Submission Information & Style Guide

Editorial Purpose

Food Technology's editorial purpose is to present information regarding the development of new and improved food sources, products, and processes, their proper utilization by industry and the consumer, and their effective regulation by government agencies. Feature articles cover all aspects of food, from harvesting to consumption. Topics include but are not limited to biochemistry, biology, biotechnology, chemistry, consumerism, education, energy analysis, engineering, equipment, experimental design, food safety, foodservice, history, information retrieval, labeling, laboratory equipment and instrumentation, management, marketing, microbiology, nutrition, packaging, pollution control, processing, process instrumentation and control, product development, quality assurance, regulation, and research.

Types of Articles

Articles for publication in Food Technology may be original research reports; state-of-the-art reviews; symposia papers; or discussions of new products, equipment, techniques, ingredients, regulations, educational developments, marketing trends, or events of historical significance. They may also be opinions or commentaries on current events that affect the food industry or food technologists.

Serial articles are not accepted for publication; each article must be complete.

Authors should submit an outline of the proposed article to the Editor for prompt advice as to whether the article would be suitable. Authors need not be members of the Institute of Food Technologists.

Articles should be prepared in a feature style, rather than in the standard scientific paper format. See back issues of Food Technology for examples.

Criteria for Acceptance

To be considered for publication, an article must report on a significant development; have a direct bearing on food, IFT, or IFT members; be of interest to a significant number of IFT members; include sufficient data to support claims and/or conclusions; not have been published elsewhere; and not be under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Acceptability and accuracy of each submitted article are determined by having it peer reviewed by two scientists known to be experts in the subject area discussed in the article.

Other reasons besides quality and scientific merit, however, affect the decision to accept or reject an article. Among these are the amount of space available, the quality of other articles competing for that space, the mix of articles desired, and the expected degree of interest to IFT members. For these reasons, an article that otherwise meets the criteria enumerated above may occasionally be rejected.

Length

The preferred length for articles is about 4,000 words or four printed pages, including all photographs, figures, tables, and references. Each figure, table, or photo generally equals one-fourth of a page.

Copyright

Papers accepted for publication become the sole property of the publisher, IFT, who holds the copyright. United States and convention copyright laws prohibit reproduction by anyone, including authors, without permission. Requests for permission to reproduce material should be made by writing to the editor.

Sequence of Events

Each submitted manuscript goes through the following steps:

• Peer Review. The manuscript is sent to two experts in the subject area of the manuscript for review. If they disagree as to whether the manuscript should be published in Food Technology, the manuscript may be sent to a third reviewer acting as a referee.
• Revision. If the reviewers recommend publication after minor revision, the manuscript is either sent back to the author for revision or revised by one of the editors. If the reviewers recommend publication only after major revision, the manuscript is returned to the author for revision. The revised and resubmitted manuscript may be sent back to the reviewers for checking.
• Editing. Once the manuscript is accepted, it is edited to make sure that grammar and punctuation are correct, ideas are expressed clearly, no ambiguities exist, no obvious scientific errors exist, and the manuscript is in Food Technology's style.
• Author Approval. The edited manuscript is then sent to the author for any necessary clarification and approval. At this stage, the author may make any further changes desired. This is the author's last contact with the manuscript prior to publication; no proofs are sent to the author.
• Typesetting and Proofreading. When the author's changes and approval have been received, the editor makes any final changes and has the manuscript typeset. The editor then proofreads the typeset manuscript.
• Publication and Reprints. Upon publication, the author is sent a copy of the issue in which the article appears, along with a reprint order form.

Preparation of Manuscript

Type the manuscript on 8-in x 11-in white paper, with 1-in margins all around. Type everything double-spaced: text, references, acknowledgments, tables, footnotes to tables, and figure captions. Do not use single spacing anywhere. Do not submit manuscripts typed in all capital letters.

Arrange the article in the following order: title page, text, references, acknowledgments, tables, figure captions, and figures. Do not include an abstract or a summary.

Number all pages consecutively, beginning with the title page as page 1. Type the last name of the author and the page number at the top right-hand corner of every page.

Title Page

Include the following information on the title page:

• Title. Make the title brief but long enough to accurately describe the contents of the article and be useful for information retrieval.
• Subtitle. Include a short subtitle (up to three lines) to briefly describe the article in more detail. This subtitle is not considered part of the title and is not used for information retrieval.
• Authors' Byline. Include the names of all the authors, capitalizing only the initial letters. Spell out first names, if desired. Do not include academic degrees after the name. Indicate whether each author is a Professional Member of IFT.
• Authors' Affiliation and Address. State each author's title and affiliation, including full address and zip code; e.g., Author Smith, a Professional Member of IFT, is President, Clinch Co., 3240 W. Albany St., Minneapolis, MN 55114. Author Jones is Research Scientist, Verona, Inc., 224 Halard Ave., Chicago, IL 60643.
• Reprint Requests. State to which author reprint requests should be addressed; e.g., Send reprint requests to author Smith.
• Telephone, Fax, and E-Mail Numbers. At the bottom of the page, indicate each author's telephone number, fax number, and E-mail address. These numbers will not be published.

Text

Write the article in a feature style, not the standard scientific report style (See Food Technology for examples). Use active voice whenever possible, and do not be afraid to use first person (I, we).

Divide the article into sections and suggest headings ("sideheads") that briefly describe the contents of each section. Capitalize only the first letter of each word in the sidehead except articles and prepositions. Begin the sidehead at the left margin. Do not underline the sideheads.

Indicate subsections, if any, within these sections by numbers, letters, bullets (dots), or bullets followed by one or more words. These subsections should be preceded by a paragraph indent, and subsequent lines should begin at the left margin (as in this paragraph). Use only left justification.

Enumerate items within a paragraph with numbers (or lowercase letters) within parentheses; e.g., There are three types of preservation methods: (1) drying, (2) canning, and (3) freezing. Use footnotes only in tables, not in the text.

Do not end the article with a summary or conclusions section unless new information or thoughts are presented. Use a descriptive sidehead rather than "Summary" or "Conclusions."

References in Text

Cite references in the text in the following ways:

1. With the last name of the author as part of the sentence, immediately followed by the year of publication in parentheses; e.g., Smith (1963) reported growth on media.
2. With last name of author and year of publication in parentheses, usually at the end of a sentence; e.g., The starch granules are normally elongated in the milk stage (Brown, 1956).

If there are two authors, cite both names; e.g., Smith and Jones (1986). If there are three or more authors, use the name of the first author followed by "et al."; e.g., Smith et al. (1966).

Use commas to separate publications by the same author and semicolons to separate publications by different authors (e.g., Robbins, 1982a, b; Thomas, 1986, 1987a, b; Vygantas, 1988).

Trade Names

Trade names may be cited in the text of the article but not in the title. They should only be used the first time the item is mentioned. Place the appropriate trademark symbol (^TM or ®) as a superscript following the name. Capitalize only the first letter of the trade name unless it is an acronym. Place the name and location (city and state) of the manufacturer in parentheses following the first mention of the trade name. Capitalize only the first letter of each word in the company name, unless it is an acronym.

Equations

Begin typing equations at the left margin. Type the equation in a straight line rather than stacked. If the equation runs more than one line, align the runover lines to the right of the equal sign. Distinguish between the number "one" (1) and the letter "el" (l), and between "zero" (0) and the capital letter "oh" (O).

Number all equations. Type the equation number in italic numerals within parentheses at the right margin of the final line of the equation.

Refer to equations by the abbreviation "Eq."

Computer Programs

Do not submit computer programs in their entirety; inlude only small portions for illustrative purposes. A statement that the entire program is available from the authors can be included in the text or in the acknowledgments section.

List of References

Begin references on a new page. Type "References" at the left margin, capitalizing only the R; do not underline the word. Begin each reference at the left margin, and indent subsequent lines. Type all references double-spaced.

Make sure that each reference cited in the text is included in the reference list and that each reference in the list has been cited in the text; also that the names are spelled correctly in both the text and the reference list.

Include personal communications, unpublished manuscripts, and unpublished data in the list of references, with the author's affiliation and location; e.g., Smith, A. 1985. P ersonal communication. Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul.

Arrange the references in alphabetical order. More than one paper by the same author (or authors) should be arranged in chronological order, except that papers by a single author should precede papers by two authors, which should in turn precede papers by three or more authors. Papers by three or more authors should be listed chronologically as though the authors were "Smith et al.," regardless of the first author's first initial; e.g., Smith, R., Jones, B., and Artz, W. 1958. would precede Smith, A., Artz, W., and Spiegal, V. 1967.

Type each reference in the following order: author(s), year, title, and bibliographic citation. See examples at end of this style guide.

• Author. List all authors for each reference; do not use "et al." Surnames should precede initials; given names should not be spelled out. When the author is not indicated, "Anonymous" (not abbreviated) should be used. Organizations and government agencies may be cited as authors: e.g., IFT, ACS, FDA, USDA .
• Year. Use lowercase letters a, b, c, etc., following the year to distinguish among different publications by the same author(s) in any one year; e.g., Johnson, R. 1990a .
• Title and Bibliographic Information. Titles of publications in languages other than English should be given in the original language, where possible, using the English alphabet; transliterations or translations are acceptable for references originally in other alphabets.

For article and chapter titles, capitalize only the first word and any proper nouns. For book titles, capitalize all nouns and put the title within quotation marks. Do not underline the title. Italicize only those words that were underlined or italicized in the original, such as names of microorganisms.

A book title should be followed by the names of the editors, if any, and the name and location of the publisher.

A chapter title should be followed by "Chpt. in" and the book title, names of editors, inclusive page numbers of the chapter, and the name and location of the publisher.

A journal article title should be followed by the name of the journal, volume number, issue number in parentheses, colon, space, and all page numbers of the referenced item, not just the first page (e.g., Food Technol. 45(10): 86-88, 90 ). If the pages in the journal are numbered consecutively throughout the volume, omit the issue number. The name of the journal should be abbreviated. Retain the original word order when abbreviating, but omit articles, conjunctions, and prepositions, unless they are necessary for clarity. Do not abbreviate journal names consisting of a single word, or personal names when they begin a journal name. Do not underline or italicize the name of the journal.

Papers accepted for publication but not yet published should show the journal name followed by "In press." Do not list articles as "Submitted for publication" to a particular journal, because they might not be accepted by that journal; instead, list them as "Unpublished manuscript" and give the affiliation and location of the author.

Papers presented at scientific meetings but not published should indicate the date and location of the meeting and name of the sponsoring organization or the organization from which a copy can be obtained.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments to others for assistance, etc., should be brief. Place acknowledgments after the list of references, separated from it by a rule. Do not include a heading.

If the article was based on a paper presented during a meeting, cite the meeting name, location, date, and sponsoring organization; e.g., Based on a paper presented during the IFT Food Microbiology Div. symposium, "Filtration and Physical Separation Techniques," at the Annual Meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists, New Orleans, La., June 19-22, 1988.

If the article is a contribution from an agricultural experiment station, give the credit here; e.g., Journal Series Paper No. 13467 from the University of Georgia Agricultural Experiment Station.

The name of the Food Technology editor who edited the article will be printed at the end of the article.

Tables

Do not repeat the same data in the text and in tables, or in both tables and figures.

Do not type tables in the body of the text. Instead, place them after the acknowledgments.

Type each table on a separate page. If it is necessary to continue a table on another page, type "(continued)" at the bottom of the first page of the table and "(Table 1, continued)" at the top of the subsequent page(s).

Number tables in Arabic numerals. The table number should be followed by a one-em dash (-), not a period, and a descriptive title. The table should be self-explanatory without reference to the text.

Do not use vertical lines in tables.

Capitalize only the first letter of the first word in column headings.

If the unit of measurement is the same for all data in a particular column, place the unit in parentheses under the column heading. Indicate footnotes by superscript letters, not numbers or symbols, assigned in alphabetical order from left to right and top to bottom.

Use superscript or regular letters, not asterisks, to indicate statistical significance.

Figures

Submit figures that are professional in appearance and illustrate the point being made. Do not repeat the same data in both tables and figures.

Photographs

Submit either color slides or glossy color or black-and-white prints of professional quality. Send not only photos that are specifically referred to in the article, but also color photos that can be used as general illustrations ("mood shots") or as the cover of the issue the article appears in.

Charts and Graphs

Submit original art work for charts and graphs or glossy black- and-white photographs of them. The charts and graphs should be clear, easy to read, and professional in appearance. Use sans-serif type if available. Avoid using typewritten lettering. Dot-matrix illustrations do not reproduce well and should be redrawn. Also submit a list of data points on a separate sheet of paper, so the art work can be reconstructed, if necessary.

Make all illustrations and labeling consistent in style and size.

Place labeling parallel to each axis. Capitalize only the first letter of the first word and words that are normally capitalized. Abbreviate the units of measurement (without periods after the abbreviation) and place them in parentheses after the label. Center the labeling along the axis.

For lettering within the figure, use large enough letters (preferably sans-serif) so that they will be readable after reduction (see Food Technology for examples). Capitalize only the first letter of the first word and words that are normally capitalized.

For additional suggestions on preparing charts and graphs, see "A Primer on Using Visuals in Technical Presentations," by J.W. King and J. Rupnow, Food Technol. 46(5): 157-160, 165-168, 170 (1992).

Label each figure with the name of the author and the figure number; put this information in the margin of the drawing or photograph, or on the back if no room is available in the margin.

Captions

Write captions that are self-explanatory without reference to the text. Type the captions for all the figures on the same sheet of paper, separate from the figures (continuing on a subsequent page, if necessary).

For each caption, abbreviate the word Figure as "Fig." and follow it with the figure number in Arabic numerals. Follow the number with a one-em dash and a descriptive title.

Cover Illustrations

If you have any color photos, slides, drawings, paintings, computer graphics, or other eye-catching material that you think would be suitable to serve as a cover illustration for Food Technology or to illustrate your article, please submit it for consideration.

Abbreviations

Use the two-letter zip code abbreviations (e.g., AZ, CA) only when they are accompanied by zip codes; in all other cases, use the traditional abbreviations (e.g., Ariz., Calif.).

Thiamine should be spelled thiamin, and vitamins B6 and B12 should be typed as vitamins B-6 and B-12.

Other Guidelines

Additional guidelines regarding the preparation of articles on specific subject areas appeared in Volume 60 (1995) of Journal of Food Science: sensory evaluation (pp. 210-211); nutrition (p. 427); food engineering (pp. 649-652); food microbiology (pp. 880-881); and seaFood Technology (p. 1157). Guidelines for papers on fruit and vegetable products and foodservice are in press. These are all supplements to the "Style Guide for Research Papers" published in Vol. 59 (1994) of Journal of Food Science (pp. 1367-1370). For a copy of any of these guidelines, write to the Editor at nhmermelstein@ift.org.   

How to Submit Manuscripts

Submit three copies of the manuscript, typed doublespaced as indicated above. In addition to these paper copies, also submit the manuscript on an IBM-compatible, 3.25-in computer diskette, using any of the major word processing programs (WordPerfect is preferred) or ASCII. Label the diskette with the name and version of the word processing program used. Use a single typeface throughout except for special characters; use left justification only; do not underline; and keep formatting to a minimum, using only bold, italic, superscript, and subscript. Alternatively, the electronic version may be submitted by E-mail to the Editor (nhmermelstein@ift.org); attach the article as a Word document.

Examples of References

Anonymous
Anonymous. 1994. Food Technology editors honored for excellence.
          Food Technol. 48(9): 17.

Article/Published Paper
Mermelstein, N.H. 1993. Controlling E. coli O157:H7 in meat.
          Food Technol. 47(4): 90-91.

Book
Rao, M.A. and Rizvi, S.S.H. 1994. "Engineering Properties of 
          Foods," 2nd ed. Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York.

Bulletin/ Report
GAO. 1994. Food safety. Risk-based inspections and microbial
          monitoring needed for meat and poultry. Rept. GAO/RCED-
          94-110. General Accounting Office, Washington, D.C.

Chapter
Acton, J.C. and Dawson, P.L. 1994. Color as a functional property
          of proteins. Chpt. 12 in "Protein Functionality in Food
          Systems, " ed. N.S. Hettiarachchy and G.R. Ziegler, pp.
          357-381. Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York.

Non-English Reference
Brenes, M., GarcÆa, P., Romero, C., and Garrido, A. 1993.
          Estudio de los factores que afectan a la velocidad de
          neutralizaciùn de la pulpa durante la elaboraciùn de
          aceitunas tipo negras. Grasa y Aceites 44: 190-194.

Paper Accepted/In Press
Ena, J.M., Van Beresteijan, E.C.H., Robben, A.I.P.M., and
          Schmidt, D.G. 1995. Whey protein antigenicity reduction by
          fungal proteinases and a pepsin/pancreatin combination.
          J. Food Sci. In press.

Paper Presented
Yam, K.L. 1995. Designing modified-atmosphere packaging for
          fresh produce. Presented at Ann. Mtg., Inst. of Food
          Technologists, Anaheim, Calif., June 3-7.

Patent
Hine, W.S. 1994. Non-fat cheese sauce. U.S. patent 5,304,387.

Regulation
FDA. 1994. Proposal to establish procedures for the safe
          processing and importing of fish andfishery products. Food
          and Drug Admin., Fed. Reg. 59: 4142-4214.

Secondary Source
Carpenter, D.E. and Lee, S. 1993. AOAC methods and
         determination of fat. The Referee (AOAC Intl.) 19(19): 1-9.
         Cited in DeVries, J.W. and Nelson, A.L. 1994. Meeting
         analytical needs for nutrition labeling. Food Technol. 48(7): 
         73-79.
Nelson, K.A. and Labuza, T.P. 1994. Water activity and food
         polymer science: Implications of state on Arrhenius and
         WLF models in predicting shelf life. J. Food Eng. 22: 271-
         289. Abstr. 8A13 cited in Food Sci. Technol. Abstr. 26(8): 4
         (1994).

Thesis
Richburg, B.A. 1992. Machine vision microscopy as an on-line
         sensor for bioprocesses. Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Illinois, 
         Urbana-Champaign.

Unpublished Manuscript/Data/Letter
Batt, C.A. 1993. Unpublished manuscript. Dept. of Food Science,
          Cornell Univ., Ithaca, N.Y. Fuller, J.F. Jr. 1995. Personal
          communication. Heinz U.S.A., Pittsburgh, Pa.