Food Protection Trends - January 2009 - 3

A NOTE FROM THE FPT SCIENTIFIC EDITOR… s my first year as FPT Scientific Editor draws to an end, I would like first to reflect upon three significant changes to the journal. First, the cover was completely redesigned in 2008 to give an appropriately more scientific “look” to the journal. Each cover now bears a listing of the technical papers published in the issue along with a set of three photographs that represent some aspect of food safety. At present, our supply of appropriate photographs is limited, but we are working to increase these such that the same three photos do not appear on every issue. If you have appropriate, high quality photos that you would permit us to use on the cover, please send them to Donna Bahun or me. Second, I hope everyone has taken the opportunity to browse the new format for FPT online. The new format is truly an amazing piece of work. It is an interactive PDF document that looks like the actual hardcopy of the journal. Viewers can turn pages, jump to a target page, and even click on live links to Web sites and/or E-mail addresses that are available within the text. This new format will be available as one of your membership options, and I encourage everyone to consider adding the new FPT online format to your membership optional benefits (see: http://www. foodprotection.org/membership/types.asp). Third, we have moved completely away from hardcopy “snail mail” submissions to the journal. While submissions are not truly “online,” as is the case with the Journal of Food Protection, articles are submitted directly to Donna Bahun as E-mail attachments. Likewise, papers are sent electronically to reviewers, who then return their reviews to me by E-mail.This has significantly improved our timing on getting articles reviewed and responding to authors. The low volume of papers published in FPT, as compared with JFP, simply does not justify the cost associated with truly online submission and reviews. However, we very much prefer the electronic submissions and hope that submitters and reviewers have appreciated it as well. Through the end of November, 2008, 22 manuscripts were submitted for consideration to publish in FPT. Of these submissions, 11 papers were published or accepted for publication, one was under revision for final consideration, five were rejected, and five A remained under review by members of the Editorial Board. Concern has been expressed over the decrease in the number of papers submitted to FPT. The FPT Management Committee has created a subcommittee charged with the task of improving this situation. During the 2008 Annual Meeting, members of this subcommittee browsed the poster sessions and encouraged presenters to consider submitting a manuscript to FPT for publication. In addition, I went through all the abstracts from the 2008 poster presentations and selected many that seemed appropriate for publication in FPT. Each of the presenters of these posters was invited by letter to submit their work for consideration to publish in FPT, and we have received substantial positive responses from these presenters. The focus of these recent direct solicitations was primarily on work related to consumer food safety attitudes, consumer or retail food safety practices, food safety surveys, etc. However, technical research papers that involve “bench work” microbiology are indeed welcome, as are review articles related to food safety. In addition, FPT welcomes articles for publication that are non-peer reviewed. These include reports from workshops, Professional Development Groups, and opinion articles. Please review the Instructions for Authors on page 31 or at: (http:// www.foodprotection.org/publications/FPT%20Inst. %20 for%20Authors.pdf) for more information on the types of articles published in FPT. Finally, I want to thank Donna Bahun, FPT Production Editor, for all her hard work and dedication to FPT. Since our submissions are not truly online, Donna handles all the behind-the-scenes work of archiving articles and sending papers out to reviewers. She processes papers quickly, responds to authors’ queries, and does her job with professionalism. Her dedicated efforts make my job as Scientific Editor much easier! I hope everyone is pleased with the new design of the journal. If you have comments or suggestions for improving FPT, or if you have any concerns, please let me know. I look forward to seeing many more submissions to FPT in 2009. Best wishes to all. David A. Golden, FPT Scientific Editor JANUARY 2009 | FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS 3

http://www.foodprotection.org/membership/types.asp http://www.foodprotection.org/membership/types.asp http://www.foodprotection.org/publications/FPT%20Inst.%20for%20Authors.pdf http://www.foodprotection.org/publications/FPT%20Inst.%20for%20Authors.pdf http://www.foodprotection.org/publications/FPT%20Inst.%20for%20Authors.pdf

Food Protection Trends - January 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - January 2009