A poll conducted in 2009 by the Biomedical and Life Sciences Division of the Special Libraries Association identified the journal as among the "100 most influential journals ... over the last 100 years" in the fields of biology and medicine.[8] According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2021 impact factor of 7.045.[10]
Most of these, and various other major companies and corporations in the food industry, or their surrogates, are among those listed in the "Conflict of Interest Statements for The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Editors," published by their affiliate, Oxford University Press.[13][14]
In a 2015 report, Michele Simon also voiced concerns regarding corporate involvement with the American Society for Nutrition's journals.[15]
The journal publicly lists the conflicts of interest of its editorial board on its website.[16] In 2007, they published an article outlining their conflict of interest policy.[17]
Nestle subsequently found widespread examples of apparent conflicts of interest resulting in apparently distorted studies published in various major journals of nutrition, including in the AJCN.[18]
In a February 2022 letter published in AJCN, seven co-authors of the Endocrine Society's 2017 scientific statement on the causes of obesity[19] criticized[20] a December 2021 AJCN article[21] that they said had "several... statements" that were "misleading and factually incorrect," "mischaracterizing... the main thrust" of the Society's position that "views obesity as a complex disorder" -- instead falsely characterizing the Society's statement as simply asserting that obesity only depends upon "more calories [being] consumed than expended."[20]
The letter's authors pointed to the AJCN's article as triggering false reporting in the media that "Overeating is not... the primary cause of obesity."[20] The AJCN article was so quoted in media in the scientific[22][23] and medical communities,[24][25][26] business media,[27] and popular media, in the United States[28][29] and abroad.[30][25][31]