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Submission Criteria and Instructions for Authors
These notes supersede any previous published notes for authors.
The scope of the Journal covers the breadth of forestry science. Plantation forestry is a particular focus but manuscripts on a wide range of forestry topics, including tropical species, climate change, and policy will also be considered.
Original articles must report on a complete piece of substantial research that is relevant to an international audience. In all cases, results must be sound, without errors of fact, logic, interpretation, or calculation.The correct statistical tests must be applied, where appropriate. Discussion must be logical and comprehensive, yet concise. Any conclusions must be justified and supported by the data presented.
Short notes, subject reviews and book reviews will also be considered if they are within the scope of the Journal. Conference papers may be acceptable if they are part of a set of proceedings being published by the Journal.
Short notes should be concise and used for completed work of a limited scope. See: Murphy, G. E.& Amishev, D. (2008). New Zealand Journal of Forestry Science, 38 (2&3), 247-252 as an example. Excessive "splitting" of work to produce more publications is strongly discouraged.
An example of a subject review is Steward, G. A., & Beveridge, A. E. (2010). A review of New Zealand kauri (Agathis australis (D.Don) Lindl.): its ecology, history, growth and potential for management for timber. New Zealand Journal of Forestry Science, 40, 33-59.
SUBMITTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT FOR PUBLICATION
Step 1. Format your document according to the instructions below.
Step 2. Prepare figures and tables according to the instructions below
Step 3. Complete the Submission Checklist. Please click here to download the form.
Step 4. Submit your manuscript text plus any figures separately to nzjfs@scionresearch.com as an e-mail attachment. Also, submit an electronic copy of your completed Submission Checklist.
Submitted manuscripts must be accompanied by a copy of the completed checklist.
FORMATTING YOUR DOCUMENT
Manuscript text: margins of 2.5 cm and 1.5 line spacing are required. Please use Arial font 10 point size. Right justification is not necessary. Save the document as a Word file. Spelling should be according to the New Zealand Oxford Dictionary, 2005.
No sentence should start with an abbreviation. All abbreviations should be spelt out at first use.
Italics are used for Latin words, names of journals and volume numbers, titles of books in the reference list and certain parts of chemical formulae. Italics are not used for “et al., i.e., ca., vs, etc."
Manuscripts should consist of the following sections in this order:
Title
Authors
Affiliations
Abstract
Keywords
Main Text (Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion)
Acknowledgements
References
Appendices
Figure Captions
Tables
Title: the title should be concise, but specific enough to alert the readers to whom the article
is directed when seen in a table of contents, database, etc.
Authors: give the full first name, all other initials, last name, and a full postal address for each author. Where there are multiple authors, indicate which is the corresponding author (using an asterisk) and provide an email address.
Abstract: the abstract should be concise and independent of the body of the paper. The abstract should be informative rather than descriptive, and must give the principal results. It should not contain citations of references or abbreviations. The abstract should not exceed 350 words.
Keywords: up to ten keywords (listed alphabetically) should be provided with each paper, to assist the reader and to facilitate information retrieval. Specific terms, such as names of taxa or chemicals, may be included; use scientific names rather than common names. The CAB Thesaurus and the FPRS Thesaurus of Forest Products Terms should be used as sources of standard terms.
Main Text: Typically the body text comprises sections labelled: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgements and References. Additional sections for Appendices, Tables and Figure Captions should be added if required. However, authors may vary the organisation of articles as required for optimal presentation of their subject matter.
The Introduction must provide sufficient background to explain the context for the current work and, most importantly, the aims of the current work.
The Materials and Methods section must contain sufficient detail for other researchers to repeat the work described. Where standard procedures have been used, reference to an authoritative source should be given and only brief details included in the manuscript. Ensure that the correct statistical tests been applied.
Company name, city and country information must be provided for each supplier of reagents and/or instrumentation at first mention.
Include formulae and use scientific names for chemicals rather than common names. Specific trade names may be used to refer to complex formulations including a number of chemicals as long as the scientific name(s) of the active ingredient(s) is(are) specified, "e.g.: Tordon® is a herbicide containing two selective systemic herbicides, triclopyr{[(3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinyl)oxy]acetic acid} and picloram (4-amino-3,5,6-trichloropicolinic acid).
Results must be presented clearly and concisely. Descriptions of methods should not be given in this section.
Discussion of the results must be adequate and include references to all relevant work on the subject. Discussion must be logical and concise. In some cases, it may be prudent to combine the results and discussion into a single section.
Conclusions must be justified and supported by the data presented.
Acknowledgements must include details of all sources of funding used to support the work being reported.
References
In-text:
All cited references must be publicly available otherwise they should be cited in the text as a personal communication or as unpublished data. Where multiple in-text citations are listed, these should be in chronological order.
Published references should be cited in the text by author’s name and year, e.g. “(Jones & Smith, 1984)” or “… as stated by Jones and Smith (1984)” in accordance with the American Psychological Association (APA) referencing system. An exception is if there are more than two authors. In this case, cite the first author in the text followed by “et al.”, e.g. Bloggs et al. List all the authors in the reference list, e.g. Bloggs, K., Fine, M. A., & Kurdek, L. A.
Reference List:
Only publicly available, published references should be listed at the end of the paper. These should be listed in alphabetical order of the authors’ names using the American Psychological Association (APA) referencing system, e.g.:
Journal article:
Book:
Nicol, A. A. M., & Pexman, P. M. (1999). Presenting your findings: A practical guide for creating tables. Washington, DC, USA: American Psychological Association.
Book chapter:
O'Neil, J. M., & Egan, J. (1992). Men's and women's gender role journeys: Metaphor for healing, transition, and transformation. In B. R. Wainrib (Ed.), Gender issues across the life cycle (pp. 107-123). New York, NY, USA: Springer.
Paper from Conference Proceedings:
Gregg, P. E. H., Stewart, R. B., Mason, K., & Pitcher-Campbell, S. (2000). Growth of four native plant species in mine tailings. Second Joint New Zealand and Australia Soil Society Conference Lincoln, NZ, 3-8 December 1998. Vol. 3. (pp. 77-78). Christchurch, NZ: New Zealand Society of Soil Science.
Publicly-available Report (with author):
Simpson, I. (1996). Measuring the moisture content of wood. (FRI Bulletin No. 200). Rotorua, New Zealand: New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited.
Publicly-available Report (without author):
American Society for Testing and Materials. (1999). Standard Guide for moisture conditioning of wood and wood-based materials. (ASTM D 4933-99). West Conshohocken, PA, USA.
Web-site:
Electronic Flora of South Australia (2001). Retrieved 18 February 2009, from http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/cgi-bin/texhtml.cgi?form=speciesfacts&family=&genus=acacia&species=longifolia&iname=&submit=Search
Reference lists can be generated electronically in the correct format using the Reference Manager style file: NZJFS APA 4th ed.os or the EndNote style file: NZJFS APA 5th 130611v.ens.
Appendices: these should be used to provide additional data only if absolutely necessary.
Tables: these must be clear and informative. Tables should be prepared in Word not inserted as images from other programs. Each table should be provided on a separate page at the end of the text and numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals. Each Table must have a title and be cited in the text in numerical order. Units of measure should be placed at the head of each column.
Figure Captions:
The caption for each figure should not be shown on the figure itself; all captions should be listed together at the end of the paper. All captions should contain sufficient description that they can be read in isolation from the main body of the text but should not contain methodological details.
PREPARING FIGURES
Do not place Figures in the word document; submit these files separately.
Figures should be provided in a format suitable for reproduction in black and white unless colour is essential for clarity.
Supply electronic files formatted to final publication size.
Each figure should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals regardless of whether they are photographs or line drawings.
Each Figure must be cited in the text (e.g. Figure 1) and the order of first reference must follow
the consecutive numbers of the figures.
All dpi specifications listed below are at final printing size.
Save all TIFF files with LZW compression applied to keep size down.
Line art
Pixel based (i.e. scanned) - supplied in TIFF format, resolution 900-1200 dpi
Vector based (i.e. generated by drawing program) - save as an EPS file with
embedded fonts or set text to “create outlines” or “convert to paths”. If
unable to save as an EPS file then save as high resolution TIFF file (900-1200 dpi).
Print quality PDF files – From Word, select the ‘Save As’ function then
choose the ‘PDF or XPS’ file format. In the next screen, choose ‘Standard
(publishing online and printing)’ in the ‘Optimise for’ tab. Then click the ‘Options’
button and in ‘PDF options’ section, tick the box which says ‘Bitmap text when
fonts may not be imbedded’. Then click ‘Publish’. This procedure will save the
file as a PDF file, 300 dpi.
Continuous tone (e.g. Photos):
Submit in TIFF format, resolution 300-600 dpi at final publication size.
If your only option is to save as a JPEG file (i.e. Digital camera), do so with least amount of compression (highest quality).
B/W halftones (greyscale):
Submit in TIFF format, resolution 300-600 dpi at final publication size.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Metrication
Metric units of the Système International (SI) are to be used in all manuscripts submitted for publication. If measurements are converted from Imperial units to SI metric units, the conversion factors should be stated. The SI unit for mass is spelt “kilogram” not “kilogramme”, and “gram” should be used in all decimal multiples and sub-multiples of this unit, e.g., milligram. The official spelling adopted for the SI unit of length is “metre” not “meter”. Use the General Conference on Weights and Measures standard symbol of L for litres and mL for millilitres etc.
To avoid confusion with commas used as decimal markers in many European countries, a comma should not be used as a “thousand marker”,. Digits should be grouped in threes separated by a space not a comma, counting both to the left and right of the decimal point, e.g., 14 236 504.217 83. Four digits do not require a space, e.g. 9285. Decimal points must always be preceded by a cypher, e.g., 0.37 not .37. A comma should be used as a “thousand marker” for monetary values only e.g. NZ$30,000.
Use a negative power term for the unit(s) in the denominator, e.g. kg m-3 rather than a solidus (e.g. kg/m3).
Abbreviations
Abbreviate generic names only when the full name is in the same paragraph. This prevents confusion and errors where the wrong genus name is associated with a species. It also saves the reader having to look back through the document for the full name.
Names of Organisms
All species names must be cited in full with authorities at first mention in the abstract and also in the main body text. Thereafter, within paragraphs, the genus name may be abbreviated to a single letter, providing there is no possibility of confusion among genera. The genus name must be given in full if it is the first word of a sentence.
Plants and Fungi:
The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature must be followed. Brummitt, R. K., & Powell, C. E. (Eds.). (1992). Authors of Plant Names. Kew, UK: Royal Botanic Gardens should be used as the source of abbreviations of authorities. One suggested resource for plant names is The International Plant Names Index but it does not provide guidance on which names are currently accepted.
Fair Copying Declaration and Reproduction of Abstracts
The Journal subscribes to the Fair Copying Declaration issued by the Royal Society (London). Reproduction of authors’ abstracts, with acknowledgment, is authorised.Page Charges
There are no page charges incurred by authors publishing in this Journal.Copyright
Authors will be asked to transfer copyright of their work to the New Zealand Forest Research Institute Ltd when their article is accepted for publication. A form facilitating transfer of copyright will be provided when the manuscript is accepted. The authors will be granted (without the need to obtain further permission) rights to use the published journal article for personal use and internal institutional use.If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article.
Licence
People are free to:
- copy, distribute and transmit the work;
- adapt the work;
subject to making proper attribution of the work, publication, publisher and author; but without suggesting that the publisher or author endorses you or your use of the work.
Nothing in this licence abrogates the authors’ moral rights in the work.
Reprints
Each corresponding author will be sent an electronic copy of the final article as it appears in the Journal.ISSN 0048–0134 (print)
ISSN 1179-5395 (on-line)
© Copyright, New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited.
KEY CONTACTS
-
Ruth Falshaw
Editor, New Zealand Journal of Forestry Science