Food Bioscience

Introduction

Description
Food Bioscience is a peer-reviewed academic journal publishing original research articles, reviews, and commentaries concerning the latest development in multidisciplinary areas in food science, with an emphasis on the mechanistic studies of food quality and stability at the molecular and cellular levels. Manuscripts with innovative ideas and/or approaches that bring together different fields will receive special priority. In addition, we also address up-to-date research highlights, news and views, and commentaries covering research policies and funding trends. All research and review articles are subject to strict peer review organized by the journal, and final acceptance or rejection decision resides with the Editor-in-Chief of Food Bioscience.

Aims and scope
Food Bioscience is a peer-reviewed journal that aims to provide a forum for recent developments in the field of bio-related food research. The journal focuses on both fundamental and applied research worldwide, with special attention to ethnic and cultural aspects of food bioresearch. Topics covered in the journal include but are not limited to:
(1) Biochemical, biophysical and biological properties of foods, ingredients, and components
(2) Mechanism of functional foods and ingredients including both novel and traditional fermented foods
(3) Genetic, and cellular and molecular biology germane to food production and processing
(4) Foodomics: comprehensive studies involving genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, nutrigenomics and chemogenomics of foods and their interactions with humans
(5) Biomaterials for food-related systems such as food packaging, food analysis, and delivery of nutraceuticals an d functional food additives
(6) Application of novel technology to foods. Articles relating only to structural identification and characterization of bioactive compounds without biofunctional data will not be published in Food Bioscience.

Articles reporting the following will not be published in Food Bioscience:
o Structural identification and characterization of bioactive compounds without biofunctional data
o Direct medical claims and/or clinical studies: therapeutic application of food compounds/isolates for treatment, cure or prevention of human diseases
o Processing/engineering without any chemistry
o Pharmaceutical, herbal, and traditional or folk medicines that are not consumed as foods
o Survey/surveillance data.

Article types
Submissions of the following types of articles are invited: short communications, mini-reviews, reviews (after discussion with the editors), and research articles. In addition, the journal will also present up-to-date research highlights, news and views, and commentaries covering food research and policy.

(1) Research Articles are a contribution describing original research, including theoretical expositions, extensive data and in-depth critical evaluation, and are peer reviewed. The total length of a manuscript excluding the abstract, acknowledgements, figures, tables and references must not exceed 6000 words.

(2) Review Articles and Mini-reviews are encouraged for giving an in-depth overview of a specific topic. The format and length of review papers are more flexible than for a full paper. There is a 6,000 word limit for Mini-reviews and a 10,000 word limit for Review Articles under normal circumstances. Authors may make a case to the editor if they believe there is justification for a longer length for these submissions. All review papers will be fully peer reviewed.

(3) Short Communications are for concise, but independent reports representing a significant contribution to food science and engineering, not as mechanism to publish preliminary results. Only if these results are of exceptional interest and are particularly topical and relevant will they be considered for publication. A Short Communication should be no more than 3000 words, and could include up to 4 figures or tables. It should have at least 8 references. Short communications will be fully peer reviewed.

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 the following items are present:

One author has been designated as the working corresponding author with contact details (please see the discussion of the title page):
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Phone

All necessary files have been uploaded:
Manuscript:
• Include keywords
• All figures (include relevant captions)
• All tables (including titles, description, footnotes)
• Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided
• Indicate clearly if color should be used for any figures in print
Graphical Abstracts / Highlights files (where applicable). Please see the "Manuscript Preparation and Submission Guideline" for placement.
Supplemental files (where applicable). Please see the "Manuscript Preparation and Submission Guideline" for placement.

Further considerations
• Manuscript has been 'spell checked' and 'grammar checked'
• 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 conflict of interest statement is provided in the manuscript before the acknowledgments, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare.
• This summary statement will ultimately be published if the article is accepted. Please see the "Manuscript Preparation and Submission Guideline" for suggested statement and Declaration of Interest for what is covered. Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed
• Referee suggestions and contact details provided, based on journal requirements

For further information, visit our Support Center.

Before you begin

Ethics in publishing

Please see our information on Ethics in publishing.

Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing

The below guidance only refers to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process.

Where authors use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should only use these technologies to improve readability and language. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author, or be cited as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans, as outlined in Elsevier’s AI policy for authors.

Authors should disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by following the instructions below. A statement will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.

Disclosure instructions
Authors must disclose the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. The statement should be placed in a new section entitled ‘Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process’.

Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.

Submission declaration and verification
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information), 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, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked for originality using Ithenticate. The program has been set for Food Bioscience to not consider references, quotes, and phrases of less than 5 words. Crossref Similarity Check.

Preprints
Please note that preprints can be shared anywhere at any time, in line with Elsevier's sharing policy. Sharing your preprints e.g. on a preprint server will not count as prior publication (See 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information).

Preprint posting on SSRN

In support of Open Science, this journal offers its authors a free preprint posting service. Preprints provide early registration and dissemination of your research, which facilitates early citations and collaboration.

During submission to Editorial Manager, you can choose to release your manuscript publicly as a preprint on the preprint server SSRN once it enters peer-review with the journal. Your choice will have no effect on the editorial process or outcome with the journal. Please note that the corresponding author is expected to seek approval from all co-authors before agreeing to release the manuscript publicly on SSRN.

You will be notified via email when your preprint is posted online and a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is assigned. Your preprint will remain globally available free to read whether the journal accepts or rejects your manuscript.

For more information about posting to SSRN, please consult the SSRN Terms of Use and FAQs.

Use of inclusive language

Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Content should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader; contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition; and use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to dominant culture and/or cultural assumptions. We advise to seek gender neutrality by using plural nouns ("clinicians, patients/clients") as default/wherever possible to avoid using "he, she," or "he/she." We recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition unless they are relevant and valid. When coding terminology is used, we recommend to avoid offensive or exclusionary terms such as "master", "slave", "blacklist" and "whitelist". We suggest using alternatives that are more appropriate and (self-) explanatory such as "primary", "secondary", "blocklist" and "allowlist". These guidelines are meant as a point of reference to help identify appropriate language but are by no means exhaustive or definitive.

Reporting sex- and gender-based analyses

Reporting guidance
For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA) into their research design according to funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field. Authors should address the sex and/or gender dimensions of their research in their article. In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research's generalizability. Importantly, authors should explicitly state what definitions of sex and/or gender they are applying to enhance the precision, rigor and reproducibility of their research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer (see Definitions section below). Authors can refer to the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and the SAGER guidelines checklist. These offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome reporting and research interpretation - however, please note there is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender.

Definitions
Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features (e.g., chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external anatomy). A binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth (""sex assigned at birth""), most often based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn. Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities of women, men and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact and how power is distributed in society. Sex and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male or woman/man) and unchanging whereas these constructs actually exist along a spectrum and include additional sex categorizations and gender identities such as people who are intersex/have differences of sex development (DSD) or identify as non-binary. Moreover, the terms ""sex"" and ""gender"" can be ambiguous—thus it is important for authors to define the manner in which they are used. In addition to this definition guidance and the SAGER guidelines, the resources on this page offer further insight around sex and gender in research studies.

Author contributions

For transparency, we require corresponding authors to provide co-author contributions to the manuscript using the relevant CRediT roles. The CRediT taxonomy includes 14 different roles describing each contributor’s specific contribution to the scholarly output. The roles are: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Roles/Writing - original draft; and Writing - review & editing. Note that not all roles may apply to every manuscript, and authors may have contributed through multiple roles. More details and an example.

Changes to authorship

Authors are expected to consider carefully 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. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.
Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.

Article transfer service
This journal uses the Elsevier Article Transfer Service to find the best home for your manuscript. This means that if an editor feels your manuscript is more suitable for an alternative journal, you might be asked to consider transferring the manuscript to such a journal. The recommendation might be provided by a Journal Editor, a dedicated Scientific Managing Editor, a tool assisted recommendation, or a combination. If you agree, your manuscript will be transferred, though you will have the opportunity to make changes to the manuscript before the submission is complete. Please note that your manuscript will be independently reviewed by the new journal. More information.

Copyright

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (See more information on this). An e-mail 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.

Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. 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.

For gold open access articles: Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete an 'Exclusive License Agreement' (See more information). Permitted third party reuse of gold open access articles is determined by the author's choice of user license.

Author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. See More information.

Elsevier supports responsible sharing
Find out how you can share your research published in Elsevier journals.

Role of the funding source

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then this should be stated. This information goes in the acknowledgments.

Open access

Please visit our Open Access page for more information about open access publishing in this journal.

Elsevier Researcher Academy
Researcher Academy is a free e-learning platform designed to support early and mid-career researchers throughout their research journey. The "Learn" environment at Researcher Academy offers several interactive modules, webinars, downloadable guides and resources to guide you through the process of writing for research and going through peer review. Feel free to use these free resources to improve your submission and navigate the publication process with ease.

Language (usage and editing services)
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the Language Editing service available from Elsevier's Language Services.

Submission

Our online submission system guides you stepwise through the process of entering your article details and uploading your files. The system converts your article files to a single PDF file used in the peer-review process. Editable files (e.g., Word, LaTeX) are required to typeset your article for final publication. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, is sent by e-mail.

Authors must provide and use an email address unique to themselves and not shared with another author registered in Editorial Submission system, nor a department.

Suggesting reviewers
Please submit the names and institutional e-mail addresses of several potential reviewers.

You should not suggest reviewers who are colleagues, or who have co-authored or collaborated with you during the last three years. Editors do not invite reviewers who have potential competing interests with the authors. Further, in order to provide a broad and balanced assessment of the work, and ensure scientific rigor, please suggest diverse candidate reviewers who are located in different countries/regions from the author group. Also consider other diversity attributes e.g. gender, race and ethnicity, career stage, etc. Finally, you should not include existing members of the journal's editorial team, of whom the journal are already aware.

Note: the editor decides whether or not to invite your suggested reviewers.

It is expected that authors who publish in Food Bioscience will be asked to review future manuscripts submitted to the journal.

Review process

A peer review system involving two or three reviewers is used to ensure high quality of manuscripts accepted for publication. The Editor-in-Chief and Editors have the right to decline formal review of the manuscript when it is deemed that the manuscript is 1) on a topic outside the scope of the Journal, 2) lacking technical merit, 3) focused on foods or processes that are of narrow regional scope and significance, 4) fragmentary and provides marginally incremental results, or 5) is poorly written.

Queries

For questions about the editorial process (including the status of manuscripts under review) or for technical support on submissions, please visit our Support Center.

Peer review

This journal operates a single blind review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. See more information on types of peer review.

Use of word processing software
It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the word processor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier). Note that source files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. See also the section on Electronic artwork.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.

Manuscript preparation and submission Guideline

General requirements
Submission of a manuscript implies: that the work described has not been published before; that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that its offer for publication has been approved by all co-authors. The author warrants that his/her contribution is original and that he/she has full power to offer the manuscript. The publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation. The manuscript should be a complete and authoritative accounts of work which have special significance, general interest and which are presented clearly and concisely. The review articles should give not only comprehensive and authoritative descriptions of one specific subject within the journal's scope, but also the specific recommendations for future research directions.

The following components are required for a complete manuscript: Title, Author(s), Author affiliation(s), Corresponding author, Abstract, Keywords, Main text (including Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion, Conclusion), References, Conflict of Interest, Acknowledgements, References, Tables, Figure Legend, and Figures. The length of the main text for Short Communication should not exceed 3000 words (as counted by a word processing program), and the total number of tables and figures should be no more than 4. The length of the main text for Original Research Articles and Mini-Reviews should not exceed the equivalent of 6000 words, and there is a 10,000 word limit for Review Articles. Exceptions should be discussed with the editor. See below for "Optional Components."

Contact details for submission
Submission of all types of manuscripts to Food Bioscience proceeds totally online. Via the Editorial Manager website for this journal (https://www.editorialmanager.com/fbio/default.aspx) you will be guided step-by-step through the creation and uploading of the various files.

Manuscripts for review articles
Reviews give a general overview of a particular field, providing the reader with an appreciation of the importance of the work, historical context, a summary of recent developments, and a starting point for delving further into the literature. Manuscripts should be divided into appropriate sections, with an extensive list of references. In addition to undergoing the same rigorous level of technical peer-review as Research papers, Review articles will be critiqued based on the general impact of the field being reviewed, the relevance of the field to current interest, preexisting reviews of the field, and acknowledgement of the contributing author as an important scientist in the field, although reviews based on the literature review for an advanced degree will be given consideration. General formatting of text, illustrations, and references are the same as outlined for research papers.

Manuscripts for research papers
Manuscripts should be prepared using Word. The following components are required for a complete manuscript: Cover letter, Title, Author(s), Author affiliation(s), Abstract, Keywords, Main text (including Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion, Conclusion), References, Acknowledgements, Tables, Figure legend and Figures. Include page numbers on the document, beginning with the title page as number 1. Continuous line numbering on the left is also required. Please use the standard 12-point Times New Roman fonts.

BEFORE YOU START: INTRODUCTION AND SUGGESTIONS ABOUT STYLE
I. Goal of a scientific manuscript

The purpose of a scientific manuscript is to provide information to the reader. So, please focus on the reader. Ideally, think of a first or second year graduate student trying to read a number of papers to begin to understand the field in which she/he will be working, particularly far away geographically from where you are. And they might even be asked to duplicate the work. A general reader should not have to go to other documents to understand the paper and the student trying to duplicate the work should have enough information about the raw material and its initial handling to be able to duplicate the raw material and the work itself.

II. Consistency of presentation is critical

We are allowing you some flexibility to make certain choices in terms of style. However, you must stay consistent with your choices throughout the entire manuscript.

Towards the end of this guideline, there will be two discussions of general importance: the proper use of significant figures, and a list of words and suggested replacements to improve the manuscript. Science writing is supposed to be objective; do not use "emotional" words to describe things. Scientists are also supposed to be modest. Note that for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, the work needs to be innovative and/or novel. You do not need to tell us that in the text.

When you move from citing the literature to your work, the specification "in this study" may be helpful. Otherwise, it is simply redundant. Please look for other redundancies and extra words – "results obtained" can often be simply "results."

III. English tenses: What is past tense and what is present tense

Your work and the work reported in the literature are generally presented in the past tense. Conclusions can be past or present tense, although Food Bioscience generally prefers past tense. Figures and tables in the paper are referred to in the present tense as they are part of the paper, but are based on work done in the past, e.g., "Figure 1 shows that X is significantly higher (p <0.05) than Y." But: "X was significantly higher (p <0.05) than Y." Definition of terms in an equation are also present tense, i.e., A is absorbance.

IV. Wordiness

Shorter and tighter writing is easier to read. Expressions like "in this study", "the results?" and the listing of samples should not be repeated. Consider expressions like "ultrasonic procedure (method, technique, process)." Does it need the extra word or could it just be expressed as "ultrasound"? Leaving those words out often improves the readability. The goal is to help the reader. It is easier for readers if the same words are used throughout. Scientific writing is about good communications not great literature.

Highlights and/or Visual Highlights (Optional)

These both go before the title page.

Elements of a manuscript
Cover letter.

A cover letter must accompany each submission. It must include the following information:

(1) The brief explanation of the significance of the work presented in the manuscript

(2) The names and contact information for three potential referees

Title page.

Title: Try to keep the title short (<20 words) and not try to tell the whole story in one sentence. Start strong by not using words like "A study of the effects of". Rework so the first thing a reader sees are words related to the topic.

Authors: All authors should have made a SIGNIFICANT contribution to the paper. Others involved in the work should be thanked in the acknowledgment. This is a controversial subject so it also needs to be consistent with the requirements of the country (countries) where the work was done.

Author Affiliation: This does not require full mailing address. The city, state/province, and country along with a postal code are appropriate.

Corresponding Author: This is the person submitting the paper. It should be one person. It is the person doing the actual work of staying in touch with Food Bioscience. However, some countries, including China, require that the head of each laboratory claiming credit for the work needs to be a corresponding author. We will accept this, but please make clear the corresponding author with whom we should be contacting for correspondence. If not noted, we will assume that the first author listed is the corresponding author. (Note: If your institution requires that the head of laboratory or department must be listed as corresponding author, note that he or she might not necessarily need to be listed as an author.) Please include the complete postal mailing address, phone, fax and email for the corresponding author.

Abstract.

The abstract should be an independent story that can stand alone: What you did, why you did it, how you did it and what the results are. Abbreviations are created only if used in the abstract and ideally should be minimized. Any abbreviation used without definition should be widely known, even by graduate students entering the field. The abstract does not usually have any references. Note that abstracts may be circulated without the paper itself. The abbreviations used in the abstract do NOT carry over to the rest of the manuscript.

No small "s" at the end of an abbreviation in the abstract or the text, e.g., CFUs.

It is assumed that any results in the abstract are statistically significant.

The abstract starts on a new page and should be <250 words.

Keywords.

Since keywords must be strong search terms, focus on words that will NOT give thousands of hits. The key materials are a good place to start (including their Latin name and common names as separate keywords). Methods are generally not good search terms unless you are developing them.

The keywords appear on the same page as the abstract.

List of Abbreviations (Optional)

If a list of abbreviations is included, it goes after the keywords. The list of terms should be alphabetized.

Most abbreviations are all capital letters (with no small "s" at the end); but when defining them, the words themselves are often not capitalized. E.g., differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).

Introduction.
The introduction starts a new page. The introduction only includes the material that is necessary for understanding the paper: why the food material you are studying is worth studying and a little about it. What is the background for the research questions you are asking? By the time you get to the objectives (the last part of the introduction), it should almost be obvious from the introduction. The introduction is NOT a review paper.

If you have a really good review in your thesis/report, then consider preparing it as a "review" paper. Food Bioscience is willing to consider review papers. This style guide should still be used even though the organization of such a paper is different and a few aspects of this guideline are not relevant.

References in the Text

References in the text should use "et al."for 3 or more authors. If the authors are in the sentence the format should be: "Jones et al. (2018) found..."[et al. can be italicisized if you like.] If the whole reference is in parentheses, the comma may or may not be added after "al.", but consistency is required within the paper, i.e., (Jones et al. 2018) or (Jones et al., 2018) for every reference. Other examples: (Zhang, 2012) or (Zhang 2012) and (Jones and Zhang, 2015), (Jones and Zhang 2015), (Jones & Zhang, 2015) or (Jones &Zhang 2015). The comma before the year can be used or not used as long as you are consistent with all references.

The ampersand (&) can only be used within parentheses, but not in the text, so Jones and Zhang (2015) or (Jones & Zhang, 2015) are acceptable in the same manuscript. You have choices but consistency remains the challenge.

In a list of multiple references in parentheses, please alphabetize by the first author's last name and then chronologically, i.e., Allan, 1996; 1999; Allan and Jones, 1995. Please use a semi-colon (;) between references.

Materials and methods

Although often thought of as the most boring section of a scientific paper, in many ways this is the most important section. This section is a critical component of science which is that the work is reproducible. So it should be very clear and relatively comprehensive. In this section, provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced by a relatively new researcher to the field in a country far away. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference and a very brief description. All relevant modifications should be described.

One of the hardest things to do is to describe your raw material. The more information offered about the raw materials, the more chance the data can be generalized from the specific experiments carried out in the paper and the more likely that the work is repeatable (which is a requirement for good science). So, details on the biological raw materials are particularly important. Please note that biological materials, including animals, have seasonal changes along with age, sex, and nutritional changes. Therefore, it is important to indicate specifically when samples were collected and how often. The more details offered the better. Generalizing from one or two samples in one small geographic area should be done with caution.

How was the identity of the material validated?

How did the material get from where you started to the actual start of the experiments, i.e., transport and initial storage, including both conditions and duration of such storage?

All materials and methods

A list of materials (chemicals, filter paper, etc.) might be introduced in one paragraph with their source or sources as they are used in the text. Otherwise, they should be identified properly at the time they are first listed. Either way, authors should be consistent in using one method or the other for chemicals and disposables.

Storage of materials

All materials that are stored for more than one day should include something like the following: "for a maximum of XX wk" (or what the storage time actually is).

Sourcing of materials: What information is needed All equipment and chemicals used should be identified clearly. Any non-routine reagents must be sourced along with all equipment used. The model information goes before the company information. The company's full legal name (generally capitalizing the significant words but not every letter in the company name) must be given and then its location, but the location is only given the first time the company is mentioned. Location should almost always be put in parentheses. If the product is obtained through a distributor but is clearly from a different company, the original company is the company of record. Each instrument needs to be identified only once unless more than one similar piece of equipment was used, e.g., two different centrifuges. (Abbreviations: Co. = Company; Corp. = Corporation, Inc. = Incorporated, Lab. = Laboratory.) This should include a city, state/province and country (and not a street address). For the USA, a state is mandatory and for other countries the state/province information is encouraged, especially for Canada and China. There are official two letter abbreviations for each US state and two and three letter abbreviations for each Canadian province (please stay consistent), and you are encouraged to use these (e.g., Ithaca, NY, USA, Toronto, ONT (or ON), Canada). You may write out the state's name- again, if you do so consistently. Note the preference for USA and US and not U.S.A. and U.S., with USA preferred over US. If the same company is cited with multiple locations, after the first time only the city should be mentioned.

For example, First time: (Sigma Aldrich Co., St. Louis, MO, USA) or Sigma Aldrich Co. (St. Louis, MO, USA). Thereafter (Sigma Aldrich). First time: (Model XYZ, Jiangsu Model Cars Ltd., Wuxi, Jiangsu, China) or Model XYZ (Jiangsu Model Cars Ltd., Wuxi, Jiangsu, China). Thereafter: (Jiangsu Model Cars). Note: Do not use all capital letters in a company name unless the company does so itself. For example, use Titan Corp. and not TITAN Corp.

As this is a Chinese-based journal, we require the use of the Chinese province information. This will help readers become more familiar with China. If the same equipment, chemical or material is used with more than one method, the sourcing is done only the first time. E.g., "A spectrophotometer (XX Corp., Wuxi, Jiangsu, China) was used to…". And subsequently, "The spectrophotometer was used to…".

Standard method versus most actual methods
Except for standard methods that are accepted transnationally (with the method number identified), all methods should be described in sufficient detail that a person can follow what was done without having to go on a literature search. Standard methods can be described briefly and the actual equipment used can be noted. The discussion does not have to be in all of the detail needed to reproduce the data if these are covered in the reference for the method or are standard laboratory practices. For example, one can say "brought to 25 mL with distilled water" rather than "added to a volumetric flask and distilled water added to bring it to the 25 mL mark." A reader should not have to read another paper to understand what was done.

In describing methods, it is not necessary to indicate every sample subjected to the method. That information will appear in the results (including tables and figures). Rather than "The FTIR was measured for XX, YY, ZZ and AA using…", use "The FTIR was measured using…"

If a good description of a method is already available, then it can be used if done properly with quotes and proper attribution. Example: The method of Zhang et al. (2012) was used and was briefly described by Liu et al. (2016) as "DESCRIPTION". The key is that quotation marks are used to show it is copied! Note also that the introduction to methods might best be introduced by starting the sentence with "The method of Zhang et al. (2012) was used." Again, this is a standardized format that helps the reader.

Protein

The Kjeldahl/Dumas methods measure total nitrogen, therefore the conversion factor must be identified and this is to be identified as crude protein. If a method is based on using bovine serum albumen (BSA) as a standard then it should identified as BSA equivalents. If purity was not determined, please add the phrase "assuming it were 100% pure" for BSA.

Please give each method at least one paragraph.

Kits

If you are using a kit, you still need to briefly describe the principle used and the actual method along with how calibration was done, including the units to report results. Please also report on any equipment used that was not part of the kit, e.g., the centrifuge or spectrophotometer.

Room or ambient temperature

Room temperature or ambient temperature should be identified. There are often multiple temperatures within a range as most laboratories are not the same temperature all the time. Use either "room" or "ambient" consistently, not both. The actual temperature needs to only be reported at the first mention.

Units Units need to be expressed consistently. If using mL, µL, and L, the whole paper should use the capital L but ml, µl and l are also acceptable. Temperature can be 25°C or 25 °C, again consistently. Please use Celsius.

t Kelvin except for an equation that requires Kelvin. If the equipment is actually built to English units, these may be put in parentheses, but the values in the text must be in metric units.

The "U" for units of enzyme or antibiotic activity units should be defined.

The preference is for "a 40 ml flask" rather than "a 40-ml flask," but if the latter is used consistently, it will be accepted.

Except as the first item in a sentence, the preference is for the numbers to be stated before the material, e.g., "Sample (50 mL) was added to 6 mL of 6% ethanol" rather than "Sample (50 mL) was added to ethanol (6 mL of 6%).

Please use v/w, w/w, and v/v rather than V/W, W/W and V/V. The same holds for bw (body weight), dw (dry weight), ww (wet weight) and fw (fresh weight). These abbreviations do not have to be defined.

Please put a space between the number and M, N, mM, uM, etc.

Percentages have the symbol next to the number, e.g., 40% with no space.

In a sequence with the same units, only the last number has the units attached.

Mixtures When describing mixtures with a colon, e.g., alcohol:water at a 3:5 ratio, there is no space before or after the colon.

Note that there is no space for the ratio symbol even with words.

Manufacturer's information Information obtained from the manufacturer should be identified as "according to the manufacturer." In particular, standards need to be fully described. Ideally, the number of points in the calibration curve and the regression equation that shows it is a linear function should be provided along with the regression value. Extrapolation versus interpolation needs to be considered. With extrapolation you might be going outside of the linear response region.

If the manufacturer gives a specific cut-off, e.g., "this dialysis tubing has a 3,500 Da cut-off," I suggest adding the word "nominal" to show you recognize that it may not be that accurate, e.g., "has a nominal cut-off of 3,500 Da." (Special note on dialysis tubing: There are many different ways to prepare dialysis tubing, so please share how you prepared the tubing with the readers.)

Equations

Equations may be numbered. Normally the numbering is done as (4) on the same line as the equation to the far right. But in the text it should be referred to as Equation 4.

When writing equations, a space before and after the = sign is preferred (e.g., R = 0.2) but if you do not want to do this, then both sides of the = sign should not have a space (e.g., R=0.2).

E.g.

Using the following equation:

A = a b c (1)

where A = absorbance, a = the absorbance coefficient, b = cuvette pathlength and c = concentration. Note that equation 1 assumes a linearity of response.

Chemical Symbols

The use of standard symbols for atoms is encouraged. These do not have to be defined (e.g., Ca, Fe, NaCl, HCl, NaOH?). But please try to use these consistently. More complex compounds can be described using words.

Software

Information obtained from software should be identified as such including which software (ideally including a version number or the year of purchase) with full company information. Software that is an integral component of the instrument but does more than provide the "raw" data should be identified, e.g., "using the software that came with the instrument."

Peak areas

If the assumption is that all peak areas are the same for equal amounts of all materials, this should be indicated as a critical assumption. And one needs to determine if this response is for equal weight or equal number of molecules. Therefore, the handling of the data needs to be described. Are peak areas for any one peak linear as a function of concentration? Are you assuming that the peak area of a peak represents the same amount of material as the peak area of the standard?

Centrifugation

Centrifugation should always indicate the "g force" at the bottom of the tube (maximum) and the time and temperature. Ideally tube size is also mentioned on the first use of that rotor. The "rpm" may be put in parentheses.

For example, the first time: the samples were centrifuged at 3,000 x g (1500 rpm in a M2 rotor, Model T centrifuge, Regenstein Centrifuge Co., New York, NY, USA) at 30oC for 20 min. Thereafter with different speed: samples were centrifuged at 2,000 x g (1000 rpm) at room temperature (22 to 25^oC) for 1 hr. [Notes: the room temperature is given as a range the first time it is mentioned. If you use a different centrifuge or different rotor you start over and then you do have to indicate thereafter which centrifuge was used.]

Microbes and other biological names After the first mention with their full Genus species name subsequent uses can be as G. species. This does not have to be defined as an abbreviation.

Important note: Averaging of CFU must be done prior to transforming to log. Log numbers cannot be averaged.

Animals

Please indicate the official approval received for the protocols to use any animals. The feed used should provide more information than "a pelleted feed was used," including either major ingredients or proximate composition.

Sensory Evaluation

If one is using hedonic measurements to evaluate products/samples, the panel should be a "consumer panel" of sufficient size to be meaningful. As a matter of interpretation, a 9 point scale gives the most sensitivity. A value of 7 out of 9 (78%) is probably the minimum that any consumer would give to a product that they would actually consider purchasing. Five and 7 points scales should probably also consider a ~75% score as the minimum for purchase or use. Another way to look at hedonic data is to indicate the perc ent of consumers who gave scores of 75% or above. With demographic data this can help determine the potential target audience for the product. The assumption that hedonics and other sensory scales are linear, i.e., can be handled like any data, is questionable. Using a trained or semi–trained panel and then asking about overall acceptability is also questionable. Other systems of evaluating products, i.e., with traits specified, are not hedonic scales.

Statistical Analysis

This should be the last section of the methods and materials. It should clearly indicate ALL of the statistics used. One or two way ANOVA should be clearly indicated along with how the means were separated statistically. It should also indicate the software used - treated like any other equipment/chemicals.

Statistical acceptance level (p/P, lower case "p" is preferred) The acceptance level should be indicated. If you are going to use more than one, that should be clearly stated here. And the spacing of the statistical standard should be consistent. Any of the following spacing formats is acceptable as long as the same format is used throughout the paper: (P<0.05); (P <0.05); (P < 0.05); (p<0.05); (p <0.05); or (p< 0.05). I prefer that there be no spaces, but will ccept any of the above spacings for statistical significance as long as it is used consistently.

Notes on statistical issues

In the text with regular numbers the < and > signs should be directly attached to the number with no space in-between.

P=0.05 is possible so one of the two directions, i.e., P<0.05 or P>0.05 should be P<0.05 or P>0.05.

Properly speaking one should do everything with one significance level. However, to be realistic, other levels are used. Besides 0.05, one may sometimes want to use 0.01 and 0.001. In the text one only indicates one of these numbers - the actual "P" value can be given in a table if important (Please see the section on significant figures). In that case a wording like this might be appropriate: "Although a P<0.05 was generally used, the authors have also chosen to use 0.01 (and/or 0.001) for some of the data to indicate the greater significance of the differences."

Correlations One set of data can be correlated "WITH" another set of data either positively or negatively. Generally, a linear curve fitting should be done, showing the equation and the value of the correlation coefficient or other statistical evaluation.

Results

The actual numbers in Tables and Figures should normally NOT be re–reported in the text. Trends need to be statistically significant. An occasional key number might be mentioned. The order of presentation should come in the most logical order – not necessarily as the research was originally done. If one has a single data set like proximate composition of the starting material – it can go in the text and does not need a special table. If one puts data only in the text, then the standard deviation is needed in the text.

Please do not put methods in the results section.

Please do not feel that every sample has to be mentioned in full detail. Once you have established the "framework," the text can be simplified and that actually makes it clearer. You do not have to start each section by reminding everyone of the samples being studied. You also do not need to review the method again.

Please do not constantly say "In this study,""As can be seen," "The results showed" and similar terms unless you are going from the discussion of another paper and returning to your paper and it is not clear that you are making that transition back to your work. In reporting other studies, it generally is simpler to list the reference: "Chen et al. (2005) showed" and then talk about the actual results instead of "and it was reported that ? (Chen et al., 2016)".

References to the Tables and the Figures (or Fig.) should be capitalized. If more than one figure, use the word Figures only once (e.g., Figures 1 and 4).

Please use "these results" rather than "this result."

Discussion

The discussion should focus on the significant changes observed and why they are important. Generally, each experiment should be discussed and then the multiple methods brought together. Suggestion: If the work is applied work, do not try to go into mechanistic claims – it is not relevant, and confuses and devalues the actual work.

It should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. It should integrate your findings in a comprehensive picture and place them in the context of the existing literature. A combined Results and Discussion section can be appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

Conclusion

This is not a summary. It should focus qualitatively on the key results, why they may be important, and what are the limitations of these results. Suggestions for further work are also appropriate. This should generally be kept to < 250 words.

Conflict of Interest
Conflict of Interest

Please use the following statement (if true) or a similar statement. Otherwise please bring to our attention any special issues that we need to be aware of. "The authors confirm that they have no conflicts of interest with respect to the work described in this manuscript." Note that any consulting or business ties with any company that might benefit from your research needs to be reported.

Acknowledgements

Please acknowledge all funding (including project numbers where possible) and also thank all those who have contributed to the work who are NOT authors including those involved with the writing. (Even if someone is "paid" to do something, they should be recognized here.)

Contributions of Authors (Optional)

This can be included at this point in the manuscript.

Tables

The title should clearly define the content. Footnotes should deal with abbreviations and the statistics. Be careful to identify what is covered by the statistics, e.g., by rows or by columns. In many cases the statistics should be done in both directions. Think about the direction of the table - what is horizontal versus what is vertical. The horizontal should usually be fewer entries than the vertical. Generally, the horizontal shows the "methods" and the vertical shows the samples. Tables can be done single spaced.

Figures and tables are shown one/page.

Authors should take notice of the limitations set by the size and layout of the journal. Large tables should be avoided. Reversing columns and rows will often reduce the dimensions of a table. If a large amount of data needs to be presented, an attempt should be made to divide the data over two or more tables.

Table requirements

(1) Supply units of measure at the heads of the columns. Abbreviations that are used only in a table should be defined in the footnotes to that table.

(2) Should always use rows and columns to correlate two variables. Tables should be submitted single-spaced with appropriate open space in Word. Do not embed tables as graphic files, document objects, or pictures.

(3) Tables should have three “major” horizontal lines: one under the legend, one under the column heads, and one below the body. Vertical lines are generally not used.

(4) Label each table at the top with a Roman numeral followed by the table title. Insert explanatory material and footnotes below the table. Designate footnotes using lowercase superscript letters (a, b, c) reading horizontally across the table.

(5) Unless needed, the first letter of words within the tables should be capitalized.

(6) Must be sequentially numbered and referred to at least once in the text.

Figure legends

The written material for all figures should appear here with full details. The figure legend goes BEFORE the actual figures. If there are any supplemental figures, they also require a figure legend page. Only the figure number should be shown with the actual figure. The figure legend page should be double spaced like the rest of the text.

Figures

Graphs should be practically self-explanatory. Readers should be able to understand them at a glance. Dimensional drawings and diagrams should include only the essential details and as little lettering as possible. They should present more of a picture than a working drawing. If there is a need to present a construction drawing, please consult with the editor ahead of time.

Figure requirements

(1) Numbering and title: number all figures (graphs, charts, photographs, and illustrations) in the order of their citation in the text and cited as, e.g. Figure 1 (writing out the word “Figure”). Use (a), (b), (c)... to give titles for subfigures if there are any.

(2) Figure quality: should be sharp, noise-free, and of good contrast. All lettering should be large enough to permit legible reduction.

(3) Color of figures: unless necessary, it is best to use black and white for line-drawings; and a grayscale for images.

Many figures still need statistics

The figures that present data still need proper statistics, for example, plots of lines should have statistics both in terms of changes along the X axis for a single line and differences between lines at the same value of X in addition to the error bars, especially if there are statistically significant differences.

Bar graphs and similar presentations almost always need a proper statistical analysis.

Putting data into a figure (line drawings) is not an excuse to not do the proper statistical analysis. Please be sure to explain the statistics used in the figure legends.

Note that many people start a paper by looking at the figures before deciding if they will read the whole paper, so it is okay to not use abbreviations. However, details about methods are not appropriate, including details of the statistical tests used.

These should only appear with their Figure number. Please do not duplicate the figure legends on the pages with figures.

The use of color

Please think carefully about the use of color. We are still a print journal and there is a significant supplemental cost for printing color, which is born by the authors. Consider how it would look in black and white?

Abbreviations

Do not use abbreviations in the title or abstract and limit their use in the text. Expand all abbreviations at first mention in the text. The Journal's website will have a list of abbreviations that do NOT require writing out even the first time.

An abbreviations can only be used after it has been defined after its first use. It can be written out again in the Tables and Figures if you wish. Abbreviations can be used both as singular and plural. So there is no need for a little "s" at the end of any abbreviation. Since the abstract stands alone, it requires the same guidelines for the use of abbreviation that apply to the paper itself. Abbreviations do not carry–over to the rest of the document where the abbreviations need to be re-established. If you use a list of abbreviations (a nice idea), please alphabetize and try to include all abbreviations used in the paper. Please place this immediately after the keywords.

Please use v for volume, w for weight, d for dry, f for fresh, b for basis, and rpm for revolutions/min as units for measurements. [Note that all are lower case.]

Time Abbreviations

s or sec, min, h or hr, d or day, wk, yr

(This is an example of where you have choices – but stick with your choice!)

Abbreviations for "Company"

Co., Corp., Ltd. (Note that the period is used in these cases.)

Molecular weight abbreviations

Please use MW for molecular weight as Mw could be used for weight average molecular weight.

"That is" and "for example" abbreviations

"I.e., and, e.g., each have a comma before and after.

Less-than, equal and more-than abbreviations, especially for statistical significance

The symbols >, <, ≥ and ≤ go directly with a number, e.g., <2.0. Note that in the case of p/P for statistical significance that p<0.05 and p≥ 0.05 must be used; the equal case should not be forgotten. One could also use p≤0.05 and p>0.05. The spacing of this information should be consistent throughout the text.

Specific requirements

Temperature: The temperature in Celcius is written as 10^oC, with no space between the number and the degree sign.

Percentage is written with no space between the number and the symbol: It was 10% of the...

Molarity and normality are written with no space between the number and the symbol: The solution was 10M NaCl and could also be called 10N NaCl.

Chemical compounds: the chemical symbols can be used without prior definition so NaCl is preferred over salt, and other simple compounds should be listed using their chemical formula.

Significant Figures
All numbers in science can be expressed as 1.2345 x 10n. The number shown is 5 significant figures. For biological materials, where the variability is great and one has such a limited sample, even with measurements of high precision, it is probably not justifiable to have more than three significant figures, e.g., 1.23 x 10n. This is the rule for Food Bioscience, i.e., no more than 3 significant figures for results even if reporting the results from other authors.

Remember this is only the precision of the measurement and says nothing about the accuracy or the ability to use that number to generalize for the materials being studied.

Exceptions: IR data can be 4 significant figures, i.e., 3725 cm-1. Statistical results may also be 4 significant figures. Weight may also be more significant figures, but remember that routine weighings have an inherent error. Molecular weight and time using a mass spectrometer may also justify more significant figures, but, no more than 2 places after the decimal point.

Not even three significant figures can be justified in some cases as the standard deviation is simply too great. Note that the zero (0) in certain positions is not significant while in other places it is significant, e.g., for 350 the zero is not significant, but for 350.0 both zeroes are significant.

Note: Significant figures

Please referGeneral Language and Formatting

SI units

There are seven, dimensionally independent, base SI-units and two supplementary units. All other units can be derived from the base ones. Below, you can find the list of the base SI units as well as the list of the derived units.
E.g., 1 revolutions per minute is equal to 0.0167 hertz
(Food Bioscience prefers that you retain the term rpm.) Concentration: mol/l

SI base units

Unit	Symbol	Quantity
meter (metre)	m	Length
kilogram	kg	Mass
second	s	Time
ampere	A	Electric current
kelvin	K	Thermodynamic temperature
mole	mol	Amount of substance
candela	cd	Luminous intensity
SI Supplementary Units
radian	rad	Plane angle (2D angle)
steradian	sr	Solid angle (3D angle)

SI derived units

Unit	Symbol	In SI units	Quantity
Mechanics
pascal	Pa	kg m−1 s−2	Pressure, Stress
joule	J	kg m2 s−2	Energy, Work, Heat
watt	W	kg m2 s−3	Power
newton	N	kg m s−2	Force, Weight
Electromagnetism
tesla	T	kg s−2 A−1	Magnetic Field
henry	H	kg m2 s−2 A−2	Inductance
coulomb	C	A s	Electric Charge
volt	V	kg m2 s−3 A−1	Voltage
farad	F	kg−1 m−2 s4 A2	Electric Capacitance
siemens	S	kg−1 m−2 s3 A2	Electrical Conductance
weber	Wb	kg m2 s−2 A−1	Magnetic Flux
ohm	&OHgr;	kg m2 s−3 A−3	Electric Resistance
Optics
lux	lx	cd sr m−2	Illuminance
lumen	lm	cd sr	Luminous Flux
Radioactivity
becquerel	Bq	s−1	Radioactivity
gray	Gy	m2 s−1	Absorbed Dose
sievert	Sv	m2 s−1	Equivalent Dose
Other
hertz	Hz	s−1	Frequency
katal	kat	mol s−1	Catalytic Activity

Database linking and Accession numbers
Elsevier aims at connecting online articles with external databases which are useful in their respective research communities. If your article contains relevant unique identifiers or accession numbers (bioinformatics) linking to information on entities (genes, proteins, diseases, etc.) or structures deposited in public databases, then please indicate those entities according to the standard explained below.

Authors should explicitly mention the database abbreviation (as mentioned below) together with the actual database number, bearing in mind that an error in a letter or number can result in a dead link in the online version of the article.

Please use the following format: Database ID: xxxx

Links can be provided in your online article to the following databases (examples of citations are given in parentheses): •GenBank: Genetic sequence database at the National Center for Biotechnical Information (NCBI) (GenBank ID: BA123456) •PDB: Worldwide Protein Data Bank (PDB ID: 1TUP) •CCDC: Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC ID: AI631510) •TAIR: The Arabidopsis Information Resource database (TAIR ID: AT1G01020) •NCT: ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT ID: NCT00222573) •OMIM: Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM ID: 601240) •MINT: Molecular INTeractions database (MINT ID: 6166710) •MI: EMBL-EBI OLS Molecular Interaction Ontology (MI ID: 0218) •UniProt: Universal Protein Resource Knowledgebase (UniProt ID: Q9H0H5)

Highlights

Highlights are optional yet highly encouraged for this journal, as they increase the discoverability of your article via search engines. They consist of a short collection of bullet points that capture the novel results of your research as well as new methods that were used during the study (if any). Please have a look at the example Highlights.

Highlights should be submitted in a separate editable file in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point).

Formatting of funding sources
List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

If no funding has been provided for the research, it is recommended to include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Math formulae
Please submit math equations as editable text and not as images. Present simple formulae in line with normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).

Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors can build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Otherwise, please indicate the position of footnotes in the text and list the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.

Artwork

Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option.
• Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or use fonts that look similar.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the published version.
• Submit each illustration as a separate file.
• Ensure that color images are accessible to all, including those with impaired color vision.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available.
You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is' in the native document format.
Regardless of the application used other than Microsoft Office, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please 'Save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings, embed all used fonts.
TIFF (or JPEG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale), keep to a minimum of 500 dpi.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have a low number of pixels and limited set of colors;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Color artwork
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or PDF) or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable color figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color online (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites). Further information on the preparation of electronic artwork.

References

General format of Reference
References

Please use regular double space with the same type face. General format of references, a true test of consistency For journal articles make sure that all authors are listed (no et al.), and that the abbreviation of authors' surnames has consistent spacing. The use of commas should be consistent, and the final author should be preceded by an "and" or an "&" or may just continue the list. The date should come next. It may be in parentheses () or not. The journal article title should be lower case for all but the first word, and proper nouns and abbreviations that are capitalized. If there is a colon (:) or dash (also has a space before and after the dash) in the title then, the next letter is capitalized.

Book titles should be capitalized for each main word. They may or may not be italicized, but this needs to be consistent. For citations to a chapter in a book, the page numbers must be given. The name and location of the publisher needs to be given. The custom is to use major world cities alone, e.g., Beijing. Only the first city is given. Other cities need to be identified more fully (e.g., Boca Raton, FL, USA). Note that New York is the city. NY is the state. So one can write "New York, NY, USA" or New York but must write "Ithaca, NY, USA." Either the publisher or publisher location can be listed first as long as there is consistency for all references.

For example:

Cheeke, P.R. (1999). Applied Animal Nutrition (pp. 525). Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Prentice Hall. Choi, J.S., Lee, C.K., Jeon, Y.J., Byun, H.G., & Kim, S.K. (1999). Properties of the ceramic composites and glass ceramics prepared by using the natural hydroxyapatite derived from tuna bone. Journal of the Korean Industrial Engineering Chemistry, 10, 394-399.

Waagb?, R. (2006). Feeding and disease resistance in fish. In R. Mosenthin, J. Zenek, & T. Zebrowska (Eds). Biology of Nutrition in Growing Animals (pp. 387-415). London, UK: Elsevier Health Sciences.

[Note the spacing of the initials, the placement of the initials of the editors, whether you use an ampersand (&), an "and" or no unique marking for the last name in the list, and the placing of the page numbers along with whether the publisher goes before or after the location you can use a different format from this example as long as you have 100% consistency.]

Italics If you chose to abbreviate journal names, then abbreviate all journal names (where reasonable). The use of the ampersand (&) should be consistent with the original journal's use of that symbol. Please put journal names in italics.

Special note: The journal "LWT - Food.Science and Technology" should have a space before and after the dash, per the journal's preference.

Non-Journal Titles

Other publications, especially materials other than books, need a little more information and consistency of presentation. Try to get as close to the format you are using for books. There must be enough information for the reader to be able to find the publication. If written in a foreign language, please try to give an English translation. This also goes for books and papers. Please also indicate the language of the original in parentheses at the end of the title, e.g., (in Chinese).

Detailed Discussion of References

All publications cited in the text should be presented in a list of references following the text of the manuscript in alphabetical order. 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.

(1) All citations in text should refer to:

Single author: the author's surname and the year of publication.

There should be a comma at the end of the name sequence and the date and both are in parentheses, e.g., (Allen, 1995).

If the authors are included in the sentence, then the date goes alone in parentheses after the name, e.g., Allen (1995).

Two authors: both authors' surnames and the year of publication, e.g., (Allen and Jones, 1996).

Three or more authors: first author's name followed by et al. and the year of publication. The et al. has a period only for the "al." and it would get a comma after it within the parentheses, e.g., (Allen et al., 1997).

Citations may be made directly (or parenthetically). Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically. Examples: "as demonstrated (Allan, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Allan and Jones, 1995).

(2) The list of references should be arranged alphabetically by authors' names, then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than once reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters "a", "b", "c" etc., placed directly after the year of publication. References should be given in the following form:

Reference for journals

Kumbhar, B.K., Agarwal, R.S., & Das, K. (1981). Thermal properties of fresh and frozen fish. International Journal of Refrigeration, 4(3), 143-146.

**Notice that for all authors, the last name comes first, then there is a comma, and then the initials with a period are all together without a space. Notice the use of the "&" and that there is a comma at the end of the initials before the &.

**Notice the period after the date, which is in parentheses.

**Notice that the title only has the first word capitalized. Only proper nouns are capitalized elsewhere in the title. Genus and species information should be italicized.

**The name of the journal is written out in full using italics. The volume with an issue number in parentheses (optional) is followed by a comma. If a journal starts its numbers over again with each issue, then the issue number is required. An example of such a journal is Food Technology.

**The pages have a dash between them with no spaces and the reference ends with a period.

ISBN Numbers

Many publications have an ISBN, especially books and some proceedings. These are a unique identifier that assists librarians in filling requests for materials. If a publication has an ISBN, please include it as the last item in any relevant reference, e.g., ISBN: 92-5-101137-0.

Reference for books

Norman I. J., & Redfern S.J. (1996). Mental Health Care for Elderly People. New York: Churchill Livingstone. ISBN: 92-5-101137-0.

**The ISBN number is included as the last item with a colon after ISBN and another period at the end.

**Without the ISBN number, the reference for the book should also end with a period.

Reference for a chapter in a book

Thomson, F. M. (1984). Storage of particulate solids. In M. E. Fayed, L. Otten (Eds.), Handbook of Powder Science and Technology. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. p 365-463.

Reference for a proceedings chapter Machado, M.F., Oliveira, F.A.R., & Gekas, V. (1997). Modelling water uptake and soluble solids losses by puffed breakfast cereal immersed in water or milk. In Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress on Engineering and Food, Brighton, UK, 45-59.

**The document is indicated after the "In" and is in italics. The city and country must be given but the country can be left if it is one of the great cities in the world, e.g., New York, London, or New Delhi. In the United States, cities must also have the state as there is serious duplication within the US. The Ed. or Eds. is in parenthesis after the book authors.

References for Web Citations

As a minimum, the full URL should be given along with the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI (Digital Object Identifier), 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.

http://www.eblex.org.uk/news/Halal-report.aspx (accessed May 2011).

European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) 2005. Aspects of the biology and welfare of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes. Annex to the EFSA Journal, 292: 1-136. Internet: http://www.efsa.eu.int/science/ahaw/ahaw_opinions/1286_en.html (accessed December 19, 2008).

**Note the word "Internet" with a colon.

**Note that the accessed date means the last time the authors actually went to the web site to check that it is correct and has the material referenced. (Web sites do change, which is what limits their value.)

Data references
For reference style 5 APA: [dataset] Oguro, M., Imahiro, S., Saito, S., Nakashizuka, T. (2015). Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions. Mendeley Data, v1. http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1.

Data references
This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.

Preprint references
Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the name of the preprint server, as part of the reference. The preprint DOI should also be provided.

Reference management software
Most Elsevier journals have their reference template available in many of the most popular reference management software products. These include all products that support Citation Style Language styles, such as Mendeley. Using citation plug-ins from these products, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article, after which citations and bibliographies will be automatically formatted in the journal's style. If no template is yet available for this journal, please follow the format of the sample references and citations as shown in this Guide. If you use reference management software, please ensure that you remove all field codes before submitting the electronic manuscript. More information on how to remove field codes from different reference management software.

Video

Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include links to these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the file in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 150 MB per file, 1 GB in total. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect. Please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages. Note: since video and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and the print version for the portions of the article that refer to this content.

Data visualization

Include interactive data visualizations in your publication and let your readers interact and engage more closely with your research. Follow the instructions here to find out about available data visualization options and how to include them with your article.

Supplementary Material
Supplementary material such as applications, images and sound clips, can be published with your article to enhance it. Submitted supplementary items are published exactly as they are received (Excel or PowerPoint files will appear as such online). Please submit your material together with the article and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If you wish to make changes to supplementary material during any stage of the process, please make sure to provide an updated file. Do not annotate any corrections on a previous version. Please switch off the 'Track Changes' option in Microsoft Office files as these will appear in the published version.

Please be sure that supplemental materials are provided to the reviewers. Also consider whether they are really necessary and whether they are important enough to put into the paper. The standards for tables and figures hold for such materials. If any material has been put into a data depository, please provide enough information so the reader can find the information easily.

Research data

This journal requires and enables you to share data that supports your research publication where appropriate, and enables you to interlink the data with your published articles. Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings, which may also include software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project.

Below are a number of ways in which you can associate data with your article or make a statement about the availability of your data when submitting your manuscript. When sharing data in one of these ways, you are expected to cite the data in your manuscript and reference list. Please refer to the "References" section for more information about data citation. For more information on depositing, sharing and using research data and other relevant research materials, visit the research data page.

Data linking
If you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset. Elsevier collaborates with a number of repositories to link articles on ScienceDirect with relevant repositories, giving readers access to underlying data that gives them a better understanding of the research described.

There are different ways to link your datasets to your article. When available, you can directly link your dataset to your article by providing the relevant information in the submission system. For more information, visit the database linking page.

For supported data repositories a repository banner will automatically appear next to your published article on ScienceDirect.

In addition, you can link to relevant data or entities through identifiers within the text of your manuscript, using the following format: Database: xxxx (e.g., TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN).

Research Elements

This journal enables you to publish research objects related to your original research – such as data, methods, protocols, software and hardware – as an additional paper in a Research Elements journal.

Research Elements is a suite of peer-reviewed, open access journals which make your research objects findable, accessible and reusable. Articles place research objects into context by providing detailed descriptions of objects and their application, and linking to the associated original research articles. Research Elements articles can be prepared by you, or by one of your collaborators.

During submission, you will be alerted to the opportunity to prepare and submit a manuscript to one of the Research Elements journals.

More information can be found on the Research Elements page.

Data statement
To foster transparency, we require you to state the availability of your data in your submission if your data is unavailable to access or unsuitable to post. This may also be a requirement of your funding body or institution. You will have the opportunity to provide a data statement during the submission process. The statement will appear with your published article on ScienceDirect. For more information, visit the Data Statement page..

After acceptance

Online proof correction

To ensure a fast publication process of the article, we kindly ask authors to provide us with their proof corrections within two days. Corresponding authors will receive an e-mail with a link to our online proofing system, allowing annotation and correction of proofs online. The environment is similar to MS Word: in addition to editing text, you can also comment on figures/tables and answer questions from the Copy Editor. Web-based proofing provides a faster and less error-prone process by allowing you to directly type your corrections, eliminating the potential introduction of errors.
If preferred, you can still choose to annotate and upload your edits on the PDF version. All instructions for proofing will be given in the e-mail we send to authors, including alternative methods to the online version and PDF.
We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.

Author inquiries

Visit the Elsevier Support Center to find the answers you need. Here you will find everything from Frequently Asked Questions to ways to get in touch.
You can also check the status of your submitted article or find out when your accepted article will be published.