Journal profile · Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Journal of Food Protection
ISSN 0362-028X · eISSN 1944-9097 · International Association for Food Protection · UNITED STATES · Monthly · Founded 1977
Journal of Food Protection: CAS Zone 3 · Agricultural & Forestry Sciences (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.72; fully open access; APC about USD 2,600; median 87 days to acceptance (111 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 241 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Food Protection is published by International Association for Food Protection and is in Zone 3 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Listeria monocytogenes in Food Safety, Salmonella and Campylobacter epidemiology and Food Safety and Hygiene, together about 44.5% of its articles. Its main subfields are Food Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Official Journal of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP)The Journal of Food Protection® (JFP) is an international, monthly scientific journal published by the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP). JFP publishes research and review articles on all aspects of food protection and safety. Major emphases of JFP are placed on studies dealing with:Tracking, detecting (including traditional, molecular, and real-time), inactivating, and controlling food-related hazards, including microorganisms (including antibiotic resistance), microbial (mycotoxins, seafood toxins) and non-microbial toxins (heavy metals, pesticides, veterinary drug residues, migrants from food packaging, and processing contaminants), allergens and pests (insects, rodents) in human food, pet food and animal feed throughout the food chain;Microbiological food quality and traditional/novel methods to assay microbiological food quality;Prevention of food-related hazards and food spoilage through food preservatives and thermal/non-thermal processes, including process validation;Food fermentations and food-related probiotics;Safe food handling practices during pre-harvest, harvest, post-harvest, distribution and consumption, including food safety education for retailers, foodservice, and consumers;Risk assessments for food-related hazards;Economic impact of food-related hazards, foodborne illness, food loss, food spoilage, and adulterated foods;Food fraud, food authentication, food defense, and foodborne disease outbreak investigations.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Editor-in-chief Panagiotis SkandamisPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 3 in mainland China (about 1%); most named United States 144, Canada 11, Greece 10, Italy 4, Spain 4 (214 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Listeria monocytogenes in Food SafetyBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology19.7%
- Salmonella and Campylobacter epidemiologyAgricultural and Biological Sciences12.8%
- Food Safety and HygieneAgricultural and Biological Sciences12%
- Microbial Inactivation MethodsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology7.2%
- Meat and Animal Product QualityAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.1%
- Probiotics and Fermented FoodsAgricultural and Biological Sciences5%
- Viral gastroenteritis research and epidemiologyMedicine4.4%
- Identification and Quantification in FoodBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology3.8%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Agricultural & Forestry Sciences Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Agricultural & Forestry Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Food Science & Technology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Agricultural & Forestry Sciences Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Agricultural & Forestry Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Food Science & Technology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Agricultural & Forestry Sciences Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Agricultural & Forestry Sciences | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Food Science & Technology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
PubMedPublisher website
Other: Crossref
As the journal's website lists them, not checked against each database; for Web of Science editions the records above apply.
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- Impact factor
- 3.72LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 3.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.4LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 5.4Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.73LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.11LetPub ·
- h-index
- 125LetPub ·
- h-index
- 198OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 9,258OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.99OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 8.1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 98.77%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 233LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 12,944 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 238 | 238 | 101 |
| 2025 | 241 | 241 | 841 |
| 2024 | 228 | 228 | 1,881 |
| 2023 | 171 | 171 | 1,947 |
| 2022 | 163 | 163 | 2,067 |
| 2021 | 214 | 206 | 3,483 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
Review time from article dates manuscript dates registered with PubMed · to
87 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 62 days – 130 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 3 days (111 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 91 days
- Sample
- 111 articles with submission and acceptance dates (564 in the window); the latest was accepted on
Only articles that were accepted and published are counted, not the time spent on rejected manuscripts, so this usually runs longer than a publisher's "time to first decision".
Other sources
- Average review time (community reports)
- 4–8 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 4 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 34 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 106 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 4 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 18 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Single anonymous peer reviewDOAJ
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Fully open accessDOAJ
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | USD 2,600 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,300 / EUR 2,150 / GBP 1,840 / JPY 285,270 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 2,300 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 2,600 | — | — |
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
What to prepare2 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- APA
- Suggested reviewers
- Required
Article types accepted5
- letterResearch PaperA research paper reports the results of original research that have not been published elsewhere. If the research has in part been previously repo…Length not stated
- original researchResearch PaperA research paper reports the results of original research that have not been published elsewhere. If the research has in part been previously repo…Length not stated
- research paperResearch PaperA research paper reports the results of original research that have not been published elsewhere. If the research has in part been previously repo…Length not stated
- research reportResearch PaperA research paper reports the results of original research that have not been published elsewhere. If the research has in part been previously repo…Length not stated
- reviewResearch PaperA research paper reports the results of original research that have not been published elsewhere. If the research has in part been previously repo…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- AI use Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing
Authors must declare the use of generative AI tools in the manuscript preparation process upon submission of the paper.Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies (“AI tools”) have been rapidly adopted in research and scholarly publishing, offering significant benefits while requiring clear standards for responsible and transparent use.Authors preparing a manuscript for this journal may use AI tool…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship 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;…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Declaration of competing interest
Corresponding authors, on behalf of all the authors of a submission, must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'License Agreement' (see more information on this). Permitted third party reuse of open access articles is determined by the author's choice of user license.Author rightsAs an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. More information.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access
Policy on Commercialism Model summary
Please visit our Open Access page for more information about open access publishing in this journal.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review
Single anonymized review process Model summary
This journal operates a single anonymized review process. All contributions are 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. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers which they have written themse…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
Preprints can be shared anywhere at any time Model summary
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).
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- International Association for Food Protection
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- Multi-Language
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Founded
- 1977
- ISSN
- 0362-028X
- Electronic ISSN
- 1944-9097
- Society / sponsor
- International Association for Food Protection
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Journal of Food Protection
What CAS zone is Journal of Food Protection in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Food Protection is in Zone 3 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology / Food Science & Technology. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Journal of Food Protection?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.72; CiteScore 5.4, h-index 198.
How long does peer review take at Journal of Food Protection?
Based on the dates recorded on 111 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 87 days (interquartile range 62–130 days); authors report an average review time of 4–8 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Easy”. Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
What are the manuscript requirements of Journal of Food Protection?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Reference style: APA; Suggested reviewers: Required. A model extracted these from the author guidelines and each was checked against the text; check the latest version on the journal's website before submitting.
Where are the editorial board members of Journal of Food Protection based?
Of the 214 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 3 (about 1%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (144), Canada (11) and Greece (10). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Journal of Food Protection?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Food Protection is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists PubMed; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Journal of Food Protection open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Food Protection is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,600.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex, DOAJ; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-26). Last updated: .