MDPI: A huge Predatory Publisher. It is clear MDPI is a predatory publisher and its journal Sustainability is a clear example of it.

It is clear that MDPI is a predatory publisher and its journal Sustainability is a clear example of it. See, for example, Sustainabilty scheduled for 2019 more than 680 special issues (plus 12 regular issues).
More Details: http://widgren.blogspot.com/2019/02/is-mdpi-serious-publisher-or-predatory.html





I was asked to review some articles for the MDPI journal, Diagnostics, about 2 years ago. The review process went smoothly and I was impressed at the speed the journal took from submission, to Editor consideration to send out for review, review by 2 or 3 reviewers, the response of the authors and subsequent re-review process to decision. The whole process time was about one month. Later, they contacted me to join the Diagnostics Editorial Board - that was in January 2019. Since then, I have been contacted about once or twice every 3 months to assess whether an article should go out for review. The Publishers never sent articles for review if I had indicated that they should not go for review. The Publishers responded to my suggestions in cases of 'conflicting' reviews and have contacted me for assessing articles with 'conflicting' reviews. When I receive a manuscript for consideration to send out for review, it comes with a list of reviewers, selected by the Publishers and also at least 3 suggested by the authors of the manuscript. The Publishers ask the Editor to assess the compentence of the listed reviewers - so, the Editor has the opportunity to reject any reviewers that do not have the expertise or that appear to be 'friends' of the authors. Editors may also suggerst reviewers for the submitted manuscript. The Publishers do 'push' reviewers and editors to come to decisions - I think the average time for a review of a manuscript submitted to Diagnostics is about 10 days. MDPI does seem to push the special topics issues - I guess the Special Issues are a money-maker for them. At the time that I joined the EB of Diagnostics, they solicited a topic from me for a Special Issue; I have not yet proposed a topic for that journal. This year, I joined the EB of another MDPI journal, Microorganisms. The experience with the Publishers of that journal has been much the same and I am acting as Co-Editor for a Special Issue for that journal - to be published next year. Before I proposed a special topic, I contacted another Editor that had edited a Special Issue; she told me that the process had gone smoothly and she had been supported by the Publishers. So far, in the case of my Special Issue, the Publishers have been efficient in organising everything. So, I wss at first a bit suspicious about MDPI journals but all of my experience has been more or less the same as with other journals for which I have reviewed or served as Editor. The only significant difference that I have noticed has been - to my experience of 30 years publishing peer-review articles - the remarkable speed with which they are able to process their publications. I hope this 'review' helps people to consider MDPI journals. Edward Moore, Prof of Bacteriology, University of Gothenburg More Details: http://widgren.blogspot.com/2019/02/is-mdpi-serious-publisher-or-predatory.html