JFDR Policy Pages

The Journal of Food and Dietetics Research (JFDR) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and integrity, in line with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

•      All submissions are evaluated solely on their academic merit, originality, and relevance to the scope of the journal, without regard to the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.

•      The Editor-in-Chief has full authority over the entire editorial content of the journal and the timing of publication of that content.

•      Editors evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to the authors' institutional affiliation.

•      Unpublished data, interpretations, or opinions disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.

•      Editors and editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

•      The journal follows a rigorous peer-review process (see Peer Review Policy) before any manuscript is accepted for publication.

•      Conflicts of interest between authors, reviewers, and editors are disclosed and managed in accordance with COPE guidelines.

JFDR follows a double-blind peer review process to ensure objectivity, quality, and fairness in the evaluation of submitted manuscripts.

1.   Initial Screening: All submissions are first screened by the editorial office for scope, formatting compliance, and plagiarism (see Plagiarism Policy).

2.   Assignment to Reviewers: Manuscripts that pass initial screening are assigned to at least two independent, qualified reviewers with relevant subject expertise. Author and reviewer identities are kept confidential from one another.

3.   Review Criteria: Reviewers assess originality, scientific/technical soundness, clarity, adequacy of methodology, and relevance to the journal's scope.

4.   Editorial Decision: Based on reviewer recommendations, the Editor-in-Chief (or handling editor) makes one of the following decisions: Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, or Reject.

5.   Revision & Re-review: Revised manuscripts may be sent back to the original reviewers or a new reviewer for re-evaluation.

6.   Timeline: The journal aims to complete the first round of review within 3–4 weeks of submission, subject to reviewer availability.

7.   Appeals: Authors who disagree with an editorial decision may submit a formal appeal with scientific justification to the editorial office for reconsideration.

Reviewers are expected to maintain confidentiality, avoid conflicts of interest, and provide constructive, timely feedback.

JFDR is a fully open-access journal supported in part by Article Processing Charges (APCs), which cover editorial processing, peer-review coordination, typesetting, digital archiving, and online hosting.

•      APC is applicable only upon acceptance of a manuscript for publication, after the peer review process is complete. There is no charge for manuscript submission.

•      The APC is USD 30 per accepted article. JFDR is fully open access.

•      Waivers or discounts may be considered on a case-by-case basis for authors from low-income countries or under special circumstances, at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.

•      Payment instructions are communicated to the corresponding author only after formal acceptance, along with an official invoice.

•      APC does not influence editorial decisions; all manuscripts are evaluated on scientific merit prior to any discussion of charges.

Authors who publish with JFDR retain the copyright of their work, subject to the following terms:

•      Upon acceptance, authors grant JFDR / ACS Publisher a license to publish, distribute, and archive the article in print and electronic form.

•      Articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits sharing and adaptation for any purpose, provided appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and source.

•      Authors are permitted to self-archive the final published version (or accepted manuscript, per journal policy) in institutional repositories, personal websites, or subject repositories, with proper citation.

•      The journal/publisher is not liable for any copyright infringement claims regarding third-party material (e.g., figures, tables, images) included by the authors without proper permission — it is the authors' responsibility to obtain and provide necessary permissions for reused material.

JFDR maintains a strict zero-tolerance policy toward plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct, in accordance with COPE guidelines.

•      All submitted manuscripts are screened using plagiarism-detection software (e.g., Turnitin, iThenticate, or similar) prior to being sent for peer review.

•      Manuscripts with a similarity index above the journal's threshold (typically 15–20%, excluding references/quotations) are returned to authors for revision or rejected outright, depending on severity.

•      Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to: verbatim copying, paraphrasing without citation, self-plagiarism (redundant/duplicate publication of one's own previously published work), and improper attribution of ideas or data.

•      Confirmed cases of plagiarism discovered post-publication will result in retraction of the article (see Errata, Retractions, and Addenda Policy) and may be reported to the author's institution.

•      Authors are required to properly cite and attribute all sources, data, and materials used in their manuscript.

JFDR follows COPE guidelines for correcting the scholarly record when necessary.

•      Erratum/Corrigendum: Issued when a minor error introduced during the writing, typesetting, or production process is identified after publication, and it does not affect the overall validity or conclusions of the article.

•      Addendum: Issued when additional information needs to be added to a published article to clarify or supplement the original findings.

•      Retraction: Issued when there are serious concerns regarding the validity of the results (e.g., data fabrication, plagiarism, duplicate publication, ethical violations, or major errors that invalidate the findings/conclusions). Retracted articles remain accessible online, clearly marked as "Retracted," along with a retraction notice explaining the reason.

•      Requests for correction may be raised by authors, readers, or reviewers, and are investigated by the editorial board before a decision is made.

•      All corrections, retractions, and addenda are linked to the original article and indexed accordingly to maintain a transparent scholarly record.

For manuscripts reporting research involving human participants or animal subjects, JFDR requires strict adherence to internationally accepted ethical standards.

Human Studies:

•      Research must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki.

•      Authors must confirm that the study was approved by an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB) / Ethics Committee, and provide the approval number/reference in the manuscript.

•      Informed consent must have been obtained from all human participants (or their legal guardians), and this must be stated explicitly in the manuscript.

•      Studies involving identifiable patient information/images require documented patient consent for publication.

Animal Studies:

•      Research must comply with the ARRIVE guidelines and relevant institutional/national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals.

•      Authors must confirm approval from an Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC) or equivalent body, citing the approval number in the manuscript.

•      All efforts to minimize animal suffering and the number of animals used must be described.

Manuscripts lacking appropriate ethical approval/consent statements will not be considered for publication.

To ensure the long-term preservation and accessibility of published content, JFDR follows a digital archiving and preservation strategy:

•      All published articles are permanently archived in digital format and assigned a unique identifier (e.g., DOI) for persistent access.

•      The journal uses the LOCKSS and CLOCKSS digital archives to help ensure that articles remain accessible even if the journal ceases operation in the future.

•      Regular backups of the journal's content and metadata are maintained on secure servers.

•      Readers and institutions can access archived content through the journal's official website and any partner archiving/indexing repositories listed under "Abstracting and Indexing."

JFDR maintains a clear separation between editorial content and advertising to preserve the integrity and objectivity of its scientific content.

•      Advertising, where accepted, is clearly distinguished from editorial content and does not influence editorial decisions in any way.

•      The journal does not accept advertisements that are misleading, unsubstantiated, or conflict with the journal's scope and ethical standards.

•      Advertisements related to products or services relevant to Food Science, Nutrition, and Dietetics may be considered, subject to review and approval by the editorial/publishing team.

•      Advertisers have no access to, or influence over, editorial content, peer review, or publication decisions.

•      All advertising inquiries should be directed to ACS Publisher through official contact channels, not the editorial office.