QJF Guidelines for Authors

Contributions to the Quarterly Journal of Forestry

The Editor is always glad to receive papers, articles and correspondence on any aspect of forestry that may be of interest to members of the Society. Potential contributors are strongly advised to make early contact with the Editor to discuss content, carefully follow these guidelines and examine a current copy of the journal to appreciate our content and style.

Guidance on the preparation of Divisional meeting reports can be found here.

Types of submission

The Journal makes a clear distinction between Technical papers, which will undergo external peer review, and Feature articles, which are assessed internally by an Editorial Panel. Either type of document can be submitted or commissioned. Technical papers should follow traditional academic style complete with a summary and references (see below), as well as three suggested reviewers. Feature articles can have a more relaxed style, do not require a summary and references are optional.

Length

Technical papers generally occupy 4-8 printed pages and have around 2,500 – 3,000 words of text, not including references and figure/table legends. Feature articles are generally shorter, between 2-6 pages with 1000-2500 words. The main requirement for both types of document is that length must be appropriate for the subject of the article.

Format of submissions

Text should be submitted in digital format either by e-mail as Microsoft Word or similar files. You may also use the free file transfer service We Transfer to send large files.

Figures

Illustrations and photographs (figures) are welcome and should be submitted in digital format (jpegs of 2- 5 MB in size) wherever possible. Each figure should be sent as a separate file – please DO NOT embed them in the Word file. The originals need to be sharply focussed and with some contrast. Under most circumstances, no more than about six figures  should be used with an article. If you submit more, please indicate which have priority should they have to be reduced in number.  The figures’ approximate positions should be indicated in the text, e.g. [Figure  2 about here]. Captions should be included at the end of the text. If the photographs were not taken by the author, or if illustrations were not compiled by the author, please state who owns the copyright, and confirm that you have obtained their written permission to publish in Quarterly Journal of Forestry.

Tables

Tables should be typed at the end of the text and numbered. Indicate their approximate position in the text, e.g. [Table 3 about here]. Charts may be submitted as Excel files but please use plain shades of fill in contrasting shades rather than patterns. Please DO NOT embed them in the Word file. Under most circumstances, no more than three tables should  be used with an article. If you submit more, please indicate which have priority should they have to be reduced in number. Again, their approximate position should be indicated in the text, e.g. [Table 1 about here]. Captions for Tables should be put at the end of the text. If tables were not complied by the author, please state who owns the copyright, and confirm that you have obtained their written permission to publish in Quarterly Journal of Forestry.

Technical paper summary

Technical papers should include brief summaries of no more than 150 words at the beginning of the text. These should give the main facts and conclusions, and be self-contained.

Author details

For Features and Technical papers please give details about the authors at the end of the text. These should include the authors’ email and postal address and a couple of sentences about each author (e.g. current job,  background and experience, special interests). This information will form part of the published article.

References

Literature references should be shown in the text by the author’s surname and year of publication in brackets, e.g. (Jones, 1984). All references should be collected at the end of the paper/article and listed in alphabetical order by authors, with year, title, source, page number, etc. Further guidance can be found here: QJF Reference Guide.

Please note that the journal does not use footnotes.

Publication of articles

Apart from news items, articles will normally be published in the Journal only if they have not been published previously elsewhere. The Editor must be informed where an article has also been submitted to other journals or magazines.
All published articles will be added to the searchable online QJF archive, available via the member’s area of our website. In addition, a selection of articles will be made freely available as ‘Featured Articles’ and placed on the QJF Featured Articles area of our website.

Permissions

Please ensure that you obtain written permission from any third-party owners of copyright for the use of photographs, illustrations, charts, tables, text or other material, in your article and in the Quarterly Journal of Forestry. This permission should cover use in the printed journal, and in freely available digital formats.

Proofs

Authors of accepted papers/articles will see page proofs for checking prior to publication. Proofs will normally be sent as pdf files via email. If hard copies are preferred, please supply a postal address to facilitate this.

Copies of papers/articles

Authors will receive a pdf copy of their papers/articles via email following publication in the journal.

Submission

Please send contributions to qjf@rfs.org.uk