MDPI Largest Open Access Publisher with Fast Peer Review

MDPI.com hosts the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, one of the world’s largest open-access publishers, offering 430-plus peer-reviewed journals spanning biology, chemistry, engineering, medicine, and social sciences. Its hallmark is speed: initial editorial decisions are typically rendered within three days, and accepted papers can appear online in less than a month, facilitated by author-paid Article Processing Charges (APCs) that cover editorial management, production, and perpetual hosting.
The publisher maintains several journals indexed in SCIE, Scopus, and PubMed—such as International Journal of Molecular Sciences and Sensors—that carry competitive impact factors and editorial boards staffed by leading academics. All submissions undergo single-blind Fast peer review, and MDPI participates in COPE, DOAJ, and OASPA, signaling adherence to industry ethics and transparency standards.
Nevertheless, MDPI’s meteoric growth and aggressive marketing have drawn criticism. Mass e-mail invitations that sometimes misidentify recipients’ expertise, special-issue guest editors with limited scholarly visibility, and acceptance rates above discipline norms have raised concerns about editorial rigor. The Norwegian Scientific Index and Finland’s JUFO downgraded several MDPI titles in 2023, prompting the company to tighten reviewer-selection algorithms, cap special-issue frequency, and publish audit reports on turnaround times and rejection rates.