JAFC. After 65 Years of Excellence—Prepared for the Future! - Journal

Editorial Cite This: J. Agric. Food Chem. 2018, 66, 1−4

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JAFC. After 65 Years of ExcellencePrepared for the Future!

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is the most trusted partner for scientists to dissiminate their research findings, catalyzing the transformation of the agri-food sector. The strong commitment and dedication of the editors and editorial advisory board (EAB) have been of enormous value in establishing JAFC as an international journal for rapid publication of cutting-edge research at the intersection of chemistry and agriculture, engineering, nutrition, and biomedicine, e.g., to illuminate unexplored raw materials, (bio)molecular tools, and nanotechnologies, to further advance cellular and precision agriculture, and to develop resource-smart bioconversion and processing technologies. To thank the editors and EAB members for their service to JAFC, we celebrated the 65th anniversary of JAFC during the 254th ACS National Meeting, held in Washington, D.C., August 20−24, 2017. Many thanks to ACS Publications for the great birthday cake!

n the inaugural issue of the journal published in April 1953, the Editor-in-Chief Walter J. Murphy justified the necessity of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (JAFC) as a new outlet of chemical science and engineering with the following statement: “...the chemical profession must play an ever more prominent role in understanding the fundamental nature of soil, water, atmosphere, plant, insect, animal, and man, if man is to survive as the fittest. Chemistry is fundamental to the problem of agriculture, food and nutrition, but today it’s a team job...” [The Editors Interview 18 Leaders in Science, Agriculture, and Food Processing. J. Agric. Food Chem. 1953, 1 (1), 28−41. DOI: 10.1021/jf60001a002]. He was right: since its foundation 65 years ago, JAFC has become the most influential journal in agricultural and food chemistry; with over 2 million article requests and almost 95 000 citations in 2017, JAFC has become the most cited journal in the categories agriculture, applied chemistry, and food science and technology. In 2017, manuscripts were submitted from 85 different countries, with the top 5 submitting countries (China, the U.S.A., Spain, Republic of Korea, and India) accounting for just over two-thirds of the total number of manuscripts received, thus demonstrating a truly global outreach to the scientific community; the journal published more than 1200 papers and reached an impact factor of 3.154, the highest ever in its history. The increasing impact of JAFC is dependent upon high-quality submissions by outstanding authors, such as those who have been recognized by the JAFC 2017 Research Article of the Year Award Lectureship, sponsored by JAFC together with the American Chemical Society (ACS) Divisions of Agrochemicals (AGRO) and Agricultural and Food Chemistry (AGFD): • Chan, W.; Pavlović, N. M.; Li, W.; Chan, C. K.; Liu, J.; Deng, K.; Wang, Y.; Milosavljević, B.; Kostić, E. N. Quantitation of Aristolochic Acids in Corn, Wheat Grain, and Soil Samples Collected in Serbia: Identifying a Novel Exposure Pathway in the Etiology of Balkan Endemic Nephropathy. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2016, 64 (29), 5928−5934. DOI: 10.1021/ acs.jafc.6b02203 • Zamora, R.; Aguilar, I.; Granvogl, M.; Hidalgo, F. J. Toxicologically Relevant Aldehydes Produced during the Frying Process Are Trapped by Food Phenolics. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2016, 64 (27), 5583−5589. DOI: 10.1021/ acs.jafc.6b02165 Both lectureships came with a 1000 USD award, and Dr. Pavlović and Dr. Hidalgo presented their work at the 254th ACS National Meeting in Washington, D.C., August 20−24, 2017. Building on a long tradition of publication excellence, JAFC reacted quickly to deliver on the ever-changing demand for new scientific solutions and efficient technologies that help to overcome increasing challenges in agricultural practices, food quality and supply, and nutritional health. Today, JAFC © 2018 American Chemical Society

The 65th anniversary cake of JAFC offered to the editors and EAB members at the 254th ACS National Meeting, Washington, D.C., August 20−24, 2017. To handle the increasing number of submissions in the field of food nanotechnology with the highest competence, we added new leading expertise to our team of associate editors. In August 2017, Prof. Dr. Josef Kokini, full professor of food science, Department of Food Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, U.S.A., was appointed as a new associate editor. His research expertise centers around food materials science, food nanotechnology and fabrication of nanobiosensors, linear and nonlinear rheology, and food structure and texture especially during extrusion, mixing process, and computational fluid dynamics. He will add another edge to the competence of the editorial board, in particular, in food material science and nanotechnology. Dear Joe, cordial welcome to our team! Published: January 10, 2018 1

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.7b05759 J. Agric. Food Chem. 2018, 66, 1−4

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Editorial

Josef Kokini, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, U.S.A., new associate editor of JAFC since August 2017. Takayuki Shibamoto (University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, U.S.A.) left the editorial board in December 2017. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Taka on behalf of ACS Publications, JAFC, and our board of editors for all his commitment, engagement, and efforts in serving as a JAFC associate editor over the last 8 years. Taka, your contributions went a long way to sustain the journal’s high reputation in the field. Cordial thanks!

Meeting of the board of editors at the 254th ACS National Meeting, Washington, D.C., August 20−24, 2017; from left to right: Zhen-Yu Chen (associate editor), Thomas Hofmann (editor-in-chief), Ivonne Hofmann-Sellier (editorial assistant), Veronika Somoza (associate editor), Ariel Grostern (managing editor), John W. Finley (associate editor), Qing X. Li (associate editor), Russell Molyneux (associate editor), Peter Schieberle (associate editor), Yoshinori Mine (associate editor), Holger Zorn (associate editor), Francisco Tomás-Barberán (associate editor), and Chi-Tang Ho (associate editor).

Harry Gruppen (Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, Netherlands) had to leave the editorial board in August 2017 after only 1 year of service due to personal reasons. On behalf of the ACS staff and JAFC readers, I would like to thank Harry for his active engagement as an associate editor and wish him fast rehabilitation and good health for the future. Our current editorial board includes 12 associate editors from Asia, Europe, and North America: Zhen-Yu Chen (Hong Kong), John W. Finley (U.S.A.), Chi-Tang Ho (U.S.A.), Josef Kokini (U.S.A.), Yoshinori Mine (Canada), Russell Molyneux (U.S.A.), Peter Schieberle (Germany), Veronika Somoza (Austria), Francisco Tomás-Barberán (Spain), Qing X. Li (U.S.A.), Liangli (Lucy) Yu (U.S.A.), and Holger Zorn (Germany). Without your commitment and joint activity, JAFC would not have managed to handle more than 5900 papers in 2017 while reaching an historic minimum of less than 70 days from submission to acceptance. To sustain JAFC as a most trusted partner in the field, we discussed at the editorial board meeting how to further professionalize and personalize our editorial work as well as our services for authors and reviewers. I want to take this opportunity to personally thank you for your engagement in improving our daily work quality and express my utmost appreciation for your professionalism and excellent work!

I strongly believe that the success of our journal is dependent upon the close integration of our committed EAB members into the various regional scientific communities. Aimed at bridging JAFC to the various regions where the journal has not yet reached potential authors and readers, we appointed new EAB members who will support the journal for the next several years and who will be passionate JAFC ambassadors, helping JAFC to expand its global reach. Let me cordially welcome our new members: • Antonio Evidente (University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy), with expertise in secondary metabolites, identification of novel compounds, and natural product/metabolite hemisynthesis. • Jin-Ming Gao (College of Chemistry & Pharmacy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China), with expertise in natural product isolation and structure determination as well as bioactives synthesis. • Cristina Garcia-Viguera (CSIC, Espinardo, Spain), with expertise in polyphenol and secondary metabolite analysis, processing, and storage of foods. 2

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.7b05759 J. Agric. Food Chem. 2018, 66, 1−4

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Editorial

• Eva Nordberg Karlsson (Lund University, Lund, Sweden), with expertise in enzymology of glycoside hydrolases/ tranferases, microbial carbohydrate conversion, and preand probiotics. • Kaisa Poutanen (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Espoo, Finland), with expertise in dietary fiber, cereal chemistry and technology, and plant food bioprocessing. • Juha-Pekka Salminen (University of Turku, Turku, Finland), with expertise in isolation, characterization, quantitation, and biological activity screening of polyphenols. • Eugene Vorobiev (Université de Technologie de Compiègne, Compiègne, France), with expertise in electrotechnologies for extraction from plants and biomaterials. • Zhanhui Wang (China Agricultural University, Beijing, China), with expertise in hapten molecules and analytical detection of chemical contaminants in foods. • Jochen Weiss (University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany), with expertise in physicochemistry of foods, disperse food systems, and meat science. • Shou-Wei Yin (South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China), with expertise in colloids, emulsions, and encapsulation of bioactive compounds. JAFC has the honor to be supported by nearly 15 000 active reviewers with almost 5000 world-leading scientists serving as peer reviewers each year. On behalf of ACS Publications and the editorial board, I want to express my heartfelt appreciation to all of the scientists who, with outstanding cooperative spirit and based on great expertise, contributed to professional reviewing, without which it would be impossible to maintain the high standards of our journal. I want to invite all of those scientists who want to become future reviewers to take advantage of the hands-on training offered by ACS. The new ACS Reviewer Lab is a free, 4 h online course developed to educate researchers on the principles of quality peer review, including the basics of peer review and ethics as well as real-life guidance on how to write a first-rate review. To express the editors’ gratitude to some of our best reviewers, JAFC again recognized 10 scholars whose efforts, dedication to quality, and professionalism have been considered outstanding in the past year. The following scholars are acknowledged with the 2017 JAFC Excellence in Review Award. My cordial appreciation for all of the constructive and timely reviews you prepared for JAFC and the honorable contribution you provided to the scientific community!

Chiara Cordero, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.

John Finley, USDA/ARS, Beltsville, MD, U.S.A.

Wei-Lun Hung, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, U.S.A.

Nikolai Kuhnert, Jacobs University Bremen, Bremen, Germany.

Michael Clifford, University of Surrey, Guildford, U.K. 3

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.7b05759 J. Agric. Food Chem. 2018, 66, 1−4

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Editorial

Jianping Wu, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. As we begin 2018, JAFC will further expand its support to bestin-class scientists developing and applying new molecular tools and technologies, helping to deliver on the most vital question of human survival: how to enable a more sustainable production of sufficient quantities of food with nutrient profiles and functionalities targeting the preferences, the acceptance, as well as the physiological needs of our Earth’s inhabitants. JAFC is now more than ever the place to publish this work. Here is to an exciting 2018!

Andrew Neilson, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, U.S.A.

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Thomas F. Hofmann, Editor-in-Chief AUTHOR INFORMATION

ORCID

Thomas F. Hofmann: 0000-0003-4057-7165 Notes

Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS. Christian Schuh, Altria Client Services, Richmond, VA, U.S.A.

Qin Wang, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, U.S.A.

Shuo Wang, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, China. 4

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.7b05759 J. Agric. Food Chem. 2018, 66, 1−4