All manuscripts submitted to Sustainable Food Connect are processed exclusively through our online submission system (https://scifiniti.jams.pub/login). The corresponding author is responsible for submitting the manuscript and will coordinate with the Editorial Office throughout the manuscript processing. Before submitting the manuscript, the corresponding author should ensure that authorship criteria, as suggested by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and COPE, have been followed for all listed authors.
Before submitting your manuscript to 'Sustainable Food Connect,' please ensure the following:
Please download the template for preparing your article according to our formatting standards. While this step is not mandatory, our layout team will make any necessary adjustments after the manuscript has been accepted.
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Sustainable Food Connect offers the following article types:
A review article summarizes and analyzes the progress of existing research on a specific topic. There is no specific limit on word count, references, number of figures, or tables but it is usually comprised of at least 4000-8000 words, 8-10 figures, and 100 or more references. The structure of a review article should include an Abstract, Keywords, an Introduction, Related Sections, Discussion, Conclusions, and Future Directions, a List of Abbreviations, Funding Information, Conflict of Interest, and Acknowledgment.
Original research articles report the findings of a research study, offering a comprehensive analysis of the most recent and pertinent references in the respective field. The article's structure should encompass the following components: a structured abstract, keywords, introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion, conclusions, availability of data and materials, list of abbreviations, funding information, consent for publication, conflicts of interest, and acknowledgments. A minimum of 4000 words are recommended for a research article with at least 30 references and 3-5 figures.
These are mostly non-peer-reviewed short articles submitted by the Editor-in-Chief, board members, or guest editors. The usual word count is about 1000-1500 words with 10-15 references but abstracts are not necessary to include.
Commentaries are short articles that have a narrowly focused scope and are usually commissioned by the journal. The structure of a commentary article includes an abstract (not mandatory), main text, references, and figures/Tables. The abstract, figures, and tables are however not necessary. Commentaries should be a maximum of 1000 words and should have at least 10 references.
Perspectives are invited papers focused on a specific topic, presenting the authors' opinions or discussing other articles with proper attribution to the source. It is recommended to cite recent articles, preferably from the last three years. The length of the perspective should not exceed 3000 words, and a maximum of two figures and tables are allowed.
The corresponding author is required to submit a cover letter during manuscript submission, providing brief details about the significance of the manuscript. In this cover letter, the corresponding author on behalf of other authors, will confirm that the manuscript is an original submission, not in process, submitted, or published in any other journal. Furthermore, the cover letter should also assert that all authors agree regarding authorship, and there are no disputes among the authors. Please also specify if there are any potential conflicts of interest or if you have any concerns over the journal policy.
Organize your article into distinct, numbered sections. Subsections should be labeled as 1.1 (and then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, and so on), 1.2, and so forth. Please note that section numbering does not include the abstract. Use this numbering system for any internal cross-references, avoiding vague references to 'the text.' If necessary, provide concise headings for each subsection, and ensure that each heading begins on a separate line.
This section is optional but strongly encouraged for authors as it could increase the visibility of your articles. We invite you to encapsulate the core points of your article in 3 to 5 bullet points, elevating its discoverability on search engines. These highlights should be submitted as a separate, editable file using 'Highlights' in the filename or provided as a distinct section within the manuscript. By employing 3 to 5 bullet points, each within 85 characters, spaces included, you can considerably bolster your article's online visibility.
Graphical abstract is optional for authors but we do recommend that authors should provide a graphical abstract that summarizes the article content in graphical form. The quality of the graphics should match the recommendations for other figures in the manuscript. Refer to our figures section for file type and quality guidelines.
The following specifications are recommended:
Authors are advised to keep the title of their manuscript brief (typically 10-15 words) and directly related to the research topic. It is recommended to avoid the use of abbreviated or short forms in titles. Please adhere to these guidelines when formulating the title of your submission.
The title page of the manuscript must include the full names of all authors, along with their current affiliations, digital identifiers, and email addresses. Please ensure the accuracy and completeness of this information to facilitate effective communication and proper attribution.
The abstract of a research article should adhere to a stringent 350-word limit, encompassing a succinct introduction, presentation of results, and a brief discussion. It is recommended not to cite references within the abstract, and also avoid the use of abbreviations.
Include a minimum of 6-8 keywords in the manuscript that are relevant to the topic. Authors are advised to choose specific keywords and avoid generic terms such as disease, climate, environment, etc.
The “introduction” is the first section of the manuscript which should explain the significance and background of the topic covered.
This section should provide information related to the “Materials and Methods” used to conduct the research such as original data source, material used, study aim, design, and setting. The complete description of processes, interventions, and comparisons should also be provided in the materials and methods section of the manuscript.
This section should include the main and important findings of the study. The results of statistical analysis should be included in the text or can be cited in tables or figures.
Authors should discuss the results and how they can be interpreted from the perspective of previous studies and the working hypotheses. The findings and their implications should be discussed in the broadest context possible and the limitations of the work highlighted. Future research directions may also be mentioned. This section “discussion” may be combined with Results.
A summary of the entire article should be provided under the section “Conclusion”.
If the manuscript includes abbreviations, it is essential to use their full form in the first place. Authors are also recommended to provide a comprehensive list of these abbreviations with their full names under the section "List of Abbreviations", which should be included at the end of the article.
Authors should make sure to mention the source of data and materials in the section “Availability of Data and Materials” with the links of publicly archived datasets analyzed or generated during the study.
If authors have used details, images, or videos of a person, then written consent from the relevant individual must also be taken to publish under Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0. If an individual is under 18 then parents or legal guardians must be contacted for their consent to publish data. Personal identifiers, such as names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be disclosed in the manuscript unless it is indispensable for scientific purposes.
In cases where an individual has passed away, it is necessary to seek consent for publication from their immediate family or next of kin. The manuscript should incorporate a declaration confirming that written informed consent for publication has been secured.
As a scientific publisher, we maintain a strong commitment to upholding the highest standards of integrity, objectivity, and transparency in the dissemination of scientific knowledge. We recognize the importance of managing potential conflicts of interest to safeguard the integrity of the research and scholarly content we publish. Authors are strongly recommended to disclose any potential conflict of interest in their manuscripts under the section of “Conflict of Interest”.
Examples of Financial Conflicts of Interest
Examples of Non-Financial Conflict of Interest
Scifiniti follows COPE’s recommendation to deal with undisclosed conflict of interest cases before or after the publication.
IX. Funding
Authors are required to disclose all sources of funding in the acknowledgment section of the manuscript. This includes grants, scholarships, sponsorships, or any financial contributions. Details such as the name of the funding agency, grant number, and specific requirements set by the funding body should be clearly stated.
Following are a few examples to disclose funding information:
Please add an acknowledgment section at the end of the manuscript before the reference section. Please acknowledge those who have contributed to the manuscript, particularly in language editing, writing support, and proofreading services, and also mention if AI tools were used.
Scifiniti Journals uses ACS reference style. The following are important points to be noted while citing any articles.
a) ACS Reference Style:
The ACS style adheres to a citation-sequence system, where the references in the final section of your paper are numerically ordered in the same sequence as they are cited in your text. This system differs from the conventional method of arranging references alphabetically by author.
Reference Citations Within Text:
In the text section of the manuscript, references should be cited numerically, placed in italics, and listed in sequential order. When a reference is cited at multiple locations within the text, it should retain the same number assigned to it upon its initial mention, and no new number should be assigned. If more than one reference number is cited at a single location, these numbers should be presented in ascending order and separated by commas.
Examples:
[1] Paivio, A.; Jansen, B.; Becker, L.J. Comparisons through the mind’s eye. Cognition, 1975, 37(2), 635-647.
[2] Weikert, S.; Freyer, D.; Weih, M.; Isaev, N.; Busch, C.; Schultze, J.; Megow, D.; U Dirnagl, D. Rapid Ca2+ -dependent NO-production from central nervous system cells in culture measured by NO-nitrite/ozone chemoluminescence. Brain Res., 1997, 748,1–11.
[3] Luria, A.R. The mind of a mnemonist [Solotarof L, Trans.]; Avon Books: New York, 1969.
[4] Letheridge, S.; Cannon, C.R. Bilingual education: teaching English as a second language; Praeger: New York, 1980.
[5] Adams, M. J.; Briscoe, B. E. and Sinha, S. K. Interface friction and energy dissipation in soft solid processing applications. In: Tribology series: Vol. 27. Dissipative processes in tribology; Dowson, D., Series Ed. and Dawson, D., Taylor, C. M. Childs, T. H. C., Godet, M. and Dalmas, G. Vol. Eds.; Elsevier: Amsterdam, 1994; pp 233-234.
[6] Shukla, M.; Vasu, R.K.; Lodha, S.P.; Seetharaman, S. Method and system for machine learning model testing and preventive measure recommendation. U.S. Patent 11805137, 2023.
[7] Ramakrishnan, N. Real-time sample aspiration fault detection and control. WIPO Patent Application WO/2023/288230, 2023.
[8] Douglis, F.; Ball, T. Tracking and viewing changes on the web. In Proceedings of the 1996 USENIX technical conference, 1996.
The preferred file format for submitting manuscripts is Microsoft Word in either DOC or DOCX format. Editable files are necessary for the review and production process. If you initially submit a non-editable file, you will be required to resubmit your manuscript in a Word file.
Points to consider:
Equations should be inserted in editable format from the equation editor.
Gene symbols should be italicized and only approved gene nomenclature should be used. It is recommended to follow the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) for human genes. While reporting, you may include common alternative gene aliases; however, it is important to note that these aliases should not be used independently as substitutes for the HGNC symbol.
Chemical compounds and biomolecules should be denoted using systematic nomenclature, preferably following the guidelines outlined by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). The mathematical notations, units of measurement, chemical and physical quantities should be reported in the International System of Units (SI).
The nomenclature of Astronomical objects should be the one recommended by the International Astronomical Union (IAU)
In manuscripts containing mathematical equations, authors should ensure that these equations are provided in editable form, preferably generated from the equation editor, and should be integrated within the normal text flow whenever possible.
When expressing fractional terms, please use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line (e.g., X/Y). Variables should be formatted in italics. When indicating powers of 'e,' it is preferred to use 'exp.' Additionally, please assign consecutive numbers to any equations that need to be displayed separately from the text if they are explicitly referred to in the manuscript.
As explicitly outlined in the Image Manipulation section of our Ethical Guidelines, authors are required to seek permission when incorporating copyrighted figures or any segment of a figure or table, and they must accurately adhere to the requirements of the relevant licenses.
Figures should be placed in proximity to the corresponding text, rather than at the beginning or end of the document, citation of figures in the text section should be in sequential order.
Figures with multiple parts should be submitted as a single file containing all parts of the figures (a, b, c, etc.), and the size of each figure must not exceed 10 MB. If you are using a graph then make labels including units that should be given for each axis.
If the manuscript is submitted in LaTex FILE, then figures should be provided in the PDF. "After paper acceptance separate figures might be required for production purposes".
Please note that authors must get approval from the original copyright holder if figures are reproduced from any published content.
For Vector drawings, please provide EPS or PDF.
It is recommended to prepare chemical structures in CDX (ChemDraw).
Please do not:
A caption should consist of a concise title in text form and not as a part of the figure, also provide a description of the figure which should remain minimal, but provide explanations for abbreviation and symbols used.
Authors may submit supplementary material along with the article. These supplementary materials play a crucial role in enhancing the content of the articles, providing readers with valuable resources and additional information.
For manuscripts with innovative or substantial methodology sections, we encourage the inclusion of supplementary online materials. These materials can include:
Additionally, images, sound clips, and method applications can be included to further enrich your work.
If any changes are necessary for the provided supplementary file, please submit a completely new file rather than providing a correction list or annotating corrections on the previous version. It's important to note that supplementary files are published as provided, and no formatting is applied from the Publisher's side.
A section with the heading 'Supportive/Supplementary Material' preceding the reference section should encompass information on supplementary material. This section should include captions and descriptions for each file, outlining its content.
Please note that supplementary material will not be integrated into the manuscript but will be linked on our website in the same format as provided by the author.
It is crucial to ensure that each additional file represents a single table, figure, or movie. Please refrain from uploading linked worksheets or PDF files larger than one sheet. All supportive or supplementary materials should be consolidated into a single zipped file, not exceeding 4 MB in size. For data sheets, we recommend using Word, Excel, CSV, CDX, FASTA, PDF, or Zip formats. Presentations are best provided in PowerPoint, PDF, or Zip files. Images can be submitted in CDX, JPEG, EPS, TIFF, or PNG formats.
If supplementary audio files are included, kindly provide them in MP3 format, and for videos, use MOV, MPG, AVI, or MPEG formats. Supplementary images must be in 300 DPI, and RGB color mode should be utilized.
Before submitting manuscripts, we recommend that authors have their work reviewed by a native English speaker or avail themselves of professional language editing services to minimize the risk of rejection due to language inconsistencies. Manuscripts containing grammatical or typographical errors are ineligible for publication and will be returned to the author with a recommendation for correction before further consideration in the publication process. Authors are encouraged to utilize professional editing services to address language inconsistencies and errors in their manuscripts.
Scifiniti abides by the guidelines recommended by the ICMJE and COPE for authorship criteria. To become an author, an individual must follow the four criteria stated by ICMJE:
The corresponding author is a primary author who coordinates with the Editorial office during manuscript processing from submission to publication process. They act as a liaison between the co-authors and the journal, keeping them updated with the manuscript status and decisions.
A coauthor is an individual who makes substantial contributions to the conception, design, investigation, methodology, execution, or analysis of research presented in the manuscript.
In the case of those manuscripts, where authorship is retained by the consortium or group, then the author list must contain the name of the consortium or group if individual authors meet ICMJE’s criteria of authorship (as described above).
It is recommended that individuals who do not meet all the specified criteria for authorship should not be included as authors in the paper. Instead, their contributions should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgment section of the manuscript. This practice is in line with the recommendations from organizations such as the ICMJE and the COPE. Before proceeding with acknowledgment, it is essential to ensure the approval of the corresponding author and to adhere to the specific authorship and acknowledgment policies of the target journal to maintain transparency and ethical standards in scholarly publishing.
The following activities alone, without additional substantial contribution, don’t meet authorship criteria:
For further details, please review ICMJE's definition of non-author contribution.
If an author is deceased during the manuscript processing stage, then it is the responsibility of the corresponding author or co-authors to notify the editorial office. In cases where the deceased author was the corresponding author, the remaining authors, with mutual consent, should nominate another author to assume the role of the corresponding author. This information should be provided and appended, including the name of the newly nominated corresponding author, following the publication of the manuscript.
Gift authorship, also known as honorary authorship, involves individuals who have made no significant contribution to the preparation of the manuscript. There could be several reasons to include a guest author such as establishing credibility or satisfying institutional or publication requirements.
Similarly, Guest authorship is an authorship with no contribution in manuscript preparation but their names are added for courtesy, gratitude, or other non-substantive reasons. Scifiniti does not encourage the practice of gift or guest authorship
In contrast to gift and guest authors, ghost authors are those who have made significant contributions to the manuscript's preparation but their names are not listed in authorship. Instead, their contribution has been attributed to someone else in the manuscript.
Identifying guest, gift, and ghost authors is sometimes difficult. Scifiniti therefore follows COPE Guidelines to identify such authorship problems. If such authorship issues are identified, appropriate actions as recommended by COPE will be taken.
Scifiniti strongly adheres to COPE statement regarding the use of artificial intelligence in the manuscripts. AI tools such as ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) such as BERT, GPT-3, and T5 cannot take responsibility for submitted work, identify conflicts of interest, or manage copyright and licensing agreements so these tools can’t be listed as authors.
Authors are completely responsible for the transparency, originality, integrity, and validity of their manuscript's content, including sections generated by AI tools, and are consequently responsible for any violations of publication ethics.
The copyrights of articles published in Sustainable Food Connect are retained by the authors. Upon manuscript submission, authors grant a license to the publisher to publish their articles as the original publisher. Articles are published under CC BY 4.0, allowing unrestricted use of the article provided proper attribution is given to the copyright holder. However, in cases where authors cannot retain their copyrights, such as government employees, authors need to inform the Editorial office before the publication of the article, as modifications in the copyright statement cannot be made after the article's publication.
PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE
Authors are recommended to get signed, written permission (if necessary) from the copyright holder for the reproduction of already published figures, tables, or schemes.
When documenting research that involves human subjects, human materials, human tissues, or human data, it is imperative for authors to state that the research adhered to the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975 (revised in 2013). More information about the Declaration of Helsinki can be found at https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-of-helsinki/.
According to point 23 of this declaration, “The research protocol must be submitted for consideration, comment, guidance, and approval to the concerned research ethics committee before the study begins. This committee must be transparent in its functioning, must be independent of the researcher, the sponsor, and any other undue influence, and must be duly qualified. It must take into consideration the laws and regulations of the country or countries in which the research is to be performed as well as applicable international norms and standards but these must not be allowed to reduce or eliminate any of the protections for research subjects outlined in this Declaration.
The committee must have the right to monitor ongoing studies. The researcher must provide monitoring information to the committee, especially information about any serious adverse events. No amendment to the protocol may be made without consideration and approval by the committee. After the end of the study, the researchers must submit a final report to the committee containing a summary of the study’s findings and conclusions.
Authors are recommended to provide a separate section for Human rights and mention clearly that research has been conducted by the Declaration of Helsinki, along with the identification code and name of the Ethics Committee that has approved the protocol.
We expect authors should follow the Animal Use Alternatives (3Rs) model while conducting any research that requires the use of animals. These new scientific approaches proposed by Drs. William Russell and Rex Burch, help to minimize to maintain scientific integrity by reducing the pain and distress of research animals.
We recommend authors follow the “Basel Declaration” which summarizes essential principles to follow when conducting research in animals. The International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) has also published ethical guidelines that could help authors protect animal rights while conducting any research.
Authors are required to explicitly mention the name of the approval committee and reference number in their manuscript, emphasizing that they obtained both legal and ethical approval before commencing the research involving animals. Additionally, the authors must affirm that the experiments were conducted in strict adherence to the guidelines outlined below.
If ethical approval is exempted from any committee then this should also be mentioned in the manuscripts along with the name of the committee that grants exemption.
Scifiniti recommends authors use ARRIVE guidelines for reporting research involving animals. Reviewers are also recommended to use CHECKLIST while reviewing a manuscript and provide their recommendations if the research is not in compliance with any of the points mentioned in the checklist.
For in vivo experiments, visit https://arriveguidelines.
Experimental research on plants must be conducted in compliance with relevant guidelines published by the IUCN Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Authors are advised to provide ethical statements including the name and source of the plant used during research.
Example: Solanum tubersum was used in conducting research which was provided by Dr. (XYZ), affiliation, City, Country.
To support reproducibility, voucher specimens of rare and non-model plants must be deposited in a publicly accessible herbarium, public museum or another public repository. These vouchers should include documentation of specific parts of the plants which are used in the research, details of the geographical coordinates of the collection site and the collection date.
If a research involves the use of cell lines then authors should mention the origin in the methods sections of their manuscript. If an author has used established cell lines then the source and reference of the published article should be mentioned. For previously unpublished de novo cell lines, details of the ethical committee and approval should be mentioned in the manuscript. Informed consent must be taken in cases where human cell lines are used.
Example: The HaCaT cell lines were provided by XYZ
For misidentification and contamination of human cell lines, please International Cell Line Authentication Committee (ICLAC) and NCBI database.
For use, ISSCR Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation should be followed for reporting experiments on human embryos, gametes and embryonic stem cells.
Unidentified Images
For unidentified images like X-rays, ultrasound images, etc., no consent for publication is needed.
For further details, ICMJE recommendations for “Protection of Research Participants”.
Authors are advised to follow ‘Sex and Gender Equity in Research – SAGER – guidelines’. Authors should ensure that the terms sex (referring to a biological attribute) and gender (influenced by social and cultural factors) are used carefully in order to avoid confusion in the two terms. In the introduction, authors should consider discussing the potential presence of sex and/or gender differences. Furthermore, they should detail the methods used to address sex and/or gender in the study's design and present data separated by sex and/or gender when it is relevant. Authors should also analyze and present results specific to each sex and/or gender group. If the study did not include a sex and/or gender analysis, the authors should provide a justification in the discussion. We recommend that our authors refer to the comprehensive guidelines before submitting their work.
Authors are expected to follow the COPE Citation Policy while citing any article in their manuscripts. Citations manipulation by authors, reviewers and editors is strictly prohibited.
Authors should avoid artificially inflating their citations by including an excessive number of their own articles, or those of colleagues and friends. Nonetheless, if an author is referencing their previously published work which is relevant, it is essential to provide proper citation to prevent potential issues of self-plagiarism or redundancy.
Authors are advised against extensively citing articles published in the same journal where they intend to publish their own work.
Editors and reviewers are strongly encouraged to refrain from suggesting irrelevant articles to authors as a means to boost their or journal’s citation counts.