Tag: journal publishing

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Agricultural and Environmental Modelling (AEM): A New Chapter for Modelling Science Publishing

Today marks the official relaunch of the Food and Ecological Systems Modelling Journal (FESMJ) under a new name – Agricultural and Environmental Modelling (AEM), an open-access journal dedicated to advancing the science and practice of computational and mathematical modelling across agriculture, food systems, natural resources, and environmental sciences.

The first editorial published under the AEM name sets out the journal’s expanded vision, its new article types, and its call to the modelling community.

What Has Changed and What Has Not

AEM retains the founding mission of its predecessors: to make ‘modelling research objects citable, discoverable, and reusable’ and transparent. The journal’s commitment to open access, rigorous peer review, and the recognition of modelling as a first-class scientific endeavour remains unchanged. Publication in AEM remains entirely free for all authors.

What has changed is the scope and structure. The journal’s disciplinary scope now spans the full breadth of modelling in the agricultural and environmental sciences, including management systems, production dynamics, agroecological modelling, as well as food safety, production, quality and supply-chain control, biotechnological research, socio-ecological systems, resource management and more.

Publishing the Full Modelling Lifecycle

Agricultural and Environmental Modelling journal brief informaiton

A defining feature of AEM is its structured range of article types, designed to give formal, peer-reviewed recognition to each group of authors at every stage of a model’s development.

A complex model is not born in a single paper: it emerges through cycles of formal specification, software implementation, calibration, testing, and application, often carried out by different teams across different project phases. Each of those steps represents genuine scientific work; each deserves recognition.

– reads the editorial

Among the most distinctive publication types is the Formal Model, which offers a citable recognition for foundational mathematical and conceptual design. Alongside the more standard article types, such as Review Article; Research Article; and Short Communication, AEM also welcomes contributions framed as Model Testing and Calibration; Model Implementation and Documentation; Software Description; and Data Paper. For each article, the journal’s team has provided an article template to assist authors.

Commitment to Open Science and Reproducibility

AEM is built around the FAIR principles – Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability – these are applied to data, code, and models as peer-reviewed outputs. As such, the journal mandates that all underlying data and source code are made openly available; while machine-learning methods must follow the DOME-ML reproducibility guidelines.

Published on Pensoft’s ARPHA Platform, the journal establishes transparency standards and requires author declarations for LLM use. AEM is archived in CLOCKSS, Zenodo, Portico, and Zendy, and indexed in more than 40 services, including AGRICOLA, Cabells, CABI, FAO AGRIS, and ResearchGate.

Recent research

Overview diagram of the conceptual population model for APODEMUS. The model simulates the wood mouse life cycle, growth and reproduction. Landscape composition is captured by habitat types (numbers) and influences the space use of the simulated wood mice. Exposures can be linked to the use of defined habitat patches and types. Credit to Singer et al., 2026

The most recent paper demonstrates how the Formal Model article type has been utilised to describe APODEMUS, a spatially-explicit simulation model designed to improve pesticide risk assessments for the wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) in European agricultural landscapes. The model provides regulators with a rigorous, transparent blueprint for evaluating how agricultural pesticides affect wild animal populations at the landscape scale.

An Invitation: Submissions and Editorial Board Applications

AEM welcomes submissions from researchers across all disciplines within its scope – whether describing a formal mathematical framework, documenting the calibration of a long-standing model, sharing data, or presenting a new computational workflow. Authors are encouraged to contact the editors directly to discuss specific publication needs.

The journal also welcomes applications from editors worldwide who share AEM’s vision. Experts willing to actively contribute to this unique journal and its community are invited to get in touch via the journal website.

Agricultural and Environmental Modelling is the first journal designed around the full lifecycle of modelling research, from formal specification to calibration, implementation, and application. Every contribution is important; every contribution is citable; credit where credit is due.

– commented the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Christopher Topping

The renaming reflects a natural evolution of the journal’s mission. Agricultural and Environmental Modelling better represents the breadth of work it publishes – spanning the full spectrum of modelling across agricultural, food, and environmental sciences – and reaffirms the journal’s founding commitment to Open Science and to recognising every stage of model development as rigorous scientific work in its own right.

– added Pensoft’s founder and CEO, Prof. Lyubomir Penev

You can follow the journal on social media – Bluesky, Facebook and LinkedIn, and sign up for the journal’s email newsletter through the journal’s homepage.

Original sources:

Topping CJ, Nogoy N, Boyadzhieva I, Stoev P, Penev L (2026) A journal by modellers, for modellers: Introducing Agricultural and Environmental Modelling. Agricultural and Environmental Modelling 8: e194160. https://doi.org/10.3897/aem.8.194160

Singer A, Schmolke A, Becher MA, von Blanckenhagen F, van den Brink N, Grimm T, Ibrahim L, Imholt C, Jacob J, Jakoby O, Laucht S, Løvik AN, Martin T, Muñoz CC, Preuss TG, Galic N (2026) Concept for APODEMUS – a wood mouse population model for pesticide risk assessment. Food and Ecological Systems Modelling Journal 7: e175714. https://doi.org/10.3897/fmj.7.175714

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Pensoft launches a new journal: Advances in Pollinator Research

In collaboration with the European Union pollinator projects community, scholarly publisher and technology provider Pensoft launched Advances in Pollinator Research, a new multidisciplinary, community-driven peer-reviewed journal set to transform how pollinator science is shared and translated into real-world action.

Advances in Pollinator Research (APR) is designed as an innovative platform for the full spectrum of pollinator science, from pollination ecology and pollinator-plant interactions to molecular ecology, conservation and more. A core mission of the journal is to champion research from underrepresented regions, taxa, and ecological contexts.

APR will be led by two Editors-in-Chief: Dr. Alexis Beaurepaire (University of Bern and Agroscope) and PD Dr. Lars Straub (University of Bern).

Mock-up cover of the APR journal.
Advances in Pollinator Research journal.

As a diamond open-access journal, APR is currently free to publish and free to read, ensuring that all published research is openly accessible to the global community. The first editorial of the journal is available here.

In response to the global crisis of pollinator decline, APR moves beyond traditional data silos. It is the first comprehensive platform to unify the biological, environmental, socio-economic, and governance dimensions of pollinator health.

It embraces transdisciplinary collaboration and research between scientists, industry, and society with the aim of finding and amplifying solutions to real-world problems.

Cover mock-up of the Advances in Pollinator Research journal with key information.
APR journal with key information.

Furthermore, the journal welcomes research on conventional approaches while highly encouraging publications that apply innovative methods, such as automated monitoring systems, AI-assisted analytics, molecular and genomic tools, as well as large-scale network initiatives and open databases that advance FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data dissemination across regions and taxa.

The journal will utilise Pensoft’s innovative ARPHA platform, known for its robust support of academic publishing and efficient dissemination of research. Thanks to this one-stop publishing solution, the new journal offers a seamless, end-to-end publishing experience, encompassing all stages between manuscript submission and article publication, indexation, dissemination and permanent archiving.

Pensoft launches Advances in Pollinator Research, a diamond open-access journal unifying diverse pollinator science efforts.
Figure illustrating the scope and publishing process of the APR journal, showing the diversity of pollinators, the multitude of stressors affecting them, and the various stakeholders interacting with them. Credit to Beaurepaire et al., 2026

The publishing services provided by ARPHA also include a variety of human-provided services and support and integrations with third-party providers, intended to maximise the reach and usability of scholarly knowledge published in Advances in Pollinator Research.

“We are excited to launch Advances in Pollinator Research. This ambitious journal is set to drive more innovative and interdisciplinary approaches within the field of pollinator science,”

– says Prof. Lyubomir Penev, founder and CEO of ARPHA and Pensoft 

“With Advances in Pollinator Research, we aim to build an integrative and inclusive home for pollinator science that dissolves disciplinary and geographic silos and connects knowledge from genes to landscapes. Beyond a journal, APR is envisioned as a participatory forum where researchers, practitioners, and communities worldwide co-produce knowledge and accelerate solutions for pollinator health,”

– comments Dr. Straub

“We are truly delighted to launch this new transdisciplinary journal focusing on pollinators. Through this effort, we aim to bring our diverse research community together and provide a dynamic platform for scientists and stakeholders to exchange knowledge, ultimately deepening our understanding of and commitment to protecting these precious and fascinating species,”

– adds Dr. Beaurepaire

Advances in Pollinator Research joins a number of open-access entomology journals published by Pensoft. 

For more information on the journal’s focus and scope and guidelines to authors, visit APR’s website, subscribe to the journal’s newsletter and follow it on BlueSky, Facebook and Linkedin.

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Pensoft and ARPHA integrate with Prophy to speed up reviewer discovery across 90+ scholarly journals

In a new partnership between open-access scholarly publisher Pensoft and the AI-driven reviewer discovery system provider Prophy, the editorial teams at all journals hosted on the publisher’s ARPHA Platform receive access to a broader and more diverse global pool of researchers. 

The integration connects ARPHA’s editorial and peer review workflows with Prophy’s continuously updated database of millions of active, qualified researchers. As a result, editorial teams across more than 90 open-access peer-reviewed journals powered by ARPHA can now opt to enjoy data-driven reviewer recommendations based on structured analysis of researcher expertise and publication history, with matches based on each manuscript’s topic, field, and research focus.

This development responds to a growing challenge in scholarly publishing. As submission volumes rise, the pressure on a relatively small pool of frequently invited reviewers increases, which eventually leads to delays and reviewer fatigue. By expanding the pool of potential experts and improving how they are identified with the help of semantic analysis, the integration supports a more sustainable and balanced approach to peer review.

“By working with Prophy, we’re helping editors discover expertise that might otherwise be overlooked, opening the door to a more inclusive, well-distributed, and resilient peer review ecosystem. This is about using technology not to replace human judgment, but to support it in a smarter and more responsible way.”

– Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Penev, founder and CEO of Pensoft and ARPHA

“We’re excited to work with Pensoft and ARPHA to bring smarter reviewer discovery to their editorial teams. Peer review should be efficient and fair, and this partnership helps with both. Editors can find the right expertise faster, which means less time searching and fewer delays. This integration helps editorial teams manage growing submission volumes without burning out their reviewer networks.”

– Oleg Ruchayskiy, CEO of Prophy

To further support editorial teams and client journals’ owners, Pensoft and ARPHA are offering the Prophy integration free of charge to all journals on the platform until the end of 2026. 

The partnership reflects Pensoft and ARPHA’s continued focus on equipping journals with practical, forward-looking tools that strengthen peer review, support editors, and help ensure the long-term sustainability of scholarly publishing.


Stay up to date with the latest from Pensoft and ARPHA by subscribing to our blogs and following us on social media, including BlueSky, Facebook and Linkedin.

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Pensoft and the University of Zurich sign strategic OA Agreement to support Swiss research

Pensoft and the University of Zurich have signed an Open Access agreement that covers 65 peer-reviewed scholarly journals published by Pensoft or using the open-access publisher’s signature platform ARPHA. The agreement allows researchers at the University of Zurich and four affiliated hospitals to publish without individual Article Processing Charges (APCs). This partnership supports open science, making research freely available and adhering to the FAIR principles.

Pensoft and the University of Zurich have signed a comprehensive Open Access (OA) agreement, starting a partnership that enables researchers at participating institutions to publish their findings in Pensoft’s peer-reviewed journals without incurring individual Article Processing Charges (APCs).

The agreement encompasses five key research and medical bodies, namely the University of Zurich, the University Hospital of Zurich, Balgrist University Hospital, University Children’s Hospital Zurich, and the Psychiatrische Universitätsklinik.

Researchers from these institutions can now publish without worrying about APCs in 65 peer-reviewed journals published by Pensoft or hosted on its advanced ARPHA platform, including flagship titles such as ZooKeys, PhytoKeys, Biodiversity Data Journal, NeoBiota, and IMA Fungus.

Under this new framework, publishing costs for corresponding authors affiliated with the respective institutions are 100% covered by a centralised institutional deposit secured by the University of Zurich. By removing financial barriers, the agreement encourages scientists to disseminate their work to both the academic community and the wider public, making research immediately and freely available upon publication.

This initiative ensures that research is shared under open licences in strict accordance with the FAIR principles—making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.

“We are excited to start this partnership with the University of Zurich and sign an agreement that reflects our strong commitment to inclusive and equitable open science. By supporting researcher-driven publishing, we continue to foster a sustainable environment for high-impact scientific communication.”

– Prof. Lyubomir Penev, CEO of Pensoft.

“We are pleased to extend our portfolio of gold open access journals, in which our researchers can publish their findings without paying individual APCs. We thereby strengthen our commitment to open research information.”

– University Library Zurich

Are you affiliated with a research institution operating with OA agreements? Is your institution interested in helping resident researchers navigate the complex processes underpinning academic publishing and knowledge sharing? Reach out to <publishing@pensoft.net> to discuss a potential collaboration.

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A New Chapter for Swiss Geosciences and Palaeontology: Pensoft Welcomes Two New Journals to its Portfolio

Scholarly publisher and technology provider Pensoft welcomes the two latest additions to its diverse portfolio of scholarly outlets: the open-access, peer-reviewed journals Swiss Journal of Palaeontology (SJP) and Swiss Journal of Geosciences (SJG). Both journals are affiliated with the Swiss Geological Society and the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT).

With deep historical roots and a commitment to high-quality peer-reviewed research, the two journals have officially transitioned to Pensoft’s advanced publishing platform, ARPHA, marking a new chapter in their Open Access journey.

Dr. Daniel Marty, associate lecturer at the University of Basel, will continue to lead both SJP and SJG as the Chief Editor.

Swiss Journal of Palaeontology (SJP) 

Swiss journal of Palaeontology mockup

The Swiss Journal of Palaeontology (SJP), published on behalf of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT), dates back to 1874. The journal launched under the name “Schweizerische Paläontologische Abhandlungen (Mémoires Suisses de Paléontologie)”, focusing primarily on the publication of palaeontological monographs.

Subsequently, the journal’s stewardship transitioned formally to the SCNAT in 1940, leading to the establishment of the Kommission für die Schweizerischen Paläontologischen Abhandlungen (KSPA), which has since managed the journal’s dedicated funds. After decades of irregular publication with “Birkhäuser” (obtained by Springer in 1985), the journal was rebranded to its current name in 2011 and established as a scientific peer-reviewed journal.

More recently, in response to a 2020 decision, made by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) to cease supporting traditional ‘subscription model’ journals, the SJP transitioned to a fully Open Access model. In 2025, the SJP became officially affiliated with the Swiss Geological Society (SGS). With the previous publishing contract concluding in late 2025, KSPA and SGS have partnered with Pensoft Publishers “where processes are more streamlined to the needs of the SJP.”

The SJP continues to be a vital home for research spanning alpha taxonomy, systematics, palaeobiology, biostratigraphy, and conservation palaeontology, among many other specialized fields.

The first three publications from SJP are now available on the journal’s new website along with an editorial by the Editor-in-Chief. Additionally, you can use the email alert button on the homepage of SJP to subscribe for the journal newsletter.

Swiss Journal of Geosciences (SJG)

Swiss journal of Geosciences mockup

The Swiss Journal of Geosciences (SJG) is the other journal with a rich history, published on behalf of the Swiss Geological Society and is a member of the Swiss Academy of Sciences. It was first published in 1888 as “Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae”. From the 1920s until 2006, it was published in collaboration with Birkhäuser, eventually merging in 2006 with the Schweizerische Mineralogische und Petrographische Mitteilungen (SMPM, first published in 1921) and was then renamed to Swiss Journal of Geosciences. After the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) decided to stop supporting traditional ‘subscription model’ journals, SJG transitioned to a fully Open Access format in 2020.

As of the beginning of 2026, the journal will be published by Pensoft “where processes are more streamlined to the needs of the SJG”. The journal continues to focus on original research of international interest regarding the evolution of the Tethys realm and the Alpine/Himalayan orogen, covering disciplines such as Tectonics, Geochemistry, and Orogenesis and many more.

The first three publications of SJG under this new partnership, along with an editorial by the Editor-in-Chief, are now available on the journal’s new website.

Now powered by Pensoft’s open-access scholarly publishing platfor

In joining Pensoft, both SJP and SJG will get access to improved publishing infrastructure and benefit from increased visibility and discoverability for their published research. The journal will use Pensoft’s self-developed platform, ARPHA – an end-to-end publishing solution that makes it easy for both people and machines to access, cite, and reuse research. With its design, ARPHA streamlines publishing workflows, providing a single online ecosystem for the entire editorial process, from manuscript submission to peer review, editing, publication, and archiving.

Use the email notification button on the home page to subscribe to the journal’s newsletter.

“The migration of SJG and SJP to Pensoft Publishers will permit both journals to grow in a sustainable way and that it will considerably increase their visibility and quality as they will benefit from streamlined and professional processes and services offered by Pensoft. This will be a big advantage for our authors.”

– Said the Swiss Geological Society and Dr. Daniel Marty, Editor-in-Chief of both Swiss journals.

“We are thrilled to welcome both the Swiss Journal of Palaeontology and Swiss Journal of Geosciences to the Pensoft family of next-generation scientific journals. We appreciate this new partnership and look forward to seeing the journal thrive using our advanced publishing services.”

– Said Prof Lyubomir Penev, CEO and Founder of Pensoft
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Review of Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacokinetics joins the ARPHA Platform

Review of Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacokinetics (RCPP), an open-access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to clinical and applied pharmacology, medicine, and therapeutics, has moved to Pensoft’s ARPHA publishing platform, in an effort to streamline its editorial workflow and enhance the visibility of its outputs.

Published by PHARMAKON-Press under ARPHA’s white-label model, its primary mission is to promote optimum drug therapy and serve as a platform for relevant research. Aiming to provide essential knowledge on drugs based on updated developments and contemporary perceptions, the journal maintains a wide scope of article types accepted for publication.

RCPP was established in Athens, Greece, in 1987 by Prof. Stavros T. Plessas MD and Dr Charalampos T. Plessas. 

journal mockup

“Four decades later, the journal continues to publish high-quality, peer-reviewed articles and hosts the proceedings of international conferences serving the scientific community in both Greece and abroad,” its team says on its webpage.

In September 2023, RCPP transitioned to an open-access model, with all its published content since then available on its new website provided by ARPHA. It is led by Editor-in-Chief Dr. Eleni Plessa.

By joining ARPHA, the journal can benefit from the platform’s one-stop, end-to-end publishing solution, high-level integrations, semantical enhancements, and advanced metrics.

“Our move to the ARPHA Platform marks a decisive step in the journal’s evolution, strengthening our commitment to transparency, innovation, and global visibility while modernising our publishing practices and expanding our international reach. Through advanced workflows, semantic enrichment, and robust metrics, this collaboration enables Review of Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacokinetics to attract high-quality submissions, meet international standards, and ensure long-term visibility and competitiveness in open-access scientific publishing.” said the Editor-in-Chief,  Dr. Eleni Plessa.

“We’re very excited to partner with Review of Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacokinetics, adding one more title to our growing portfolio of open-access journals in medical sciences, and look forward to supporting the journal in this next chapter,” said Prof. Lyubomir Penev, CEO of ARPHA.

About ARPHA: 

ARPHA is the first end-to-end, narrative- and data-integrated publishing solution that supports the full life cycle of a manuscript, from authoring to reviewing, publishing and dissemination. ARPHA provides accomplished and streamlined production workflows that can be customised according to the journal’s needs. The platform enables a variety of publishing models through a number of options for branding, production and revenue models to choose from.

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Pensoft and the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology forge new scholarly partnership

In August, Pensoft had the honour of welcoming colleagues from the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) to the headquarters of the open-access scholarly publisher and technology provider in Sofia, Bulgaria. The visit was marked by engaging discussions on scholarly publishing, future innovations, current challenges in academia and potential collaborations.

The highlight of the meeting was the formal signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Penev, Pensoft’s CEO and founder, and Prof. Dr. Thai Hoang, Vice Chairman of the Scientific Council of Materials Science at VAST and the Editor‑in‑Chief of the Vietnam Journal of Science and Technology.

“This Memorandum of Understanding marks an important step towards fostering international collaboration in scholarly publishing. By combining the expertise and know-how of Pensoft and VAST, we aim to make research more accessible and innovative for communities worldwide,”

commented Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Penev.

“I am very happy to visit Bulgaria and collaborate with Pensoft Publishers. Here, we know Pensoft and the ARPHA publishing platform for their diverse publishing solutions designed for scientific papers, monographs, academic books and more, as well as their professional and efficient work. All this makes them quite prestigious for us. Starting from this Memorandum of Understanding, next, we will explore ways to use the ARPHA publishing platform for the publication of Vietnam’s scientific journals, books and other research outputs.”

Prof. Dr. Thai Hoang said.

Over the course of the visit, the group engaged in an enriching dialogue. Guests from VAST offered an in-depth look at their publication outlets and shared insights into the Vietnamese scholarly publishing landscape, as well as the nation’s rich cultural heritage and natural wonders. 

In turn, Pensoft offered a comprehensive overview of the company’s journey of over three decades, starting from the launch of the first Pensoft journals and proceeding to the continuous development of several innovative publication platforms and solutions, including the full-featured end-to-end publishing platform ARPHA. Today, there are over 80 open-access peer-reviewed journals, including both Pensoft-launched titles, and many owned and run by research institutions, universities and learned societies from around the globe.

The visit continued beyond the office with the publisher’s management inviting their guests to a several-day trip around the country that covered the cultural and historic hubs of Plovdiv and Koprivshtitsa.

By the end of the visit, both parties agreed that their meeting in Bulgaria underscores their shared vision: to advance open, innovative, and accessible scholarly communication. With the MoU in place, both sides look forward to transforming this mutual understanding into concrete collaborative initiatives.

*

With perfect timing, shortly after the visit, one of the VAST delegates: biologist Prof. Dr. Quang Manh Vu (also affiliated with the Hoa Binh University, Hanoi, Vietnam), in collaboration with his Bulgarian and Vietnamese colleagues: Dr. Ivailo Dedov (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) and Dr. Tuan Trieu Anh (Hung Vuong University, Viet Tri City, Vietnam) published a study in Pensoft’s inaugural and flagship journal in zoological systematics: ZooKeys. The research paper lists species of slugs and semi-slugs of the superfamily Helicarionoidea the team collected in North Vietnam in 2023. Amongst the collected specimens, the scientists discovered a new-to-science species of semi-slug they named after Pensoft’s Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Penev, who is himself a biologist and taxonomist by background. 

“When I found out I had a new species, I had no hesitation on the name: Ostracolethe penevi. I had been looking forward to naming a curious species after my friend Prof. Lyubomir Penev, a man who made the world look up to Bulgarian science, and someone who has helped me a lot through the years,”

comments Dr. Ivailo Dedov in a news announcement.

“This newly described species deserves a name that reflects the generosity of nature, the advancement of science, and the enduring friendship between Vietnam and Bulgaria,”

added Prof. Dr. Quang Manh Vu.

***

Additional information:

Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST)

Founded on 20 May 1975, VAST is Vietnam’s largest multidisciplinary research organization, with branches in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Haiphong, Nha Trang, Dalat, and Hue. Its mission spans basic and applied research, the development of high technology, human resource training, and providing scientific advice to the government on pressing national issues. 

VAST is known for achieving high output in international peer-reviewed journals; in 2023, more than 2,200 works were published, with nearly 80% in international outlets. The Academy is responsible for several cutting-edge initiatives, including satellite R&D through the Vietnam National Space Center, strategic technology fields aligned with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (e.g. AI, new materials, semiconductors), and large-scale environmental and biodiversity monitoring across the country. Looking forward, VAST has set ambitious goals, including mastering key advanced technologies, increasing technology transfer, enhancing publication impact, strengthening partnerships at home and abroad, and cultivating world-class scientific talent.

Pensoft

Founded in 1992 “by scientists, for scientists”, the academic open-access publishing company is well known worldwide for its novel cutting-edge publishing tools, workflows and methods for text and data publishing of journals, books and conference materials. Back in 2010, Pensoft became the first scientific publisher to introduce semantic enrichments in scholarly publications. Through its Research and Technical Development department, the company is involved in various research and technology projects.

ARPHA Publishing Platform

ARPHA is a full-featured, end-to-end publishing platform for open-access journals, books, conference materials and preprints. ARPHA offers flexible operating and business models, and a wide-range of automated and human-provided services. The ARPHA team places a special focus on its scholarly communication solutions designed to leverage the visibility and outreach of academic output, while prompting inclusivity and engagement.

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Scientific Annals of the Danube Delta Institute publishes its first articles on ARPHA

The first articles of Scientific Annals of the Danube Delta Institute (SADDI) —the official journal of the Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development in Tulcea, Romania—have now been published on the journal’s new website following its transition to Pensoft’s ARPHA platform.

The Scientific Annals of the Danube Delta Institute joins Pensoft’s portfolio
Two white spoonbills standing in shallow water, reflecting in the pond, surrounded by lush greenery and scattered debris.
Eurasian Spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) in the Gandoman Wetlands. Photo by Ruhollah Asgari

The newly published articles focus on supporting the sustainable management of the Danube Delta, including an assessment of the impact of pesticide residues on the river and some insights on the potential of earth observation data for monitoring the Delta. The journal also publishes research on the ecology and biogeography of wetland ecosystems in general, such as a study on the habitat and behaviour of the Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia).

Established in 1993, the journal offers a multidisciplinary platform for studies in the fields of ecology, biodiversity, environmental protection, hydrology, ichthyology, ornithology, limnology, and sustainable development related to wetlands and deltaic environments. It is free to publish and open for submissions.

“With the launch of the first articles in Volume 30 of the Scientific Annals of the Danube Delta Institute, now published with Pensoft, we celebrate an important milestone in advancing research on biodiversity, aquatic ecology, and data integration,” said the journal’s Editor-in-Chief Iuliana-MihaelaTudor of the Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development.

“This new stage reflects not only the scientific value of the contributions, but also the collaborative spirit that strengthens our community and drives innovation forward.

“As Louis Pasteur once said, ‘Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world.’

“We warmly invite our readers, authors, and collaborators to explore this volume, to share in the exchange of ideas, and to continue building together a future where open science connects and empowers us all.”

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Journal of Applied Sports Sciences moves to the ARPHA platform, enhancing open access publishing in sports sciences

The Journal of Applied Sports Sciences (JASS) has transitioned to science publishing platform ARPHA. Making use of ARPHA’s advanced digital publishing infrastructure, the journal aims to enhance the accessibility and visibility of research in sports sciences.

Text graphic announcing "Journal of Applied Sports Sciences moves to ARPHA platform" over a blue geometric background.

JASS is published by the National Sports Academy “Vassil Levski” (NSA) in Sofia, Bulgaria. Established in 2017, it aims to represent a wide range of scientific publications in sports sciences, providing visibility of the research results and an opportunity to deepen knowledge in the field.

ARPHA is proud to support JASS in its mission to share knowledge and contribute to global scientific progress.

Prof. Lyubomir Penev

The journal covers a broad array of topics relevant to the advancement of sports and physical activity. Key areas include sports and health, physical education, sports management, and physiotherapy. It also seeks to enhance communication among the various disciplines in the field, actively seeking manuscripts with interdisciplinary content and application in sports.

JASS operates under a Diamond Open Access model, ensuring that all research outputs are freely accessible without any article processing charges for authors. Manuscripts undergo a double-blind peer-review process and are published continuously, featuring research outputs, review articles, reports, discussions, studies, and editorial materials. The journal’s complete archive is now available on the ARPHA platform.

“The integration of the Journal of Applied Sports Sciences with ARPHA’s publishing platform facilitates access to research and supports knowledge dissemination in sports sciences. ARPHA is proud to support JASS in its mission to share knowledge and contribute to global scientific progress,” commented Prof. Lyubomir Penev, CEO and founder of ARPHA.

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Metabarcoding & Metagenomics selected for inclusion in the Web of Science

Metabarcoding & Metagenomics (MBMG) has been approved for inclusion in Clarivate’s Web of Science, one of the most renowned citation databases that indexes the world’s leading scholarly journals. This recognition underscores the journal’s growing influence in its field, and reflects its commitment to publishing high-quality, peer-reviewed research.

Since its launch in September 2017, the journal has been at the forefront of publishing papers on metabarcoding and metagenomics for both basic and applied studies. At the time of its inauguration it was seen as a particularly forward-looking and niche scholarly outlet because it was devised to address the need for an innovative journal in the rapidly developing fields of DNA-based environmental research, biodiversity monitoring and nature conservation. Going forward, MBMG’s inclusion in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) at Web of Science will further enhance the visibility and accessibility of existing and future research.

Now that it has completed the Web of Science’s rigorous quality and integrity assessment, MBMG may receive its first Journal Impact Factor (JIF) as early as 2025. This is a testament to the dedication of the authors, reviewers, and editorial board members who have contributed to the journal’s success.

MBMG is indexed and archived in more than 60 databases, including Scopus, DOAJ, ResearchGate, Library of Congress, British Library, Baidu Scholar, CNKI, EBSCO, Unpaywall, CLOCKSS and Zenodo.

In June 2024, the journal received a Scopus CiteScore of 5.4, placing it in Q1 in five categories: Animal Science and Zoology; Insect Science; Plant Science; Ecology, Evolution, Behaviour and Systematics; and Nature and Landscape Conservation.

This inclusion in the Web of Science marks a new chapter in the journal’s mission to facilitate the production and dissemination of important research.

“The quality of research and the perception by the community our MBMG staff supports matter most. Being officially listed in Web of Science and having a Journal Impact Factor are criteria of high importance to many of our authors. Therefore, I‘m very happy about this new development.”

Prof. Dr. Florian Leese, Editor-in-Chief of MBMG and Full Professor in Aquatic Ecosystem Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.

“This represents a significant milestone in the growth of MBMG and will likely make it an even more attractive choice for researchers in this field.”  

Dr. Dirk Steinke, Deputy Editor-in-Chief at MBMG and Associate Director at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics at the University of Guelph, Canada. 

“From the very beginning, we were convinced that this niche is of high relevance and will be rapidly expanding. The inclusion of MBMG in the Web of Science will be of particular importance for our (young) authors, who are too often evaluated by IF-based criteria. At the same time, MBMG hopefully will face a further growing number of submissions.”

Dr Alexander M. Weigand, Liaison editor at MBMG and Zoology Curator at the National Museum of Natural History Luxembourg.

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