It's the right time for Advances in Nutrition

Abstract

Dear Colleagues: We are pleased to present this inaugural issue of Advances in Nutrition. Everyone is invited to take advantage of its high-profile, state-of-the-science reviews in the nutritional sciences. To enlist readers and successfully launch Advances in Nutrition, the Executive Board of The American Society for Nutrition (ASN) has decided to offer the publication without the need for subscription until 2012. Given the growing popularity of online journals and the need to keep costs low, the journal will be an electronic publication only. Why did the ASN decide to publish this new reviews journal? The answer is simple: it will benefit our members and the broader community interested in nutrition. Our 2 flagship journals, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN) and The Journal of Nutrition (JN), publish <30% of the manuscripts submitted to them. Although they publish some review articles, the primary focus of both AJCN and JN is on the publication of original research reports. The launch of Advances in Nutrition will allow ASN to greatly expand the availability of high-quality review articles on all aspects of nutrition research. Moreover, ASN members and associated professionals have told us that it is increasingly difficult to keep abreast of important developments outside their specialties. Advances in Nutrition will help them do so. There is growing interest in the nutritional sciences well beyond the ASN community. This includes not only health care professionals, but also the general public. Like our membership, they need a source that succinctly explains the importance and application of original research findings in the nutritional sciences. With the launch of Advances in Nutrition, ASN will be able to address this unfulfilled need to publish high-quality review articles in an online format and extend our reach and impact to a much broader audience. Whereas AJCN and JN are primarily focused on discovery, Advances in Nutrition will help ASN fulfill its commitment to translation of nutritional science.