Is MDPI a trustworthy publisher?

MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute) is a large, open-access publisher with a mixed reputation, considered legitimate by many (being COPE/OASPA members with DOAJ indexing) but often criticized for fast publication times, high article fees, and past issues with peer review rigor, leading to concerns about variable quality, though they've made efforts to improve and some users find good research there, while others note inconsistencies across their many journals.

Is MDPI a credible source?

MDPI has been criticized by scientific bodies in Norway, Finland, and Denmark that rank academic journals for their quality and relevance. In the Finnish and Danish lists, the majority of MDPI journals do not meet the criteria of the body to be ranked in the list.

Why do people still publish in MDPI?

The one upside to MDPI is that people who publish in it are typically early-career and desperate for collaborators to help build up their own research profile.

What are the disadvantages of MDPI?

The downside is the questionable reputation which prevents many from submitting to MDPI journals at all. This can go to the extent that some would label the entire career of a researcher void if published even a single article in an MDPI journal; see Figure 4.

Which is better, Elsevier or MDPI?

Elsevier generally carries broader institutional prestige and long-standing credibility. MDPI offers faster, open-access visibility. Choose Elsevier for reputation and depth of peer review; choose MDPI for rapid, widely accessible publication.

Academic Journals Doing Crime

Is MDPI based in China?

Overview. A pioneer in scholarly, open access publishing, MDPI has supported academic communities since 1996. Based in Basel, Switzerland, MDPI has the mission to foster open scientific exchange in all forms, across all disciplines.

Which are the predatory journals?

Predatory journals—also called fraudulent, deceptive, or pseudo-journals—are publications that claim to be legitimate scholarly journals, but misrepresent their publishing practices.

Is MDPI removed from web of science?

Web of Science excludes individual journals - e.g. from MDPI

The MDPI journal International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH), for example, no longer meets the "content relevance" criterion for indexing in Web of Science, according to Clarivate.

Is 2.5 a good impact factor for a journal?

Yes, an impact factor (IF) of 2.5 is generally considered good quality for a journal, placing it above average (most journals have IFs below 2), but not in the elite, top-tier range (which often starts at 5+ or 10+). It signifies decent visibility and citation frequency, but its "goodness" highly depends on the specific academic field, as citation patterns vary significantly between disciplines. 

How does MDPI compare to other publishers?

In 2022, MDPI's median time from submission to acceptance was 37 days, well below the 200 days at the PLOS family of journals, another large, open-access publisher he examined for comparison. For about one in three papers, MDPI's turnaround was 1 month or less.

Who owns MDPI?

The publishing house that owns it, MDPI, was founded in Switzerland by the Chinese chemist Shu-Kun Lin and has multiplied its income, thanks to a transfer of millions of euros of public money budgeted for science.

How can you tell if a journal is predatory?

What is a Predatory Journal?

1. Have no rigorous peer review, editorial, or preservation services.
2. Have no quality control in their selection process.
3. Exploit open access publication models for the sole purpose of financial gain.

Can I publish in MDPI for free?

No, MDPI is not free to publish for most articles; they are an open-access publisher that charges authors an Article Processing Charge (APC) after acceptance to cover costs, though some specific article types (editorials, corrections) are free, and discounts/waivers are available, especially for institutions or reviewers. While submission is free and there are no charges for rejected papers, you pay the APC if your accepted manuscript is published open access. 

What does MDPI stand for?

MDPI, which stands for Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, is a well-known academic publisher that provides open access journals and books. While many are familiar with MDPI and its journals, MDPI Books is a relatively newer initiative compared to its parent organization.

Who is the CEO of MDPI?

Stefan Tochev (Chief Executive Officer)

Since stepping into a leadership role at MDPI, Stefan has led the expansion of the corporate marketing and communications department and played a key role in strengthening the company's global brand presence.

What is a five-year impact factor?

5-year Impact Factor

The 5-year journal Impact Factor is the average number of times articles from the journal published in the past five years have been cited in the JCR year. It is caclulated by dividing the number of citations in the JCR year by the total number of articles published in the five previous years.

Can impact factor be manipulated?

However, impact factors may be manipulated by editors. According to the ex- planatory statements and announcements made by the authors submitting their work to the journals, the impact factor is still being di- rectly manipulated [4–6].

Is an impact factor of 9.9 good?

In general, an impact factor of 10 or higher is considered remarkable, while 3 is good, and the average score is less than 1.

Is an impact score of 30 good?

Impact scores run from 10 to 90, where 10 is best. Generally speaking, impact/priority scores of 10 to 30 are most likely to be funded; scores between 31 and 45 might be funded; scores greater than 46 are rarely funded.

Is MDPI a respectable journal?

MDPI journals have a mixed and evolving reputation; while they offer fast, open-access publishing with increasing legitimacy (COPE member, some impact factors) and high visibility, concerns persist about past predatory practices (spam emails, Beall's List), potentially inconsistent peer review quality, and pressure for rapid publication, leading some in academia to view them cautiously, though opinions vary significantly by field and journal.
 

Is everything on MDPI peer-reviewed?

All articles published by MDPI are peer-reviewed and assessed by our independent Editorial Boards, and MDPI staff are not involved in decisions regarding the acceptance of manuscripts.

Is MDPI listed in PubMed?

The following list shows 94 MDPI journals that are currently covered in PubMed. A complete list of journals published by MDPI is also available.

How can I tell if a journal is predatory?

The metrics listed for the journal are not verifiable. Some predatory journals will “invent” metrics, or claim to be indexed in Scopus or Web of Science when they aren't. Manuscript submissions are handled through email-only processes rather than an online portal or third party submission system.

Is 4.8 a good impact factor?

Yes, a 4.8 impact factor is generally considered very good to excellent, especially as it's well above the typical average (often under 1) and falls into the "good" (around 3) to "very good/excellent" (5+) range for many fields, though its true value depends heavily on the specific academic discipline. It signifies strong visibility and citation rates, but you should always compare it to other journals in the same subject category (quartile/percentile) for the best evaluation. 

What's the difference between a journal and a publisher?

Publishers are usually university presses, professional associations, academic institutions, and commercial publishers. Articles in scholarly journals should have a works cited/references/bibliography with full citations. Articles in scholarly journals should be peer-reviewed/refereed.