MDPI, the open-access scientific publisher, has today released its 2025 Annual Report. The report highlights the publisher’s growth, commitment to rigorous publishing standards, and continued trust from authors, editors, and institutional partners.

Last year, MDPI saw a 12% increase in manuscript submissions, while growing its journal portfolio to 500 titles. To support this growth, MDPI invested in 1,700 new staff members globally, focusing on research integrity, editorial operations, and technology. MDPI’s growth was also reflected in the strength of its partnerships, having put in place more than 1,000 Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) agreements as of the start of 2026.

Stefan Tochev, CEO at MDPI, said: “The conversation is shifting from why research should be open to how Open Access can be sustainable, inclusive, and impactful. MDPI is prioritizing the infrastructure and partnerships necessary to be a key player in this next phase. It is our continued investment in people, technology, and ethical safeguards that ensures we can meet rising demand while continuing to strengthen the quality and accessibility of scientific communication.”

Submissions and Journal Impact

MDPI received more than 669,000 manuscript submissions in 2025, while maintaining a rejection rate of more than 60%. In total, 261,576 peer-reviewed articles were published. Publishing authors expressed their satisfaction with MDPI’s publication process as part of last year’s author survey, with 96% rating their overall experience as ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’.

Independent database indexing also increased. A total of 329 and 355 journals were included in the Web of Science and Scopus indexes, respectively. Alongside its 2024 Journal Citation Report results, these achievements reflect sustained researcher confidence and MDPI’s commitment to high-quality research outputs.

Dr. Constanze Schelhorn, head of publishing at MDPI, said: "Comprehensive indexing in leading databases reflects that our journals meet established quality criteria and supports the trust authors and institutions place in MDPI. It also plays an important role in ensuring transparency and accountability across our publishing activities.”

Research Integrity

Throughout 2025, MDPI invested substantially in its research integrity infrastructure, appointing Dr. Tim Tait-Jamieson as its head of publication ethics and a roster of new research integrity specialists. In addition, close to 210,000 reviewers and a team of journal editors contributed their expertise to manuscript screening, supported by a suite of new tools aimed at improving efficiency. This includes a new multi-year partnership with Proofig AI, as well as several in-house tools embedded in the editorial process.

Dr. Tim Tait-Jamieson, head of publication ethics at MDPI, said: “Ensuring the integrity of the scientific record is at the heart of our editorial mission. Alongside constructive, actionable peer review, we aim to support our Editorial Boards with the best possible information, provided through comprehensive hands-on screening processes and technological tools, enabling informed and responsible editorial decisions."

Scaling Global Operations

MDPI’s global workforce grew by 26% in 2025 to 8,350, with new staff members welcomed across its 22 offices in Asia, Europe, and North America. This growth reflects strategic efforts to expand expertise and operational capacity, in line with high demand for quality publishing services.

Alistair Freeland, chief operating officer at MDPI, said: “Scaling at this pace requires disciplined coordination across regions and teams. Our focus has been on building the right structures and capabilities to support both growth and the quality expectations of our editorial community.”

Investing in MDPI’s regional presence ensures researchers and institutions receive hands-on, local support. To this end, MDPI conducted more than 16,000 meetings with academics worldwide in 2025. This included more than 10,000 strategy sessions with guest editors and the onboarding of 2,000 new editorial board members, overseen by a dedicated team of journal relations specialists.

Platform Innovation Milestones

Several new initiatives defined MDPI’s innovation strategy in 2025. Its submission system, SuSy, now features an improved article submission workflow and unified navigation design. Meanwhile, MDPI also completed a ground-up rebuild of its website, MDPI.com. Based on user behavior analysis and a new technology stack, the upgrade now helps researchers navigate and engage with content more effectively.

In 2025, MDPI’s Journal and Article Management System (JAMS) also launched a new Editorial Guidance service and Freemium pricing model, improving access to quality publishing infrastructure. The publisher’s Preprints.org platform also released a new Reading List feature, and celebrated a milestone of 100,000 published preprints since its foundation in 2016.

Dietrich Rordorf, chief technology officer at MDPI, said: "We continue strategic investments in relaunching our platforms and streamlining processes to create more intuitive user journeys. At the same time, we are embedding AI-based research integrity checks early in our workflows and building a scalable foundation for personalized features and new services. Through these improvements, we aim to earn the trust of the scholarly community via more robust platforms and service offerings.”

Partnerships Growth

In 2025, MDPI renewed all major consortium agreements. Two new consortium agreements in North America, alongside a new agreement with Bibsam in Sweden, were also signed. Together, these agreements brought the total number of new partner institutions in 2025 to more than 150. Since becoming COUNTER-compliant in September 2025, all IOAP partners now also receive transparent data about their research usage and impact.

As well as that, last year MDPI collaborated with 214 societies, resulting in 32 new agreements. Most recently, this included MDPI’s collaboration with the American Podiatric Medical Association. Several society journals published by MDPI also reached significant milestones in 2025. Craniomaxillofacial Trauma & Reconstruction (CMTR) was accepted into DOAJ, while Clinical and Translational Neuroscience (CTN), International Medical Education (IME), Dermatopathology, and Gout, Urate, and Crystal Deposition Disease (GUCDD) were added to Scopus. CTN and IME also received their first Impact Factor.

Dr. Carla Aloè, head of societies and acquisition at MDPI, said: “Scientific societies play a key role in advancing specialized research, but often face challenges in reaching wider audiences. Through partnership with MDPI, they benefit from global visibility and editorial support, enabling them to meet the evolving demands of open-access publishing.”

Community Engagement

MDPI also sought to offer research communities multiple platforms and opportunities through which to gather and engage last year. MDPI hosted 60 conference events in 2025, attracting more than 28,000 attendees. Several regional summits were also held across Europe and Asia, in addition to global Academic Publishing Workshops for postgraduate and early-career researchers.

These initiatives reflect MDPI’s efforts to bolster global research communities and foster next-generation scientists. Celebrating excellence forms a key pillar of this approach. In 2025, MDPI journals granted 500 awards to more than 1,100 winners from 53 countries and territories, amounting to CHF 845,000. In addition to the flagship Tu Youyou and World Sustainability Awards, MDPI recently launched the inaugural Michele Parrinello Award.