News from the Food & Function Editors

As Food & Function enters 2013 and its fourth year of publishing we take this opportunity to reflect on 2012 and look forward to the year ahead. Last year was a significant year for Food & Function; with the publication of two themed issues, receiving a first partial impact factor and the appointment of a third Associate Editor. The Journal is growing from strength to strength and we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to this success, in particular our referees and authors.

2012 saw new members join the Food & Function Editorial Board. Nissim Garti from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, was appointed – to find out more about his thoughts of food functionality read the interview with him on the Food & Functionblog. Tim Foster from the University of Nottingham, UK, also joined the Journal. Tim joins our Associate Editor team of Steven Feng Chen (University of Peking, China) and Cesar Fraga (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and UC Davis, USA).

At the end of 2012 two of our Editorial Board members retired from the Board, Reinhard Miller and Fons Voragen, and we would like to thank both of them for their support of the Journal since we launched back in 2010.

Last year the Journal was very pleased to publish a themed issue of research presented at the 4^th Delivery of Functionality in Complex Food Systems Conference, which was held in Guelph, Canada in August 2011. The issue was Guest Edited by Editorial Board member Alejandro Marangoni (University of Guelph, Canada) and published in March. This themed issue showcased world-leading research in food structure and functionality.

The second themed issue of the year, published in September, contained research presented at the 1^st International Congress on Cocoa, Coffee and Tea held on 13–16 September 2011, in Novara, Italy and was Guest Edited by Advisory Board member Vincenzo Fogliano and Marco Arlorio. This high quality issue covers both the chemistry which contributes to health effects and the mechanisms in the body by which these foods and beverages exert their impact on health.

In June we reached a significant milestone for a new journal, receiving our first partial impact factor. Having launched in October 2010 and published 3 monthly issues, this first partial impact factor, based on citations in 2011 to articles published in 2010, was based on just 28 articles. We are, therefore, delighted with our impressive first partial impact factor of 1.179.

In addition to the cutting edge primary articles the Journal has published a selection of high quality reviews. These showcase the breadth of Food & Function's scope and come from leading names in their respective fields. To stay up to date with all the latest articles published in Food & Function you can sign up to our electronic table of contents e-alerts, follow our RSS feeds, or, read about our ‘hot’ articles on the Food & Functionblog. We also have article collections on the blog highlighting the most accessed papers each month and key subject areas such as food structure and metals in health and nutrition.

During 2012 we attended a number of conferences and sponsored a number of poster prizes. Full details about conferences we attended and poster prize winners can be found on the Food & Function blog. This year the Journal will be sponsoring more activities and full details will be given on the Journal website. We would be delighted to meet you at a conference.

Thank you for your continued support of Food & Function. If you have any comments about the Journal please do contact us at E-mail: food-rsc@rsc.org.

Wishing you a very successful 2013.

Gary Williamson, Editor-in-Chief

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Sarah Ruthven, Editor

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