The official journal of the American Meat Science Association

Submission for all types of manuscripts to Meat Science proceeds totally online. Via the Elsevier Editorial System (EES) website for this journal, http://ees.elsevier.com/meatsci , you will be guided step-by-step 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. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail generated by EES and via the Author's homepage, removing the need for a hard-copy paper trail. Authors must submit revisions via EES. Authors may send queries concerning the submission process, manuscript status, or journal procedures to authorsupport@elsevier.com.

Questions regarding content of a proposed submission can be directed to the Editor:
Professor David A. Ledward
School of Biosciences
Division of Food Sciences
University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus
Loughborough, LE12 5RD, UK
E-mail: david.ledward@nottingham.ac.uk.

It is the author's responsibility to ensure that papers are written in clear and comprehensible English. Authors whose native language is not English are advised to have their manuscripts checked by an English-speaking colleague prior to submission. Language Polishing: For authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission (for which there will be a charge) please visit http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorshome.authors/languagepolishing or contact authorsupport@elsevier.com for more information. Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside vendors through our services or in any advertising.

Submission of a paper implies that it has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that if accepted it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the publisher.

Meat Science is a refereed journal. Papers cannot be accepted without an independent review. In cases where a manuscript is returned to an author for revision, it must be resubmitted within 90 days; otherwise it will be assumed to be withdrawn.

Authors should quote their manuscript number in all further correspondence following submission.


Experiments involving slaughtering, transport, or invasive procedures on live animals must include a statement indicating approval by the appropriate ethics/welfare committee confirming compliance with all requirements of the country in which the experiments were conducted. If no such committee exists, a letter from the department head confirming compliance will suffice.

Conflict of Interest
All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. See also http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest.

Research papers reporting original work; reviews by authorities on specific topics in the field of muscle/meat; short communications; reviews of books, conferences and meetings; letters to the editor arising from aspects of published papers. General: Manuscripts must be typewritten, double-spaced with wide margins. A font size of 12 or 10 pt is required. The corresponding author should be identified (an E-mail address is mandatory - if there is a change to this e-mail contact, the author must notify the publisher as soon as possible). Full postal addresses must be given for all co-authors. Authors should consult a recent issue of the journal for style - sample copies of the journal can be obtained from the journal website www.elsevier.com/locate/meatsci. The Editors reserve the right to adjust style to certain standards of uniformity. Authors should retain a copy of their manuscript since we cannot accept responsibility for damage or loss of papers. Original manuscripts are discarded one month after publication unless the Publisher is asked to return original material after use.

Paper Length: In general papers should not exceed 8000 words inclusive of tables and illustrations.

Abstracts: Each paper should be provided with an abstract of about 100-150 words, reporting concisely on the purpose and results of the paper.

Text: Follow this order when typing manuscripts: Title, Authors, Affiliations, Abstract, Keywords, Main text, Acknowledgements, Appendix, References, Vitae, Figure Captions, Figures and then Tables. Do not import the Figures or Tables into your text. Other than the cover page, every page of the manuscript, including the title page, references, tables etc. should be numbered; however, in the text no reference should be made to page numbers. Lines must be numbered consecutively throughout the manuscript.The corresponding author should be identified with an asterisk and footnote. All other footnotes (except for table footnotes) should be identified with superscript Arabic numbers.

Units: The SI system should be used for all scientific and laboratory data; if, in certain instances, it is necessary to quote other units, these should be added in parentheses. Temperatures should be given in degrees Celsius. The unit 'billion' (10⁹ in America and 10¹² in Europe) is ambiguous and must not be used.

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. "Steventon, Donald and Gladden (1994) studied the effects..." or "...similar to values reported by others (Anderson, Douglas, Morrison & Weiping, 1990)..."). For 2-6 authors all authors are to be listed at first citation. At subsequent citations use first author et al.. When there are more than 6 authors, first author et al. should be used throughout the text. The list of references should be arranged alphabetically by authors' names and should be as full as possible, listing all authors, the full title of articles and journals, publisher and year. 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:

Hopwood, A. J., Fairbrother, K. S., Lockley, A. K., & Bardsley, R. G. (1999). An actin gene-related polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for identification of chicken in meat mixtures. Meat Science, 53(4), 227-231.
Jeremiah, L. E. (1996). Freezing effects on food quality. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc.
Klont, R. E., Eikelenboom, G., Barnier, V. M. H., & Saunders, F. J. M. (1996). Relationship between rate of pH-fall and time of deboning on veal meat quality. In Proceedings 42nd international congress of meat science and technology (pp.398-399), 1-6 September 1996, Lillehammer, Norway.
Means, W. J., & Schmidt, G. R. (1987). Restructuring fresh meat without the use of salt or phosphate. In A. M. Pearson, & T. R. Dutson, Advances in meat research (Vol. 3) (pp. 469-487). New York: Van Nostrand.

Citing and listing of web references. As a minimum, the full URL should be given. Any further information, if known (author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.

Illustrations: All illustrations should be provided in camera-ready form, suitable for reproduction (which may include reduction) without retouching. 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. They should accompany the manuscript, but should not be included within the text. All illustrations should be clearly marked on the back with the figure number and the author's name. All figures are to have a caption. Captions should be supplied on a separate sheet.

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 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 prints corresponding to all the colour illustrations.

Preparation of electronic illustrations

General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose the font.
• Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Times, Symbol.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files, and supply a separate listing of the files and the software used.
• Provide all illustrations as separate files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
For more detailed instructions please visit out artwork instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions You are urged to visit this site.

Tables: Tables should be numbered consecutively and given a suitable caption and each table typed on a separate sheet. 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). When your manuscript is received at the Publisher it is considered to be in its final form. Proofs are not to be regarded as 'drafts'. One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author, to be checked for typesetting/editing. No changes in, or additions to, the accepted (and subsequently edited) manuscript will be allowed at this stage. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. A form with queries from the copy editor may accompany your proofs. Please answer all queries and make any corrections or additions required. The Publisher reserves the right to proceed with publication if corrections are not communicated. Return corrections within two working days of receipt of the proofs. Should there be no corrections, please confirm this. Elsevier will do everything possible to get your article corrected and published as quickly and accurately as possible. In order to do this we need your help. When you receive the (PDF) proof of your article for correction, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Subsequent corrections will not be possible, so please ensure your first sending is complete. Note that this does not mean you have any less time to make your corrections, just that only one set of corrections will be accepted. Proofs are to be returned by e-mail to the Log-in Department, proofcorrections@elsevier.com. Twenty five offprints will be supplied free of charge. Offprints and copies of the issue can be ordered at a specially reduced rate using the order form sent to the corresponding author after the manuscript has been accepted. Orders for reprints will incur a 50% surcharge. Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a "Journal Publishing Agreement'' (for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright)). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail (or letter) will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: contact Elsevier's Rights Department, Oxford, UK: phone (+44) 1865 843830, fax (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail permissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions). For enquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit this journal's homepage at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/meatsci You can track accepted articles at http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed, as well as copyright information, frequently asked questions and more. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication. Meat Science carries no page charges.