Submissions

1.2) Cover Letter - Comments for the Editor
Together with the manuscript, authors have to submit a cover letter providing information on how the submitted article fits into the scope of JFLR (Step 1 of the online submission procedure: ‘Comments to the Editor’) and details of any previous submissions of the respective manuscript.
Contributing authors have the option to provide the names and contact information of two potential reviewers qualified to provide an independent assessment of the submitted manuscript. Authors may also provide the names and contact information of people which should be precluded. The suggestions may or may not be considered by the editorial board. 

1.3) Authorship Policy
Authorship should be restricted to people with a substantial contribution to the work, such as the conceptual development of the study design, implementation of the research and data analysis, development of new methods or models, or writing of the manuscript.

1.4) Publication Ethics
The corresponding author is required to confirm that manuscripts submitted to the journal have not been submitted elsewhere for publication, have not been previously published or accepted for publication, and are not currently considered for publication elsewhere, neither as a whole nor in parts. This does not apply to parts of the manuscript which have been published in the form of an abstract or are part of a lecture or thesis. Any manuscript that has appeared online with full bibliographical data including a permanent DOI is considered published and will not be considered for publication by JFLR.
Authors also have to confirm that the work is original research and that all authors have read and approved the submitted version of the manuscript. If accepted, submitted manuscripts will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0 unported).

1.5) Language
Manuscripts should be written in either good British or American English, which must be used consistently throughout the manuscript. It is recommended that authors with English as a second language should have their paper reviewed by a native or proficient speaker prior to submission. Manuscripts which are incomprehensive due to serious language issues can be rejected without further review at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.
To provide equal opportunities for the publication of research from all countries, JFLR offers various categories of final English language proofreading and editing services based on a graduated fee scheme (per page).

1.6) Manuscript Length
Depending on the article type manuscript length including all sections but excluding online supplementary material should not exceed 6,000 words (Original research paper), 2,000 words (Short communication), or 10,000 words (Review paper).

1.7) Manuscript Structure
Note: Submitted manuscripts not meeting the structural requirements outlined below are not accepted for peer review and will be returned to the author for revision and resubmission.

1.8) Specifications of Manuscript Formatting

Note: Submitted manuscripts that do not meet the formal requirements explained below are not accepted for peer review and will be returned to the author for revision and resubmission.

Text

All manuscripts must be prepared using the provided LaTeX templates (*.tex), Microsoft Word (*.doc/*.docx) or OpenOffice (*.odf) available for download here. Please note that manuscripts submitted using the provided LaTeX (*.tex) template will not be subject to any typesetting fees. For all other manuscript formats, authors will be charged a typesetting fee of € 5.00 per page.

The manuscript should be written in normal, plain 12-point Arial and typed in double spacing with a margins of 2 cm at each side. All pages and lines must be consecutively numbered, including pages containing acknowledgements, references, tables and figures. For special emphasis, please use italics. No use of small caps throughout the entire document. Do not use footnotes – all relevant information should be included in the text.

Units and Equations

Always use the internationally accepted SI units. Genus and species names should be printed in italics.

Tables

Tables should be placed in the correct order within the manuscript text file, arranged in a separate section after the references with each table on a separate page. Tables should be consecutively cited in the text and numbered with Arabic numerals (i.e. Table 1, Table 2, etc.). All tables should be understandable without reference to the text. Comprehensive table captions should be placed above each table. Keep the column headings brief and present the respective measurement units in squared brackets.

Figures

All figures (including illustrations, photographs, etc.) should be placed in the correct order within the manuscript text file, arranged in a separate section after the tables with each figures on a separate page. Figures should be consecutively cited in the text and numbered with Arabic numerals (i.e. Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc.). Figures can be in black & white, greyscale or colour. Each figure must be accompanied by a comprehensive legend written in normal, plain 12-point Arial. A comprehensive figure caption should be placed below each figure. Make sure that all figures are prepared in such a manner that, after reduction to fit across one or two columns or two-thirds width (80 mm, 169 mm or 110 mm, respectively), all lettering and symbols will be clear and legible.

Following acceptance of a manuscript for publication, a separate file for each figure must be supplied according to the following specifications. As much as possible, line graphics should be submitted as vector graphics (format *.eps or *.pdf). All lines should be at least 0.25 pt.

Other figures should be submitted as *.tif or *.jpg files with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. If unsure about the resolution of your graphic files, please zoom in and check that fonts, curves and diagonal lines are smooth-edged and do not appear blocky when viewed up close.

References

Limit yourself to citing only essential references. Within the text, references should always be listed in chronological order and in full unless there are three and more authors.

Example: Pine 1992, Spruce and Pine 1995, Oak 1999

References to publications with three and more authors, only the first name is cited and "et al." added, followed by the year.

Example: Spruce et al. 1995

For references made to works by the same author(s) and with the same publication year, a letter (a, b, c, etc.) should be included after the year of publication.

Example: Spruce et al. 1980a, b

The reference list should only contain references to published works (or those accepted for publication) that have been cited in the article. Do not include references to abstracts or unpublished works in the reference list. Instead, cite them in the text as Personal Observations, Personal Communications, or Unpublished Data/Unpublished Manuscript and identify the respective authors.

In the reference list, references should be listed in alphabetical order and in a consistent way. Following acceptance for publication, all cited references must be submitted in electronic form (e.g. .enl, .bst, .ctv, .ris).

2) Specific information

2.1) Original research papers 
Submitted manuscripts of original research papers should include the sections described below. Number the sections (1, 2, etc.) and subsections (1.1, 1.2, etc.), starting with the introduction. Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing (e.g., “... as stated in section 2.1”).
A Title page containing:
• A concise and informative title.
• A list of all author names, their affiliation(s) (institution where the work was done), and current e-mail addresses.
• The name and complete contact information of the corresponding author (including present/permanent postal address, e-mail, and telephone numbers).
• A word count of the entire manuscript (excluding the reference section).
• The number of tables and figures.

Abstract 
Using a maximum of 300 words, the abstract should clearly and concisely outline the context and the objectives of the paper, the applied methods as well as the main results and conclusions. The abstract must not contain any footnotes, references, cross-references to figures or tables and abbreviations. The abstract should be easy to read and understand for all JFLR readers.
Highlights
Present the core findings and the essence of the article in three to five bullet points. Each bullet point should not exceed a maximum of 100 characters including spaces.
Keywords
The provided keywords (maximum of five compound keywords) should reflect the content of the paper, be listed in order of decreasing relevance and should exclude words already used in the title.
Abbreviations (optional)
Abbreviations must be defined at first mention and used consistently thereafter. A list of all abbreviations may be included before the introduction as shown in the template. Remember: abbreviations should facilitate reading, rather than complicating it.

1 Introduction
In a brief manner, the introduction should state the general context, background and objectives/hypotheses of the presented work, referencing relevant and appropriate literature but avoiding a detailed state-of-the-art literature review.

2 Materials and Methods
This section should precisely but briefly explain all materials and methods used. Provide enough detail to enable the readers to reproduce the work and assess the findings. Details such as measurement protocols, raw data, etc. my also be submitted as online supplements. Methods that have been previously published should simply be referenced, with any modifications described in detail.

3 Results
Describe the study results in a concise manner, focussing on new findings and referring to the included tables and figures where appropriate.

4 Discussion
The discussion section should be separate from the results section. Use this section to explore the significance of the main study findings, without repeating details of all results. Highlight the importance of the findings in the context of previously published studies, but avoid extensive discussion and citations of published literature.

5 Conclusions (optional)
The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short stand-alone conclusions section or included as a separate paragraph at the end of the discussion section. If appropriate, point out any relevance for forest management and/or forest policy.

Acknowledgements
Briefly acknowledge any substantial financial, logistic, technical or material support.

References
Refer to Manuscript Specifications below.

Tables (incl. captions)
Refer to Manuscript Specifications below.

Figures (incl. captions)
Refer to Manuscript Specifications below.

Online Supplements
Any additional material which is of interest to specialists (e.g., raw data, model parameters, etc.) is to be submitted as online supplements and should be prepared in a separate file.

2.2) Short Communication

A short communication is a concise article highlighting innovative and exciting research results that do not warrant publication as a full-length paper. However, this article type is not intended for the publication of preliminary results. Manuscripts should not exceed 2,000 words and include not more than two figures or tables. Short communications are subject to the same peer review process as original research papers.

Short communications should be structured similar to original research papers, including a title page, an abstract and references. Other sections may be omitted or joined.

2.3) Review Paper

JFLR will publish review papers summarizing the state of the art in forest science and related disciplines. Review papers may be commissioned by the Editor-in-Chief or submitted on the author’s initiative. Interested authors should contact the Editorial Board with a short summary of their topic before preparing a review manuscript. A good review paper will not only provide a comprehensive summary of the current literature on the respective topic, but will clearly highlight key insights and research needs.

Review papers may be longer than Original research papers, but should not exceed 10,000 words. Manuscript submitted for consideration as review papers will be subject to the same peer review process as original research papers.

Review papers should meet the specifications for manuscript formatting described below, but need not be structure into sections titled ‘Materials and Methods’, ‘Results’ and ‘Discussion’.