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FOOD POLICY

Guide for Authors



The editors of Food Policy welcome proposals for special issues on topics that fall within the scope of the journal. Please click here to see the aims and scopes of Food Policy.

Each special issue is the responsibility of guest editor(s). Those wishing to guest edit a special issue should prepare a proposal as outlined below, then send this to foodpolicy@soas.ac.uk.

As Food Policy is only able to publish one to two special issues per year, the editors will seek to identify the proposals of the highest quality for publication by the following competitive process. There are two deadlines each year for submission of special issue proposals: April 15th and October 15th. As soon as possible after each of these dates, the editors of Food Policy will consider all special issue proposals that conform to the journal's guidelines and which have been received in the previous six-month period, up to close of business on the deadline date. All potential guest editors who have submitted proposals will be informed by e-mail of the success or otherwise of their proposal.

For prospective Guest editors please see the guidelines for the process by which the editors will select special issues:

Guidelines for Guest Editors of Food Policy Special Issues

Submission of Papers

Authors are requested to submit their articles online. Please prepare your manuscript in accordance with the guidelines below, and then go to the online submission page of this journal at External link http://ees.elsevier.com/foodpolicy/. Authors will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. The system automatically converts source files to a single Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the article, which is used in the peer-review process.

A typical Food Policy article is around 6000 words in length, although longer articles will be accepted on an occasional basis if the topic demands this length of treatment. These word lengths are for the complete submission, including abstract, end notes, tables, references and appendices.

Contributions are received with the understanding that they comprise original, unpublished material and are not being submitted for publication elsewhere.

All articles are refereed to ensure both accuracy and relevance, and amendments to the script may thus be required before final acceptance. Authors will receive proofs for approval before publication.

Manuscript Preparation

Manuscripts should be prepared in Word or Wordperfect files. We recommend that authors print out and carefully read through their manuscript before submitting it to the journal.

The authors' contact details (institutional affiliation of all authors, plus full postal address, email address, telephone and fax number of the corresponding author) should be contained in a separate file from the manuscript itself. There should be no reference anywhere in the manuscript which would identify an author.

Manuscripts must be double-spaced with wide margins and a font size of 12 or 10. Pages should be numbered. The Editors reserve the right to adjust style to certain standards of uniformity.

The text should be organized under appropriate section headings which, ideally, should not be more than 600 words apart. All headings should be placed on the left-hand side of the text, with a double-line space above and below. Figures and tables should be submitted in a separate style.

Endnotes should be indicated in the text by superior Arabic numerals which run consecutively through the paper. They should be grouped in a section at the end of the text in numerical order and double spaced.

Abstract: Each paper should be provided with an Abstract of about 150 words, outlining in a single paragraph the aims, scope and conclusions of the paper. Authors will also be required to provide the text of the abstract separately during the manuscript submission process.

Units: All measurements should be given in metric (SI) units.

References: All publications cited in the text should be presented in a list of references following the text of the manuscript. In the text refer to the author's name (without initials) and year of publication (e.g. "Since Peterson (1993) has shown that..." or "This is in the agreement with results obtained later (Kramer, 1994)"). For three or more authors use the first author followed by "et al.", in the text. The list of references should be arranged alphabetically by authors' names. The manuscript should be carefully checked to ensure that the spelling of authors' names and dates are exactly the same in the text as in the reference list.
References should be given in the following form: Jaeger, W.K., 1992. The causes of Africa's food crisis. World Development 20 (11), 635-647. Kaynak, E. (Ed.), 1986. World Food Marketing Systems. Butterworths, Borough Green. Wilson, J.G., Fraser, F.C. (Eds.), 1977-1978. Handbook of World Development, vols. 1-4. Plenum Press, New York.

Tables: Tables should be numbered consecutively and given a suitable caption. Each table should appear on a separate page at the end of the manuscript. A suitable phrase (e.g. "TABLE X ABOUT HERE") should be inserted within the manuscript text to show roughly where the table should eventually appear. Footnotes to tables should be typed below the table and should be referred to by superscript lowercase letters. No vertical rules should be used. Tables should not duplicate results presented elsewhere in the manuscript, (e.g. in graphs).

Figures: Photographs, charts and diagrams are all to be referred to as "Figure(s)" and should be numbered consecutively in the order to which they are referred. Each electronic figure should appear on a separate page at the end of the manuscript. A suitable phrase (e.g. "FIGURE X ABOUT HERE") should be inserted within the manuscript text to show roughly where the figure should eventually appear. Figures should be provided in high resolution, suitable for reproduction (which may include reduction) without retouching. The file name should be clear with the figure number and the author's name. All figures are to have a caption. Captions should be supplied on a separate page.
Line drawings: High quality images are required. All lettering, graph lines and points on graphs should be sufficiently large and bold to permit reproduction when the diagram has been reduced to a size suitable for inclusion in the journal. Dye-line prints or scanned photocopies are not suitable for reproduction. Do not use any type of shading on computer-generated illustrations.
Photographs: Original photographs must be supplied as they are to be reproduced (e.g. black and white or colour). If necessary, a scale should be marked on the photograph. Please note that scanned photocopies of photographs are not acceptable.

Colour Illustrations: Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for colour in print or on the Web only. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see External link http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions .

Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting colour figures to "grey scale" (for the printed version should you not opt for colour in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the colour illustrations.

Proofs

Proofs will be sent to the author (first named author if no corresponding author is identified of multi-authored papers) and should be returned within 48 hours of receipt. Corrections should be restricted to typesetting errors; any others may be charged to the author. Any queries should be answered in full. Please note that authors are urged to check their proofs carefully before return, since the inclusion of late corrections cannot be guaranteed.

Offprints

Twenty five offprints will be supplied free of charge. Further offprints, minimum order 50, can be purchased from the publisher.

Copyright

All authors must sign the "Transfer of Copyright" agreement before the article can be published. This transfer agreement enables Elsevier Ltd to protect the copyrighted material for the authors, without the author relinquishing his/her proprietary rights. The copyright transfer covers the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article, including reprints, reproductions and translations. It also includes the right to adapt the article for use in conjunction with computer systems and programs, including reproduction or publication in machine-readable form and incorporation in retrieval systems. Authors are responsible for obtaining from the copyright holder permission to reproduce any material for which copyright already exists.

Supplementary material: Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips, and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier web products, including ScienceDirect.

To ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please provide data in one of our recommended file formats. Supplementary data must be saved in files separate from those for the manuscript and figures, and all file names must be supplied. Supplementary files should either be referred to from within the text of your manuscript in the same way as for figures or tables, or their presence be indicated by adding a paragraph entitled 'Supplementary data' at the end of the manuscript, detailing which data are supplied. In addition, authors should also provide a concise and descriptive caption for each file.

When supplying supplementary data, authors must state whether the data files are either (i) for online publication or (ii) to be used as an aid for the refereeing of the paper only. All supplementary data will be subject to peer review. For more detailed instructions, please visit External link http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions, and click on 'Multimedia files'.

Author Enquiries

Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication.

Peer Review Policy on Food Policy


The practice of peer review is to ensure that good science is published. It is an objective process at the heart of good scholarly publishing and is carried out on all reputable scientific journals. Our referees therefore play a vital role in maintaining the high standards of Food Policy. Manuscripts are peer reviewed following the procedure outlined below.

Initial manuscript evaluation: The Editor first evaluates all manuscripts. It is rare, but it is entirely feasible for an exceptional manuscript to be accepted at this stage. Those rejected at this stage are insufficiently original, have serious scientific flaws, have poor grammar or English language, or are outside the aims and scope of the journal. Those that meet the minimum criteria are passed on to at least 2 experts for review.
Authors of manuscripts rejected at this stage will normally be informed within 3 weeks of receipt.
Type of Peer Review: This journal employs double blind reviewing, where both the referee and author remain anonymous throughout the process.
How the referee is selected: Referees are matched to the paper according to their expertise. Our database is constantly being updated. We occasionally ask authors for suggestions for referees, though these recommendations may or may not be used.
Referee reports: Referees are asked to evaluate whether the manuscript:

- Is original
- Is methodologically sound
- Follows appropriate ethical guidelines
- Has results which are clearly presented and support the conclusions
- Correctly references previous relevant work
- Makes clear links into food policy debates of international interest

Referees are not expected to correct or copyedit manuscripts. Language correction is not part of the peer review process.

How long does the review process take? Typically, two reviews of a manuscript will be received within 2-5 months of submission. Should the referees' reports contradict one another or a report is unnecessarily delayed a further expert opinion will be sought. Revised manuscripts are usually returned to the initial referees within 2 weeks. Referees may request more than one revision of a manuscript. If referees are not satisfied that the manuscript is ready to proceed to publication after two revisions, the manuscript will usually be rejected.
Final report: A final decision to accept or reject the manuscript will be sent to the author along with any recommendations made by the referees, and may include verbatim comments by the referees.
Editor's Decision is final: Referees advise the editor, who is responsible for the final decision to accept or reject the article.
Submission to Food Policy by staff members of School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS): In the event of a submission to Food Policy by staff members of Imperial College, selection of reviewers and generation of recommendations based on these reviewers' comments will be undertaken by one of the following External Editors:
Edward Clay, Overseas Development Institute
Lionel Hubbard, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University

Peer Review for Special Issues

It is the responsibility of the Guest Editors of a special issue to organise the peer review of articles that are being considered for inclusion in that special issue. Guest Editors may consult the journal editors during the conduct of the peer review process and, once the review process is complete, are normally required to provide the editors with copies of correspondence entered into and reviews received during the process.
Guidelines for potential Guest Editors interested in editing a special issue of Food Policy are available from this web site.

Becoming a Referee for Food Policy

If you are not currently a referee for Food Policy but would like to be added to the list of referees for this title, please contact the editorial office at foodpolicy@soas.ac.uk. The benefits of refereeing for Food Policy include the opportunity to see and evaluate the latest work in your research area at an early stage, and to be acknowledged in an annual statement in Food Policy if you have reviewed one or more manuscripts in the preceding 12 months. You may also be able to cite your work for Food Policy as part of your professional development requirements for various Professional Societies and Organisations.
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