Open Access continued expanding in 2025, and MDPI’s growth mirrored this broader shift toward openness. More than 669,000 manuscript submissions were received, representing a 12% increase compared with 2024.

This growth reflects the sustained confidence that researchers place in MDPI journals to deliver impactful and accessible scientific publications, which is made possible thanks to the more than 8000 staff and the systems they maintain, as explained by Stefan Tochev, Chief Executive Officer:

Sustaining quality at the scale of more than 260,000 articles published over the year requires investment in the people and systems that make it possible—the focus of our efforts throughout 2025.

In this article, we overview the MDPI Annual Report 2025 and how it effectively scaled Open Access with integrity.

Growing and developing MDPI’s journal portfolio

As MDPI’s portfolio expanded to 500 journals, investment and infrastructure have grown alongside reach. To maintain standards around editorial screening, expert peer review, and continuous quality evaluation, MDPI expanded its investments in specialised teams and the digitalised infrastructure.

This is reflected in the continued recognition of the quality of MDPI journals by independent database indexing. In the 2025 journal indexing updates:

• 329 journals are indexed in Web of Science.
• 355 journals are indexed in Scopus.
• 193 journals are ranked in the top 50% (Q1/Q2) of their categories.
• 61 journals maintained top-quartile positions.

Dr. Constanze Schelhorn, Head of Publishing, explains

Comprehensive indexing in established databases signals that published research meets recognised quality standards. It’s how we demonstrate accountability to authors, institutions, and the broader scientific community.

By achieving rapid indexing across major databases, maintaining strong citation performance, and continuously expanding coverage, MDPI demonstrates that Open Access publishing at scale meets the quality standards the research community expects and deserves.

Maintaining integrity of the scholarly record

As operations grew in 2025, MDPI substantially expanded its research integrity infrastructure to support robust quality assurance.

The Head of Publication Ethics, Dr. Tim Tait-Jamieson, was appointed to provide global oversight. This leadership is supported by an international core team of full-time Research Integrity Specialists.

This multi-tiered structure helps ensure that integrity concerns receive appropriate expert attention at every level. Reported ethics cases are resolved following the principles of Prevention, Neutrality, Transparency, and Consistency, through collaboration with authors, Editors-in-Chief, and affiliated institutions.

Furthermore, MDPI has actively begun deploying technological safeguards alongside actively participating in the STM Integrity Hub. These include:

• Proofig AI: an AI-powered image proofing tool that assists in detecting duplicating images across publications, as well as image manipulation.
• Ethicality: an in-house AI tool designed to support editors in identifying potential integrity concerns early in the review process.
• Reviewer Finder: an in-house AI tool designed to refine reviewer recommendations through advanced profiling.

MDPI is committed to ensuring that growth and quality advance together. Investments in both AI development and integrity infrastructure are paired with ensuring human expertise remains at the centre of every editorial decision.

Growing MDPI’s global teams

2025 was marked by expanded publication reach and a strategic increase in operational capacity.

MDPI’s global workforce grew by 26%, welcoming 1700 new colleagues across its 22 offices in Asia, Europe, and North America. Alistair Freeland, Chief Operating Officer, explains:

Scaling MDPI at this level requires disciplined execution, strong coordination across teams, and a constant focus on improving how we work.

In 2025, we strengthened our operational foundations to support continued growth while maintaining consistency in quality, service, and editorial standards across all regions.

MDPI treats continuous professional development as a strategic investment, equipping staff with the technical agility and specialized knowledge required to navigate a fast-moving industry.

By building a culture that values innovation and shared purpose, MDPI ensures that every colleague can contribute to advancing transparent, accessible research.

Investing in core platforms

With the goal of better serving researchers at every stage of the publication journey, two initiatives defined the year: a ground-up rebuild of mdpi.com and a significantly enhanced submission system in MDPI’s submission system (SuSy).

Rebuilding MDPI.com

Driven by user behavior analysis and the technical demands of serving a global research community, mdpi.com was redesigned based on a new technology stack. As Dietrich Rordorf, Chief Technology Officer, outlines:

Rebuilding mdpi.com from the ground up was not just a technical upgrade— it was an opportunity to rethink how researchers interact with our platform. Our focus has been on creating a faster, more intuitive, and scalable experience that can support the growing demands of a global research community.

The project delivered four core improvements:

1. Modern, accessible design that enhances readability and engagement.
2. Restructured navigation based on user behavior analysis.
3. Responsive functionality across all devices.
4. Enhanced performance through updated technology infrastructure.

mdpi.com is designed to ensure researchers can navigate effectively and engage deeply. In 2025, there were 1.9 billion full-text articles views of scientific content on mdpi.com, according to MDPI’s COUNTER-compliant usage reporting.

Refining SuSY

SuSy has been redesigned to better serve the needs of authors and editors.

The updates include two significant enhancements:

• A rebuilt article submission workflow that provides full cost transparency.
• A unified navigation design across all MDPI platforms.

Every step follows a logical sequence designed to guide users clearly from manuscript upload to submission completion.

Automated processes, such as for integrity checks, are designed to assist internal editors in identifying potential concerns early in the workflow.

Supporting the research community

MDPI is dedicated to collaborating with the research community beyond the publication process itself.

Institutional Open Access Partnership program

For example, the Institutional Open Access Partnership (IOAP) program achieved significant milestones throughout 2025:

• All major consortium agreements were renewed at the start of the year.
• More than 150 new agreements were secured.
• The total number of partnerships exceeded 1000.

These partnerships represent shared commitments, and their growth signals sustained confidence from established partners.

Conferences

Research communities need places to gather, debate, and collaborate.

In 2025, MDPI conferences were characterized by high-profile keynote participation, strong international diversity, and inclusive networking formats, bringing together more than 28,000 participants through 12 in-person and 48 virtual events.

Societies

Scientific societies manage many of the specialized journals essential to their fields yet often lack the resources to compete with well-funded commercial publishers or meet the technical demands of modern Open Access publishing.

MDPI’s partnerships are designed to address this directly, providing the publishing infrastructure societies need while preserving what matters most to them: editorial autonomy, institutional identity, and governance.

By the end of 2025, MDPI was collaborating with 214 societies. During the year, the MDPI Societies team concluded 32 new agreements:

• 25 affiliation agreements.
• 5 publishing agreements.
• 2 acquisition agreements.

Awards and recognition

In 2025, MDPI’s journals granted more than 500 awards to foster excellence, collaboration, and innovation in research at all career stages and across disciplines.

Overall, the Award Committees picked more than 1100 winners from 53 countries/territories for these awards.

Furthermore, the Tu Youyou Award, established in 2016 to honour Nobel laureate Tu Youyou’s discovery of artemisinin as a treatment for malaria, was presented. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to natural products and medicinal chemistry and carries a total prize of 100,000 CHF.

Alongside this, MDPI launched the Michele Parrinello Award to celebrate the significant contributions of senior academics in the field of computational physical science.

The total prize sum of MDPI’s journal and flagship awards amounted to 1.2 million CHF.

Scaling Open Access with integrity

Based on feedback in 2025 from more than 46,500 active stakeholders globally:

• 96% of submitting authors rate their publishing experience as “Excellent/Good”.
• 85% of reviewers rate their reviewing experience as “Excellent/Good”.
• 89% of Guest Editors rate their experience as “Excellent/Good”.

Thanks to the continual trust placed in MDPI by the research community, MDPI’s growth has mirrored that of the global shift towards openness.

Continuing investments in people, technology, and ethical safeguards ensure that MDPI can meet rising demands whilst elevating the quality and scientific accessibility of scientific communication.

MDPI remains committed to leading the global transition to Open Access. Learn more in MDPI’s Annual Report 2025.