MDPI: History
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MDPI is a pioneer in scholarly open access publishing, supporting academic communities since 1996. Based in Basel, Switzerland, MDPI’s mission is to foster open scientific exchange in all forms, across all disciplines. Its 283 diverse, peer-reviewed, open access journals are supported by more than 35,500 academic editors. MDPI serves scholars from around the world to ensure that the latest research is freely available, and all content is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).

  • MDPI
  • open access
  • publisher

MDPI is a pioneer in scholarly open access publishing, supporting academic communities since 1996. Based in Basel, Switzerland, MDPI’s mission is to foster open scientific exchange in all forms, across all disciplines. Its 283 diverse, peer-reviewed, open access journals are supported by more than 35,500 academic editors. MDPI serves scholars from around the world to ensure that the latest research is freely available, and all content is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).

Publishing Format

All articles published by MDPI are made immediately available online under an open access license. This means that:

  • Everyone has free and unlimited access to the full text of all articles published in MDPI journals;

  • Everyone is free to re-use the published material if proper accreditation/citation of the original publication is given;

  • Open access publication is supported by the authors’ institutes or research funding agencies by payment of a comparatively low Article Processing Charge (APC) for accepted articles.

History

MDPI was launched in 1996 as a non-profit institute for the promotion and preservation of the diversity of chemical compounds. Founded in Basel, Switzerland, as a “Verein” under Swiss law, the abbreviation MDPI initially stood for “Molecular Diversity Preservation International”. After successfully running several open access journals, including Molecules, Sensors and Entropy, MDPI developed into a leading open access publisher, and the publishing part was transferred into a separate legal entity in 2010. MDPI remained as the abbreviation of the newly founded “Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute”. The samples project continues today and is maintained by the MDPI Sustainability Foundation. MDPI has hosted or organized a number of scientific conferences, including electronic (virtual) conferences. The timeline below summarizes major milestones in each year since the establishment of MDPI.

1995

Preparation for founding a worldwide center for the collection of rare chemical samples was started. In order to promote this project, a journal entitled Molecules was planned and ISSN 1420-3049 obtained after application by Dr. Shu-Kun Lin.

1996

Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI) was officially founded and registered in the commercial register in Basel, Switzerland, in June 1996 by Dr. Shu-Kun Lin and Dr. Benoit R. Turin.

1997

MDPI took over the publishing of Molecules from Springer Verlag and started to publish it as an open access journal. Molecules published 74 papers. The first annual e-conference ECSOC (http://www.mdpi.org/ecsoc/) was held this year.

1998

A new journal International Journal of Molecular Sciences (IJMS) was planned, ISSN 1422-0067 obtained, and the Editorial Board formed by Dr. Shu-Kun Lin.

1999

Another MDPI journal Entropy (ISSN 1099-4300) was founded by Dr. Shu-Kun Lin. A total of 94 papers were published.

2000

The IJMS journal officially started publication. Molecules published 381 papers.

2001

Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220) was launched. A total of 260 papers were published.

2002

Dr. Shu-Kun Lin opened an editorial office in Qingdao, China in collaboration with the Ocean University of China. The editorial office in Qingdao operated until early 2005. A total of 242 papers were published.

2003

The journal Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397) was launched in the Qingdao editorial office. The International Symposium on Sensor Science (I3S 2003) was held for the first time in Paris, France. A total of 315 papers were published.

2004

The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH, ISSN 1660-4601) was launched. The journal title Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247) was planned, and one paper was published within it. A total of 270 papers were published.

2005

Molecules celebrated its tenth anniversary. A total of 391 papers were published.

2006

The two-tier publication system was abandoned after a few months of testing and replaced by a fully open access policy; see https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/8/3/131/. A total of 417 papers were published.

2007

Three new journals were planned in 2007 with preliminary websites set up, Algorithms, Energies and Materials, which were all launched the following year. For the first time, slight profitability was reached for the publication project, which demonstrated the financial viability and success of the fully open access publication model. A total of 663 papers were published.

2008

MDPI joined Crossref and started to assign DOI numbers to each published paper in May/June 2008. At the same time, the open access policy, which commenced in 2006, was further clarified and the Creative Commons license adopted, retrospectively, for all papers published by MDPI. Three new journals were planned for 2008 with preliminary websites set up: Sustainability, Remote Sensing and Viruses. A total of 1124 papers were published.

2009

Twelve new journals started publication, effectively doubling the MDPI journal portfolio. A new system was deployed to host electronic conferences at www.sciforum.net and launched with the hosting of the 13th International Electronic Conference on Synthetic Organic Chemistry (ECSOC-13).

2010

MDPI AG (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute) was founded in May 2010 as an operating company for the journals by Dr. Shu-Kun Lin and Dietrich Rordorf. Dietrich Rordorf was appointed CEO. Ten new journals were launched, and a total of 4103 papers were published.

2011

There were 25 newly launched journals, with 4684 papers published within them. In total, 15,430 papers were published in 2011.

2012

In total, 23 new journals started publication during 2012.

2013

A new office was opened in Wuhan, China, in March 2013. Most of the Impact Factors of MDPI journals grew significantly, and five journals received their first Impact Factor in June 2013. A first version of Scilit was released, and an institutional membership was set up in Fall 2013.

2014

The total number of articles ever published by MDPI exceeded 40,000 by November 2014, and the number of publications in 2014 alone was over 12,300. Sciforum.net, a platform for open scholarly exchange and collaboration, was expanded, and features for discussion groups, commentaries and conference hosting were introduced.

2015

The number of articles ever published by MDPI surpassed 60,000 papers in December, and compared to 2014, the volume of publications grew by 40% in the year 2015. Thirteen journals were launched in 2015.

2016

MDPI celebrated its 20th anniversary. The total number of articles ever published by MDPI surpassed 86,500 at the end of 2016, with 23,500 published in 2016 alone (a 35% increase compared to 2015). MDPI opened a new office in Barcelona and a new office in Serbia, and the headquarters moved to a new office in St. Alban-Anlage 66, 4052 Basel.

2017

The total number of articles ever published reached 122,470 at the end of 2017. With 35,950 peer-reviewed articles published in 2017 (a 52.5% increase compared to 2016), MDPI became the leading purely open access publisher in number of articles published in 2017 (source: DOAJ).

2018

The total number of articles ever published reached 193,780 at the end of 2018. With 64,687 peer-reviewed articles published in 2018 (a 79.7% increase compared to 2017), MDPI became the 7th largest academic publisher in number of articles published in 2018, and the largest publisher of open access articles in DOAJ in 2018.

2019

The total number of articles ever published reached 300,000 at the end of 2019. With 106,152 peer-reviewed articles published in 2019 (representing a 64% increase compared to 2018), MDPI became the 5th largest academic publisher. Five new offices were set up: United Kingdom (Manchester), Japan (Tokyo), Romania (Cluj-Napoca), China (Tianjin) and Thailand (Bangkok). The number of full-time employees reached 2137 at the end of 2019.

2020

As of Q3 2020, the total number of articles ever published reached 421,300, with 112,050 peer-reviewed articles this year up to 30 September 2020. Six journals were accepted for coverage in the Science Citation Index Expanded (Web of Science), 29 new titles were launched, and six journals were transferred to MDPI from other publishers. The number of scientific societies partnering with MDPI or affiliating with MDPI journals reached 124. A new office was set up in Krakow, Poland. The number of full-time employees reached 3536.

Journal List and Indexing Status

MDPI currently publishes 282 journal titles and is continuously expanding its portfolio. More than 250 diverse, peer-reviewed, open access journals are supported by over 35,500 academic editors. MDPI serves scholars from around the world to ensure that the latest research is freely available, and all content is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).

Journals published by MDPI are fully open access: research articles, reviews or any other content on this platform is available to everyone free of charge. Journals include Molecules (launched in 1996; Impact Factor 3.060), the International Journal of Molecular Sciences (launched in 2000; Impact Factor 4.183), Sensors (launched in 2001; Impact Factor 3.031), Marine Drugs (launched in 2003; Impact Factor 3.772), Energies (launched in 2008; Impact Factor 2.707), the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (launched in 2004; Impact Factor 2.468), Viruses (launched in 2009; Impact Factor 3.811), Remote Sensing (launched in 2009; Impact Factor 4.118), Toxins (launched in 2009; Impact Factor 3.895) and Nutrients (launched in 2009; Impact Factor 4.171). MDPI has published research by 263,500 individual authors, and our journals receive more than 5.8 million monthly webpage views.

There are 149 journals indexed by the Web of Science. To see the full list of covered journals, please visit: https://www.mdpi.com/about/journals/wos. To date, 76 of MDPI’s journals have been included in the Science Citation Index Expanded, the most selective of the indexes covered in the Web of Science. MDPI aims to eventually have all journals on its platform indexed in SCIE. Some journals related to life sciences are also included in PubMed/Medline, and their archives are reviewed by PubMed Central (PMC). All MDPI journals are also included in Google Scholar, DOAJ and other academic literature search engines.

Initiatives

Encyclopedia is an online reference created and curated by active scholars. It aims to highlight the latest research results as well as providing benchmark information for researchers and the general public interested in accurate and advanced knowledge on specific topics.

Scilit is a comprehensive, free database for scientists that uses a new method to collate data and index scientific material. Its crawlers extract the latest data from CrossRef and PubMed on a daily basis. This means that newly published articles are immediately added to Scilit.

SciProfiles is an innovative social network for researchers and scholars developed by MDPI. In line with MDPI’s broad mission, the purpose of SciProfiles is to accelerate discovery and innovation by facilitating immediate access to research results and providing opportunities for academic networking.

Sciforum is an event planning platform that supports open science by offering the opportunity to host and participate in academic conferences. It provides an environment for scholarly exchange, discussion of topics of current interest, building of networks and establishment of collaborations.

Preprints is a platform dedicated to making early versions of research outputs permanently available and citable. It posts original research articles and comprehensive reviews, and papers can be updated by authors at any time. Content on Preprints is not peer-reviewed, and feedback can be received from readers.

MDPI Books offers quality, open access book publishing to promote the exchange of ideas and knowledge across all disciplines.

International Cooperation

United Nations Global Compact

MDPI is a member of the United Nations Global Compact to support corporate sustainability, and we 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 began in 1996 and led to our 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 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.

Publons

Obtaining high-quality review reports is critical for any journal’s editorial process. At MDPI, we have put in place several measures to motivate reviewers and reward them for their work. We are proud of the quality of reviewer reports we receive and grateful for the hours put in by active researchers from across the globe.

Reviewers of MDPI’s largest journals can get recognition via Publons, a website dedicated to rewarding peer reviewers. Publons has now taken this one step further and launched the Publons Reviewer Academy to help train reviewers to provide useful feedback. Through the Academy, researchers can be trained and tutored in various aspects of how to provide structured feedback that will be of genuine help to editors and authors. We support this initiative and recommend it to potential MDPI reviewers, especially early career researchers. See the Publons announcement for further information.

More information on reviewing for MDPI, including how to volunteer as a reviewer, can be found here.

Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP)

MDPI is dedicated to providing free access to the latest research. To cover the costs of publishing open access, authors are billed an article processing charge (APC) for each accepted paper. Some institutions may find that their affiliated authors regularly publish in MDPI journals, and that administering an increasing number of APCs can be time-consuming. Our open access program aims to support institutions through various means.

You can see the full list of program participants here: https://www.mdpi.com/ioap.

Other Services Offered by MDPI

English Editing Services

  • Regular Edit: We will check the grammar and phrasing of your paper. Completed within 2 business days.
  • Specialist Edit: This includes all the features of the Regular Edit, followed by a check of subject-specific terms and style by an expert in your research field. Completed within 4 business days.

Extra Services

  • Layout Editing: We will prepare your submission for publication in an MDPI journal. Completed within 1 business day.
  • Ithenticate Plagiarism Check: We will generate a report showing text duplication and potential plagiarism, along with advice on where to modify text and add further citations. Completed within 1 business day.

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References:

[1] mdpi.com

[2] Atmosphere 

[3] Energies 

[4]  Entropy 

[5] Forests 

[6]  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) 

[7] International Journal of Molecular Sciences 

[8]  Marine Drugs 

[9]  Micromachines 

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