Guide for Authors

Templates
All manuscripts submitted to Trophos Science of Food should be layouted prior to submission, following the templates provided in the journal website.

↓ Manuscript template

Topics

Authors should review the specific topic areas prior to submitting a manuscript.

Concise Reviews and Hypotheses in Food Science

Covers all aspects of food science, including food science education, identified in the scope of Trophos Science of Food . Reviews should provide in-depth coverage of a narrowly defined topic and embody careful evaluation of all pertinent studies (weaknesses, strengths, and explanation of discrepancies in results among similar studies), so that insightful interpretations, potential future research needs, and conclusions can be presented. Hypothesis manuscripts are appropriate in pioneering areas of research or important areas that are impacted by scientific controversy.

New Horizons in Food Research

This topic is reserved for groundbreaking articles that provide new and unique insights. Examples are manuscripts that provide a new understanding of a classical topic in food science, or those covering cutting-edge areas of food science. Manuscripts acceptable for publication but not meeting the criteria of this topic will be transferred to the appropriate topic.

Integrated Food Science

Food science is multidisciplinary by nature and manuscripts may provide comprehensive insight by measuring a range of properties. This topic covers manuscripts that address a specific subject, such as the science of gluten-free products, using techniques that span other areas. Key findings are based on a combination of methods (for example, chemistry, sensory, and physical properties) rather than advancing one area of food science. The use of multivariate and other appropriate statistical analysis is recommended.

If human sensory testing or animal testing is done as part of the study, it must comply with the IRB/ethics committee and IACUC guidelines cited in our instructions below.

Food Chemistry

Basic and applied chemical research on food constituents to understand their contribution to food quality, safety, nutrition, and health. The constituents may include those that are naturally present (such as macro- and micro-nutrients, fibers, and phytochemicals) or added (such as additives, preservatives, and functional ingredients) to the food. Acceptable manuscripts must report focused chemical research (chemical reactions, chemical and instrumental analysis, processes, or interactions as related to food) to address a specific and compelling hypothesis or mechanism, or to establish or improve an analytical method. Manuscripts that merely report the chemical composition of food without addressing a specific mechanism or hypothesis will not be considered.

Food Microbiology

Covers research on the interactions between microorganisms and foods, including foodborne pathogens, spoilage organisms, fermentation processes, and microbial ecology. Studies applying quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) to evaluate the prevalence and concentration of pathogens—such as Salmonella in chicken meat and other food matrices—are highly encouraged.

Food Safety

Focuses on the detection, prevention, and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards in the food supply chain. This includes risk analysis, predictive microbiology, toxicology, and the development of novel interventions or processing technologies to ensure the safety of food products from farm to table.

Sensory Science

Dedicated to the measurement, analysis, and interpretation of human responses to the sensory properties of foods. Acceptable manuscripts may include novel sensory evaluation methodologies, flavor chemistry correlations, cross-cultural sensory profiling, and the impact of processing or reformulation on sensory attributes.

Food Behaviour

Explores the psychological, cultural, and social factors influencing consumer food choices and dietary habits. Studies examining consumer acceptance of new food technologies, responses to sustainability labels, sensory-driven consumer behavior, and the socio-economic impacts on food consumption patterns are welcomed.

Editorial Policies

Originality & Plagiarism

Authors must verify, on behalf of all authors (if more than one), that neither this manuscript nor one with substantially similar content has been published, accepted for publication, or is being considered for publication elsewhere, except as described in an attachment. It is the authors’ responsibility to ensure the integrity of all submitted works.

The editorial staff will check all manuscripts for plagiarism and improperly-cited content with similarity detection software. If sections of text, figures, or tables are found that are (1) the same as in authors’ previous manuscripts (self-plagiarism) or (2) copied from other manuscripts, they will be considered ethical violations and the manuscript will be rejected and author sanctions considered.

Conflicts of Interest

Each author must disclose any meaningful affiliation or involvement, direct or indirect, with any organization or entity with a direct financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed (e.g., employment, consultancies, stock ownership, grants, patents received or pending, royalties, honoraria, expert testimony) in the past 3 years, or longer if readers might perceive that a potential conflict of interest exists. In the interest of transparency, it is better to err on the side of caution and disclose any perceived conflicts. These kinds of financial involvement are fairly common, unavoidable, and generally do not constitute a basis for rejecting a manuscript. A disclosure statement should be uploaded as a separate file during the submission process. If the manuscript is accepted, disclosures will be published in a “Conflicts of Interest” section.

In addition, a separate “Funding” section should list all sources of financial support for the work. Materials support and contributions from individuals who don’t qualify as authors should be acknowledged in the “Acknowledgments” section.

Human and Animal Testing Ethical Issues

If the work involves experimentation on living animals, authors must provide evidence that it was performed with approval from the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) at the researcher's institution, or that the research complied with guidelines described in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.

In the case of work involving human beings, evidence must be provided that it was performed with the approval of the authors' Institutional Review Board (IRB) or local ethics committee. Subjects must also provide informed consent. Authors are expected to adhere to established ethical best practices, such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) International Standards for Authors.

Preparing Your Manuscript: General Instructions

Language, units of measurement, and symbols

Use the English language (American spelling and usage) and the SI system (Système International d’Unités, “International Units”) for measurements and units.

Style

Trophos Science of Food strictly adheres to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), 7th Edition, for all citations and references. References in the text must follow the author-date system, and the reference list must be arranged alphabetically at the end of the manuscript.

Format

• Continuous line-numbering for the entire manuscript is required.
• Double-space the entire manuscript.
• Submitted manuscripts must list full names for all authors.
• Try to restrict individual file sizes to 5Mb maximum. Larger files may be uploaded, but these can lead to download issues for reviewers.
• Submissions must be uploaded directly to the Open Journal Systems (OJS) portal at: https://www.nusaxis.com/index.php/trophos

Constructing Concise Reviews & Hypotheses Manuscripts

Essential elements are the title page, abstract, introduction, main text, conclusions, and references. Summary tables and figures dealing with key points should be used liberally. Use headings and subheadings as needed to improve the clarity and readability of the presentation.

Review manuscripts

The topic must be covered in depth and information must be critically evaluated (strengths, weaknesses, discussion of discrepancies in results among similar studies) so that insightful, integrative interpretations and conclusions are achieved. Concise Reviews should deal in depth with a narrowly defined topic and be under 8,000 words in the text (excluding tables, figures, and references). 

Hypothesis manuscripts

A statement describing the importance of the topic and the objectives of the presentation should appear in the Introduction. Follow this with a logical progression of ideas or concepts that provide a rationale for the hypothesis, and end with conclusions, including recommendations for hypothesis-testing research.

Constructing Original Research Manuscripts

Essential elements are the title page, abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion, conclusions, and references. The abstract should be clear, concise, and provide the principal results and major conclusions of the study.

Supplementary materials can be submitted to be published exactly as you provide them, with no copyediting. Examples include large data sets or additional tables/figures that will be valuable to readers but are ancillary to the published data. Multimedia (audio, video, and animation) files demonstrating important information relevant to the article can be published as supplemental material. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and file functionality remains entirely with the authors. A disclaimer will be displayed to this effect.

Statistics Guidelines

Description of the Experimental Design and Basic Data Presentation

In all studies, the conditions to obtain the data must be comprehensively described. The experimental design (also called design of experiments) should be described and can include a completely randomized design, mixture design, 2^k/3^k designs, and many others. In the case that more than one factor is studied, the factors should be clearly stated and proper statistical methods should be applied.

A Word About Replication

• The number of true replicates obtained must be reported. Systematic analysis in triplicate from a single sample is not considered a true replicate. A true replicate is the repetition of an experimental condition so that the variability associated with the phenomenon can be estimated. For instance, in the extraction of resveratrol from purple grape skin, one should conduct the extraction procedure at least 3 times so the variability (i.e., standard deviation) can be calculated.

• For quantitative data analysis, the general goal is 3 true replicates; however, experimental limitations may limit it to two true replications. The use of 2 rather than 3 or more replications must be justified by the authors.

• Products or analyses made in a short period of time (or in the same batch) for the same product reflect the variance of the MEASUREMENT and not the EXPERIMENT. Repeated sampling from the same batch or analyte (e.g. three GC runs on the same sample) are considered pseudo-replicates, not true replicates.

Data Presentation - Graphs and Tables

Experimental data should be clearly summarized in graphs and tables.

• Mean values must be reported and accompanied by some measure of variability such as standard deviation (SD), standard error of the mean (SEM), or 95% confidence interval, as appropriate. Tables and figures without some measure of dispersion are not acceptable. One example of a proper data table format includes showing the condition mapped to the mean along with the ± standard deviation.

Editorial Office Contact

For inquiries regarding the submission process or manuscript requirements, please contact Editor-in-Chief prior to submission.