Guidelines and Policies
SCOPE AND POLICY
Floresta e Ambiente (FLORAM) is an open access journal that publishes articles in a continuous flow, only in electronic format and under Creative Commons license (CC-BY). Only articles written in english language that fit into the following Forestry Science thematic areas are accepted for publication: Forestry, Forest Management, Wood Technology, and Conservation of Nature. Articles submitted to FLORAM must be well structured and at the forefront of Forestry Science, with clear scientific merit and innovative content.
Floresta e Ambiente maintains high ethical standards on publications and strict criteria for published articles. The journal follows the SciELO recommendations contained in the Guidelines on Best Practices for Strengthening Ethics in Scientific Publication.
Bindings
The submission of an article in FLORAM implies that it has not been previously published; is not under evaluation for publication in any other journal; its publication was approved by all the authors and institution where it was made. FLORAM does not accept the submission of manuscripts already published as preprints. The publisher will not be legally responsible for the content of the same.
Authorship
During the submission in the ScholarONE system, the authors must list the contribution of each author according to the CRediT system. This system covers 14 different areas of contribution (eg Conceptualization; Data curation; Supervision) and three levels of contribution (Leader, Equal or Support). Authors can have as many contribution areas as needed. The Equal contribution level should only be used for areas where at least two authors have worked with an Equal level.
At FLORAM, information regarding the authors' contribution is published together with the article. Given this importance, it is recommended that authors supply this information carefully and in detail.
FLORAM accepts as authors only those who have contributed significantly to the conception (Conceptualization) and/or conduction of the research (Investigation) and/or the writing of the manuscript (Writing – original draft). In addition, it is mandatory that all authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript (Writing – review & editing).
If the submitted article contains authors whose contributions do not meet the above requirements, it will be rejected.
All authors must have institutional affiliation. Such affiliation must correspond to the place/time of the research and must not be changed later if the author changes institution. In the case of authors without any affiliation, the institution must be identified as an Autonomous Researcher. The names, contribution and affiliation of authors must be entered into the ScholarOne system, in step 4: Authors and Institutions.
After submission, the inclusion or removal of authors is prohibited. If necessary, the evaluation of the article will be canceled and a new submission will be required.
After submission, a change of authors' order will only be accepted under due justification and at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.
Peer Review
FLORAM adopts the double-blind review process and chooses independent and ethical reviewers who are qualified and able to carry out an impartial review, always seeking constructive and professional criticism.
All submitted articles are initially evaluated by the Chief Editor and / or Associate Editors regarding merit and scientific contribution. Then the manuscripts are sent to specialized reviewers. The Associate Editor makes a recommendation on the article and sends it to the Editor-in-Chief, who makes the final decision based on the editor's recommendation and reviewers' opinions.
In order to preserve the double-blind system, the documents and information presented by the authors at the time of submission should not contain information that allows their identification, such as names, signatures or information that the article is the product of a dissertation or thesis. Information about the institution where the research was conducted, year and the form of linkage of the author with the institution should also be avoided. If authors are required to use this information to provide clarification to the Editors, they should do so at the time of submission in a document designated as "File NOT for review" (See "Upload and File Designation").
At the time of submission, it is mandatory to indicate at least three potential reviewers for the article and their respective institutions. The reviewers listed may be invited to review the article at Editor's discretion. Professionals close to one of the authors or members of the same institution or who in any way may have some conflict of interest about the work should not be indicated. Authors should prioritize the appointment of highly qualified professionals and experts in the manuscript area.
Conflict of Interest and Copyright
If there is any conflict of interest, authors should indicate which one or which, during the submission process. At the same time, upon submission, the authors agree to transfer the copyrights of the work to Floresta e Ambiente.
Researches Involving Human Beings
All research involving human beings, individually or collectively, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, including the handling of biological data, information or materials, shall comply with all applicable regulatory guidelines and standards required by the country of research. The research should inform that there was consent of the participant, that is, the participants were clarified about the nature of the research, its objectives, methods, expected benefits, potential risks and the annoyance that this might entail to them, as far as they are understood and respected in their singularities. If applicable, it is recommended that the Ethics Committee of the responsible educational institution be consulted.
Registration of biological reference materials
The journal recommends that authors register and deposit biological reference materials (vouchers) in registered collections open for public consultation. The registration and deposit of DNA sequences in enabled databases is also recommended. The place of registration and the identification number of deposited materials must be informed in the article.
Similarity Check
Authors must pay attention to ethical writing. FLORAM uses the iThenticate tool, which checks the similarity of submitted manuscripts with previously published works. If any nonconformity is detected in a manuscript, it will be returned to the author, for appropriate corrections.
Research data
FLORAM recommends, if possible and applicable, the deposit of data, codes and materials that supported the research in a public repository. Research data should only be published after publication of the manuscript. That is, the author can make the deposit before submission, but must wait for the manuscript to be accepted to authorize the publication of the data with the repository. We recommend the use of the SciELO Data repository for this purpose, but we support the use of other repositories, as long as they provide the DOI, allow the publication of data only after the article is published and have an open access model to the public, such as Figshare and Zenodo.
Authors who choose to deposit research data may do so before or after submission of the manuscript. If before, authors must, at the time of submission, attach a “Supplemental files not for review” file (see details in Upload and File Designation) stating the name of the repository and the DOI link of the research data. If after, the authors must, after acceptance and during the author's proof, inform the name of the repository and the DOI link of the research data so that this information can be inserted in the manuscript during editing.
FORM AND PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPTS
Types of Manuscripts
Research Articles: they are works whose results were derived from concrete information of data obtained experimentally or collected in the literature, or from other reliable source. Structured in: Introduction and objectives; Materials and methods; Results and discussion (may be in separated items); Conclusions; and References. The manuscript must contain a maximum of 4000 words, excluding the figures and tables and their titles, and the item Bibliographical References. Figures and Tables should be inserted into the body of the manuscript and are limited to 10 (ten) in the set.
Review article: Review article submissions will only be accepted upon invitation from the Editorial Board. These are considered articles of special content whose relevance fits the need for a complete literary basis of a certain theme. The manuscript must contain a maximum of 6000 words, excluding figures and tables and their titles, and the item Bibliographical References. Figures and Tables should be inserted into the body of the manuscript and are limited to 10 (ten) in the set.
Short Communication: they are articles that describe an event of innovative character and of great importance for Forestry Sciences. It should be written in a clear way, focusing directly on the original results and/or proposals. It is hoped that the short communication will contain important contributions to the scientific community. The communications don't follow the classic divisions of a traditional papers, having to flow in a single text, putting in notes technical details and other relevant comments. The manuscript must contain a maximum of 1200 words, excluding the figures and tables and their titles, and the item Bibliographical References. Figures and Tables must be inserted into the body of the manuscript and are limited to 5 (five) in the set.
Languages
The manuscript should be written in English, with great care about its objectivity, clarity and conciseness. Authors are responsible for ensuring that the article has been reviewed or translated by native English speakers or professionals with solid knowledge of the language. This must be confirmed by means of a declaratory document, which must be attached at the time of submission (see "Upload and File Designation").
The author who possesses solid knowledge in English may write the manuscript, although this practice is not recommended. In this case, the author should sign the declaration.
The declaratory document should contain the title of the manuscript, the type of service (translation or revision) and the name and signature of the person in charge (a specialized company or a specialized independent professional).
If the translator/reviewer is an independent professional, or one of the authors, the declaratory document should also detail the credentials (eg certification / experience acquired from Teaching Institutions and / or residence details in native English speaking countries) and must be signed by hand. In these cases the declaration model presented in this link is recommended. The declaration may be rejected by FLORAM, if there is insufficient evidence and guarantees to ensure quality in the translation/revision.
In case of language problems being detected during the evaluation of the article, a language review fee may be charged to the authors after the article has been accepted.
Formatting Requirements
Manuscripts must be edited in Microsoft Office Word with Times New Roman, black, font size 12, double spacingand with numbered lines and pages. The maximum number of words, figures and tables, as well as the structure of the text, must be in agreement with each type of manuscript, according to the item “Types of Manuscript”.
Authors' names, affiliation, e-mail address, acknowledgments or source of funding in the article should not be included in the manuscript. The file name should not contain the names of the authors. The body of the manuscript should not contain Acknowledgments or similar item. All such information will be collected during submission.
Front page: the first page, before the body of the manuscript, must contain, in this order: Title, Summary and Keywords.
Title: It must contain a maximum of 16 words. .
Abstract: It should contain at least 40 and a maximum of 150 words .
Keywords: Must contain three to five keywords. Do not use words that are already present in the Title of the article.
Figures, Tables, Equations and Units of Measurements
Figures: Must be presented with resolution above 300dpi. The title should be positioned just below the picture. This includes graphics, photos (clear and with contrast), drawing, etc. All the pictures should be quoted in the text and inserted inside the manuscript, near the place where they are cited. We recommend that Figures also be entered into the ScholarOne system separately and in their original form (.jpeg, .png, etc).
Tables: They must be sent in editable format. The title should be positioned above the figure. All the tables should be quoted on the text and inserted inside the manuscript, near the place where they are cited.
Equations: should be numbered and cited in the text. The equations must be in editable format. Equations in the form of figures will not be accepted.
Units of measurement: Should be presented as the International System of Units (SI).
NOTE: Authors who include figures, tables or texts that have already been published, will have to cite the source and year of them. All material without this quotation will be assumed to belong to the authors.
Quotes
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
The references should preferably consist of articles published in scientific journals. It is strongly recommended to use scientific papers in at least 90% of all citations.
References should preferably be recent. It is strongly recommended to use references with less than 5 years of publication in at least 50% of the total citations.
For FLORAM, the merit and scientific quality of a manuscript are strongly tied to the quality of its references. Articles submitted that do not comply with the above recommendations may at any time be rejected.
The references must be presented in alphabetical order.
For references with more than 6 authors presented the names of the 6 first authors followed of the expression et al. Ex: Mattos ADM, Jacovine LAG, Valverde SR, Agostinho LS, Silva ML, Lima, JE et al.
The structure of the references must follow the examples below:
Books and pamphlets
Harborne JB. Introduction to ecological biochemistry. 3rd ed. London: Academic Press; 1988.
Book chapter
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.
Published articles in scientific journals
Latorraca JVF, Albuquerque CEC. Efeito do rápido crescimento sobre as propriedades da madeira. Floresta e Ambiente 2000; 7(1):279-291.
Accepted articles 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.
Eletronic files
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.
Dissertation and thesis
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, PROCESSING AND PUBLICATION OF THE MANUSCRIPTS
Submission of Manuscripts
Submission of the articles should be done exclusively through the submission system (ScholarOne), available at www.floram.org or www.scielo.br/floram or directly through the link https://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/floram-scielo.
After the "login" in the ScholarOne system, the authors must access the "Author" tab. The submission system will guide the author, step by step, during all stages of submission. The submitting author must necessarily have an Orcid ID properly linked to his ScholarOne account. For more details, click here.
After the submission is completed, the manuscript will receive an identifier number (ID) (eg FLORAM-2018-0001). For submitting revised articles, the ID will provide additional information about the evaluation phase the article is in (eg FLORAM-2018-0001.R1). It is essential that the authors inform the ID of the manuscripts in the contacts and consultations with FLORAM.
During submission, the information entered will be saved even if the submission has not been completed. Manuscripts whose submissions have been initiated, but not completed, present the word “draft” in their ID. This indicates that the manuscript is in draft format and has not yet been submitted for evaluation.
Upload and File Designation
During the submission, the authors should upload the files that are necessary for the evaluation of the work. All uploaded files should receive the correct designation.
The manuscript, already containing all the figures and tables, should be designated as "Main Document". This must be sent in a single file, which must begin with Title, Abstract and Keywords.
Authors may submit supplementary files for the consideration of Editors and Reviewers, such as the database used in the paper. These files should be designated as "Supplemental files for review". All files designated in this way must be free from any information that could compromise the double blind system.
Supplemental files intended exclusively for Publishers should be designated as "Supplemental files not for review". Here, they include: the declaration of revision / translation (see item Language); the letter informing the relationship of the manuscript with academic thesis (see section Binding) and any and all information relevant to the evaluation of the manuscript that has compromising content to the double-blind system.
Supplementary files can be published with the article in the form of links. For this, it is necessary that the supplementary file is cited in the body of the manuscript. Figures and Tables submitted as a supplementary file must be listed with an “S” preceding the numeral (Ex: Figure S1, Table S1). The supplementary file to be published should not be inserted in the body of the manuscript, but submitted separately in the system as a “Supplemental files for review”. Files submitted as “Supplemental files not for review” will not be published with the article. When the manuscript is published, the supplementary files can be accessed through links available in the body of the manuscript.
Submission of manuscripts after corrections
When submitting a corrected article (which has already undergone an evaluation round), it is necessary for the author to remove the old version in Step 2 (File Upload) of the submission system. It is mandatory to send an extra copy of the manuscript, which must be submitted as a “Supplemental files for review”, containing all the altered excerpts highlighted. Highlighting should be done using yellow background highlighting or with Word's Track Changes tool.
Authors must also submit a response to the Decision Letter, which must be entered into the ScholarONE system in the “Your Response” field. The authors' response must, obligatorily, address, point by point, each suggestion/consideration made by the reviewers and editors. Authors should detail what changes were made and inform the location of these changes (page and line) in the resubmitted manuscript. If there are suggestions/considerations not accepted by the authors, the proper justifications must be presented. Authors may choose to submit this response in a Word file submitted as a “Supplemental File For Review”. In this case, the item “Your Response” may inform that the authors' response was submitted in a supplementary file.
The order of these files on the system should be: 1) Authors' response; 2) Manuscript with changes highlighted and 3) Manuscript without changes highlighted.
The authors' response cannot contain their names, as this file is made available to reviewers. It is recommended to sign such a document using only “The authors”.
The submission rules must be observed regardless of corrections and suggestions made by reviewers and editors.
Evaluation of submission rules
All submitted articles are initially evaluated by the Editorial Secretary regarding compliance with the standards. If an article is disapproved in this evaluation, it will be returned to the authors, being in draft format (See item "Submission of Manuscripts"). The corresponding author will receive an e-mail informing the occurrence, along with the list of verified nonconformities. The author should access the system, adjust the manuscript, and again complete the submission. Our non-conformance reporting template contains a list of the main submission errors usually made. It is recommended that authors use this report as a checklist before submitting.
Upon the third disapproval in the evaluation of standards, the manuscript will be rejected. Under these conditions, authors may initiate a new submission, generating a new ID.
Transparency and Tracking of the Status of the Manuscript
The goal of FLORAM is to carry out the evaluation of your articles within a period of 6 months. However, due to problems beyond FLORAM's interests, this period may be extended.
The evaluation of manuscripts involves several phases. Authors can follow the status of manuscripts directly through the ScholarOne system, in the "Author" tab, in "Submitted Manuscripts". The different status of the manuscripts, following the order of the evaluation process, are:
Awaiting Admin Processing: indicates that the article waits for the evaluation of rules (see item "Evaluation of Submission Rules") by the Editorial Secretary.
Awaiting AE Assignment: The article was approved in the previous step and awaits the appointment of an Associate Editor (AE) by the Chief Editor.
Awaiting Reviewer Selection: The article has already been forwarded to the Associate Editor and awaits the choice of reviewers for it.
Awaiting Reviewer Invitation: At this stage, the Associate Editor should invite reviewers to evaluate the article, from those chosen 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. In order 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 Chief Editor 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.
Publication of Manuscripts
In the act of accepting the article, the corresponding author will receive an informative email. The accepted paper will be published in the Electronic version (ISSN: 2179-8087).
Accepted Manuscript Processing Fee
Floresta e Ambiente is an Open Access Journal and all articles submitted are evaluated at no cost. However, in order for the accepted article to be published, it will be necessary for the authors to pay the editorial processing fee (APC) directly to SciELO. All details will be informed along with the letter of acceptance of the article. Payment should only be made directly to the company providing the services. The editorial processing fee is R$ 500.00 (five hundred reais) for payments made in Brazil, and US$ 150.00 (one hundred and fifty American dollars) for payments made outside Brazil.