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<< back to the 2001 archive listing << Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation Commentary From The Executive Director Through Member comments and input, decisions are made that affect the direction
of the Association I have some questions for you, but first I want to make note of our new look for Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation. This January 2001 issue is the first issue to be "perfect bound" (the glue binding holding the pages together). Prior to this, DFES has been "saddle stitched" or stapled together. The ever-increasing number of pages of DFES has caused the delay of printing of some information because there is a maximum number of pages that can be saddle stitched before pages tear away from the staple. So recently, a decision was made to change to the perfect binding method to allow for growth. You may remember when the Journal of Food Protection was stapled. We changed to perfect binding beginning in 1995 to accommodate more pages per issue. In the five years ending 1994, we averaged 1,070 pages per volume or 89 pages per issue. In the six years just completed, there were 1,600 average pages printed per volume in JFP. This averages 133 pages per issue and is nearly a 50% increase in average number of pages over the previous five years! Volume 63 (2000) averaged 150 pages per issue and totaled 1,800 pages. Ten years earlier in 1990, we printed 1,092 pages in volume 53. That is a staggering 65% increase in number of pages. Similar comparisons can be made with Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation. DFES began in 1981 with 536 pages for the first volume. Over the first ten years, volumes averaged just more than 600 pages or about 50 pages per issue. From 1991 to 1997, most volumes were between 750 to 850 pages. We printed 888 pages in 1998, 920 pages in 1999 and 1,016 pages in 2000! So, we have increased the number of pages by 25% since 1997 and have close to doubled the journal size since its inception. We are excited by the shift to perfect binding for DFES and look forward to the versatility that this change provides. Certainly, we will continue to have issues with less than the maximum pages that would fit in a saddle stitched journal, but we also surely will have issues where more pages will now fit comfortably. Now for the questions. What does your IAFP Membership mean to you? Do you feel it gives you the opportunity to read the latest peer reviewed, scientific based articles on applying safe food handling practices? Does your Membership mean networking at the Annual Meeting? Do you actively participate on Committees or Professional Development Groups? Do you receive the Journal of Food Protection? Do you look forward each month to receiving cutting-edge scientific research presented in JFP? Do you share the IAFP Journals with other colleagues in your work location? How many? These questions and more will be coming your way in the future to enable us to learn more about International Association for Food Protection Members. We want to learn more about your use of our publications, Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation and the Journal of Food Protection. We encourage you to take time to complete the survey to help guide the Association, and our Journals, in to the future. Through Member comments and input, decisions are made that affect the direction of the Association. Why not have your voice heard? From the earlier examples of our journal growth, you can see what effect input can have. Over the years, Members told us that they want and need the information provided in the Journal of Food Protection and Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation. Authors also want quicker processing and publication of their manuscripts. Due to increased submissions of articles for publication in JFP, the size of that journal has dramatically increased in recent years. Perfect binding allowed faster article publication to meet the demands of our authors. Now, because of the need to print more information than ever before, DFES is also seeing increased page counts. We are proud of the increased attention that both journals command and are pleased with the demanded growth. We are pleased to receive Member input that drives our direction. Please continue to communicate your suggestions to the Executive Board, Committee Members and our staff to help make IAFP a better Association. Do your part to "Advance Food Safety Worldwide!" |