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Call for papersNutrition and food science

Call for Papers: Exploring the Role of Nutrition in Mental Health: Dietary Patterns, Components and Emotion Regulation (Frontiers)

Frontiers is hosting a Research Topic on how dietary patterns and dietary components relate to mental health and emotion regulation. This guide outlines topic areas consistent with that scope, fit checks, contribution types editors tend to value and practical steps for submitting before the 29 January 2027 deadline.

Pubrica InsightsEditorial team, reviewed by a subject specialist
Deadline
29 January 2027
Last checked
10 November 2026
Reading time
4 min
Sources
1
Submit through the official call

Key dates

Manuscript deadline
29 January 2027
Details last checked
10 November 2026
Open the official call

About the journal

Journal
Frontiers
Publisher
Frontiers
Call type
Call for papers
Scope
Research Topic on how dietary patterns and dietary components relate to mental health and emotion regulation.
Guest editors
Listed on the official collection page
Access and fees
Open access; an article processing charge normally applies on acceptance
Originality
Original work, not under review elsewhere; confirm on the official page

Topics consistent with the call

  • Associations between dietary patterns such as Mediterranean diets and depression or anxiety
  • Specific nutrients, including omega-3 fatty acids and micronutrients, and mental health
  • Diet, the gut–brain axis and emotional wellbeing
  • Nutritional interventions for mood and emotion regulation
  • Ultra-processed food intake and mental health outcomes
  • Eating behaviour, stress and emotional eating

Based on the published scope; the full list of themes is on the official call page.

Is your work a fit? Check before you write

  1. Link dietary patterns or components to mental health or emotion regulation outcomes.
  2. Use validated dietary assessment and mental health measures.
  3. Address confounding and, for observational designs, avoid causal overstatement.
  4. Confirm the host journal, accepted article types and article processing charges on the official call page.
  5. Submit a complete, co-author-approved manuscript before 29 January 2027.

Why This Call Is a Priority Now

The relationship between diet and mental health has attracted growing attention, from population studies of dietary patterns to trials of nutritional interventions and research on the gut–brain axis. Understanding how specific foods and nutrients relate to mood and emotion regulation could inform prevention and treatment. A Research Topic that brings these lines of evidence together gives authors an open access venue to reach researchers and clinicians working across nutrition and mental health.

Who Should Submit

Academic backgrounds

  • Nutritional psychiatry
  • Nutrition and dietetics
  • Psychology
  • Epidemiology
  • Neuroscience

Institutions and sectors

  • Universities and nutrition research institutes
  • Mental health services
  • Clinical research centres
  • Food and nutrition industry research units

Article types commonly published in Frontiers

  • See the journal’s article types

What the Editors Typically Value

  1. Randomised trials testing dietary interventions on mental health outcomes.
  2. Prospective cohort studies that clarify the direction of associations between diet and mood.
  3. Mechanistic research on the gut–brain axis and nutrient effects on emotion regulation.
  4. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses that consolidate evidence on specific dietary components.

Paper Ideas You Could Develop

Mediterranean diet and depressive symptomsA randomised trial of a Mediterranean-style dietary intervention for adults with mild to moderate depressive symptoms.
Ultra-processed foods and adolescent moodA cohort study examining whether ultra-processed food intake predicts later depressive and anxiety symptoms in adolescents.
Emotional eating and stressAn ecological momentary assessment study of how daily stress relates to emotional eating and subsequent mood.

Your Plan to the Deadline

A suggested schedule working back from 29 January 2027. Adjust it to the stage your work has reached.

  1. By 15 Dec 2026

    Open the official collection page and the Frontiers submission guidelines; confirm the scope, article types and guest editors.

  2. By 29 Dec 2026

    Write a one-paragraph statement of your research question, design and the contribution your paper makes to the collection.

  3. By 8 Jan 2027

    Complete the analysis and agree the key findings, figures and tables with your co-authors.

  4. By 19 Jan 2027

    Draft the full manuscript to the Frontiers article type and the relevant reporting guideline.

  5. By 24 Jan 2027

    Circulate the draft to co-authors and an independent reader; revise for clarity, accuracy and completeness.

  6. By 27 Jan 2027

    Complete final checks: formatting, references, declarations, data availability statement and cover letter.

  7. By 29 Jan 2027

    Submit through the journal’s online system, selecting the collection, after re-checking the official call page.

What you gain from publishing here

  • Publication in Frontiers, reaching readers working on this topic.
  • A themed collection that groups your paper with related work.
  • Editorial and peer feedback that can strengthen the work, whatever the decision.
  • A peer-reviewed output for your CV, thesis or grant reporting.

What happens after you submit

  1. Submission: upload through the Frontiers online system and select the collection.
  2. Editorial screening: the editors check fit with the collection; papers outside its scope may be returned without review.
  3. Peer review: suitable papers are sent to reviewers under the journal’s review model.
  4. Revision and decision: respond to each reviewer comment and keep a record of the changes.
  5. Production: accepted papers move to proofs and open access publication, with the article processing charge set out by the publisher.

What the Collection Is Looking For

The Research Topic seeks research on how dietary patterns and components relate to mental health and emotion regulation. It is likely to welcome observational, interventional, mechanistic and review studies that use sound dietary and psychological measurement. Work that clarifies direction of effect or tests interventions will be of particular interest. Authors should confirm the host journal, accepted article types and article processing charges on the official call page.

Read the call itselfThis guide summarises the call. Open the official collection page before you plan a submission, and record the date you checked it and the guest editors listed.Open the official call

Expert help

How Pubrica Can Help With This Submission

Pubrica’s subject specialists can review, write, edit, format and prepare your manuscript for this call, planned back from the deadline. You remain the author of your work.

Pre-submission peer reviewAn expert review of the manuscript against the call and the journal’s requirements. Manuscript editingSubject-specialist editing for clarity, accuracy and consistency. Journal formattingFormatting of the manuscript, references, figures and tables to the journal’s guidelines. BiostatisticsStatistical analysis and review of results. Cover letterA cover letter that explains how the manuscript fits the call. Journal submissionPreparation of submission files and completion of the online submission.
Go to the official call

FAQs

Questions Authors Ask

The published deadline is 29 January 2027. Collections can close early or be extended, so confirm the date on the official call page before you plan your submission.

The guest editors are listed on the official collection page. Check their research interests, as they help to judge whether your manuscript fits the collection.

A cross-sectional study may fit if it uses validated measures and interprets associations cautiously. Authors should check the official call page for accepted article types and any design preferences.

Access model: Open access. Check the journal’s fees page for any article processing charge before you submit.

Sources

  1. Frontiers. (2026). Exploring the Role of Nutrition in Mental Health: Dietary Patterns, Components and Emotion Regulation [Collection call for papers]. Frontiers. Retrieved 10 November 2026, from https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/83076/exploring-the-role-of-nutrition-in-mental-health-dietary-patterns-components-and-emotion-regulation

How to cite this page

Pubrica Insights. (2026). Call for Papers: Exploring the Role of Nutrition in Mental Health: Dietary Patterns, Components and Emotion Regulation (Frontiers). Pubrica. https://pubrica.com/insights/calls-and-conferences/exploring-the-role-of-nutrition-in-mental-health-dietary-patterns-comp/

  • Nutritional psychiatry
  • Dietary patterns
  • Mental health
  • Emotion regulation
  • Gut–brain axis

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Exploring the Role of Nutrition in Mental Health: Dietary Patterns, Components and Emotion Regulation (Frontiers)Deadline 29 January 2027

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