MDPI UK 2026 Summit: Manchester - Collaborating with the UK Scholarly Community

On 22^nd January 2026, MDPI UK had the honour of hosting 22 academics from across the UK at the Hyatt Regency for the MDPI UK Summit 2026: Manchester. Attendees included four Editors-in-Chief, 15 Section Editors-in-Chief, and two Associate Editors. The summit was a collaborative and interactive event, exploring how MDPI supports open science and researchers throughout the UK. 

 The programme featured presentations from six MDPI staff members:  

• CEO, Stefan Tochev 

• Scientific Quality Manager, Dr. Michael O’Sullivan 

• Research Integrity Specialist, Dr. Tom Hewat 

• Institutional Partnerships Manager, Becky Castellon 

• Indexing & Coverage Expansion Specialist, Kira Tansey 

• Manchester Operations Manager, Jaime Anderson.  

We were also privileged to welcome Prof. Dr. Geoff Hide, founding Editor-in-Chief of Parasitologia, who shared his experience of developing and managing a new journal, a key discussion point of the day. 

Navigating the publishing landscape with integrity and collaboration 

CEO Stefan Tochev opened the summit with an overview of MDPI’s history and position within the publishing landscape. He highlighted MDPI’s services, memberships, and collaborations, as well as broader trends in open access publishing.  

Scientific Quality Manager Dr. Michael O’Sullivan then delivered an in-depth overview of the MDPI editorial process, explaining how editors are supported during manuscript assessment, how editorial decisions are made, and which tools are used to manage research integrity. He also shared updates to MDPI’s processing guidelines. 

The third presentation was delivered by Research Integrity Specialist Dr. Tom Hewat, who focused on publication ethics. He discussed the wider challenges facing academic publishing in relation to research integrity and outlined how MDPI addresses these issues. This included MDPI’s alignment with industry bodies such as the Committee on Publishing Ethics (COPE) and its commitment to supporting Editors-in-Chief and Editorial Board Members when handling ethics cases. 

Institutional Partnerships Manager Becky Castellon followed with a presentation on MDPI’s Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) in the UK. She explained the benefits of the programme for authors, libraries, and institutions, outlined the different agreement models available, and discussed the current challenges, history, and future of open access in the UK. 

Ensuring visibility, trust, and dialogue  

The second half of the day began with Indexing & Coverage Expansion Specialist Kira Tansey’s presentation on the importance of indexing in a journal’s development and for its reach. She highlighted how editors can actively support indexing efforts through strong editorial engagement and robust academic checks. Kira also introduced key databases and metrics, as well as MDPI’s Indexing Department, providing attendees with a clearer understanding of how MDPI supports journals throughout the entire indexing process. 

Prof. Dr. Geoff Hide then shared insights from his experience as the founding Editor-in-Chief of Parasitologia. He spoke about building trust within the journal team, managing metrics and indexing timelines, and navigating both the challenges and successes of developing a new journal. 

The final presentation was delivered by the Manchester Operations Manager Jaime Anderson, who provided an overview of MDPI UK’s community engagement initiatives for 2026. She highlighted upcoming events for editors, as well as academic publishing workshops aimed at future professors. Jaime emphasised a cornerstone of MDPI UK’s mission: learning from UK scholars and continuing to support them as an academic publisher.

MDPI UK: dialogue, understanding, and integrity  

Throughout the day, multiple Q&A sessions allowed attendees to engage directly with speakers and discuss key topics, including how MDPI can continue to support universities; current and future processes to streamline information sharing and submissions; decision-making at both the pre- and post-publication stages; and the role of AI in MDPI. These discussions gave attendees first-hand insight into the editorial process from both publisher and editor perspectives. They were a highlight of the summit, helping to build mutual understanding and strengthen the relationships essential to the growth and success of academic journals.

Following the event, MDPI UK received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with attendees describing the summit as informative, enjoyable, and very well organised. Many expressed enthusiasm for future MDPI UK events.

We look forward to upcoming summits and activities in 2026 and would like to extend our sincere thanks to all MDPI staff and attendees who contributed to making this summit a success. 

Follow us on the MDPI UK social media channels to learn more about future events. ⬇️