MDPI
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| MDPI | |
|---|---|
| Name | MDPI |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Founder | Paul M. Jiang |
| Headquarters | Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Publications | Academic journals, conference proceedings, books |
| Topics | Multidisciplinary: Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Medicine, Engineering |
MDPI MDPI is a publisher of open-access scientific journals and related content. Founded in the late 20th century and headquartered in Lausanne, it operates a large portfolio spanning many fields including Chemistry, Biology, Medicine, Physics, and Engineering. Its activities encompass journal management, article processing charges, editorial services, and conference organization, interacting with researchers from institutions such as Harvard University, University of Oxford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and University of Tokyo.
History
Early operations began when founders engaged with electronic publishing trends seen at arXiv and PubMed Central. Expansion accelerated alongside the growth of open-access movements led by advocates at Budapest Open Access Initiative and policy shifts influenced by funders such as the Wellcome Trust and the European Commission. Corporate developments involved establishment of offices across regions like China, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and United States. Strategic hiring and acquisitions mirrored practices of publishers including Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley-Blackwell, and Taylor & Francis. Milestones included rapid journal launches paralleling the rise of digital platforms used by organizations such as CrossRef and indexing services like Scopus and Web of Science.
Business model and operations
The enterprise utilizes an article processing charge (APC) model similar to many open-access publishers such as PLOS and BioMed Central. Revenue streams include APCs, conference fees, and editorial services. Operational infrastructure relies on manuscript submission and peer-review systems comparable to Editorial Manager and ScholarOne, and metadata dissemination through CrossRef and DOAJ. Global staffing and editorial boards draw academics from institutions like University of Cambridge, University of California, Berkeley, National University of Singapore, Peking University, and ETH Zurich. Partnerships and memberships intersect with organizations including the Committee on Publication Ethics and indexing by PubMed.
Publication practices and policies
Editorial workflows emphasize rapid turnaround, invoking comparisons to models used by Nature Communications and Scientific Reports. Peer-review policies reference guidelines from bodies such as the Committee on Publication Ethics and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Licensing typically employs Creative Commons frameworks similar to those adopted by PLOS. Metadata practices align with standards of CrossRef and archiving strategies used by CLOCKSS and Portico. Editorial appointments and special issues have featured scholars affiliated with Columbia University, Princeton University, Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, and Imperial College London.
Criticism and controversies
The publisher has been subject to scrutiny alongside debates involving Open-access economics and comparisons to controversies faced by Frontiers and legacy publishers like Elsevier. Criticisms have focused on editorial standards, peer-review practices, and perceived proliferation of journals—a discourse present in reports by entities such as Retraction Watch and commentary by editors from Science and Nature. Investigations and media coverage have included outlets like The New York Times, The Guardian, and Science Magazine. Academic institutions and funders, including Wellcome Trust, European Research Council, and various university libraries, have evaluated policy responses related to indexing and journal inclusion with reference to standards set by Scopus and Clarivate Analytics.
Impact and reception
Reception varies across communities: some researchers cite articles published in the publisher’s journals alongside work from Cell Press, The Lancet, JAMA, PNAS, and Proceedings of the Royal Society. Citation metrics interact with databases such as Web of Science and Scopus, and altmetrics tracked by services like Altmetric. Institutional responses—ranging from acceptance by university promotion committees to cautionary guidance by library consortia including the Association of Research Libraries—reflect diverse evaluations of quality and reach. The publisher’s role in rapidly disseminating research has been compared to preprint platforms like bioRxiv and medRxiv.
Notable journals and publications
Several titles in the portfolio are prominent in specific disciplines, appearing alongside established journals such as Nature, Science, Lancet Oncology, Journal of the American Chemical Society, and IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. Subject-specific journals have attracted submissions from researchers at California Institute of Technology, University of Toronto, McGill University, Seoul National University, and Australian National University. Special issues and high-visibility articles have been cited in policy documents and reports by organizations including the World Health Organization, the European Medicines Agency, and national research councils.