Scientific Relevance and the Top Eleven for 2011

Abstract

When you are a child getting ready for college it is the SAT or ACT. Getting ready for graduate school, the abbreviation that counts is the GRE. For those of us in journal publishing it is the IF, or Impact Factor. This year the Impact Factor for the Journal of Food Science decreased from 1.733 to 1.650. Not a major concern but it does call for some thoughtful evaluation of the Aims and Scope of the journal and what can be done to attract the most scientifically relevant articles. Simply put, the Impact Factor is a measure of the number of times an article is cited relative to the number of articles published in the journal. To improve the Impact Factor, we need to increase articles that will receive multiple references and decrease those that will not be referenced. The news is different regarding our sister journal, Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. The Impact Factor for Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety increased from 2.673 to 3.724 and in ranking from #12 of 128 to #3 of 128. Congratulations to Professor Manfred Kroger for his excellent leadership as the Scientific Editor. Now back to the question of, “are we on track with the Aims and Scope of the Journal of Food Science?” Since Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety covers the same topics as the Journal of Food Science, we can look at the top cited articles for 2011 and see how they align with the categories covered in the Journal of Food Science. The following table shows the Top 11 of 2011. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety does not separate articles by subject category so I made some assignments under the heading of “Article Type,” based on the subject area where I assumed it would fit in the Journal of Food Science. Where there were several subject areas covered all areas were included. Health Nutrition and Food (HNF) had the biggest representation with 6 articles. I believe this confirms the ever increasing importance of the interdependence of food, nutrition, and health. Food Chemistry (FC) was well represented with 3 articles. It was very pleasing to see that the most cited article for 2011 was one from the late Professor David Min, who served for many years as the Scientific Editor for that section. Food Microbiology and Safety (FMS) also had 3 articles. Moreover, it showed the range of optimizing the use of good bacteria (for example, probiotics) and controlling pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms. Filling out the field, Food Engineering and Physical Properties (FEPP) had 2 and Sensory and Food Quality (SFQ) had 1. The only sections that did not have articles in the top 11 were Nanoscale Food Science, Engineering, and Technology, along with Toxicology and Chemical Food Safety. Although they did not make the top 11, it should be mentioned that they were represented in the top 20 articles. After seeing that 5 of our 7 topic categories were represented in the top 11 manuscripts cited from Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, I feel assured that we are on the right track and covering the proper range of topics relevant to Food Science. Our immediate challenge is to assure that we are focusing on the best, most relevant, science of food.