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<< back to the 2003 archive listing << Food Protection Trends Thoughts from the President The goal of delivering the highest quality science possible is to serve
the needs of our readers While attempting to undertake my semi-annual office clean-up, which tends to occur around the time when…“I CAN’T FIND ANYTHING ANYMORE!” I came across an article I had clipped from a newspaper a year ago, which alleviated some of my frustration with the task ahead. The item was about global warming, and how a “lucky fluke” provided the first direct evidence that the build-up of atmospheric greenhouse gases has disrupted the Earth’s natural thermostat. What caught my interest was, what was that lucky fluke? Turns out it was the discovery of actual data, satellite measurements of the Earth’s heat radiation in 1970 which had “apparently got lost in somebody’s cupboard,” until three years ago (someone tidying up their office found it?). Of note is that these satellite readings had been mislaid for 30 years within the US space agency, NASA. I figure, well, if it can happen to them… it can happen to anybody. I do know I have in my “archives” a January 1955 issue of the Journal of Milk and Food Technology, the forerunner of this publication. It reminds me of how IAFP began, where we have been, and where we are going. The mission statement of IAFP is to provide food safety professionals worldwide with a forum to exchange information on protecting the food supply. Key to this mission is making sure that our publications, the Journal of Food Protection and this, our general membership publication, Food Protection Trends, are of the highest quality possible. Our scientific editors, John Sofos, Mike Davidson, Joe Frank (JFP) and Bill LaGrange (FPT) put in endless hours making sure that happens. The journal management committees, chaired by Isabel Walls (JFP) and Christine Bruhn (FPT), provide advice and guidance on publication issues. Without our Editorial Staff of David Tharp, Lisa Hovey, Bev Corron, Didi Loynachan, Donna Bahun and Pam Wanninger, none of it would come together! However, we also acknowledge that the high quality of our publications could not happen without three other groups of people — authors, peer-reviewers, and readers. The quality of scientific research and authoritative review articles printed each month relies on the quality of the research and expertise of scientists who submit manuscripts for consideration for publication. In the field of microbiological food safety, JFP is regarded as the leading publication, and it continues to have an increasing worldwide readership. This would not happen if the articles published were not of current, high quality science, which reflects on the high standards of the authors’ scientific endeavors. In 2002, we received 500 manuscripts for JFP. In all cases we strive to ensure that authors receive an efficient and unbiased assessment of their work, and try to publish papers promptly after acceptance. In 2002 the overall acceptance rate for unsolicited papers to JFP was 65%, and the average time from acceptance to publication was 180 days. In last month’s issue, Editor Bill LaGrange gave similar statistics for FPT. Underlying the very foundation of scientific excellence and integrity is the peer-review process. For this, we rely on the members of our editorial boards, all dedicated voluntary reviewers who spend substantial time and effort to provide rigorous, thorough assessments of each manuscript submitted. The expertise and willingness of each of these individuals contribute critically to the quality and success of both JFP and FPT. The goal of delivering the highest quality science possible is to serve the needs of our readers. Ideally, you, our readers get value not only from the timely articles in your own area of specialization, but also from the breadth of all the scientific research appearing each month in JFP, and the current events and articles published in FPT. To make our information more readily available to our readers, the full text of articles published in JFP are available online for members, and anyone visiting our Web site (www.foodprotection.org) can access abstracts of scientific articles published in both JFP and FPT, as well as the full text editorials and association news published in each month in FPT. Now, back to quasi-organizing my office… with a little more motivation,
although it is highly unlikely that something as interesting as NASA’s
satellite readings might be lurking in the back of a file cabinet drawer! |