Author Guidelines

Submission and author's guidelines

  Cover Letter:

Submissions should be accompanied by a cover letter including a declaration by the first author on behalf of the others to the effect that:

(1) The paper has not been published to date (except for abstracts of conference materials).

(2) The paper has not been accepted for publication elsewhere.

(3) All persons listed as the authors have read it and approved it for publication. 

The cover letters should be submitted in section "Comments for the Editor". Any unusual circumstances surrounding the research or explanations for deviation from standard procedures or format should be explained in the cover letter.

The corresponding author and all other authors of the manuscript should sign under their own names in the copyright assignment form before submitting the manuscript to this journal for publication. Corresponding author should enter all authors’ names, affiliations and emails while submitting the manuscript. In addition, authors are welcome to suggest three referees for their paper; however, the editors cannot guarantee assignment of a particular reviewer to a paper. Authors can provide editors with the names of persons they feel should not be asked to review a manuscript because of potential, usually professional, conflict of interest.

Articles must be written in accurate scientific English appropriate for publication. The articles are subject to review and editing; however, the authors are responsible for the correctness the manuscript's English language.

The articles must be submitted only online:

http://jfsh.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jfsh

 Policies:

The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject a paper without seeking reviewers’ opinion provide the content or the form of the paper does not meet minimum acceptance criteria or if the subject of the paper is beyond the aims and scope of the journal.

Everyone listed as the author of a paper is responsible for the reliability and completeness of data presented in the paper.

Do not submit papers that copy fully or partially previously published papers.

Indicate that this submission is ready to be considered by this journal by checking off the following:

• The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
• The submission file is in Microsoft Word document file format.
• Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
• The text is double-spaced; uses an Arial 12-point font; and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
• The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.

If the Editorial Board is not notified in advance and the paper is found to have been copied during editorial work, the paper shall be rejected. 

We expect that all studies reported in the journal conform to the requirements of the Declaration of Helsinki (1989). Information on the consent of a relevant ethics committee to perform the trial and the informed consent of the patients to participate in the trial should be given in the Material and methods section of each paper in which diagnostic or therapeutic intervention does not follow from the standard procedure. Authors of case reports must not disclose personal data of patients described.

Type of Manuscripts: The types of articles will be accepted for publication in JFSH including.

□ Original Article

□ Short Communication

□ Review Article

□ Case(s) Report

□ Letter to Editor

Details:

• Original Article: The maximum length of original papers (including tables and figures materials) is 5000 words.
• Short communication:  Short Communication are articles that satisfy all criteria for a Research Article including: 1.Report new, pilot tested research methods, 2.Report on secondary or ancillary results from a larger study, 3. Report results from a small or non-representative sample, and 4.Report on a topic that is considered low priority but would be of interest to some readers of the JFSH letters are limited to 2,000 words including maximum one table or figure and 10 references. The manuscript should be structured including introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, and conclusion with a structured abstracts as original articles.
• Review Article: Review Articles on selected topics should provide an up-to-date and authority’s review of a topic in any area of Food Safety and Hygiene. These are generally invited by the editor, but authors may otherwise suggest writing a Review Article on an issue of interest. The maximum length of review papers (including tables and figures materials) is 4000 words.
• Case Reports: Case Reports are limited to 2,500 words including references. The body of a Case Report Manuscript should include: title page, structured abstract (including: background, case presentation, conclusion), key words, Introduction, case presentation, discussion, conclusion, acknowledgments, references and illustrations (if applicable).
• Letter to Editor: Letter to Editor is timely and succinct expressions of responsible criticism or reaction to material published in recent issues. Letters to the editor may also call attention to topics of general interest to readers. Submission of a letter to the editor constitutes permission for the JFSH to publish it with or without editing and abridgment. Authors of letters to the editor must acknowledge financial and other conflicts of interest within the letter. Letters related to articles published in JFSH will receive top priority for publishing, and the authors of the articles will be given an opportunity to respond in a letter for simultaneous publication. Letters are limited to 1000 words with maximum 5 references, no abstract, no table or figure, and unstructured.

Structure of Articles:

• Manuscripts should be submitted in 12 points, Arial font, with double line spacing and sufficient margins of 2.5 cm.
• The text should not be formatted.
• Each section of the paper should begin on a new page.

The manuscript must include:

• Page 1: Title Page
• Page 2: Abstract and Key Words
• Page 3 and subsequent pages: manuscript body including Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables, Figures

1. Title page:

• Title page should contain paper title, full names of authors, authors’ place of work, full name and address of the corresponding author (including e-mail address and telephone number), given in that order.

2. Abstract page:

• The length of the abstract should be at least 200 and not more than 250 words for original papers and not more than 150 words for review papers and case reports. Abstracts of original papers should be structured to include the background, methods, results and conclusion.
• Below the abstract authors should provide between three and six keywords conforming to Medical Subject Headings (Index Medicus).

3. Page three and subsequent pages of the original paper and short communication should include the text arranged in the following order (for other manuscript type, see above):

1. Introduction: The introduction should be as concise as possible and introduce the context of the paper to the reader; the paper should clearly state the research hypothesis and the objective of the study.
2. Materials and Methods: Description of the studied population or material should be detailed and include all information necessary to assess the reliability of results obtained in the study and/or allow the experiment to be repeated by other researchers; the section related to statistical analysis should have information on applied statistical tests and programs. Materials and methods section should be contained in some subtitles.
3. Results: Present results directly related to the topic of the paper only; tables and/or figures are recommended. The results should be presented in text format, as well as in the form of tables and diagrams. Tables in limited numbers should be sub­mitted with the captions placed above. Do not submit tables as pho­tograph. Place explanatory matters in footnotes, not in the heading. Figures should be in limited numbers, with high quality art work and mounted on separate pages. The cap­tions should be placed below. Data and findings presented in the form of tables and diagrams should not be repeated in the text. Be stated precisely and not include material that is appropriate in the discussion. Units, quantities, and formulas mentioned according to the System International (SI units). All measurements presented in metric units. Numbers of tables & figures together should be less than 8.  
4. Discussion. Original and important features of the study should be stated and not repeat all the data presented within the results section and contain the significance of the findings and the relationship(s) and relevance to published observations. State only those conclusions that are supported by the study. The limitations and applications of the results should be mentioned.
5. Conclusions: These should be brief, follow directly from results presented above and correspond to the aim of the paper outlined in the introduction. The conclusions and recommendations based upon the findings of the study must be stated in a separate section or a paragraph drawing together the implications of the review topic and, if appropriate, giving suggestions for future research.
6. Acknowledgements: should comprise information on sources of funding (grant numbers); acknowledgements should concern those who made a significant contribution to the paper, but who did not meet the criteria to be listed as authors.
7. References: References should be listed in the order quoted in the paper. Please cite source and major papers that offer interested readers an opportunity to obtain more detailed information. Avoid citing review papers and conference reports, if they are not the only materials on a given topic. 

In the paper references should be given in parentheses with no space between the comma and the consecutive number.

Authors are advised to carefully verify citation details.

Give names of first three authors; if there are more authors, add “et al.“. Use Index Medicus abbreviations for journal titles. Only mention the volume of journal (not including the issue).

The recommended style for journal references is as follows:

[Reference number][Authors]. [Article title]. [Journal Name] [Year of publication]; [Volume]:[Pages range].

For journal Example:
Johnston LM, Jaykus LA, Moll D, et al. A field study of the microbiological quality of fresh produce. Journal of Food Protection 2005; 68:1840-47.

For books Example:
Books: Watson, D.H. 2002. Food Chemical Safety: contaminants. 1^st ed. Woodhead Publishing Limited.  320 p.

Chapter in book: Cantwell M, Kasmire R. Postharvest handling systems:  flower, leafy, and stem vegetables. Postharvest Technology of Horticultural Crops. Kader AA, editor. University of California, Davis. Agriculture and Natural Resources Publication, USA; 2002. p423-435.

Website: Pennington JA. Aflatoxin M1 in milk. Agriculture and natural resources. Available at: http://www.uaex.edu/publications/pdf/FSA -4018.pdf. Cited: Aug 12, 2014.

Tables: Each table should be placed on a separate page. Tables should be numbered with Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear in the text. Authors should indicate the position of tables in the paper. Titles and headings of tables should be given in English. Information given in tables should not be repeated in the body of the text. Explanations concerning tables, e.g. full names of abbreviations should be given in footers below tables and should be consecutively marked: “*”,“**”,“***” etc.

Figures: Figures and photographs should be numbered with Arabic numerals and attached as separate printouts (in the electronic version, as separate files). Figures should be saved in one of the following formats: .jpg.

Photographs sent electronically should be of the resolution of 300 dpi and in the .tif or .jpg format. Figures and photographs are placed in the paper in the form delivered, so they must be prepared carefully. Please indicate where they should be placed in the text.

Abbreviations: should be always clarified when used for the first time in the text (including the abstract). Abbreviations should not be used in paper titles, unless in exceptional circumstances. The full term for which an abbre­viation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a stan­dard unit of meas­urement.

Symbols: Symbols use only stan­dard abbre­viations. Avoid using them in the title and ab­stract.

Review process: All papers submitted for publication in the journal are assessed by two independent reviewers with the mutual anonymity rule as to the names of reviewers and authors observed.

Proofs: The proofs will be sent via email and must be accordingly corrected and get back within 48 hours. 

Copyright: Accepted manuscripts become the perma­nent prop­erty of the Journal and may not be repro­duced, in whole or in part, with­out the writ­ten per-mis­sion of the Editor.

Page charges: There are no charges for publica­tion in this Journal.

Disposal of material: Once published, all copies of the manuscript, correspondence and artwork will be held for 6 months before dis­posal.

The Editorial Board of the journal, re­serves the right to accept or reject the ar­ticle in any stage and any time or delete a part of the text, tables or figures, if neces­sary.

Copyright Notice: Accepted manuscripts become the perma­nent prop­erty of the Journal and may not be repro­duced, in whole or in part, with­out the writ­ten permis­sion of the Editor.

Numbers of tables & figures together should be less than 8.