Women’s Special Issue Series: Gels (2nd Edition)

Dear Colleagues,

“Gels” is a term encompassing a wide range of materials of importance, and is now suggested to have a wider application than was once thought. Their presence in products extends from cosmetics to building materials; from elastic gels to glassy solids; from mineral solutions to clays; from 3D regeneration materials to drug and biological cell carriers; from sub atomic to atomic to molecular and supramolecular structures; and from hydrogels to emulgels and nanogels. The spectrum is wide enough to include soft and compression-resistant gels that are resilient enough to rapidly return to their original shape within minutes, even after the repeated application of stresses as large as 1000 kilograms.

Currently, the work of female scientists is still either overlooked or more often attributed to their male colleagues. A general erasure of their contributions to science is frequently perceived, and often they go unrecognised. According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 30% of the scientific researchers identified globally are women. Their strategic role in all walks of life, including science, is being increasingly acknowledged. In addition, its first edition published 16 papers, which you can find at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/gels/special_issues/Woman_Gel.

With this in mind, the current Special Issue aims to highlight women’s contributions in ‘Gel Science’ and to facilitate collaboration opportunities at an interdisciplinary and global level. This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive collection of works by eminent women scientists from all around the globe relating to the recent advances and developments in the ever-expanding domain of gels.

We strongly welcome contributions in the field of gel science submitted by female authors, either corresponding or first authors; this is the only requirement to submit to this Special Issue. Rather than a form of ‘tokenism’, this Special Issue is about women being recognised as enjoying science as much as men do, if not more. We hope that this will encourage female authors to be featured equally and as a matter of course in this domain in the future.

This Special Issue endeavours to cover a broad range of topics related to gels, with state-of-the-art commentaries on all aspects of gel research from contributors across the globe, providing an authoritative and timely overview of the field. It will be a useful educational and scientific tool for academicians, researchers, chemists, biologists, health professionals, students, those in the pharma/cosmetic industry, and businessmen worldwide.

We welcome submissions from all authors, irrespective of gender.

Dr. Ecaterina Stela Dragan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• supramolecular materials
• nano-structured materials (particles, fibres, colloids, composites)
• nano- and macroporous materials (aerogels, organogels, metallogels, xerogels, cryogels, hydrogels)
• functional coatings, thin films, and membranes (including deposition techniques)
• development and characterization of sol–gel and hybrid materials
• modelling, computational tools, and theoretical studies on gels
• gel materials for biological and health (medical) applications
• polymer gels, protein gels, and self-healing gels
• sol–gel and hybrid materials with surface modifications for applications
• devices based on sol–gel or hybrid materials
• structure, dynamics, kinetics, and equilibrium thermodynamics in gel structures
• biomimetic hydrogels as tissue engineering 3D scaffolds for mechanically supporting cells in the engineered tissues, and to simulate the native extracellular matrix

• Women’s Special Issue Series: Gels in Gels (16 articles)