Editorial Policy

Preprints

Preprint submissions are accepted from the following servers: SciELO Preprints, arXiv e bioRxiv. Acceptance of preprints from other servers will be subject to review by the journal's editors.

Peer Review Process

All manuscripts are first screened by the Editor-in-Chief for scientific merit and scope fit. Upon preliminary approval, an Associate Editor is appointed to manage peer review.

The Associate Editor selects qualified specialists and invites them to submit independent reviews. By default, two reviews are requested, but the Associate Editor may choose a different number. If the Associate Editor deems a manuscript to lack substantial merit, they may recommend rejection without external review. Final decisions are made by the Editor-in-Chief, primarily based on the Associate Editor’s recommendation and, secondarily, on reviewer reports.

FLORAM does not require double anonymity in peer review but encourages it when feasible. Authors must omit identifying information (names, institutions, acknowledgments, funding) from the manuscript body and provide these details in ScholarOne’s designated fields

To ensure openness in the review process, FLORAM always publishes the name of the Associate Editor responsible for conducting the peer review in the article. The journal is open to discussing advanced openness options and asks authors to express their views on these possibilities by completing the Open Science Compliance Form. These options include allowing direct dialogue between reviewer and author, with or without disclosure of identities, and publishing article approval reports, with or without identifying the reviewers.

The target timeframe for completing peer review is six months. Authors can track their manuscript status in ScholarOne under “Author” > “Submitted Manuscripts.” Status stages include:

• Awaiting Admin Processing: indicates that the article waits for the evaluation of the submission rules by the Editorial Office.
• Awaiting AE Assignment: The article was approved in the previous step and awaits the appointment of an Associate Editor (AE) by the Editor-in-Chief.
• Awaiting Reviewer Selection: The article has already been forwarded to the Associate Editor and awaits the selection of reviewers for it.
• Awaiting Reviewer Invitation: At this stage, the Associate Editor should invite reviewers to evaluate the article, from those selected in the previous step.
• Awaiting Reviewer Assignment: Indicates that invitations have already been sent to reviewers but that reviewers have not yet responded. If there is a refusal on the invitations, the evaluation may return to the Awaiting Reviewer Selection step.
• Awaiting Reviewer Scores: Indicates that reviewers who have accepted the invitations have not yet submitted their recommendations.
• Awaiting AE Recommendation: The article received the amount of review desired by the Associate Editor. To proceed with the evaluation, the Associate Editor should make his recommendation and send the article to the Editor-in-Chief.
• Awaiting EIC Decision: implies that the final decision of the Editor-in-Chief has not yet been issued. This status is shown for all articles that have not yet received the final decision, regardless of the evaluation phase.

Open Data

All submissions must include a Data Availability Statement specifying how underlying research data can be accessed.

A dataset is a structured collection of information (numerical data, texts, computer programs, images, audio, videos, etc.) associated with a study and representing all types of data that support the document submitted or approved for publication. Thus, the dataset facilitates the evaluation of the research, the reproduction of its results, and the reuse of its data.

The data availability statement is published alongside the article in the "Data Availability" field. Authors must declare data availability in one of three ways:

1) The data is available in a repository. In this case, authors must provide the dataset's URL at the time of submission;

2) A statement that all data are included within the published article;

3) An indication that the data should be requested from the corresponding author.

Option 1 is the journal's preferred method of data availability, while options 2 and 3 are subject to review and approval by the Editorial Board. Option 3 is only accepted in cases where there are ethical, security, or financial restrictions, the justification for which must be included in the Open Science Compliance Form.

We recommend using the SciELO Data repository for depositing research data, but we support the use of other repositories if they provide a DOI and have an open access model. When creating a dataset for their research, authors should follow the best practices recommended by SciELO.

Article Processing Charges (APC)

All articles submitted to FLORAM are evaluated free of charge. However, for accepted articles to be published, authors must pay the APC directly to SciELO. Full details will be provided with the article acceptance letter. Payment should only be made directly to the service provider.

The APC is R$500.00 (five hundred reais) for payments made in Brazil, and US$150.00 (one hundred and fifty US dollars) for payments made abroad. The APC is used entirely to subsidize the journal's operating costs and is charged for all accepted articles. There are no policies for granting exemptions or discounts on this fee.

Ethics, Misconduct, Erratum and Retractions

FLORAM is committed to pursuing high standards of editorial and scientific ethics and demands a high level of integrity in the research it publishes.

Criticisms or complaints regarding the review process, the integrity of published articles, or the ethics of authors, reviewers, or editors should be forwarded to the Editorial Office for immediate investigation by the Editor-in-Chief.

The procedures for identifying and making decisions about misconduct follow the model proposed by the SciELO guide to Best Practices for Strengthening Ethics in Scientific Publishing. Errors or flaws in a published manuscript, provided they are not caused by misconduct, will result in the publication of an erratum at the authors’ expense. Misconduct identified in a published manuscript will result in partial or total retraction of the work, depending on the degree of damage caused to the integrity of the research.

Conflict of Interest

In a scientific journal, public interest—defined by the pursuit of integrity and transparency in science—must always take precedence over any conflicting interest. The article submission process should preferably anticipate all potential personal, commercial, political, academic, financial, or ideological interests that may compromise the integrity of the peer review process. These conflicts, whether explicit or implicit, may involve any of the three actors in peer review: authors, reviewers, and editors.

Conflicts of interest may vary in severity, ranging from minor to serious. A clear example of a serious conflict is the involvement of one of the authors as a reviewer or editor of their own manuscript. A mild conflict of interest may arise when a study is funded by an institution with objectives unrelated to the research outcomes. Mild conflicts may be deemed acceptable by the Editorial Board, but only if they are properly disclosed at the time of publication.

FLORAM manages conflicts of interest through the following guidelines:

• Authors are responsible for the submitted manuscript, the content of which must be approved by all co-authors. Submission to FLORAM implies that the manuscript has not been previously published in its final form and is not under review elsewhere.
• Upon submission, authors must disclose to the Editorial Board all conflicts that may have influenced the work.
• Authors must use the Acknowledgments section to formally express gratitude, recognize third-party contributions, and, most importantly, disclose potential conflicts of interest, such as funding sources. The Acknowledgments section is published within the article and must be submitted at a specific stage of the submission process; it should not be included directly in the manuscript file.
• At the time of submission, authors are required to recommend three potential reviewers. Authors must not recommend individuals from their personal or professional circles as reviewers. It is expected that no recommended reviewer belongs to the same institution as any of the authors.
• Reviewers must disclose to the editors any conflict of interest identified during the evaluation process. Reviewers are expected to decline the invitation to review if a conflict is likely to compromise their impartiality
• Editors must similarly disclose to the Editor-in-Chief any conflict of interest identified during the evaluation process. Editors are expected to request reassignment of the manuscript if a conflict is likely to affect their judgment

Adoption of Similarity Detection Software

FLORAM utilizes the Crossref Similarity Check system to assess textual similarity. This verification is conducted by the Editor-in-Chief following a favorable outcome of the peer review process. The journal does not apply an arbitrary similarity threshold; instead, it qualitatively evaluates any detected overlaps. A higher similarity percentage is acceptable when the manuscript is derived from a thesis or dissertation. However, if the Editor-in-Chief deems the similarity excessively high—even in cases of self-plagiarism—the manuscript may be rejected.

Adoption of Artificial Intelligence Tools

All content generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) must be thoroughly supervised and approved by the authors, who remain fully responsible for the manuscript’s content, even when AI tools are employed. Authors who choose to use AI must clearly specify, in the Materials and Methods section, which tools were used and at what stages they were applied.

As a general rule, FLORAM permits the use of AI as a supportive tool, provided it serves to assist the researcher/author and not to replace them. The Editorial Board serves as the final arbiter in determining whether AI usage has exceeded acceptable limits.

Editors and reviewers may also use AI tools to support the manuscript evaluation process, but never as a substitute for critical and scientific judgment. Permissible uses include plagiarism detection, reference consistency checks, and identification of inconsistencies potentially arising from AI use by authors.

When the manuscript is not a preprint, editors and reviewers must refrain from submitting it to services that could compromise the confidentiality of identities or content. Editors and reviewers who choose to use AI tools must disclose such usage in their evaluation reports.

Sex and Gender Considerations

Studies that address sex or gender in their design must use these terms in accordance with the definitions recommended by the SAGER (Sex and Gender Equity in Research) guidelines. Additionally, FLORAM supports gender equity policies in the composition of its editorial board.

Ethics Committee

All research involving human subjects—individually or collectively, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, including the handling of data, information, or biological materials—must comply with all applicable guidelines and regulatory standards required in the country where the research is conducted.

The study must indicate that informed consent was obtained from participants, meaning they were made aware of the nature of the research, its objectives, methods, anticipated benefits, potential risks, and any discomfort it might cause, in a manner appropriate to their level of understanding and with respect for their individual circumstances.

All manuscripts involving human or animal subjects must include, in the methodology section, the ethics committee approval number issued by the responsible institution.

Copyright

Authors of articles published in Floresta e Ambiente retain the copyright to their work, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution BY 4.0 license. This license permits unrestricted reuse and distribution of the articles, provided that the original work is properly cited. Authors grant the journal the right of first publication under the CC BY 4.0 License.

Intellectual Property and Terms of Use

Website Responsibility:

Floresta e Ambiente reserves the right to make normative, orthographic, and grammatical adjustments to original publications to maintain the formal standard of the language, while respecting the authors’ stylistic choices.

Author Responsibility:

Authors of articles published in Floresta e Ambiente retain the copyright to their work, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution license. This license permits unrestricted reuse and distribution of the articles, provided that the original work is properly cited.

Floresta e Ambiente encourages authors to self-archive their accepted manuscripts by posting them on personal blogs, institutional repositories, academic social networks, and personal social media platforms, provided that the full citation to the journal’s website version is included.

Sponsors and Funding Agencies

• Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro – UFRRJ (Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro)
• Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation)
• Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development)
• Ministério da Educação (Ministry of Education)
• Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – CAPES (Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education)
• Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro – FAPERJ (Research Support Foundation of the State of Rio de Janeiro)

Instructions for authors

Accepted Document Types

The journal accepts submissions of the following document types:

Research Articles:

These are manuscripts presenting results derived from concrete data obtained through experimental procedures or collected from the literature or other reliable sources.

Review Articles:

Review article submissions are accepted only by invitation from the Editorial Board. These are considered special content articles, intended to provide a comprehensive literary foundation on a specific topic of relevance.

Short Communications:

These are concise articles that report innovative events of significant importance to Forest Science. They must be written clearly, focusing directly on original results and/or proposals. Short Communications are expected to offer meaningful contributions to the scientific community.

For articles accepted for publication, in accordance with the previously described evaluation procedure, a DOI will be generated and assigned.

Language

The manuscript must be written in English, with particular attention to objectivity, clarity, and conciseness. Authors are responsible for ensuring that the article has been reviewed or translated by native English speakers or by professionals with proven proficiency in the language. This must be confirmed through a formal declaration document, which must be attached at the time of submission (see Mandatory Supplementary Documents section).

The declaration must include the manuscript title, the type of service provided (translation or revision), and the name and signature of the responsible party (company or individual). If the translator/reviewer is an individual, the declaration must also detail their credentials (e.g., certification/training from educational institutions and/or proof of residence in English-speaking countries) and must bear a handwritten signature. Should language-related issues be identified during the article’s evaluation, a language editing fee may be charged to the authors after the manuscript has been accepted.

Author Contributions

During submission via the ScholarONE system, authors must specify each contributor’s role according to the CRediT taxonomy. This system encompasses 14 distinct areas of contribution (e.g., Conceptualization; Data Curation; Supervision) and three levels of involvement (Lead, Equal, or Supporting). Authors may be assigned to as many contribution areas as necessary.

Author contributions must be entered directly into the submission system; no separate documents are required for this purpose. These contribution details will be published alongside the article.

Given their importance, these entries should be completed carefully and thoroughly. FLORAM recommends that authorship be granted only to individuals who have made substantial contributions to the research. Minor contributions that do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section.

As all authors must approve the manuscript content prior to submission, it is mandatory that each author be assigned the contribution Writing – review & editing.

After submission, the addition or removal of authors is not permitted. If such changes are necessary, the manuscript will be withdrawn from review and must be resubmitted. Changes to the order of authors after submission will only be accepted with proper justification and are subject to approval by the Editor-in-Chief.

Manuscript Preparation

Manuscripts must be prepared using Microsoft Office Word, formatted in Times New Roman font, black color, size 12, double spacing, with numbered lines and pages. Research Articles must not exceed 4,000 words; Review Articles, 6,000 words; and Short Communications, 1,200 words. Word count excludes all titles and content within figures and tables, as well as the entire References section.

Author names, affiliations, email addresses, acknowledgements, or funding sources must not appear in the manuscript. The body of the manuscript must not include an Acknowledgements section or any similar content. All such information will be collected separately during the submission process.

At the time of submission, authors must provide a Cover Letter addressed to the Editor-in-Chief. It is recommended that the letter confirm the consent of all authors regarding the submission, express agreement with the journal’s guidelines, summarize the submitted work, and explain how the research aligns with the journal’s scope.

Manuscript Submission Format

All manuscripts must begin with a title page containing the Title, Abstract, and Keywords, followed by the main body of the manuscript structured according to its type: Research Article, Review Article, or Short Communication.

• Title: Must contain no more than 16 words. It should be concise, engaging, highlight the significance of the research, and clearly indicate the central topic.
• Abstract: Must contain between 40 and 150 words.
• Keywords: Must include three to five keywords. Keywords are essential for indexing and search engine optimization; therefore, they should accurately reflect the manuscript’s core topics. Keywords may be synonyms of highly relevant terms and may consist of up to four words.
• Structure: Introduction and Objectives; Materials and Methods; Results and Discussion (may be presented as separate sections); Conclusions; References

Exceptionally, Short Communications should be written as a single continuous text, with technical details and relevant comments provided in footnotes.

The following items must be entered into the submission system and should not appear in the manuscript file:

• Author names
• Author affiliations
• Author ORCID iDs
• Contact author's email
• Funding information
• Acknowledgements

Figures, Tables, Equations, and Units of Measurement

Figures and tables must be embedded within the body of the manuscript. For Research Articles and Review Articles, a maximum of ten (10) figures and tables combined is allowed. For Short Communications, the limit is five (5) combined.

Figures:
Figures must be presented at a resolution above 300 dpi. Figure titles should be placed below the figure. This category includes graphs, photographs (clear and high-contrast), illustrations, etc. All figures must be cited in the text and positioned near their first mention. It is recommended that figures also be uploaded separately in their original format (.jpeg, .png, etc.) via the ScholarONE system.

Tables:
Tables must be submitted in an editable format. Table titles should be placed above the tables. All tables must be cited in the text and positioned near their first mention.

Equations:
Equations must be numbered and cited in the text. They must be submitted in an editable format; equations embedded as images will not be accepted.

Units of Measurement:

All units must conform to the International System of Units (SI).

Note:
Authors who include figures, tables, or text previously published elsewhere must cite the original source and year. Any material not properly cited will be assumed to be original to the authors.

Citations and References

FLORAM adopts the author-date citation style and the Vancouver reference formatting system.

Citations must follow the format below:

• One author: Gottlieb (1996) or (Gottlieb, 1996)
• Two authors: Stell & Torres (1989) or (Stell & Torres, 1989)
• More than two authors: Valle et al. (1998) or (Valle et al., 1998)

References should preferably consist of scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals. It is strongly recommended that at least 90% of all citations be drawn from such sources.

References should also be current. It is strongly recommended that at least 50% of all citations be from publications less than five years old.

For FLORAM, the scientific merit and quality of a manuscript are closely linked to the quality of its references. Manuscripts that do not meet these recommendations may be rejected at any stage of the review process.

References must be listed in alphabetical order.

For works with more than six authors, list the first six followed by et al.
Example: Mattos ADM, Jacovine LAG, Valverde SR, Agostinho LS, Silva ML, Lima JE et al.

The structure of references must follow the examples below:

Books and Booklets

Harborne JB. Introduction to ecological biochemistry. 3rd ed. London: Academic Press; 1988.

Book Chapters

Kuiters AT, van Beckhoven K, Ernst WHO. Chemical influences of tree litters on herbaceous vegetation. In: Fanta J, editor. Forest dynamics research in Western and Central Europe. Wageningen: Pudoc; 1986.

Articles Published in Scientific Journals

Latorraca JVF, Albuquerque CEC. Efeito do rápido crescimento sobre as propriedades da madeira. Floresta e Ambiente 2000; 7(1): 279-291.

Articles Accepted for Publication

Almeida MV. Qualidade da madeira de E. urophylla da região de Seropédica – RJ. Floresta e Ambiente. In press.

Santana R. Effect of the fost growth on the wood. Floresta e Ambiente. In press.

Legislative References

Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro. Portaria n. 187, de 16 de setembro de 1998. Diário Oficial da República Federativa do Brasil, Brasília, DF (1998 set. 24); Sec. 2: 8301-8302.

Electronic Documents

Bellato MA, Fontana DC. El niño e a agricultura da região Sul do Brasil. [cited 2001 abr. 6]. Available from: http://www.cntp.embrapa.br/agromet/elnino2.

Technical Standards

Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas. NBR-6023: informação e documentação – referências – elaboração. Rio de Janeiro; 2000.

Patents

Nogueira MM. Branqueamento de celulose kraft através de oxigênio. BR. n. MT023467. 1978 maio 31.

Casa Erlan Ltda, Silva MA. Embalagens especiais. BR n. DT456345. 1990 out. 12.

Translations

Willeitner H. Proteção florestal. Trad. M Peixoto. São Paulo: Nova; 1985. Original em inglês.

Theses and Dissertations

Paiva SR. Aspectos da biologia celular e molecular de espécies de Plumbaginaceae [dissertação]. Rio de Janeiro: Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; 1999.

Brito EO. Produção de chapas de partículas de madeira a partir de maravalhas de Pinus elliottii Engelm. Var. Elliottii plantado no sul do Brasil [tese]. Curitiba: Setor de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal do Paraná; 1995.

Research Data

Williamson, G. Forest Management Analysis - Large Code and Data [dataset]. 1 Jul. 2021. figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14676048.v1

Submission, Upload, and File Designation

Manuscripts must be submitted exclusively through the ScholarONE submission system, accessible via the websites www.floram.org, www.scielo.br/j/floram, or directly through the link https://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/floram-scielo. The submitting author must have a valid ORCID iD linked to their ScholarONE account.

Upon submission, the manuscript will be assigned a unique identifier (ID) (e.g., FLORAM-2018-0001), which may include an “Rx” suffix depending on the review round. Authors must reference this ID in all communications and inquiries with the FLORAM editorial office.

Information entered during submission is automatically saved, even if the process is not completed. Manuscripts that have been initiated but not submitted, or that have been returned to authors due to noncompliance with submission guidelines, will display the word “draft” in their ID. This indicates that the manuscript is still in draft form and has not yet entered the review process.

Within the ScholarONE system, authors may upload the manuscript and all required or optional supplementary files (see Mandatory Supplementary Documents section). All uploaded files must be correctly designated. The manuscript, including all figures and tables, must be labeled as “Main Document.”

Authors may submit supplementary files for editorial and reviewer consideration, such as datasets used in the study. These files must be designated as “Supplemental files for review” and must not contain any information that could compromise the double anonymity in peer review process. Files that should not be accessible to reviewers, such as the translation/revision declaration, must be designated as “Supplemental files not for review.”

Supplementary files may be published alongside the article as links, appendices, or annexes, provided they are cited within the manuscript. Figures and tables submitted as supplementary files must be numbered with an “S” prefix (e.g., Figure S1, Table S1). Supplementary files intended for publication must not be embedded in the manuscript but submitted separately as “Supplemental files for review.” Files designated as “Supplemental files not for review” will not be published with the article. Upon publication, supplementary files will be accessible via links embedded in the manuscript.

Mandatory Supplementary Documents

The following supplementary documents must be submitted at the time of initial submission:

• Translation/Revision Declaration: Must be uploaded as a “Supplemental files not for review.” For further details, see the Language section.
• Open Science Compliance Form: Must be properly completed and uploaded as a “Supplemental files for review.”

For resubmissions, the following supplementary documents are required:

• Author’s Response Letter: This document must address each comment and suggestion made by reviewers and editors, point by point. Authors should specify the changes made and indicate their location in the revised manuscript (page and line number). If any suggestions were not accepted, appropriate justifications must be provided. During submission, the response letter may be submitted in one of two ways: (1) uploaded as a Word file, or (2) entered directly into the “Your Response” field.
• Marked Copy of the Revised Manuscript: This must be an identical version of the submitted manuscript, with all changed sections clearly highlighted. Highlighting may be done using yellow background shading or MS Word’s Track Changes feature. Like the original manuscript, the marked version must also be designated as a “Main Document” during upload.

Funding Statement

During submission, authors must disclose all relevant information regarding research funding and sources of support, including the names of sponsors, contract numbers (if applicable), and a description of the role played by these entities.