
26 April 2016
New Section on www.mdpi.com - Latest Books
You may have noticed a new section that is now visible on our home page. This section is called "Latest Books" and showcases recent publications from MDPI Books, our book publishing service.
By clicking on the hyperlink "More Books" you will be taken to the MDPI Books Home Page. There you will find more information about the service, as well as the "Recent Publications" list.
Clicking on any of the book images in this list will take you to detailed information about that book (shown below). Here you can also download a PDF version of the book, or order a hardcover printed copy.
For further information about the MDPI Books service, please visit the webpage or contact books@mdpi.com.
5 April 2016
Membership established with the Asia Pacific Nutrigenomics Nutrigenetics Organisation (APNNO)
31 March 2016
Axioms, Behavioral Sciences, Photonics, Separations and Toxics added to the Emerging Sources Citation Index in Web of Science
We are pleased to announce that the journals Axioms, Behavioral Sciences, Photonics, Separations and Toxics were recently accepted for inclusion in the newly launched Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) in Web of Science.
ESCI serves to highlight promising journals which are still under consideration for the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) or the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI).
The Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Social Sciences Citation Index
(SSCI), and Web of Science™ (WoS) are Thomson Reuters products.
30 March 2016
Institutional Membership established with the University of Winchester, UK, Silesian University of Technology, Poland and Beijing Jiaotong University and Zhejiang University, China
We are pleased to announce that the University of Winchester, UK, the Silesian University of Technology, Poland and Beijing Jiaotong University and Zhejiang University, China, have joined our Institutional Membership program. Primary authors from these universities will benefit from a 10% discount on article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
24 March 2016
New Editorial Office in Barcelona, Spain
We are excited to announce the opening of our new editorial office in Barcelona, Spain. The launch team is led by a Senior Editor and comprises further staff holding doctoral degrees with several years of research experience. The new editorial team will help us to get closer to European research communities and progress Sciforum, the platform to support the scientific community via conference hosting and other functions. They will also help spread the word about Open Access and meet academics at scientific events.
We are in the process of hiring more doctoral and masters graduates to join the editorial team and welcome applications via jobs@mdpi.com. For contact details about the office, see our contact page.
22 February 2016
Membership Established with the Max Planck Society
We are pleased to announce that the Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL) has signed an agreement with MDPI to support authors associated with the Max Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft). As of 22 February 2016, corresponding authors will receive full funding from the MPDL for articles published in MDPI journals, with a 10% discount applied to the Article Processing Charges. Additional details can be found at our institutional membership page.
Founded in 1948, The Max Planck Society is one of Germany’s leading research organizations, and is currently made up of 83 institutes conducting basic research in natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences and humanities. 18 Nobel laureates have emerged from its ranks of scientists and the society has more than 15,000 publications in scientific journals each year.
5 February 2016
Institutional Membership Extension: Wageningen University, CSIC, University of Zürich, ETH Zürich, University of Tübingen and Osnabrück University
We are pleased to announce that Wageningen University, the Netherlands, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain, the University of Zürich and ETH Zürich, Switzerland, and the University of Tübingen and Osnabrück University, Germany, have not only renewed their institutional memberships with MDPI after two years of successful cooperation, but have also increased the reduction of the article processing charges (APCs) for affiliated authors to 25%.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
5 February 2016
Institutional Membership established with Brock University, Canada and the University of Pisa, Italy
We are pleased to announce that Brock University, Cananda, and the University of Pisa, Italy, have joined MDPI's institutional membership program: Primary authors from these universities will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges as of 01 February 2016.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
25 January 2016
MDPI Sponsors diss:kurs with the University of Basel
MDPI is pleased to announce its newly established sponsorship of diss:kurs, an event coordinated by the University of Basel to support their doctorate program. For more information about the event and how to register, please visit the diss:kurs webpage.
7 January 2016
New Institutional Memberships Established with Tsinghua University, the Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology, Ruhr University Bochum and the University of Ulm
We are pleased to announce that the following institutions have joined MDPI's institutional membership program as of 1 January 2016:
- Tsinghua University, China
- Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology (CSMNT)
- Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
- University of Ulm, Germany
Authors affiliated with these institutions will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
5 January 2016
Safety, Fermentation, C-Journal of Carbon Research, Magnetochemistry, Batteries and Horticulturae Released Their First Issue in December 2015
We are pleased to announce that MDPI's open access journals Safety, Journal of Imaging, Fermentation, C-Journal of Carbon Research, Magnetochemistry, Batteries and Horticulturae released their first issue at the end of December 2015.
23 December 2015
Happy Festive Season!
Season's greetings from everyone at MDPI!
17 December 2015
Institutional Membership Extension: University of Bern, Switzerland
We are pleased to announce that the University of Bern, Switzerland has not only renewed their institutional membership with MDPI after two years of successful cooperation, but also increased the reduction of the article processing charges (APCs) for affiliated authors to 25%.
17 December 2015
Institutional Membership with the University of Ulm and Helmholtz Zentrum Munich
We are pleased to announce that University of Ulm, Germany and Helmholtz Zentrum Munich, Germany has joined MDPI's institutional membership program:
Primary authors from the University of Ulm and Helmholtz Zentrum Munich will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges as of 1 January 2016. Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
9 December 2015
Membership Established with the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)
We are pleased to announce that Virginia Tech has joined MDPI's institutional membership program. Authors from Virginia Tech will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges as of 1 December 2015. Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
1 December 2015
Membership Established with the Technical University of Denmark and the University of North Florida
We are pleased to announce that the following universities have joined MDPI's institutional membership program:
- Technical University of Denmark (as of 1 November 2015)
- University of North Florida, USA (as of 15 November 2015)
Primary authors from the Technical University of Denmark and the University of North Florida will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
2 October 2015
Membership Established with the University of Freiburg and the University of Regensburg
We are pleased to announce that the following universities have joined MDPI's institutional membership program:
University of Freiburg, Germany
University of Regensburg, Germany
Primary authors from the University of Freiburg and the University of Regensburg will benefit from a 10% discount on the article processing charges as of 1 October 2015 and 1 November 2015.
Additional details can be found on our institutional membership page.
30 September 2015
Associate Editors
19 June 2015
Updated Impact Factor for Nutrients – 3.270
We are pleased to report the 2014 Impact Factor for Nutrients. According to the 2015 release of the Journal Citation Reports® Science Edition (published by Thomson Reuters in June 2015), the updated Impact Factor for Nutrients is 3.270. The 5-Year Impact Factor is 3.671. Nutrients now ranks 21/77 (Q2) in the category ‘Nutrition & Dietetics’.
Evolution of the Nutrients Impact Factor:
Evolution of citations to Nutrients:
18 February 2014
Editorial Statement - Nutrients 2013 Progress Report
Nutrients would like to share with our readers some encouraging statistics on the journal’s progress through 2013.
- We received 586 submissions in 2013; 303 were published. The rejection rate was 44%.
- The publication rate was a substantial increase compared with 134 published in 2012 and 58 in 2011.
- 48% of the articles published in 2013 were original research articles and 48% reviews. Their countries of origin are illustrated below.
- Almost half of these articles were published in the following special issues:
- “Nutrition and the Eye” edited by Drs Frank Eperjesi, Hannah Bartlett (11 articles published)
- “Polyphenols and Human Health” edited by Dr Winston Craig (9 articles published)
- “Nutrients and Immune Function” edited by Drs Alma Nauta, Johan Garssen (11 articles published)
- “Dietary Fiber and Nutrition” edited by Dr Nancy Turner (8 articles published)
- “Dietary Iron and Human Health” edited by Dr Mitchell Knutson (14 articles published)
- “Vitamin D and Human Health” edited by Dr Simon Spedding (22 articles published)
- “Nutrition and Respiratory Disease” edited by Dr Lisa Wood (10 articles published)
- “Vitamin B12 and Human Health” edited by Dr Kristina Pentieva (7 articles published)
- “Nutrition and Infectious Diseases” edited by Dr Mark Kuhlenschmidt (5 articles published)
- “Chocolate and Cocoa in Human Health” edited by Dr Margarida Castell (8 articles published)
- “Vitamin C and Human Health” edited by Drs Anitra Carr, Margreet Vissers (10 articles published)
- “Nutrition and Celiac Disease” edited by Drs Carlo Catassi, Alessio Fasano (19 articles published)
- “Vitamin A and Carotenoids” edited by Drs Loredana Quadro, William Blaner (10 articles published)
- “Nutrition and Neuroscience” edited by Dr Kevin Laugero (3 articles published)
- The average time from first submission to publication was 95 days.
- Nutrients’ manuscripts were accessed on-line 191835 times. Over 30% of these were from the USA.
- Importantly, there were 149067 full text downloads from the MDPI website.
- Our citation rate continues to rise rapidly (89 citations in 2011, 330 in 2012, over 1000 in 2013)
- Nutrients’ Impact Factor has increased consistently from 0.676 in 2011 to 2.072 in 2012. The 2013 Impact Factor is likely to exceed 3.
We would like to thank our readers for their continuing interest and support which has enabled Nutrients to make great progress in its first four years. We also acknowledge the efforts of our Editorial Board members, those who have guest edited our special issues and the many expert reviewers who have so generously, often repeatedly, given their valuable time to ensure the quality of our publications. We trust that Nutrients will continue to fulfil a need for on-line, open access scientific communication in your field and we hope that we can expand this role by encouraging the promotion and reporting of conferences and other relevant events through the Nutrients website.
Peter Howe & Jonathan Buckley
