Food Protection Trends - October 2009 - 712

charges are considered expensive, it was agreed that publishing in JFP gives higher visibility to authors’ work. Stan Bailey stated that considerable revenue would need to be accounted for if page charges were eliminated. This issue will continue to be monitored. New Business: A motion for the Executive Board to reappoint Joseph Frank as scientific editor for another four-year term was approved. There was a lengthy discussion about impact factors and online access to Journal of Food Protection. This subject was brought up in response to the fact that the impact factor of the journal has decreased in the Biotechnology/Applied Microbiology category. LeeAnn Jaykus inquired if JFP was batched with other journal when libraries and institutions to subscribe to them. Currently it is not. The editors mentioned that the impact factor of the journal had decreased because of the large number of submissions they receive. The impact factor could be increased if the journal published less papers but contained more review papers. However, strengthening the impact factor may not fulfill the mission of the journal, which is to provide information to wide variety of professionals. Some of these individuals may use the information for industrial or regulatory purposes but may not cite it in formal publications that are used to calculate impact factors (because they are not publishing original research). JFP does not fit into a specific category (completely microbiology, biotechnology, etc.), so the category impact factors that are used may not be appropriate for ranking the true impact of the journal. Leon Gorris and Kendra Nightingale summarized the subcommittee report on open access to JFP (Kathryn Boor was also on the committee). NIH requires that publications resulting from NIH-funded work must be openly accessible within 12 months. This may cause authors to choose not to submit work to JFP because its current limited access (subscription only), would prevent readers from seeing a full study and relying on the abstract only to interpret findings. Other journals provide open access 12 months or sooner; however, JFP will incur significant costs in making this transition. The report from the subcommittee was presented to the IAFP Executive Board earlier this year. The Board approved the concept and that IAFP would cover the costs to make JFP articles available through PubMed and Ingenta (current online publisher). The Management Committee suggested that 6 months should be time after an article is published in JFP to make it open access. There was also a discussion about making accepted, but not published papers, available online. It was thought that this might help increase the impact factors by providing more access to articles.The issue of open access was again addressed, with some wondering if using an ‘open access’ model would decrease the incentive to become a member of IAFP and subscribe to JFP. Leon Gorris suggested that pre-publication of papers may increase the number of papers received by JFP and may actually encourage more authors to submit. However, the question of accepting a publication but not receiving payment for the page charges was raised. Several people brought up the issue of what would make JFP go completely online in the coming years.There were 141 less members (611) and 65 less institutional subscribers (598) receiving the hard copy of the journal last year, but there were 100 more online subscribers in 2009. It was also suggested that money that is currently spent to print hard copies of the journal could be used to support pre-publication and open access. It was brought up that the table of contents of each month’s issue could be sent to IAFP members with a direct link to the article (similar to other journals). A subscriber would have direct access to the article, but non-subscribers would view only the abstract. The policy on plagiarism was discussed because of several situations the editors dealt with this year. It was decided that this policy should be re-circulated among the Committee for comment before being incorporated into the Instruction for Authors in fall 2009. This is a matter that possibly will increase with more online material available. A discussion about the copyright of downloaded PDF files of journal articles concluded that the distribution of these files should be limited and for educational purposes. The submission of microarray data, gene sequence data, and strains of microorganisms used in studies was discussed. The raw data from microarray studies and gene sequences should be deposited in the appropriate database, and guidance to authors to state this in the Materials and Methods section of papers will be issued. A checkbox on the submission form or added language to the instructions to authors will be used. Also, authors will be strongly encouraged to make strains available to other investigators. A sub-committee was appointed (pending Executive Board approval) to examine membership attitudes about modifying subscription rates, page charges, and feasibility of making JFP completely online. This sub-committee, if approved, will consist of Mark Harrison, Kendra Nightingale and John Bassett. Recommendations to Executive Board: 1. 2. 3. Reappoint Joseph Frank as Scientific Editor for another fouryear term. In implementing the “open access” policy recently approved by the Board, the Committee recommends that access be allowed 6 months after publication in Journal of Food Protection. Appoint a subcommittee to survey members on their attitudes about modifying subscription rates, page charges, and feasibility of making JFP completely online. The sub-committee will consist of Mark Harrison, Kendra Nightingale and John Bassett. The feasibility of distributing papers accepted for publication in JFP and/or the monthly table of contents to all IAFP members (not just subscribers) should be investigated. If feasible, then it is recommended the Board approve this recommendation for implementation. 4. Information Items to the Board: 1. 2. The policy on plagiarism reviewed by the Committee in spring 2009 will be circulated again to the Committee so by early fall 2009 it can incorporated into the Instructions to Authors. Instructions to authors will be modified to address the following issues: a) deposition of microarray data and gene sequences into appropriate database catalogs, and to include accession numbers in the materials and methods of submitted manuscripts, b) authors will be encouraged to make available and share microorganisms in their studies to requesting parties. Next Meeting Date: August 1, 2010. Meeting Adjourned: 12:05 p.m. Chairperson: Mark Harrison. SPECIAL COMMITTEES 3-A Committee on Sanitary Procedures Members Present: Ron Schmidt, Steve Sims and Philip Wolff Visitors/Guests Present: Zhinong Yan, John Bruhn, Bob Sanders, Dennis Gaalswyk, Allen Sayler and Dan Erickson. Meeting Called to Order: 10:03 a.m., Sunday, July 12, 2009. Recording Secretary of Minutes: Philip Wolff. Old Business: No old business. 712 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | OCTOBER 2009

Food Protection Trends - October 2009

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