Food Protection Trends - November/December 2022 - 522

receiving manuscripts around the world, but there is a need to
attract European and other international researchers to publish
in JFP. It was pointed out that the open access status of JFP
will likely encourage more European researchers to publish in
JFP. It was mentioned that a new Scientific Editor, Dr. Doris
D'Souza, has joined the JFP. JFP has a dynamic editorial board
with 183 members on board and there is a need to expand the
area of food safety, artificial intelligence, microbiology, chemical
food safety, and food fraud. The committee acknowledged the
exceptional service offered by Dr. Elliot Ryser to JFP for more
than 16 years and appreciated the efforts of Didi Loynachan
for doing a great job in assigning manuscripts based on the
expertise of the Editors, as well as helping run the journal.
In response to the decrease in the submission numbers to
JFP, committee members raised the question of whether the
decrease in numbers is specific to JFP or is the same in other
journals. A comparison on the number of articles published in
Food Research International was discussed, and Dr. Anderson
Sant 'Ana informed the committee that FRI saw an initial increase
in submissions during the initial phase of the pandemic due
to old manuscripts/reviews being submitted during lock down
with researchers submitting more publications, however, they
also observed a decrease in the number of articles submitted in
2021, but numbers went up by 2022. Morgane Dagot (Elsevier)
Mentioned the drop in the number of publications could be due to
a decrease in the number of publications coming up from China
due to the Pandemic. She also mentioned that China contributes
to about 20% of the publications worldwide. Dr. Skandamis
noted a similar trend was reported in JFP, with128 submissions
received recently, 40 were from China. Mentioned that there is a
need to include topics including artificial intelligence. Committee
members suggested expansion of the scope of JFP (genomics,
etc.) to increase visibility and submission numbers to the journal.
Morgane then suggested providing links after conferences to
invite speakers to submit manuscripts to JFP.
An administrative editors report was provided by Dina
Siedenburg, who noted that Dr. Skandamis had mostly covered
all of the information to be presented, and a written report was
provided to the committee.
New Business: New business was then addressed, starting
with discussion by Dr. Joshua Gurtler with respect to invited
minireviews. He mentioned that there are commitments from
selected researchers to contribute 20 mini-reviews to JFP
currently, which excludes one that initially committed but
withdrew. It was noted that minireviews can increase the number
of citations and contribute to the impact factor of the journal.
Judy Luther then provided a brief context of the transition
of JFP to open access and the selection of Elsevier as the
future platform for doing this. This decision was initiated and
approved by the executive board. She noted the Editorial Board
in 2021 had 183 members, and 100 were on a call during the
beginning of the process, of which most that spoke were in favor
of transitioning to Open access status of JFP. She reported that
articles published in subscription journals have seen a decrease
due to open access journals. Further, it was noted that in some
regions, there is a major incentive or even requirement to publish
open access, like in Europe. A number of different publishing
platforms provided offers, and one of the major factors leading
to the selection Elsevier that Judy noted was that Elsevier was
willing to provide the possibility of APC charges that are lower
than most open access journals, with charges to be $1,600 JFP
members, $2,000 non-members. Most APC charges for open
access journals often exceed $3,000. It was also noted in the
committee that this will also provide a good incentive for bringing
in new members to IAFP given the difference in cost relative to
membership fees.
Morgane then presented an overview of Elsevier and
appraised the scope and services offered by Elsevier. She
provided a timeline of events planned on the transition to open
access starting from July. Mentioned that the end of 2022
will be the last subscription issue. It is projected that January
2023 will be the first open-access issue. It was also mentioned
that a 20% discount will be offered to IAFP members for open
access and is expected to be linked soon. After Oct. 1, 2022,
522 Food Protection Trends November/December
manuscript submission will require an open access fee. For
articles submitted before October 1st that are accepted but not
yet published until January 2023, the open access cost will be
covered so there is not charge to authors.
One of the advantages with Elsevier that was noted was
that JFP would be in a larger food microbiology institutional
ecosystem, as Elsevier carries a number of other journals with
similar scope to JFP in some instances, like Food Microbiology,
Food Control, and International Journal of Food Microbiology.
This will potentially increase submissions and exposure to JFP,
potentially by authors who initially submit elsewhere but the
submission is editorially rejected for whatever reason, these
articles could still be easily transferred in the Elsevier system
to JFP if they are deemed of relevant scope and quality by
the editors. For these aforementioned journals, the reviewers/
reviews and manuscript could readily be transferred to JFP
for consideration. Fred then asked how Elsevier will transfer
manuscripts to other journals if not suitable for a specific journal.
Dr. Catherine Cutter then asked about the process for transfer of
JFP articles to Food Protection Trends, as FPT will not be carried
by Elsevier. It was noted that this is something that occurs. In this
case, the reviews/reviewers would not be as easily transferred
to FPT, and may need to be done manually by the JFP editor.
Dr. Elliot Ryser also raised the question of the degree to which
copy editing will be performed in the new format. Morgane then
responded that this, along with a number of the other logistical
decisions (like services provided, formatting requirements, etc.)
will be the topic of a future meeting between Elsevier and the
Scientific Editors and JFP.
Next, a discussion regarding potential additional means
to attract more submissions, as well as submissions from
international authors occurred. The potential of holding special
issues was discussed, with it noted that this is a strategy that
some journals like those carried by MDPI use to some success.
However, it was noted that there is a balance, and having too
many special issues can dilute the overall power of the journal.
The point was also raised that MDPI often has journals with
broad scope, thus requiring and allowing more special issues.
The possibility of a special issue related to the annual meeting
was discussed as a possible means. Possibly an invitation for
authors with accepted abstracts to the meeting to submit an
article would be a good way of inviting more submissions of
relevant scope, as there is a selection process completed with
the abstract approval-possibly some form of discount on APC
could be provided to those who agree as additional incentive.
However, the formats of papers and creation of special issues
are future points of discussion in the upcoming meeting between
the editors and Elsevier. Another method discussed was to
raise awareness on open access status of JFP via targeted
e-mails and social media campaign. Another option to increase
submission and visibility could be to continue to offer waivers
and invited selected researchers on specific topics to contribute,
which is already being performed. It was also noted that the
move to Science Direct as a platform will likely provide increased
visibility for the journal.
Unfinished business was then discussed. Dr. Gary Acuff
representing the IAFP Foundation then addressed the committee.
He discussed the potential interest of the Foundation in providing
or developing a form of support system to support authors from
underserved regions/countries for assistance (or waiver) of article
processing charges. The committee shared general agreement
and enthusiasm for this idea and continuing a dialogue with
the Foundation to develop a program to provide assistance to
authors who may not be able to afford publication. It was noted
there is pre-existing mechanism for Editors offering reduced (or
waived) page fees currently, however this could be expanded.
Morgane noted that Elsevier has a foundation (Research4Life)
that already provides/covers waivers for authors from developing
countries, with two tiers (complete waiver or partial waiver) based
on countries; so the transition to Elsevier will provide JFP this
service at no cost to JFP. When authors select their institution
in the submission portal with Elsevier, it automatically will apply
this (or the cheapest rate) for authors. It was noted that this is
another benefit of Elsevier, and the committee expressed support
for continuing to reduce barriers for those from underrepresented
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