STM publisher Springer, Germany, is set to launch a new scientific journal Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food. The journal is the official publication of the International Society for Plant Pathology (ISPP). The Society's website features a personal commendation of the new journal by Nobel Peace Laureate Dr Norman Borlaug. Dr. Richard Strange of Birkbeck College, University of London, will serve as the editor-in-chief of the journal, the first issue of which will appear in March 2009.
A quarterly publication, Food Security will be published both in print and online. The first online issue will be made freely available on Springer's online platform www.springerlink.com. Also, these will be included in the lists of Springer journals available through Springer's participation in the Research 4 Life initiatives AGORA, HINARI and OARE, which provide low-cost or no-cost access to scientific information for developing country institutions.
The new journal seeks to define the constraints that prevent around one billion of the world's population from accessing an appropriate diet and to address the means by which these constraints may be overcome. The journal will cover topics such as global food needs; the mismatch between population and the ability to provide adequate nutrition; global food potential, natural constraints to satisfying global food needs; nutrition, food quality and food safety; and socio-political factors that impinge on the ability to satisfy global food needs. Coverage will also include original refereed papers, review articles, case studies, commentaries and letters to the editor.
Food Security will include Online First, Cross Reference Linking and alert services. All Food Security authors, via the Springer Open Choice programme, will have the option of publishing their articles using the open access publishing model.
