MDPI Manchester Summit 2024

In November 2024, we held our first UK-based summit in Manchester for our External Editors based in the North of England. Our goal was to create a collaborative and interactive space to explore the ways in which MDPI supports researchers in the UK, as well as to foster open dialogue between the academic community and MDPI colleagues.

We held a dinner the evening before to allow our Editors-in-Chief and Associate Editors some time to get to know one another. In attendance and leading the discussions the following day were the CEO of MDPI, Stefan Tochev, and the Chair of the Scientific Review Group, Giulia Stefenelli, as well as several colleagues from our Manchester office.

The sessions focused on MDPI’s editorial processes and upholding research integrity, with a roundtable discussion touching on key topics in academic publishing, including the peer review process and the growing influence of AI in academia. Francisco Chiclana, the Editor-in-Chief for Mathematics, also led a session on his involvement with the Research Excellence Framework and MDPI’s contribution to it.

“The MDPI Manchester Summit was a great, informal, opportunity for me to meet other Editors-in-Chief and publishing staff (including the CEO) working for MDPI journals.

A big take-home insight for me was gaining a deep understanding of the very careful policies and processes that ensure scientific integrity of the MDPI publishing process.

This is so important, in a world of “smoke and mirrors” and of fake news, to develop trust in the process of scientific publishing for our readers, reviewers, editors and the scientific community as a whole.”