How does MDPI UK support the UK academic community?
- meganlucius
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Who is MDPI UK?
MDPI UK was founded in 2019 in Manchester, UK. Since then, it has been key to MDPI’s continued mission to support researchers across the globe.
Over the last six years, the office has grown to over 140 staff members across five distinct departments, all working towards the shared goal of fostering open scientific exchange through scholarly Open Access journals.
The UK has a large academic research community compared to its population size and boasts many of the world’s top universities.
Globally, this includes:
2 of the top 5 universities
11 of the top 100 universities
15 of the top 200 universities
Moreover, the UK has a large Open Access community, with 61% of total publications in 2024 and an average of 64% of total publications in the last five years published Open Access.
MDPI UK is the 4th largest Open Access publisher in the UK, publishing 9,584 research papers from UK institutions in 2024 alone.
All the staff in MDPI’s Manchester office recognize the importance of the UK academic community within global Open Access publishing. But more than this, the team has primarily come from these UK academic institutions themselves.
They are deeply committed to the success of the sector and want to see it thrive. This is reflected in all the work that they do, be it on the manuscripts themselves, through their wide array of outreach events, or in the relationships they build with the individuals in the community.
MDPI UK supports individuals in the UK academic community
MDPI UK cares about the individual members of the UK academic community.
In the Manchester office, there is a dedicated team of Journal Relations Specialists (JRSs) who directly connect with individuals in the academic community in a variety of ways. They build personal and lasting relationships with the individuals working within their journals’ editorial boards through continued and varied engagement.
“We actively strive to engage with our 60 partner institutions, 50 Editors-in-Chief, 70 Section Editors-in-Chief, and over 1000 Editorial Board Members with events across the country.”
Isabel Nelson, Journal Relations Manager
One of the ways they do this is through regular in-person meetings with individual Editorial Board Members (EBMs). During these meetings they discuss the EBMs’ contributions to their journals, their experiences with MDPI, and their future plans for collaboration with the company.
Through these in-person meetings, the JRS team create a direct channel between the employees working in the UK office and the individuals working with them in UK institutions.
“By speaking to UK scholars locally and listening to their ideas, we can improve our services and build a better platform for them.”
Dr. Ting Leng, JRS for Sensors, Biomechanics, and Modern Mathematical Physics.
As well as these individual meetings, the UK outreach team organize regular events designed to discuss key topics in the academic publishing industry both in the UK and globally.
These events vary in size and scope, ranging from conferences and summits to webinars and academic forums.
Each event is designed to target individuals from distinct sections of the UK academic publishing community. Through them, they get closer to reaching MDPI’s shared goal of supporting researchers by fostering open scientific exchange.
MDPI UK has a relationship with institutions in the UK academic community
MDPI UK values and actively strengthens its relationships with UK research institutions.
By building and strengthening their partnerships with these institutions, MDPI UK can make them aware of the various outreach and support opportunities available to their researchers.
One of the ways they do this in the UK is through the dedicated Institutional Partnerships team. Their work brings MDPI’s Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) to research institutions to increase awareness about the benefits available to them through membership to MDPI.
MDPI’s Institutional Partnerships Manager, Becky Castellon, is based in the Manchester office and drives this global initiative from the UK. Her commitment to the growth of the services available to UK institutions is evident in the work that she does and is echoed across the entire company.
As well as growing relationships through institutional partnerships, MDPI UK continues to support its researchers by working with their organizations to deliver Academic Publishing Workshops.
“Our Academic Publishing Workshops provide attendees with a publisher’s perspective on the publication process, helping to strengthen the communication between the researcher and publisher.”
Mary O’Sullivan, Journal Relations Specialist for Cancers, Vision, Dentistry and Gastrointestinal Disorders.
These workshops are one of MDPI UK’s most impactful outreach activities, providing researchers with the support they need to have a successful research career.
Furthermore, they allow MDPI UK’s JRS team to develop their relationships with the institutions in which they host the workshops.
MDPI UK: Empowering UK researchers to pursue open science
MDPI UK’s support and outreach activities have grown exponentially since the office opened back in 2019.
In 2026, the team plans to continue this growth, participating in:
200+ Visits
20+ Conferences
20+ Workshops
9 Summits and Forums
By engaging directly with the UK academic community, MDPI UK will continue its role as a trusted leader in Open Access publishing.
Learn more about how MDPI UK engages with their community through the MDPI UK LinkedIn.
