The MDPI Best Paper Award is a highly distinguished recognition within MDPI’s Awards program, celebrating the most impactful contributions published within MDPI journals.

A total of 392 Best Paper Awards were presented for papers published in 2024 alone, covering a diverse range of research areas across MDPI’s extensive portfolio of journals.

Published work is the product of tremendous amounts of effort and resources, with scholars often dedicating countless hours, months, and even years towards their studies. In acknowledgment of their ongoing dedication and exemplary research, MDPI is committed to rewarding and uplifting those behind the most excellent and impactful contributions.

Here, we discuss the selection criteria and benefits of the Best Paper Award, and highlight some of the recent award-winning papers.

Selection criteria

What criteria determine a ‘Best Paper’? In short, these are high-quality publications that have shown excellent scientific merit and extensive influence within their fields.

Winners are carefully chosen by a journal’s Editorial Board. This group of expert researchers undertake a thorough evaluation process, selecting the recipients based on the following selection criteria:

• Scientific merit and broad impact;
• Originality of the research objectives and/or the ideas presented;
• Innovation of the study design or uniqueness of the approaches and concepts;
• Clarity of presentation;
• Number of citations and downloads.

The Best Paper Award, unlike some of the other MDPI awards, does not require you to apply to be considered as a winner. Generally, all papers published within the journal’s award period (typically one year) are eligible.

The Best Paper Awards commonly cover both research and review articles, though this is determined by the journal. Similarly, the number of winners is decided independently by each respective journal.

For example, the Antioxidants Best Paper Award offers one award for review papers and three awards for research articles. Whereas, the Smart Cities Best Paper Award allocates awards for one research paper and one review.

You can find journal-specific information regarding selection criteria and eligibility on the MDPI Awards page, or on the respective journals’ homepages.

Prizes

Alongside the prestige which comes with the accolade of ‘Best Paper Award winner’, recipients receive additional benefits and prizes.

Most journals provide winners with an official certificate, a monetary prize, and a fully waived or discounted article processing charge (APC). Prizes for the Best Paper Award are also decided on a journal-by-journal basis, meaning the total of prizes or discounts will vary.

Monetary prizes and APC discounts, whether complete or partial, encourage the creation of further research by ensuring it is well funded.

On average, winners can expect to receive between CHF 300 and CHF 500 and a voucher to waive the APC for one submission, which is valid for one year. While these are the most common prizes, it will not apply to all journals.

Winning papers

Below, we highlight some influential recipients of the Best Paper Award, as of October 2025.

A Combined Model Based on Recurrent Neural Networks and Graph Convolutional Networks for Financial Time Series Forecasting

This paper, published in the Open Access journal Mathematics (ISSN 2227-7390), by Prof. Dr. Ana Lazcano, Prof. Pedro Javier Herrera, and Prof. Dr. Manuel Monge, provides a novel methodology to financial time series forecasting by combining Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks. Building upon the existing literature, their findings conclude that this new approach captures temporal dependencies more efficiently.

“I am profoundly grateful to those who encouraged me to enter the world of research. This paper is part of my doctoral thesis, the result of much effort and hard work, and I can never thank enough all those who stood by my side and continue to do so.” – Prof. Dr. Ana Lazcano, winner of the Mathematics Best Paper Award.

Read the full paper.

Exploring the Multifaceted Landscape of MASLD: A Comprehensive Synthesis of Recent Studies, from Pathophysiology to Organoids and Beyond

Published in the Open Access journal Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059), this review from Allison Soto, Colby Spongberg, Dr. Alessandro Martinino, and Dr. Francesco Giovinazzo provides a comprehensive account of recent studies into metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Covering key topics such as lifestyle management, genetics, and epigenetics, the paper explores MASLD’s metabolic and molecular properties and looks towards new models and innovations.

“We hope the paper raises awareness of the clinical relevance of MASLD in cancer patients. The key innovation lies in our integrative approach, which promotes organoid technology as a future tool for personalised medicine and drug testing.” – Dr. Francesco Giovinazzo, winner of the Biomedicines Best Paper Award.

See the full review.

MDPI’s commitment to supporting researchers

Awards allow MDPI to give back to the academic community, especially early career researchers. They increase the visibility of their work, encourage open communication between scientists, and highlight their achievements.

Alongside the Best Paper Award, MDPI offers a series of other journal awards, such as the Outstanding Reviewer Award, Travel Award, Young Investigator Award, and more.

Read our article covering everything you need to know about MDPI’s awards program; alternatively, you can visit the MDPI awards webpage for more information.