Information for Editors

The Editor-in-Chief is a champion of the journal and their discipline. They supervise journal activities, with the aim to ensure success of the journal within the scientific community. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the scientific quality and development of the journal. The Editor-in-Chief is expected to maintain connection to the Editorial Board and assist the Editorial Office in the management of the journal. The initial term is for 2 years, which entails:

• Acting as ambassador for the journal, MDPI and Open Access publishing;
• Scientific decisions about the journal's scope;
• Inviting distinguished scientists to join the Editorial Board;
• Suggesting topics for Special Issues;
• Providing support and guidance to Section Editors-in-Chief, Editorial Board Members and Editorial Staff where required;
• Maintaining oversight of the editorial process for individual manuscripts (mainly by making the final decision regarding whether or not a paper can be published after peer-review and revisions);
• Understanding, leading and upholding MDPI’s peer review guidelines and ethics guidelines;
• Chairing the annual Editorial Board Meeting.

The Section Editor-in-Chief is a leader in their particular field, and is responsible for the scientific quality of a particular section of a journal. The Section Editor-in-Chief is expected to oversee the growth and development of the journal Sections and its board members. The initial term is for 2 years, which entails:

• Acting as ambassador for the journal, MDPI and Open Access publishing;
• Scientific decisions about the scope of their section;
• Inviting distinguished scientists to join the Editorial Board;
• Suggesting topics for Special Issues;
• Providing support and guidance to Editorial Board Members and Editorial Staff where required;
• Maintaining oversight of the editorial process for individual manuscripts in their section (mainly by making the final decision regarding whether or not a paper can be published after peer-review and revisions);
• Understanding, leading and upholding MDPI’s peer review guidelines and ethics guidelines.

The Co-Section Editor-in-Chief is an expert in the field of a particular section of a journal, and is responsible for the scientific quality of the section together with the Section Editor-in-Chief. The Co-Section Editor-in-Chief is expected to oversee the growth and development of the journal Section and oversee its Special Issues and Collections. The initial term is for 2 years, which entails:

• Advise Section Editor-in-Chiefs on the strategic development of the section and alert Section Editor-in-Chiefs in case of any issues encountered;
• Advise Section Editor-in-Chief on the aims and scope of the sections;
• Maintaining oversight of the editorial process for individual manuscripts assigned to them and make pre-check editorial decisions with a focus on scope relevance;
• Supervision of Special issues (by making decisions on the feasibility report on the new titles, the Guest Editors' qualifications, and final approval before launching);
• Ensuring Special Issues are within the scope of the journal and of interest to the scientific community;
• Propose Editorial Board member candidates to Section Editor-in-Chiefs for approval;
• Attend regular meetings with Section Editor-in-Chiefs and provide feedback and support;
• Act as an ambassador for the journal, MDPI and open access publishing.

The Associate Editor is expected to maintain regular communication with the Managing Editor and Publishing Manager of the journal, and to other MDPI staff as needed, and be responsive when support is requested. The Associate Editor should support Editor-in-Chief and Section Editor-in-Chief of the journal to:

• Advise on the strategic development of the journal;
• Advise Editor-in-Chief and Section Editor-in-Chief on the Aims and Scope of the journal or section;
• Provide support and guidance to Editorial Board Members and Editorial Staff when required;
• Maintaining oversight of the editorial process for individual manuscripts in their section (mainly by making the final decision regarding whether or not a paper can be published after peer-review and revisions);
• Suggest themes for Special Issues and assist in inviting/proposing Guest Editors to lead them;
• Invite distinguished scientists to join the Editorial Board;
• Act as ambassador for the journal, MDPI and Open Access publishing.

The Advisory Board Members will provide guidance to the Editor-in-Chief regarding journal development strategies and policies. The initial term is for 2 years, which entails:

• Pre-screen and take decisions on new submissions, especially in cases of conflict of interest;
• Suggest topics for Special Issues and launch new Sections for the journal;
• Provide input or feedback regarding journal policies;
• Help to promote the journal among their peers or at conferences;
• Attend Board Meetings to suggest journal development strategies;
• Provide assistance in solving appeal cases or ethical disputes.

The Editorial Board Members will be responsible for final decisions on manuscripts in their field of expertise, will edit Special Issues and they may be invited to review manuscripts. The initial term is for 2 years, which entails:

• Pre-screen and take decisions on new submissions related to their research interests;
• Set up at least 1 Special Issue during their term on a topic related to their research interests (or supervising Special Issues related to your research field);
• Help to attract suitable expert authors and invite young scholars to join the topical advisory panel;
• Provide input or feedback regarding journal policies;
• Help to promote the journal among their peers or at conferences;
• Attend Board Meetings to suggest journal development strategies;
• Review manuscripts.

The Section Board Members comply with the same terms and conditions as Editorial Board Members. According to their expertise they are assigned to a specific journal section for which they will be mostly committed. The initial term is for 2 years, which entails:

• Pre-screen and take decisions on new submissions related to their journal Section;
• Help to edit a Special Issue on a topic related to their Section (or supervising Special Issues related to your research field);
• Provide input or feedback regarding journal policies;
• Help to promote the journal among their peers or at conferences;
• Attend Board Meetings to suggest journal development strategies:
• Review manuscripts.

The Guest Editors will edit Special Issues and are encouraged to invite colleagues from the same research field to contribute to the Special Issue. Special Issues enable collaboration with scholars all over the world. The main responsibilities of Guest Editors are:

• Preparing the Special Issue title, aim & scope, summary and keywords;
• Providing a list of potential contributors;
• Pre-screen, supervise the whole peer-review process and take decisions on new submissions in their Special Issue;
• Promotion of the Special Issue at conferences, on social media and other relevant platforms.

Subject Editors are assigned, based on their research expertise, to a specific category. They work alongside the Editorial Boards of all the journals in MDPI’s portfolio to develop the category and to promote Topics.

The responsibilities of the Subject Editor include:

• Developing Topics strategy, supplying new ideas for promoting Topics, and collaborating with institutes to set up Topics;
• Inviting other distinguished scientists to join the Subject Editor or to lead Topics as Topic Editors;
• Inviting recognized scholars in the field to contribute relevant submissions;
• Suggesting themes, subjects, and potential journals to set up Topics;
• Promoting Topics at conferences and using related social media channels;
• Joining the Topics Award Committee to evaluate MDPI Topics.

The Topic Editors will edit Topics and are encouraged to invite colleagues from the same research field to contribute to the Topic. Topics offer the opportunity to collaborate across disciplines around the world. The main responsibilities of Topic Editors are:

• Preparing the Topics title, aim & scope, summary and keywords;
• Providing a list of potential contributors;
• Pre-screen, supervise the whole peer-review process and take decisions on new submissions in their Topics;
• Promotion of the Topics at conferences, on social media and other relevant platforms.

The Collection Editors will edit permanent Topical Collections and are encouraged to invite colleagues from the same research field to contribute to the Topical Collection. The main responsibilities of Collection Editors are:

• Preparing the Topical Collection title, aim & scope, summary and keywords
• Providing a list of potential contributors, a couple of times per year
• Pre-screen, supervise the whole peer-review process and take decisions on new submissions in their Collection
• Promotion of the Collection at conferences, on social media and other relevant platforms.

The Topical Advisory Panel is composed of established researchers and early career researchers eager to gain experience in editorial work. For early career researchers that currently hold an independent research position in academia or a government institute, we invite them to apply to join the Topical Advisory Panel, where they will provide support to Guest Editors, Topic Editors, and Section Board Members. Each year the member’s performance is evaluated, and outstanding members will be promoted to the Editorial Board by the Editor-in-Chief.

The main responsibilities include the following:

• Providing regular reviews of manuscripts.
• Setting up at least one Special Issue (SI) within two years of the appointment. Collaborations on SIs with other established researchers are encouraged, and are mandatory for early career researchers. The topic of the proposal should be within the scope of the journal. The scope of the SI should be broad enough to attract a reasonable number of submissions but narrow enough to provide a cohesive collection of articles. The SI should cover a small part of the scope of the journal, but not the whole.
• Providing a detailed strategy plan for the SI, including assisting in preparing the SI’s/Topic’s title, aim and scope, summary, and keywords, in addition to soliciting papers and promoting the SI.
• Providing support for SI/Topics related to your expertise when the Guest Editor(s) is not available. This includes SI promotion via social media and giving advice on some scientific cases.
• Promotion of the journal at conferences (adding one–two slides into your presentation, distributing flyers, recommending the journal to your colleagues, etc.), on social media, and on other relevant platforms.
• Participate in working with Editorial Board Members or the Editorial Office to promote high-quality/featured papers (for example, writing a summary or highlights for an Editor's selected papers).

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

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