Guidelines for Authors

The Italian Journal of Food Safety publishes the following article types:

 

Overview

Manuscripts will be carefully scrutinized for evidence of plagiarism, duplication and data manipulation; in particular, images will be carefully examined for any indication of intentional improper modification.

Any suspected misconduct ends up with a quick rejection and is then reported to the US Office of Research Integrity.

Submission checklist

You can use this list to carry out a final check of your submission before you send it to the journal for review. Please check the relevant section in this Guide for Authors for more details. Ensure that your work is written in correct English before submission.

Ensure that the following items are present:

One author (multiple corresponding authors are not allowed) has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:

  • E-mail address
  • Full postal address

All necessary files have been uploaded:

  • Manuscript file
  • Include keywords (no more than five)
  • All figures (include relevant captions)
  • All tables (including titles, description, footnotes)
  • Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided

Further considerations

  • Please prepare your manuscript for the single-blind peer review;
  • Ensure that all references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa
  • Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet)
  • A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare
  • Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed
  • Referee suggestions and contact details provided, based on journal requirements
  • Manuscript has been 'spell checked' and 'grammar checked'. Ensure that your work is written in correct English before submission. Note that submitted manuscripts will not go through language-focused copyediting with the journal prior to or after acceptance; language-focused copyediting is the responsibility of the authors prior to submission. Professional copyediting can help authors improve the presentation of their work and increase their chances of being taken on by a publisher. In case you feel that your manuscript would benefit from a professional English language copyediting checking language grammar and style, you can find a reliable revision service at:

 

Submission Procedure

The Corresponding Author (multiple corresponding authors are not allowed) must submit the manuscript online-only through our Manuscript Submission System. The Authors' metadata must be duly completed, by adding "contributors" when needed. Metadata are crucial for the indexing of the paper and of authors, and for attribution of copyright to ALL authors.

Attention: any submission received for a manuscript with more than one contributor, in which only one author has been inserted in the metadata, will result in immediate rejection, asking for a correct re-submission. The author names and affiliations inserted in the online submission system will be those which will be published in all the indexing directories. The Editorial staff is therefore not responsible for eventual inaccuracies or mistakes in the affiliations inserted during the submission process.

Authors are kindly invited to suggest potential reviewers (names, affiliations and email addresses) for their manuscript.

Declarations
All manuscripts must contain the following sections (compulsory):

  • Ethics approval and consent to participate
  • Consent for publication
  • Availability of data and material
  • Competing interests
  • Funding
  • Authors' contributions
  • Acknowledgements

Please see below for details on the information to be included in these sections.

If any of the sections are not relevant to your manuscript, please include the heading and write 'Not applicable' for that section. 

Ethics approval and consent to participate
Manuscripts reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must:
-include a statement on ethics approval and consent (even where the need for approval was waived)
-include the name of the Ethics Committee that approved the study and the committee’s protocol number.
Studies involving animals must include a statement on Ethics Approval and for experimental studies involving client-owned animals, authors must also include a statement on informed consent from the client or owner.
If your manuscript does not report on or involve the use of any animal or human data or tissue, please state “Not applicable” in this section.

 

Consent for publication
If your manuscript contains any individual person's data in any form (including any individual details, images, or videos), you must obtain permission to publish from that person, or, in the case of children, from their parent or legal guardian. All case report presentations must have permission to publish.
You should not submit the form to us immediately, but we may request a copy at any time (including after publication).
If your manuscript contains no data from any specific person, please indicate "Not applicable" in this section.

 

Availability of data and materials
All manuscripts must include a statement about the availability of data and materials. Data availability statements should include information on where to find data supporting the results reported in the article, such as hyperlinks to publicly archived datasets analyzed or generated during the study, if applicable. If your manuscript does not contain any data, please state 'Not applicable' in this section
Data availability statements can take one of the following forms (or a combination of several if multiple datasets are involved):

  • The datasets generated and/or analyzed during this study can be found in the [NAME] repository, [PERSISTENT WEB LINK TO DATASETS].
  • The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.
  • All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.
  • The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to [REASON WHY DATA ARE NOT PUBLIC], but are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.
  • The data that support the study's findings are available from [third party name], but there are restrictions on their availability because they were used under license for the current study and thus are not publicly available. However, the authors' data are available upon reasonable request and with the permission of [third party name].

 

Competing interest
This section requires the declaration of all competing financial and non-financial interests. Please contact the editorial office if you are unsure whether you or any of your co-authors have a competing interest. In this section, please use the authors' initials to refer to each author's competing interests. If you have no competing interests, please state in this section "The authors declare that they have no competing interests".

 

Funding
All sources of funding for the research reported should be declared. If the funder has a specific role in the conceptualization, design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript, this should be declared.

 

Authors' contributions
The individual contributions of authors to the manuscript should be specified in this section. Criteria for authorship can be found below (section Authorship and Contributorship). Please use initials to refer to each author's contribution in this section, for example: "FC, study concept, data analysis and interpretation, manuscript original drafting; RH, statistical analyses, histological examination, contribution to manuscript writing and editing. All the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work”.

 

Acknowledgements
Please acknowledge anyone who contributed to the article but does not meet the criteria for authorship, including anyone who provided professional writing services or materials. Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those mentioned in the Acknowledgements section. If you do not have anyone to acknowledge, please write "Not applicable" in this section.

Manuscript preparation

Manuscripts must be written in English.  Authors whose native language is not English are strongly advised to have their manuscript checked by a language editing service, or by an English mother-tongue colleague prior to submission.

The first page must contain:

    1. English title (lowercase), without acronyms;
    2. first name and family name of each author, separated by commas;
    3. names of affiliation(s) of each author translated in English;
    4. acknowledgments;
    5. full name and full postal address of the corresponding author. Phone, fax number and e-mail address for the correspondence should also be included;
    6. three to five key words, where the first letter of each key word is capitalized and key words are separated by commas.

The second page should contain the disclosures about potential conflict of interests, funding and ethical statements.

If abbreviations are used in the text, authors are required to write full name+abbreviation in brackets [e.g. Multiple Myeloma (MM)] the first time they are used, then only abbreviations can be written (apart from titles; in this case authors have to write always the full name).

If nomenclature is used, italics is adopted to designate genus, species, botanical varieties and words in Latin (e.g.: et al.) or other languages. For genes, loci and alleles nomenclature use italics and refer to the website: http://www.gene.ucl.ac.uk/nomenclature.

If units of measurements are used, they should be those recommended by the International System of Units (SI). Please check this website (https://www.bipm.org) for the English text, and this website (http://www.science.unitn.it/~labdid/sisint/si1_home/si_home.html) for the Italian text.

 

Tables and Figures

If tables are used, they should be double-spaced on separate pages of the manuscript, not embedded throughout the text. They should be numbered and cited in the text. Tables should be provided as editable Word files, and authors should ensure that they are presented in a publication-ready format. Considering how a table fits on a page in a wordprocessing program can often provide insight into how it will appear on a journal page.

Larger or more complex tables will be made available online as supplementary material at the Editorial Office's sole discretion, including ensuring efficient readability of the paper publishing format.

If figures are used, they should be numbered and cited in the text and inserted at the end of the manuscript. Figures should be designed using a well-known software package. Please note that the Production Office will not redraw or re-letter any image.

A different caption for each figure must be provided at the end of the manuscript. Figures with different panels have to be grouped into a plate, and panels marked with letters.

In case of acceptance, authors are required to provide the figures as .tiff or .jpg files, with the following digital resolution:

  1. Color (saved as CMYK): 300 dpi - maximum width 17 cm - minimum width 8.5 cm
  2. Black and white/grays: 600 dpi - maximum width 17 cm - minimum width 8.5 cm

 

Journal Sections:

Original Articles (4000 words max, abstract 250 words max, 30 references max, no more than 4 tables and/or figures): In general, this kind of publication should be divided into an Abstract (written in English), Introduction/Introduzione, Materials and Methods/Materiali e Metodi, Results/Risultati, Discussion/Discussione, Conclusions/Conclusioni and References/Bibliografia. A maximum of 20 authors is permitted and additional authors should be listed in an ad hoc Appendix.

Reviews (10,000 words max, abstract 250 words max, minimum 40 references, 3/5 tables and/or figures): They should be introduced by a general summary of content in the form of an Abstract (written in English). Following a short introduction, putting the study into context and defining the aim, reviews will concentrate on the most recent developments in the field. A review should clearly describe the search strategy followed (key words, inclusion, exclusion criteria, search engines, ...). No particular format is required; headings should be used to designate the major divisions of the paper.

Short Communications (about 2000 words, abstract 150 words max, 20 references max, 3 tables and/or figures): Short reports of results from original researches. They should be introduced by a general summary of content in the form of an Abstract (written in English) and should be further divided into Introduction/Introduzione, Materials and Methods/Materiali e Metodi, Results/Risultati, Discussion/Discussione, Conclusions/Conclusioni and References/Bibliografia. They must provide conclusive findings: preliminary observations or incomplete findings cannot be considered for publication.

Letters to the Editor (700 words max): These are written on invitation, short essays that express the authors’ viewpoint, may respond to published manuscripts in our journals, or deliver information or news regarding an issue related to the Journal scope. If the letter relates to a published manuscript, the authors of the original manuscript will be given the opportunity to provide a response. Authors of Letters to the Editor should provide a short title.

 

References

Citations are listed in strict alphabetical order by first author’ last names. Use capital and lower case letters for authors’ names. If all authors are identical for two or more citations, chronological order of publication should dictate the order of citations. When more than one paper in a given year is listed by authors whose names are in the same order in each paper, the papers are arranged in alphabetical order of the paper title. In this case, citations must be differentiated by using different letters in both the text and the References section. References to personal communications and unpublished data should not be incorporated in the text nor placed in the References section. Where available, URLs for the references should be provided directly within the MS-Word document.

References in the References section must be prepared as follows:

      1. title style: sentence case; please use a capital letter only for the first word of the title;
      2. journal titles mentioned in the References list should be abbreviated according to the following websites:
        1. ISI Journal Abbreviations Index (http://library.caltech.edu/reference/abbreviations/);
        2. Biological Journals and Abbreviations (http://home.ncifcrf.gov/research/bja/);
        3. Medline List of Journal Titles (ftp://ftp.ncbi.nih.gov/pubmed/J_Medline.txt);
      3. never put month and day in the last part of the references;
      4. cite only the volume (not the issue in brackets);

Examples:

Standard journal article
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, 2002. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med 347:284-7.

Proceedings
Christensen S, Oppacher F, 2002. An analysis of Koza’s computational effort statistic for genetic programming. In: Foster JA, Lutton E, Miller J, Ryan C, Tettamanzi AG, eds. Genetic programming. EuroGP 2002: Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Genetic Programming, 2002 Apr 3-5, Kinsdale, Ireland. Springer, Berlin, Germany, pp 182-91.

Article with organization as author
Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group, 2002. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension 40:679-86.

Books
Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA, 2002. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. Mosby, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Bjørn Lomborg, ed. 2012. RethinkHIV - Smarter ways to invest in ending HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM, 2002. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, eds. The genetic basis of human cancer. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, pp 93-113.

Regulations
IMPORTANT: please make sure to cite each Regulation in the Reference list by following the examples below.
ISO, 2002. Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs. Horizontal method for the detection of Salmonella spp. ISO Norm 6579:2002. International Standardization Organization ed., Geneva, Switzerland.
European Commission, 2004. Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 laying down specific hygiene rules for on the hygiene of foodstuffs, 853/2004/CE. In: Official Journal, L 139/55, 30/04/2004.
UNI, 2001. UNI U590A2520 Norm. [Analisi sensoriale. Metodo triangolare]. [Regulation in Italian]. Italian Unification Institute ed., Milan, Italy.


Permissions

When citing someone else's work or considering reproducing figures or tables from a book or journal article, authors should make sure that they are not infringing a copyright. In case extracts (text/figures/tables) from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright holder(s) and credit the source(s) in the article. A copy of the written permission has to be provided before publication (otherwise the paper cannot be published) and appropriately cited. The procedure for requesting permission is the responsibility of the Authors; PAGEPress will not refund any costs incurred in obtaining permission.

Peer-review policy

All submissions to Italian Journal of Food Safety are first checked for completeness (criteria for desk reject are available in the Guide for Authors) before being sent to an Editor, who decides whether they are suitable for peer review. If an Editor is on the author list or has a competing interest in a particular manuscript, another member of the Editorial Board will be assigned to oversee peer review. When making a decision, Editors will consider the peer-reviewed reports, but they will not be bound by the opinions or recommendations contained in them. A single peer reviewer's or the Editor's concern may result in the manuscript being rejected. Peer review reports are sent to authors along with the editorial decision on their manuscript.

Please see the About the Journal page for more information.

 

Submissions by an Editor
Papers submitted by an Editor or Board Member (including submission as a co-author) are handled by one of the other Editors who are not at the same institution as the submitting author/co-author. The Editor will select reviewers and make all the Editorial Decisions on the paper; if in doubt, the Editor will consult with one another.  
The journal's review software does not allow a conflicted editor to access their manuscript but in the role as Author, which does not disclose relevant editorial information on the manuscript itself.

Authorship and Contributorship
All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship according to the ICMJE criteria. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. Authorship credit should only be based on substantial contributions to: i) conception and design, or analysis and interpretation of data, and to ii) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and on iii) final approval of the version to be published; and iv) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship. General supervision of the research group is not sufficient for authorship. Authors should provide a brief description of their individual contributions. Those who do not meet all four criteria should not be listed as authors, but they should be acknowledged. Those whose contributions do not justify authorship may be acknowledged individually or together as a group under a single heading. Authors can find detailed information on the Publisher's website.

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Assisted Technology 
Authors must disclose whether they used artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies (such as Large Language Models [LLMs], chatbots, or image creators) in the creation of submitted work. Chatbots (such as ChatGPT) should not be listed as authors because they cannot be held accountable for the work's accuracy, integrity, and originality, all of which are required for authorship. Because AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that is incorrect, incomplete, or biased, authors should carefully review and edit the result. Authors should be able to assert that their paper contains no plagiarism, including text and images generated by AI. Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, do not currently satisfy our authorship criteria. Notably an attribution of authorship carries with it accountability for the work, which cannot be effectively applied to LLMs. Use of an LLM should be properly documented in the Methods section (if a Methods section is not available, in a suitable alternative part) of the manuscript. Use of an LLM for language editing must be stated in the Acknowledgments section.
We will review this policy on a regular basis and, if necessary, adapt it as we anticipate rapid development in this field in the near future.

 

Changes in Authorship

Authors are expected to carefully consider the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor:  Authors are requested to sign and send to the Editors a statement of agreement for the requested change from all listed authors and from the author(s) to be removed or added.
Please note that if your manuscript is accepted you will not be able to make any changes to the authors, or order of authors, of your manuscript once the editor has accepted your manuscript for publication. 
No changes to the Authors or Corresponding Author can be made after publication of the article. Instead, a corrigendum may be considered by the journal editor.

 

Proofs
The corresponding author will receive a PDF proof and is asked to check it carefully (the publisher will execute a cursory check only).
Corrections other than printer errors should be avoided. Costs associated with such corrections will be charged to the authors.
Please be aware that the Publisher is unable to accept corrections made in ways other than specified at https://www.pagepress.org/site/guidance

 

Early Access
This journal offers the Early Access service to authors and lets users access peer-reviewed and accepted articles well before publication in a regular issue.
The Early Access papers are newly published articles (Version of Records) but not yet assigned to an issue. These articles are searchable and citable by their DOI (Digital Object Identifier). 

 

Obligation to Register Clinical Trials 
The ICMJE believes that it is important to foster a comprehensive, publicly available database of clinical trials. The ICMJE defines a clinical trial as any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or concurrent comparison or control groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. Medical interventions include drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, process-of-care changes, etc. Our journals require, as a condition of consideration for publication, registration in a public trials registry. The journal considers a trial for publication only if it has been registered before the enrollment of the first patient. The journal does not advocate one particular registry, but requires authors to register their trial in a registry that meets several criteria. The registry must be accessible to the public at no charge. It must be open to all prospective registrants and managed by a non-profit organization. There must be a mechanism to ensure the validity of the registration data, and the registry should be electronically searchable. An acceptable registry must include a minimum of data elements (http://www.icmje.org/about-icmje/faqs/clinical-trials-registration/). For example, ClinicalTrials.gov (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov), sponsored by the United States National Library of Medicine, meets these requirements.

Protection of Human Subjects and Animals in Research
When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2013. If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. An Informed Consent statement is always required from patients involved in any experiments. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.  Further guidance on animal research ethics is available from the World Medical Association (2016 revision). When reporting experiments on ecosystems involving non-native species, Authors are bound to ensure compliance with the institutional and national guide for the preservation of native biodiversity.