“Food and Bioprocess Technology” Edited by UCD Biosystems Engineering Professor Tops the World Ranking
“Food and Bioprocess Technology – an International Journal” with Professor Da-Wen Sun, UCD School of Agriculture, Food Science & Veterinary Medicine, as its Editor-in-Chief, tops the world ranking, according to the latest journal impact factors just released by Thomson Reuter's Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). Based on Thomson Reuter's 2010 “Journal Citation Reports” (JCR), a total of 126 peer-reviewed international journals are indexed in the category of food science and technology by the ISI Web of Science, and “Food and Bioprocess Technology” (FABT) receives an massive impact factor of 3.576, placing the journal in the top 4th position among these 126 journals, an significant increase of 15 positions since its 2009 ranking of 19th position.
The impact factor (IF) is a well-known indicator reflecting the average number of citations to articles published in a journal, and is frequently used as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field. Impact factors are calculated every year for those journals that are indexed in Thomson Reuter's Journal Citation Reports. Journals with higher impact factors are deemed to be more influential and important than those with lower ones.
FABT was initiated by Prof Sun, who was subsequently appointed as its Editor-in-Chief by its publisher Springer. The journal originally published 4 issues per year with 100 pages in each issue in 2008, and has been expanding since. Starting from 2012, the journal will publish 12 issues each year with 200 pages in each issue, a 500% increase of the page counts to cater for the surging demand from the international research community.
Professor Da-Wen Sun is a world authority in food engineering research and education and is a Member of Royal Irish Academy which is the highest academic honour that can be attained by scholars and scientists working in Ireland. He has published over 500 papers including 200 peer-reviewed journal papers and has also edited 10 authoritative books. According to Thomson Scientific’s Essential Science IndicatorsSM updated as of 1 July 2010, based on data derived over a period of ten years plus four-month (1 January 2000 – 30 April 2010) from ISI Web of Science, a total of 2,554 scientists are among the top one percent of the most cited scientists in the category of Agriculture Sciences, and Professor Sun tops the list with his ranking of 31. In recognition of his significant contribution to Food Engineering worldwide and for his outstanding leadership in the field, the International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (CIGR) awarded him the “CIGR Merit Award” in 2000 and again in 2006, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) based in the UK named him “Food Engineer of the Year 2004”, in 2008 he was awarded “CIGR Recognition Award” in honour of his distinguished achievements as the top one percent of Agricultural Engineering scientists in the world. In 2007 he was presented with “AFST(I) Fellow Award” by the Association of Food Scientists and Technologists (India), and in 2010 he was presented with “CIGR Fellow Award”, the title of Fellow is the highest honour in CIGR, and is conferred to individuals who have made sustained, outstanding contributions worldwide.
At the 51st CIGR General Assembly held during the CIGR World Congress in Quebec City, Canada in June 2010, he was elected Incoming President of CIGR, and will become CIGR President in 2013-2014 - the term of his CIGR presidency is six years, two years each for serving as Incoming President, President, and Past President.