Author Guidelines
Author Guidelines
Colombia Forestal publishes original contributions on forestry, renewable natural resources and the environment, with special emphasis on the Republic of Colombia. The journal is aimed both nationally and internationally at professionals involved in the management of renewable resources.
Template for submitting articles
Selection and evaluation of manuscripts
The process of manuscript evaluation involves shortlisting and general revision by an editorial committee followed by evaluation by specialist peers. Peer reviewers will assign a status to each manuscript: approved, approved with some minor modifications, approved with major modifications or not approved. In the case of a manuscript being approved with some modifications, the author will receive the suggestions and comments made by the reviewers.
The authors will be given a maximum of one month to make the corrections required, inclusive of the day the manuscripts are returned with the reviewers’ comments. The revised manuscript must then be sent to the editor of the journal with a letter explaining the adjustments made. The editorial committee will verify incorporation of the changes to the manuscript and, if they consider it necessary, it will be returned to the peer reviewer for further evaluation. The final decision on publication of the manuscript will be made by the peer reviewer and the editorial committee. If the document is approved for publication, the authors will be required to sign a declaration of originality and an authorisation of the rights of publication and reproduction of their manuscript, as well as its inclusion in databases, websites or any electronic pages, national or international. Each author will receive three copies of the volume in which their article is published.
Types of article
Colombia Forestal accepts the following types of article:
Research Article: This is a manuscript that presents in a detailed way the results of original research projects, following scientific methodology that also represents an important contribution to forest science or to the field of renewable natural resources.
Review Article: This is a manuscript based on the results of published or unpublished studies that have been integrated to provide information related to a particular theme. The article must include a careful bibliographic review of at least 50 references. Review articles will preferably have been solicited by the general editor of the journal to a specialist on the topic.
The journal also includes a Notes and Comments section, which can include notes of technical interest about conferences, fora, research, communication or education programmes, and reviews of new books or journals.
Preparation instructions
The manuscript must not exceed 25 pages letter-sized, double spaced including the text, tables, diagrams and appendices. The text must be written in Times New Roman font, point size 11 and aligned to the left.
The first page of the manuscript must indicate the title of the article, the full name of the author or authors with a footnote indicating author affiliation, postal address, email and Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID). In the footnote, the corresponding author must be indicated.
After the heading of the article with the titles in Spanish and English, a short running head title must be written, followed by an abstract in Spanish and English, each of which can be up to 150 words. A minimum of three and a maximum of ten keywords must be included, preferably different from those used in the title, but that also reflect the content of the article and that may be appropriate for search engines.
The main content of all the manuscripts except revision articles must have the following sections arranged in the sequence indicated: Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgements and References. In addition to the appendices, tables and diagrams must be included. In review articles it is not necessary to specify the objectives, materials and methods or results sections.
Title: this should state the subject of the study concisely and should not exceed 15 words. Avoid the use of colons and hyphens but if a subtitle is necessary this should be separated from the main title by a colon. The main title should be written in Times New Roman 12 and the subtitle in TNR 11. Scientific names should be written in lower-case italics and should include the author written in normal lower case (for example Podocarpus oleifolius D. Don ex Lamb.).
Highlights: 5 highlights should be included per article, i.e., 5 sentences with key ideas about the contribution of the manuscript, its impact and what is new in the forestry field. Each highlight should have a maximum length of 85 characters.
Abstract: the abstract must be a short synopsis of the text. This includes a brief mention of the objectives of the research, the methodology, the results and the importance of the findings, in that order. The key points of each section must be reflected in the abstract. Abbreviations and quotes should not be used.
Introduction: this should be limited to the objectives of the study, definition of the problem and justification for the study. A brief theoretical framework can be given only if it is directly related to the research problem.
Materials and Methods: include information on the geographical area of the study (locality, climatic data etc.) Also include information on the techniques utilised, the study material and the method of analysis, including which software resources were used.
Results: present the results on the basis of the methodology indicated in the previous section. Tables and associated figures should directly correspond to the objectives of the investigation.
Discussion: interpret the results of the study and compare with results reported in previously published relevant literature.
Conclusions: present the main findings of the project and the implications for the study area.
Acknowledgements: name the institutes that provided finance for the project along with the individuals who helped with the development of the study and the production of the paper.
Author contributions: The authors must be clear in the contribution of each one in the development of the article. Ex: O. V-B, U.D. they devised the investigation; O. V-B and P.H. conducted the investigation in the field; O. V-B. and M. P-D analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript. All authors contributed to the discussion and commented on the drafts.
References: follow the format laid out in the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA 7) with some modifications. References in the text must be organized chronologically and must directly correspond to those cited in the References section.
Examples:
- According to Castro (1945) and González & Ruiz (1996),
- (Castro, 1945; González & Ruiz, 1996; Ramírez et al., 2009).
The letters a, b, c, d, etc. must be used to distinguish different articles by the same author in the same year.
- As mentioned by Parrado-Rosselli et al. (2007, 2007a, 2007b).
- Parrado-Rosselli et al. (2007, 2007a; López & Ferreira, 2008, 2008a).
References must be ordered alphabetically by the last name of the first author and chronologically for each author or combination of authors.
The names of all the authors must be written. The names of journals must not be abbreviated. Use the following format:
- Journal Articles: Last name of the author, initial(s) of forename(s). (Year). Title of the article. Full name of the journal (in italics), volume (in italics) and number (in brackets), range of pages. DOI. When there are two or more authors, their names should be separated by a comma.
Examples:
Mendoza, H. & Ramírez, B. (2001). Dicotiledóneas de La Planada, Colombia: Lista de especies. Biota Colombiana, 2, 123-126.
Dey, D., Royo, A., Brose, P., Hutchinson, T., Spetich, M., & Scott, S. (2010). An ecologically based approach to oak silviculture: a synthesis of 50 years of oak ecosystem research in North America. Colombia Forestal, 13(2), 201-222. https://doi.org/10.14483/udistrital.jour.colomb.for.2010.2.a02
- Books. Last name of the author, author initial(s). (Year). Title of the book (in italics). Name of publisher. If it is an edited work but not a specific chapter, the name of the editor(s) is used as the name of the author followed by (ed.) or (eds.). When there are two or more authors, their names should be separated by a comma.
Examples:
Krebs, J. (1978). Ecological methodology. Harper & Row.
Mahecha, G., Rosales, H., Ruiz, G., & Mota, P.(2008). Las propiedades mecánicas de la madera de tres especies forestales. Editorial Manrique.
- Chapter within a book. Last name and initial(s) of the author of the chapter. (Year). Title of the chapter. En Author(s)/Editor(s) of the book, followed by (ed(s)) if appropriate. Title of the book (in italics). (Page range).Name of publisher. When there are two or more authors or editors their names should be separated by a comma.
Examples:
Suárez, R.L. (1985). La familia Melastomataceae. En M.R. Téllez and L.J. Torres (eds). Los arboles de la Costa Atlántica (pp. 187-195). Editorial Pulido.
Prentice, I.C. (2001). The Carbon Cycle and Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide. En J.T. Houghton, Y. Ding, D.J. Griggs, M. Noguer, P.J. van der Linden, X. Dai, K. Maskell and C.A. Johnson (eds.). Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis (pp. 135-237). Cambridge University Press.
- Senior projects or unprecedented publications. Last name of the author, initial(s) of the name(s). Year. Title of the Senior Project or unprecedented publication. Type of publication.
Place of publication: name of the institution or company publishing the document. URL. When there are two or more authors, their names should be separated by a comma
Examples:
González-M., R. (2010). Cambios en la distribución espacial y abundancia de la palma Bombona (Iriartea deltoidea Ruiz & Pav., Arecaceae) en diferentes grados de intervención antropogénica de los bosques de tierra firme del Parque Nacional Natural Amacayacú, Amazonas-Colombia [Trabajo grado, Ingeniería Forestal]. Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas.
Pitman, N. (2000). A large-scale inventory of two Amazonian tree communities (PhD. thesis). Duke University, Department of Botany.
- Software. Author(s). (Year). Name of the software. Place of production: Name of the institution or organization that developed the software. ISBN. URL address of contact.
Example:
R Development Core Team. (2008). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. ISBN: 3-900051-07-0, recuperado de http://www.r-project.org
Maechler, M., Rousseeuw, P., Struyf, A., Hubert, M. & Hornik, K. (2013). Cluster: Cluster Analysis Basics and Extensions. R package version 1.14.4.
Figures and tables
Figures (photos, maps, illustrations and graphs) must include on the reverse side, the corresponding label numbered in sequential order that also explains content detail (font size 10). Graphs must include the title of the axis centred (with the initial in capital letter) together with the units of measurement. The font of all the graphs must be Times New Roman, at an appropriate size for printing. If in each illustration there is more than one panel, lower case (a, b, c) must be used to designate each one. Send the illustrations with colours in the following formats: .jpg or .tif with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi and a maximum density of 1200 pixels (Do not send in ZIP or RAR format).
Tables must be included with the legend explaining in detail the content (font size 10) placed above. The table should be without vertical lines and with only three horizontal lines. The tables and illustrations must be quoted in the text and must be sent in a different file, one on each sheet, first all the tables and then all the illustrations.
Nomenclature, abbreviations, acronyms and scientific names of units: the name in Latin (genus and specific epithet) must be written completely for each organism the first time it is mentioned in the text (e.g. Protium heptaphyllum) and thereafter the initial of the genus must be written with a capital letter followed by the complete specific epithet (e.g. P. heptaphyllum). Names in Latin and authors should be corroborated by referring to specialist databases such as W3-Trópicos (http://mobot.mobot.org/) or the International Plant Names Index (http://www.ipni).
Abbreviations: The writing of scientific names of plants or animals (genus and species) must be written in italics as should abbreviations, for example i.e. and et al. Do not use italics with the terms sp., cf. or aff., nor with the names of authors. Acronyms should be written in full the first time they are mentioned in the text, for example, United Nations (UN), and thereafter, use just the acronym or initials.
Units of Measurement: follow the International System of Units: ha, km, m, cm, mm, h, min, s, kg, g. Decimals should be separated by a point (e.g. 0.5 and not 0,5), while units of a thousand should be separated by a space (e.g. 28 000 and not 28,000). For percentages and degrees utilise symbols rather than words (e.g. 15%, not 15 percent).
Geographic position: write north, south, east and west in lower case or use upper case when using abbreviations (i.e. N, S, E and W). Geographical coordinates should be written as degrees (º), minutes (') and seconds ('') latitude (north, south or N, S) followed by degrees (º), minutes (') and seconds ('') longitude (east, west or E, W), (example: 04°12′11.5″ north - 78°24′12″ west). Altitude should be stated in metres without using the abbreviation a.s.l.
