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The British Journal of Nutrition is proud to celebrate five years of its Paper of the Year Award where the journal celebrates authors from around the world for their significant contributions to the field of nutrition science. We spoke to Editor-in-Chief, Professor John Mathers, about the Award and what this represents:
'Congratulations to all winners of the BJN Paper of the Year Award. Your research demonstrates the strengthen and depth of nutrition research globally'
Professor John Mathers
Editor-in-Chief
We reached out to shortlisted authors from the past five years to share their reflections on how the Award has impacted their careers in nutrition science.
Winning the 'BJN Paper of the Year 2023' award is an incredible honor. My co-authors and I are thrilled to have been part of a competition featuring high-quality studies from around the world, and we are excited that our work has been recognized by such a prestigious journal in the field of nutrition research. This recognition, which coincides with one of the last publications of my post-doctoral fellowship in Portugal, marks a significant milestone in my academic career, which has focused on childhood obesity and its environmental and social determinants. It not only validates the efforts we put into this project but also inspires future research in the field of appetitive traits in childhood. I encourage early-career nutrition researchers to submit their work to BJN, as it provides an excellent venue for publishing high-quality research and advancing the field of nutritional science
Dr Sarah Warkentin
I was very pleasantly surprised when I received the email from BJN to tell me that our paper was shortlisted for the Paper of the Year Award. It's difficult to describe the exact feeling - I suppose 'delight' is the feeling. A lot of the time, once you have published a paper you move on to the next thing, and so it was nice to get that reminder and recognition. Most of all I was delighted for Dr McCourt (First Author). The Award was a real acknowledgement of her hard work and academic success.
Dr Aifric O'Sullivan
Winning the BJN Paper of the Year Award has significantly elevated my career, providing greater visibility for my research within the scientific community. The recognition led to my work being featured in several media outlets, including an interview with the UK Biobank, and invitations to speak at conferences. Presenting my research at the Nutrition Society Summer Congress in Liverpool increased the networking and collaboration opportunities with different research groups from all over the world. The award has also brought additional attention to my research from my institutions the University of Sydney and the German Institute of Human Nutrition, resulting in increased support and publicity. Overall, this recognition has been a motivating force in my professional development, inspiring me to continue contributing to impactful nutrition science.
Dr Elif Inan Eroglu
Being shortlisted as one of the top 10 papers for the British Journal of Nutrition Paper of the Year award has been such an incredible honor. It’s been a huge confidence boost and a reminder of the importance of the work we’re doing for the aquaculture industry. Moments like this make all the effort feel worthwhile and inspire me to keep pushing forward.".
Esmail Lutfi, PHD
Receiving the recognition of the “Best Article of the Year Award 2021 in BJN” served to reinforce our working hypotheses and encouraged us to continue working in this fascinating line of work. The nutrition of the premature newborn, like the nutrition of the pregnant woman, are key elements capable of modifying the brain development of the fetus and the newborn, and day by day we are witnessing new evidence in this line. The mechanisms involved in these relationships, still not well known, possibly involve epigenetic modifications that very possibly cause structural and functional transformations in the brain of the fetus and the very premature newborn.
Dr. Jose Uberos-Fernández
Dr Ryan Williams (First Author) reflects that [the Award] was excellent, as an early career researcher (PhD student at the time of publishing this paper), to have the external approval and verification of the paper when it was shortlisted for the BJN Paper of the Year Award in 2020. Ryan explained “It helps to demonstrate the high quality of the research work, and was a real confidence boost as a PhD student to have my work shortlisted for this award".
Dr Ryan Williams et al.
Being shortlisted for the BJN Paper of the Year Award was an exciting and pivotal achievement for my career. The recognition boosted my confidence as an early-career researcher and reaffirmed the importance of pursuing innovative research questions. I encourage early-career nutrition researchers to submit their work to the BJN. It's an excellent platform to gain visibility, and your research could even be selected for the next BJN Paper of the Year Award!
Dr Lauren Blekkenhorst
It was a real privilege for our group to have two papers shortlisted in 2020 - one on maximal eating and one on sleep fragmentation and caffeine. This placed two of our Phd students head-to-head in friendly competition and really inspired all others in our group. I definitely feel that the exposure of having these papers shortlisted helped them gain media attention and to have impact. The overfeeding one currently has an Altmetric score of 1156 (ranking it 5th highest ever for BJN), whereas the sleep fragmentation paper generated our highest ever Altmetric score of 2270 (which is the highest ever for any BJN paper and, I believe, the highest for a paper in any Nutrition Society journal). National and international newspapers have run a number of stories on that latter paper.
Professor James A. Betts
Being shortlisted for the paper of the year award was a great honour and for the authors offered recognition for the high quality and impactful research carried out by the researchers. Being shortlisted also increased the exposure and reach of the research to a wider audience for which we are very grateful for.
Dr Sohail Mushtaq
Overview
Each year the British Journal of Nutrition runs its Paper of the Year competition where the journal celebrates authors from around the world for their significant contributions to the field of nutrition science.
Selection Criteria
Shortlisted papers are selected by the journal's Deputy Editors based on based on originality, significance and rigour. These criteria align with the assessment of research quality as part of the Research Excellence Framework.
The winning paper is selected by an external panel of experts.
Winning Prize
The winning author receives a personalised award (an engraved glass object), an animated video abstract of their winning paper, plus additional benefits in being invited to present their paper at The Nutrition Society Congress. Authors who are able to present their paper at The Nutrition Society Congress also receive a £1,000 cash prize in recognition of the achievement.
Transparency and Equity