For more than 25 years, MDPI has carefully refined the structure of its Editorial Boards to ensure that they maintain high quality and consistency. This has enabled MDPI to maintain its portfolio of more than 450 journals, with more than 300 of them being indexed in Web of Science.

Here, we overview the structure of MDPI’s Editorial Boards, the role of Editorial Board Members, and how MDPI ensures quality, consistency, and diversity across its entire portfolio of journals.

The structure of MDPI’s Editorial Boards

MDPI’s Editorial Boards are structured strategically at a journal level considering the scope, broadness, publication volume, and global distribution of the research fields.

Journals feature sections focused on district research areas within the scope of the journal. Segmenting the journal into sections aids readers and authors in navigating the journal and creates a tiered structure for more efficient journal management, helping to ensure that workloads are distributed effectively. The tiers are made up of an Editor-in-Chief that oversees the whole journal, Section Editors-in-Chief that oversee their respective sections, and Editorial Board Members.

Furthermore, the Editor-in-Chief may appoint Associate Editors or Advisory Board Members to assist with the journal development or to share the workload. Depending on the needs of the journal, there are specialized roles that vary from journal to journal, such as Statistical Editors, to ensure quality and consistency within the discipline. Click here for a full list of roles and responsibilities.

One of MDPI’s primary values is scholarly diversity, and this is applied to how its Editorial Boards are structured. The distribution of publications within a journal’s field is analyzed; then, members are recruited from research areas to reflect this distribution. This ensures that the diversity of the Editorial Board reflects that of the field of study, reducing bias.

Further, the boards are designed to ensure there is diverse expertise, to ensure that the full scope of the journal’s topics are covered. This is especially important for journals that explore interdisciplinary topics.

MDPI journals feature EBMs from across 127 different countries.

Role of MDPI Editorial Board Members

Editorial Board Members’ (EBMs) responsibilities include working closely with MDPI to actively prevent and address issues of plagiarism, data fabrication, and unethical research practices.

MDPI believes that ensuring the integrity and quality of publications is a collaborative process between the journal and the Editorial Board. To achieve this, MDPI provides EBMs with the best possible information to make informed decisions.

EBMs are involved in various tasks, which are standardized across MDPI’s journals to ensure consistency. These include the following:

• Pre-screening and making decisions on new submissions related to their research interests.
• Setting up at least one Special Issue during their term on a topic related to their research interests (or supervising a Special Issue related to their research field).
• Providing input or feedback regarding journal policies.
• Helping to promote the journal among their peers or at conferences.
• Attending Board meetings to suggest journal development strategies.
• Reviewing manuscripts.

However, EBMs provide their services on a volunteer basis, and they have many other responsibilities, including teaching, research, and administrative duties. Therefore, MDPI is careful not to overload them; instead, MDPI provides administrative support, answering questions, providing information, and managing their workloads. The priority is ensuring that EBMs can handle publications with time and care, rather than focusing on handling a high number of them.

If you want to learn more about the role and ethical responsibilities of Editorial Board Members, please click here.

Structuring journal staff

MDPI organizes the journal staff in a similar tiered system as for the Editorial Board. The size of the journal staff team depends on the publication volume and consists of the following main roles:

• Managing Editors are staff members that work closely with Editors-in-Chief; they monitor the overall journal development, and perform the initial technical pre-check for submitted articles.
• Co-Managing Editors are staff members that work closely with Section Editors-in-Chief and they support the development of sections.
• Section Managing Editors are staff members that work closely with Editorial Board Members and Guest Editors, assisting them to set up Special Issues.
• Assistant Editors are staff members that provide end-to-end support to authors, reviewers, and academic editors throughout the editorial process.
• Journal Relations Specialists are internal staff that act as liaisons for editorial and policy matters, engage with the Editorial Board and learned society representatives and also support journal promotional activities.

With staff across multiple time zones, there is always someone available to answer questions and assist the Editorial Board.

Publishing with IJERPH has always been a simple, timely process. Reviews are completed quickly and the editors have excellent, clear, and responsive communication. The journal seems to be well-staffed and provides all the infrastructure needed for a smooth and quick process. Once the article is accepted, editors are quick to integrate needed final edits and proofing. – Dr. Genevieve Graaf, Editor

Maintaining editorial standards

MDPI is committed to maintaining rigorous editorial standards across its entire portfolio of journals.

There are standardized procedures for the editorial process supported by in-house tools and platforms and clearly outlined guidance and ethical standards. This means, regardless of the size of the journal, MDPI maintains consistency throughout its entire portfolio.

Furthermore, there are regular Editorial Board meetings, including face-to-face, and onboarding for new Board Members. Regular contact with Editorial Boards allows the Editorial Office to keep in touch with the most pressing issues in their community, to keep Editorial Board Members up to date with interesting and relevant journal updates, and to support general collaboration.

In 2024, there were more than 16,000 scholar visits, with more than 6,000 being with EBMs and more than 800 with Editors-in-Chief. All this enables constant engagement with the scholars that uphold the scientific publishing ecosystem, with MDPI supporting them along every step of the publishing process.

The high level of contact that we have with our academic communities is both invigorating and inspirational. Day-to-day, we are provided with fresh ideas, which allow us to innovate. We can find solutions to problems, and we can hear about the positive impact we’ve had—whether that results from peer review, a Journal Award, or an Academic Event in collaboration with a university. Regular contact allows our journals to be relevant and means that we keep an open mindset and approach to everything we do. – Damaris Critchlow, Editorial Engagement Manager

MDPI is committed to supporting researchers

MDPI further supports researchers in various ways.

For example, early career researchers are appointed to a special supporting board to gain experience. And select journals have a Special Issue Mentorship program. This provides scholars with industry experience early in their careers.

This was my first ever experience in an editorial role. The MDPI staff members were extremely helpful, providing necessary guidance at every step. This was an excellent experience, and I am now prepared for future editorial service. – Dr. Jason Ortegren

On Sciforum, there is a selection of webinars and online conferences available for scholars to join. These resources create avenues for actively participating in a field of study in an accessible and welcoming online environment.

MDPI hosts numerous in-person conferences where early career researchers are especially encouraged to participate and present. Conferences can help them network, present research, and gain a deeper understanding of their field of study.

MDPI established its awards program in 2016 to reward academic communities and acknowledge exceptional research across a diverse range of disciplines. In 2024, MDPI is proud to have awarded a total of CHF 660,000 across 448 journal awards. Click here to learn more about MDPI awards.

Maintaining quality and consistency for more than 25 years

MDPI is a pioneer in open science and always ensures that its Editorial Boards are structured to maintain high quality and consistency.

This is reflected in the fact that submitting authors have very positive experiences with MDPI:

• 95% rate their overall experience with the publication process as Excellent/Good.
• 92% rate their overall experience with the peer review process as Excellent/Good.

Such satisfaction is achieved by the diverse talent and commitment to publishing high-quality science across the entire MDPI portfolio. Editorial Boards ensure the best science is published in MDPI’s journals and editorial staff are here to make the author’s experience as smooth as possible.

If you want to learn more about the people who make up MDPI, visit the 2024 Annual Achievements Report for a comprehensive picture of the staff, processes, and output of MDPI’s journals.