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Mission Statement Committee Members J. Stan Bailey, USDA, ARS, Board Liaison Members: How to Join Standing Committees provide operational or functional support to IAFP. Individuals are appointed by the President-Elect and confirmed by the Executive Board. Membership appointments are for 3-year terms on a rotating basis with balanced representation from education, government and industry. All appointments may be renewed for one additional term. Requests for membership on a Standing Committee should be directed to the President-Elect. August 3, 2008 In conjunction with IAFP 2008 Committee Minutes Members Present: Maria Teresa Destro (Chairperson), John Bassett, Kathryn Boor, Scott Burnett, Faye Feldstein, Judy Greig, Mark Harrison, Loralyn Ledenbach, Kathleen O’Donnell, Joseph Odumeru, Tina Pedroso, P.C. Vasavada, Michael Davidson, Joe Frank, Elliot Ryser and John Sofos. Board and Staff Members Present: Frank Yiannas, Gary Acuff, Stan Bailey, Lee-Ann Jaykus, David Tharp, Lisa Hovey, Tamara Ford and Didi Loynachan. Visitors Present: Larry Beuchat and Payton Pruett. Meeting Called to Order: 10:05 a.m. Recording Secretary of Minutes: Lori Ledenbach. Old Business: The agenda was reviewed and approved. The minutes from the 2006 meeting were reviewed and approved. New Business: Report from the IAFP President, Frank Yiannas: Frank reported that IAFP membership had an increase of 10%, perhaps due to the new fee structure that was put in place with a less expensive base membership fee. IAFP currently has 3,214 embers, 23 gold and silver sustaining members (up from 18 last year) of which 15 are gold sustaining members (up from 8 last year). There will be a new design for the FPT cover, and all FPT issues from 2000 to the present are online. There is a new affiliate this year from Australia, and several other new affiliates are being worked on. Attendance this year should set a new record, close to 2,000. All exhibit booths are sold, and sponsorships are up. There is almost $606,000 in the Foundation Fund. The 2nd European symposium was held last fall, and the 3rd one will be in Rome in October this year. IAFP also held a Rapid Response Symposium on the safety of leafy greens 3 weeks after the spinach outbreak and it was well attended. Report from the IAFP Office: David Tharp provided an update of activities for the last year. There will be IAFP sponsored programs in China and in Europe this year and Brazil in 2008. The general fund has shown an increase as of August, 2006 of $75,000, to a total of $578,000. The goal is to have approximately double this amount in the fund. Report from the Scientific Editors: Joe Frank presented the report from the scientific editors, Mike Davidson, Joe Frank, John Sofos, and Elliot Ryser. They reported that volume 69 of JFP (2006) contained 3,100 pages and 430 articles, including 421 research papers, and 9 review and general interest papers. This compares to volume 68 (2005), which contained 2,768 pages and 393 reports. The length of time between receipt of manuscripts and publication was reduced to an average of 8.1 months, probably facilitated by the manuscript handling system. Researchers from countries other than the US authored 54.7% of the articles in volume 69, representing 41 countries. The Editorial Board has 148 members, and two members sadly passed away – Dr. Sue Hefle and Dr. William Fett. Volume 70 (2007) contains 1,780 pages in the first seven months, compared to 1,764 for the same time period in 2006, and contains 248 papers, the same number as volume 69. Six fewer manuscripts were submitted for publication in 2006 (659) than in 2005 (665), and as of June 15, 2007, 322 manuscripts have been submitted in 2007 compared to 324 at the same time last year in 2006. These numbers indicate consistent numbers of submissions over the past 3 years. The estimated number of issues waiting to be published is currently 1.78 compared to 2.21 in July 2006, which is considered a desirable backlog for the journal. A concern was raised that this leveling off of submissions may be related to page charges, and we will continue to watch this issue. Report from Administrative Editor: Tamara Ford reported that 100% of journal submissions are online, and that issues of JFP from 1994 to the present are now online as well. As of June 22, 2007, JFP had 763 print subscribers and 159 online subscribers. There were two articles from the National Advisory Committee on Microbial Criteria for Foods published in the January issue and three foodworker articles from the Committee on Control of Foodborne Illness will be published in July, August and September. Old Business: FPT and JFP now contain ads for reasons to publish in JFP , and these are also listed on the IAFP Web site. The board approved our recommendations to include information on ComBase in letters to authors whose submissions have been accepted for publication, as well as redefining the definition of previously published to accommodate public access requirements. New Business: The question was raised as to whether there is a goal or plan regarding what is the desirable number of papers we ant to have published in JFP each year. John Sofos replied that the current priority is to the speed of publication, rather than the number of submissions. The board had decided last year that until the page charges appear to become a real issue, they will not be discontinued, since they represent a considerable source of income. Discussion ensued regarding the ssues of continuing access and the fact that younger academics usually do not have sufficient budgets to pay for page charges, so they will go to another journal that is free instead. Gary Acuff proposed that a sub-committee be formed to stay on top of this issue and develop a “Plan B” for sources of funding to be ready in case the page charges do eventually lower the number of submissions to an undesirable level and need to be eliminated. A motion was approved to form this subcommittee, with Elliot Ryser as chair with John Bassett and Larry Beuchat as members. Faye Feldstein proposed that a marketing plan be developed to study JFP and IAFP access to “middlelevel” sectors of international markets (not the most educated nor the poorest). This plan would determine what is currently available to these markets, where the gaps are, and what these sectors want in a professional organization and journals. The motion was approved to keep John Sofos as a scientific editor for another 4 years. Recommendations to Executive Board:
Next Meeting Date: August 3, 2008. Meeting Adjourned: 11:15 a.m. Chairperson: Maria Teresa Destro.
Board Response to Recommendations 1. Develop a marketing plan for IAFP in general and JFP specifically for developing international sectors.
2. Reappoint John Sofos as Scientific Editor for another 4-year term.
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