Guidelines for Editors

The Editor-in-Chief is a champion of the journal and a leader in its discipline. The Editor-in-Chief supervises journal activities, with the aim of ensuring the success of the journal within the scientific community. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for ensuring the scientific quality and development of the journal, responsible for the oversight of the content published, and decisions on post publication amendment, ensuring integrity and consistency in all decisions following journal policies and best practices. The Editor-in-Chief is expected to lead the Editorial Board and assist the Editorial Office in the management of the journal. The main responsibilities of the Editor-in-Chief are detailed as follows:

• Act as an ambassador for the journal, MDPI and Open Access publishing;
• Make scientific decisions about the journal’s scope;
• Invite distinguished scientists to join the Editorial Board;
• Suggest topics for Special Issues;
• Provide support and guidance to Section Editor-in-Chiefs, Editorial Board Members and Editorial Staff when required;
• Maintain and provide strategic oversight of the journal’s editorial process, including ultimate responsibility for editorial integrity and published content;
• Understand, champion and uphold MDPI’s peer-review guidelines and ethics guidelines;
• Chair the annual Editorial Board Meeting;
• Oversee Guest Editor appointments and Special Issue proposals, check content for relevance and ensure the suitability of the material prior to the launch of Special Issues;
• Responsible for making editorial decisions on individual manuscripts related to their subject expertise.

Section Editor-in-Chiefs are leaders in their particular field and are responsible for ensuring 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 their Board Members. The main responsibilities of the Section Editor-in-Chief are detailed as follows:

• Act as an ambassador for the journal, MDPI and Open Access publishing;

• Make scientific decisions about the scope of their Section;

• Invite distinguished scientists to join the Editorial Board;

• Suggest topics for Special Issues;

• Provide support and guidance to Editorial Board Members and Editorial Staff when required;

• Maintain 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 undergoing peer review and revisions);

• Understand, champion and uphold MDPI’s peer-review guidelines and ethics guidelines;

• Oversee Guest Editor appointments and Special Issue proposals, check content for relevance and ensure the suitability of the material prior to the launch of Special Issues;

• Oversee and support ethical investigations, and step in for the Editor-in-Chief when required;

• Responsible for making editorial decisions on individual manuscripts related to their subject expertise.

The Co-Section Editor-in-Chief is an expert in the field of a particular Section of a journal and is responsible for ensuring 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 main responsibilities of the Co-Section Editor-in-Chief are detailed as follows:

• Advise Section Editor-in-Chiefs on the strategic development of the Section and alert Section Editor-in-Chiefs in the case of encountering any issues;
• Advise Section Editor-in-Chiefs on the aims and scope of the Section;
• Maintain oversight of the editorial process for individual manuscripts assigned to them and make pre-check editorial decisions with a focus on manuscripts’ relevance to the scope of the Section;
• Supervise Special Issues (by making decisions on the feasibility report of new titles, the Guest Editors’ qualifications, and final approval before launching);
• Ensure that 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;
• Oversee Guest Editor appointments and Special Issue proposals, check content for relevance and ensure the suitability of the material prior to the launch of Special Issues;
• Oversee and support ethical investigations, and act on behalf of the Editor-in-Chief when required;
• Responsible for making editorial decisions on individual manuscripts related to their subject expertise.

Associate Editors support the Editor-in-Chief and Section Editor-in-Chief, if assigned to a particular Section, in ensuring the growth and development of the Section and journal. The Associate Editor is expected to make decisions on behalf of the Editor-in-Chief or Section Editor-in-Chief when they are unavailable. The main responsibilities of the Associate Editor are detailed as follows:

• Advise on the strategic development of the journal;
• Advise the 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;
• Maintain oversight of the editorial process for individual manuscripts in their Section;
• Suggest themes for Special Issues and assist with inviting/proposing Guest Editors to lead them;
• Invite distinguished scientists to join the Editorial Board;
• Act as an ambassador for the journal, MDPI and Open Access publishing;
• Oversee Guest Editor appointments and Special Issue proposals, check content for relevance and ensure the suitability of the material prior to the launch of Special Issues;
• Responsible for making editorial decisions on individual manuscripts related to their subject expertise.

Advisory Board Members provide guidance to the Editor-in-Chief regarding journal development strategies and policies. The main responsibilities of the Advisory Board Member are detailed as follows:

• 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 to solve appeal cases or ethical disputes;
• Responsible for making editorial decisions on individual manuscripts related to their subject expertise when required.

The primary role of Statistical Editors is to help with ensuring that manuscripts adhere to the high-quality statistical standards that promote the reproducibility, rigor, interpretability, and transparency of the reported scientific data. The main responsibilities of the Statistical Editor are detailed as follows:

• Review and evaluate manuscripts to ensure that the statistical methodology used is accurate and that the data are exact and presented well;

• Provide input and advice for the statistical guidelines of the journal;

• Identify and uphold the principles of research ethics and academic conduct for the journal;

• Attend Board Meetings to suggest journal development strategies;

• Responsible for making editorial decisions on individual manuscripts related to their subject expertise when required.

Statistical Editors may be assigned to one or two journals depending on their availability, and they are included within the Editorial Board of their respective journals.

Editorial Board Members are responsible for critically reviewing and making decisions on manuscripts in their field of expertise, following established guidelines and best practices. They should also support the investigation and resolution of ethical concerns during manuscript processing and post-publication, ensuring the integrity of the scholarly record. The main responsibilities of the Editorial Board Member are detailed as follows:

• Responsible for making editorial decisions on individual manuscripts related to their subject expertise;
• Set up at least one Special Issue during their term on a topic related to their research interests (or supervise a Special Issue related to their 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;
• Oversee Guest Editor appointments and Special Issue proposals, check content for relevance and ensure the suitability of the material prior to the launch of Special Issues.

According to their expertise, Editorial Board Members may be assigned to a specific journal Section as Section Board Members; in this case, they are primarily committed to this Section.

Guest Editors edit Special Issues and are encouraged to invite colleagues within their research field to contribute to Special Issues. Special Issues enable collaboration with scholars all over the world. The main responsibilities of the Guest Editor are as follows:

• Prepare the title, aim and scope, summary, and keywords of the Special Issue;
• Provide a list of potential contributors to the Special Issue;
• Responsible for making editorial decisions on individual manuscripts submitted to their Special Issue;
• Promote the Special Issue at conferences and on social media, as well as other relevant platforms.

Subject Editors are assigned, based on their research expertise, to a specific discipline category of MDPI’s portfolio. They work alongside the Editorial Boards of all the journals in MDPI’s portfolio to develop the category and promote Topics. The main responsibilities of the Subject Editor are detailed as follows:

• Develop Topics strategy, offer new ideas for promoting Topics, and collaborate with institutes to set up Topics;
• Invite other distinguished scientists to join as Subject Editors or to lead Topics as Topic Editors;
• Invite scholars recognized in the field to contribute relevant submissions;
• Suggest themes, subjects, and potential journals to set up Topics;
• Promote Topics at conferences and on relevant social media channels;
• Join the Topics Award Committee to evaluate MDPI Topics.

Topic Editors edit Topics and are encouraged to invite colleagues within their research field to contribute to the Topic. Topics provide the opportunity to collaborate across disciplines and all around the world. The main responsibilities of the Topic Editor are detailed as follows:

• Prepare the title, aim and scope, summary, and keywords of the Topic;
• Provide a list of potential contributors to the Topic;
• Responsible for making editorial decisions on individual manuscripts submitted to their Topic;
• Promote the Topic at conferences and on social media, as well as other relevant platforms.

Collection Editors edit permanent Topical Collections and are encouraged to invite colleagues from within their research field to contribute to the Topical Collection. The main responsibilities of the Collection Editor are detailed as follows:

• Prepare the title, aim and scope, summary, and keywords of the Topical Collection;
• Provide a list of potential contributors a couple of times per year;
• Responsible for making editorial decisions on individual manuscripts submitted to their Collection;
• Promote the Collection at conferences and on social media, as well as other relevant platforms.

The Topical Advisory Panel comprises established researchers who are eager to participate in the development of high-quality Special Issues or Topics. The Topical Advisory Panel works closely with Guest Editors, Topic Editors and Section Board Members to provide support and help them with running successful Special Issues or Topics. Every year, the performance of each member of the Panel is evaluated, and outstanding members are promoted to the Editorial Board by the Editor-in-Chief.

The main responsibilities of members of the Topical Advisory Panel are listed as follows:

• Review manuscripts regularly.
• Set up at least one Special Issue within two years of appointment. Collaboration with other established researchers on Special Issues is encouraged. The topic of the Special Issue proposal should be within the scope of the journal. The scope of the Special Issue should be broad enough to attract a reasonable number of submissions but narrow enough to provide a cohesive collection of articles. The Special Issue should cover a small part of the scope of the journal, not the whole scope.
• Provide a detailed strategy plan for the Special Issue, including assisting with preparing the title, aim and scope, summary, and keywords of the Special Issue/Topic, in addition to soliciting papers and promoting the Special Issue.
• Provide support for the Special Issues/Topics related to their expertise when the Guest Editor(s) is not available. This includes promoting the Special Issue on social media and offering advice on some scientific cases.
• Promote the journal at conferences (adding 1–2 slides into their presentation, distributing flyers, recommending the journal to their colleagues, etc.) and on social media, as well as other relevant platforms.
• Work 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, the applicant must meet the following criteria:

1. Have expertise and experience in a field related to the journal;
2. Have at least 6–8 published papers in the last 5 years as a first author or corresponding author;
3. Currently hold an independent research position in academia or at a government institute.

* As part of our ongoing review of our editorial structure, the Topical Advisor Panel (TAP) role will be discontinued effective January 1, 2027.

Early Career Editorial Board Members should be young scholars early in their careers who have sufficient academic experience and are therefore able to contribute toward ensuring the long-term development of the journal. They are recruited and selected by the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board Members. They add vital new perspectives, energy, and intellectual diversity to the Board, which helps us to look toward and focus on the future.

The main responsibilities of the Early Career Editorial Board Member are detailed as follows:

• Publicize and promote the journal at academic conferences and among their peers;
• Select high-quality articles and prepare bilingual media content for promotion;
• Review at least four manuscripts per year;
• Provide input on any new initiatives for journal development;
• Invite submissions from local and overseas world-leading scientists in the respective research fields;
• Subject to approval by the Editor-in-Chief, perform editorial pre-check and validate reviewers.