Name: Scott A. Rankin
Title: Professor
Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Role with Journal of Dairy Science (JDS): I currently serve as a section editor with a focus on dairy foods–related research papers. I will migrate to senior editor in 2022.
Can you tell us a bit about your background, and what your current research is focused on?
I have been a professor in food science for just over twenty years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My work focuses on small molecule–related research involving dairy foods or issues related to dairy foods. My primary role is to provide science-based training to the dairy foods processing industry, which we do through a collection of short courses and meetings.
What advice do you have for grad students or other early-career scientists submitting their first manuscripts? What are common oversights you see?
For someone seeking to publish their first works in the journal, the best advice I have is to become very familiar with currently published papers in JDS. Read them. Learn how the research experiments are designed and organized. Learn about their rationale and how the authors phrase their inferences. Of course, familiarize yourself with the basic formatting requirements from the Instructions to Authors.
Why should authors publish in JDS?
For a researcher seeking to establish or introduce their name and works to the dairy science community, a publication in the JDS is a great means to do so. Such a publication not only reaches a vast audience, but also demonstrates that your work has met a high standard of quality.
What do you think are the biggest challenges currently facing the dairy industry, and how is JDS part of the solution?
The number of challenges facing the dairy science community are large and diverse and include issues involving the environment, public perception, global markets and competitors, and economics, fully infused with a collection of diverse voices and opinions. Within this dynamic, I feel it more critical than ever that the voice of science—our best science—remains a strong, reputable component of these future-facing deliberations. I can’t think of a better means to strengthen the voice of dairy science than to invest in and continue to support the most significant, largest impactful scientific journal of its kind—the Journal of Dairy Science.