Peer Review Process

Food Innovation, Function and Sustainability (FIFS) is committed to maintaining a rigorous, fair and transparent peer-review process.

Initial Editorial Assessment

All submitted manuscripts undergo an initial assessment by the editorial team to determine whether they fall within the journal's aims and scope and meet basic requirements for scientific quality, originality, ethical compliance and presentation. Manuscripts that do not meet these requirements may be declined without external peer review.

Peer Review

Manuscripts considered suitable for further evaluation are normally assessed by at least two independent reviewers with relevant expertise.

FIFS follows a double-anonymous peer-review process, in which the identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from each other. Authors are therefore required to prepare their manuscripts in a manner that does not reveal their identity.

Reviewers are asked to evaluate manuscripts according to criteria including:

• Originality and significance
• Scientific and methodological quality
• Clarity and quality of presentation
• Appropriate analysis and interpretation of results
• Validity of conclusions
• Quality of figures and tables
• Adequacy and relevance of references
• Research integrity and ethical considerations

Editorial Decision

Following peer review, the handling editor considers the reviewers' reports and the manuscript and makes an editorial decision. Decisions may include:

• Accept
• Minor revisions
• Major revisions
• Reject and resubmit
• Reject

Where revisions are requested, authors should provide a detailed response to reviewers and clearly indicate the changes made to the manuscript.

Final Decision

The final decision on publication rests with the journal's editors. Acceptance is based on the scientific quality, originality, relevance and overall suitability of the manuscript for Food Innovation, Function and Sustainability.

Confidentiality and Conflicts of Interest

Editors and reviewers are expected to maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and must disclose any potential competing interests that could affect the impartiality of the review process.