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Analysis of institutional authors

Arranz, ElenaAuthor

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August 16, 2024
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Article

Sustainable food packaging: An updated definition following a holistic approach

Publicated to:Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 7 1119052- - 2023-04-21 7(), DOI: 10.3389/fsufs.2023.1119052

Authors: Dornyei, Krisztina Rita; Uysal-Unalan, Ilke; Krauter, Victoria; Weinrich, Ramona; Incarnato, Loredana; Karlovits, Igor; Colelli, Giancarlo; Chrysochou, Polymeros; Fenech, Margaret Camilleri; Pettersen, Marit Kvalvag; Arranz, Elena; Marcos, Begonya; Frigerio, Valeria; Apicella, Annalisa; Yildirim, Selcuk; Pocas, Fatima; Dekker, Matthijs; Johanna, Lahti; Coma, Veronique; Corredig, Milena

Affiliations

Aarhus Univ, Dept Food Sci, CiFood, Aarhus, Denmark - Author
Aarhus Univ, Dept Management, Aarhus, Denmark - Author
Corvinus Univ Budapest, Inst Mkt, Budapest, Hungary - Author
IRTA, Food Qual & Technol, Monells, Spain - Author
Nestle Res Ctr, Lausanne, Switzerland - Author
Nofima AS, Norwegian Inst Food Fisheries & Aquaculture Res, Tromso, Norway - Author
Pulp & Paper Inst, Dept Print & Packaging, Ljubljana, Slovenia - Author
Univ Appl Sci, Sect Packaging & Resource Management, Vienna, Austria - Author
Univ Bordeaux, LCPO, UMR562, ENSCPB,INP,CNRS, Pessac, France - Author
Univ Catolica Portuguesa, Ctr Biotecnol & Quim Fina, Lab Associado, Porto, Portugal - Author
Univ Complutense Madrid, Fac Pharm, Dept Nutr & Food Sci, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Foggia, Dept Sci Agr Food & Environm, Foggia, Italy - Author
Univ Hohenheim, Dept Consumer Behav Bioecon, Stuttgart, Germany - Author
Univ Malta, Inst Climate Change & Sustainable Dev, Msida, Malta - Author
Univ Milan, Dept Food Environm & Nutr Sci, Milan, Italy - Author
Univ Salerno, Dept Ind Engn, Fisciano, Italy - Author
VTT Tech Res Ctr Finland, Sustainable Mat & Prod, Tampere, Finland - Author
Wageningen Univ, Food Qual & Design Grp, Wageningen, Netherlands - Author
Zurich Univ Appl Sci, Inst Food & Beverage Innovat, Winterthur, Switzerland - Author
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Abstract

Food packaging solutions need to be redesigned to be more sustainable, but determining which solution is 'more optimal' is a very difficult task when considering the entire food product value chain. Previous papers paved the way toward a sustainable food packaging definition, but it is far from being commonly accepted or well usable in the broad food systems domain, which further results in uninformed choices for sustainable food packaging made by all stakeholders in the value chain: producers, distributors, practitioners and consumers. Therefore, this work aims first at giving a state-of-the-art overview of sustainable food packaging terms (38 similar terms were identified and grouped into four clusters: Sustainable, Circular, Bio and Other sustainable packaging) and definitions using systematic (narrative) review analysis and 'controlled expert opinion feedback' methodology. Second, it aims to offer an updated definition for sustainable food packaging, which is also specific to food packaging and be simple, coherent, easily understandable, and communicable to everybody. The applied holistic approach intends to include all aspects of the food-packaging unit, to consider food safety and packaging functionality, while taking into account different disciplines and challenges related to food packaging along the supply chain. Being a balancing act, a sustainable food packaging may not be a perfect solution, but contextual, suboptimal and in need of constant validation.

Keywords

ChallengeChallengesCircularConsumers evaluationsDefinitionEco-friendly packagingEnvironmental-impactFoodFrameworkHierarchHolisticInformationPackagingPerceptionsProductQualityReductionSustainableWaste

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2023, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Horticulture. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 15.83, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-06, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 9
  • Scopus: 12

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-06:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 166.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 166 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 12.25.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions in news outlets: 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Austria; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Hungary; Italy; Malt; Netherlands; Norway; Portugal; Slovenia; Switzerland.