Journal of Food Science Citation Guide: Formatting Made Easy

Nathan Auyeung

Senior Accountant at EY

Graduated with a Bachelor's in Accounting, completed a Postgraduate Diploma of Accounting

Nathan Auyeung

Senior Accountant at EY

Graduated with a Bachelor's in Accounting, completed a Postgraduate Diploma of Accounting

Nathan Auyeung

Senior Accountant at EY

Graduated with a Bachelor's in Accounting, completed a Postgraduate Diploma of Accounting

Perfect your citations for food science research without the hassle!

Citing sources correctly is crucial in food science and nutrition research. The Journal of Food Science and Technology follows a modified version of the Chicago Manual of Style (Author-Date system), which emphasizes clarity, accuracy, and academic integrity.

This guide will walk you through how to cite your sources using this style. We'll cover:

How to format in-text citations
How to structure your reference list
Examples for common source types
Tools to help streamline the process

Whether you're writing a manuscript or polishing your thesis, this guide has everything you need to cite confidently.

In-Text Citations

The Journal of Food Science and Technology uses an author-date citation format, similar to the Chicago Manual of Style. This means that references appear in parentheses within the text, showing the author’s last name and the year of publication.

This format allows readers to easily locate full reference details in the bibliography.

Basic Format

(Author Last Name Year)

Examples

Single author: (Jones 2020)
Two authors: (Johnson and Klein 2018)
Three or more authors: (Sharma et al. 2017)
Group/organization as author: (FAO 2021)
Multiple sources in one citation: (Patel 2016; Zhang and Lee 2019; WHO 2020)

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Don’t include a comma between the author and year: ✅ (Gupta 2022) ❌ (Gupta, 2022)
Don’t abbreviate author names
Always match in-text citations with full entries in your reference list

Reference List Formatting

In the Journal of Food Science and Technology, references are listed at the end of the manuscript, arranged alphabetically by the first author’s last name. Consistency, accuracy, and adherence to the journal’s format are key to a professional submission.

This section breaks down how to properly cite different types of sources.

Order of References

References must be alphabetized by the first author’s last name. If an author has multiple works, arrange them by year of publication (earliest to latest). If two or more entries share the same year, distinguish them using a, b, c, and so on.

Example:

Gupta R (2019)
Gupta R (2021a)
Gupta R (2021b)

Keep punctuation consistent and ensure all citations mentioned in-text appear in the list.

Journal Articles

Journal article citations follow this format:
Author(s). Year. Title of article. Journal Name Volume(Issue):Page range. DOI

Example:
Patel A, Joshi R. 2022. Antioxidant properties of herbal teas. J Food Sci Technol 59(3):1124–1131. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-021-05001-w

Use journal name abbreviations, and include the DOI when available.

Books

Citing books? Here’s the format:
Author(s). Year. Book Title. Edition (if applicable). Publisher, City.

Example:
Singh N. 2020. Fundamentals of Food Chemistry. 2nd ed. Springer, New Delhi.

Note: Book titles should be in italics, and capitalization should follow sentence case.

Book Chapters

Book chapter citations should include both the chapter and the book details.

Format:
Chapter author(s). Year. Title of chapter. In: Editor(s), editor(s). Book Title. Publisher, City. p. xx–xx.

Example:
Kumar R, Sharma A. 2018. Nutritional profiling of legumes. In: Gupta V, editor. Advances in Food Science. Academic Press, London. p. 102–118.

Websites

When citing online sources, include author (if known), publication or update date, title, site name, URL, and access date (especially if the content is likely to change).

Example:
FAO. 2021. Food safety and standards. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. https://www.fao.org/foodsafety. Accessed 10 March 2024.

Be sure to use reliable sources and always double-check URLs.

Additional Notes

Even with a solid grasp of citation basics, there are a few tricky situations that often trip researchers up. Below are common scenarios you’ll want to handle with care when citing in the Journal of Food Science and Technology format.

Multiple Works by the Same Author

When citing multiple works by the same author, follow these rules:

In the reference list, list the works in chronological order (earliest to latest).
If two or more works are from the same year, differentiate them with alphabetical suffixes (a, b, c) both in-text and in the reference list.

Example (Reference List):

Khan M. 2020a. Use of enzymes in food processing. J Food Sci Technol 57(6):1234–1241.
Khan M. 2020b. Thermal stability in dairy proteins. J Food Sci Technol 57(8):1450–1458.

Example (In-text):
(Khan 2020a; Khan 2020b)

Citation of Online Sources

When citing online materials like blogs, research briefs, or organizational web pages, keep these tips in mind:

Include the author (or organization), publication date, title, website name, URL, and access date.
If no author is listed, start with the organization or title.
Use shortened URLs when possible, but make sure they still link to the correct page.

Avoid long, broken URLs and don’t skip the access date, especially for pages that update frequently.