Notes for Authors

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These notes are applicable from Volume 40 (2010) and supersede any previous published notes for authors.

Updated 11 February 2010

General

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. Manuscripts are categorised using the seven criteria: Biodiversity; Productive Capacity/Forest Management; Forest Health and Vitality; Soil and Water Resources; Global Carbon Cycles; Social/Economic Benefits of Forestry; and Forestry Policy. Authors are required to indicate the main area of their research.

In general, four types of paper are acceptable for publication: original research articles, short notes, subject reviews and book reviews. Conference papers may be acceptable if they are part of a set of proceedings being published by the Journal. Authors are required to indicate the appropriate category for their submission.

Submission

The corresponding author is requested to complete the attached Manuscript Submission Checklist. Please click here to download the form. Manuscripts submitted without the checklist are likely to be delayed.

Manuscriptsshould be submitted in electronic format (as a Word document) to nzjfs@scionresearch.com as email attachments. Alternatively, they may be submitted on disk to: The Editor, New Zealand Journal of Forestry Science, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand. Figures should also be submitted in electronic form (e.g. as tif or jpg files).

Manuscripts submitted for publication must be accompanied by a statement that the paper has not been published or offered for publication elsewhere. However, the publication of an abstract or summary elsewhere may be disregarded.

Typescript

Manuscripts should be submitted in electronic format (as a MS Word document) as this will speed up the refereeing process. Margins of 2.5 cm are required and 1.5 line spacing should be used throughout. Articles should consist of a title, a list of all authors, an abstract, keywords and list of references, in addition to the text. The first mention of each biological species must be accompanied by its full Latin binomial and authority.

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.

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 will be the corresponding author (using an asterisk) and provide an email address.

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.

Up to ten keywords should be provided with each paper, to assist the reader and to facilitate information retrieval. The main subjects or concepts should be listed first. 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. Spelling should be according to the New Zealand Oxford Dictionary 2005.

Typically the body text comprises sections labelled: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion, Conclusion, and References. However, authors may vary the organization of articles as required for optimal presentation of their subject matter.

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.

Tables

Tables should be kept to a minimum, although they can sometimes replace a much greater area of text. Tables should be typed on separate pages at the end of the text and numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals. Each Table must have a title and be cited in the text. Units of measure should be placed at the head of each column.

Figures

Figures are required in electronic form (e.g. as tif or jpg files). They 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.

The Figure caption should not be shown on the Figure itself; all captions should be listed together at the end of the paper. Lettering and line thickness should be chosen so that they are clearly legible and of consistent size if the Figures are reduced for final printing.

References

In-text:

All cited references must be publicly available. If not, they should be cited in the text as as unpublished data (if referring to a document) or as a personal communication (if referring to a conversation). 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, except that, where there are more than two authors, the first author is followed by et al. (not in italics) e.g. (Jones et al., 1984)

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:
Fine, M. A., & Kurdek, L. A. (1993). Reflections on determining authorship credit and authorship order on faculty-student collaborations. American Psychologist, 48(2), 1141-1147.

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.

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.

Personal Communication (in text only):
(Washbourne, R. Ministry of Economic Development, personal communication, May 16, 2001).

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.ens.

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.

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, 2010

All rights reserved. Unless permitted by contract of law, no part of this work may be reproduced, stored, or copied in any form or by any means without the express permission of the NEW ZEALAND FOREST RESEARCH INSTITUTE LIMITED.