Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Launching a new journal is always an adventure, an endeavour, the start of a quest, but it should also be more than that. To succeed, the new journal must have an aim, and more importantly, a need and a place to call home. It should offer the field something currently unavailable. Translational Food Sciences (TFS), owned by the Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST) and published by Oxford University Press (OUP), needs to meet these criteria. The journal’s aim, therefore, is to act as a voice for authors who specialise in all aspects of food science, covering near market, commercially exploitable topics, ready to be immediately implemented by industry or other applied research organisations. These articles are traditionally formatted and will be instantly recognisable to readers. Coupled with this, TFS will also feature Viewpoint articles, which were trialled in our sister journal, International Journal of Food Science and Technology (IJFST), last year (Brennan, 2024; Corrino et al., 2024; Gavahian 2024; Grasso, 2024; Lee et al., 2024; Mellor, 2024; Young & Young, 2024). These are also scientific articles, but ones that include an opinion or viewpoint of the author on the given topic. Our aim is to convey a different aspect of near-market science and provide insight and guidance on the likely societal impact of food science. These articles are looked towards to be not only of interest to readers at large, but also to authorities, regulators, policy makers, and be able to shape debate by offering balanced, science-backed opinion. We look to these articles to provide TFS with a timely differentiator within the field. Addressing these needs and offering a new article type to the food space, our journal’s home will be the natural stable for all the article types mentioned above. And having created a home, it is important that we have a sharp, eye-catching identifying image to associate with it. A word then on our cover design: It’s just an image! And yet it’s so much more—it’s a brand. The aim was to have something instantly recognisable, iconic even, whilst embodying the journal’s title and aims. Arguably, it is instantly recognisable and certainly has aspirations of being iconic. Fitting with the journal’s aims, we see four streams—data if you will—entering from the left. These “vanish” into the dark lens before emerging out the right-hand side with focal points, convergence, and alignment. The dark lens represents our authors—it is through them that the translational “magic” occurs—and from that translational “magic”, learning and understanding springs to drive our science forward. The next time you see the image, you’ll think Translational Food Sciences, you’ll think iconic, you’ll think brand, and that combination will be our visual voice to let the field know what we stand for. I would also like to acknowledge and call out our inaugural article with Translational Food Sciences—this happens only once—a Viewpoint piece titled Strategies for Tackling Food Allergy Risks Associated with Insect Consumption. This article comes from the two authors: Emelia Bradley and Robin C. May, both from the School of Biosciences and the Institute of Microbiology & Infection, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. In it, you will learn that the allergy risk is real but manageable, and it offers insight and learning as to how this can be addressed. I’m sure it will receive a warm welcome from our readers and also stimulate debate and informed discussion—the exact aim of the Viewpoint pieces. Emelia, Robin—thank you. As I round off and look forward to the way ahead, I would like to extend my thanks to our dedicated Editorial Board, each and every one of you, also a special call out to our Editorial Office, supported by OUP, our staff at IFST, and finally, my Deputy Editor, Professor Charles Brennan, and my Associate Editors, Professors Carol Phillips and Witoon Prinyawiwatkul. Niall W.G. Young. Editor in Chief Translational Food Sciences Niall Young (Conceptualisation [lead], Validation [lead]).
Source: Translational Food Sciences
Author: Niall W G Young
Institution: Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,110
OpenAlex ID: W4409012671