Publishing guidelines

Forestry Studies | Metsanduslikud Uurimused is committed to maintaining high standards of scholarly publishing, research integrity, editorial independence, and transparency.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made solely on the basis of scientific quality, originality, methodological soundness, clarity, relevance to the journal’s scope, and compliance with ethical standards. Editorial decisions are not influenced by commercial interests, institutional pressure, nationality, gender, ethnicity, political beliefs, religion, or personal characteristics of the authors.

Editorial Decision Making

Editors are responsible for ensuring the quality, integrity, and academic relevance of the journal’s published content. They organize a fair, objective, and timely peer review process and ensure that reviewers’ comments are considered carefully and that final decisions are communicated clearly to authors.

Editors must treat all submitted manuscripts and related correspondence as confidential. Unpublished information disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used by editors or editorial staff for personal, professional, or research purposes without the authors’ explicit written consent.

Peer Review

All manuscripts undergo an initial editorial assessment followed by independent peer review. The journal applies a double-anonymous peer review process in which authors and reviewers remain anonymous to each other. Manuscripts considered suitable for publication are evaluated by at least two independent reviewers with relevant expertise.

Publication Ethics

The journal follows the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethicslink opens in new page (COPE) and adheres to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishinglink opens in new page. Authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to comply with internationally accepted standards of publication ethics and research integrity.

The detailed Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement is provided as a separate policy document in the Statements and Policies section.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial board members must disclose any financial, institutional, professional, or personal relationships that could influence, or be perceived to influence, the objectivity of the editorial or review process.

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

Where necessary, the journal will publish corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions in order to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record. Concerns raised before or after publication will be assessed by the Editors and handled in accordance with COPE guidance.

Appeals and Complaints

Authors may appeal editorial decisions by submitting a reasoned written request to the Editors. Complaints regarding editorial processes, publication ethics, conflicts of interest, or research integrity will be handled fairly and in accordance with COPE guidance.

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

Forestry Studies | Metsanduslikud Uurimused is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics, research integrity, editorial independence, and transparency in scholarly publishing. This statement applies to authors, editors, reviewers, editorial board members, and the publisher.

Duties of Editors

Editors are responsible for ensuring the quality, integrity, and academic relevance of published content. Editorial decisions are based on scholarly merit, originality, methodological soundness, clarity, relevance to the journal’s aims and scope, and compliance with ethical standards. Editors evaluate manuscripts without discrimination and must not allow commercial interests, institutional pressure, or personal relationships to influence editorial decisions.

Editors are responsible for organizing fair, objective, and timely peer review. They must treat submitted manuscripts and related correspondence as confidential and must take appropriate action when ethical concerns are raised before or after publication.

Duties of Reviewers

Reviewers assist editors in evaluating the scientific quality, originality, methodological rigour, and relevance of submitted manuscripts. Reviews should be objective, constructive, evidence-based, and timely. Reviewers must treat manuscripts as confidential, declare conflicts of interest, and decline review invitations where impartiality may be compromised.

Duties of Authors

Authors are responsible for ensuring that submitted work is original, accurate, complete, and ethically conducted. Manuscripts must present the research clearly and honestly, without fabrication, falsification, inappropriate data manipulation, plagiarism, or misleading interpretation. Authors must disclose funding sources, conflicts of interest, ethical approvals, and relevant permissions where applicable.

Originality and Plagiarism

Submitted manuscripts must be original work. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, text recycling, unattributed use of data, images, ideas, or interpretations, and excessive paraphrasing without proper citation are unacceptable. Submitted manuscripts may be screened using plagiarism-detection software, and suspected plagiarism will be handled in accordance with COPE guidance.

Duplicate Submission and Redundant Publication

Authors must not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously. Redundant publication, including the publication of substantially similar work in more than one journal without proper disclosure, citation, or editorial approval, is not acceptable. Closely related manuscripts, preprints, reports, theses, or previous publications must be disclosed at submission.

Data Fabrication and Falsification

Data fabrication and falsification are serious forms of research misconduct and are not tolerated. Authors must report data accurately and must not omit, alter, or selectively present data in a misleading manner. Editors may request access to raw data, analytical procedures, or supplementary information if concerns arise during review or after publication.

Image Manipulation

Images, photographs, micrographs, maps, graphs, and other visual materials must accurately represent the original data or observations. Adjustments must not alter, obscure, remove, introduce, or exaggerate information. Suspected inappropriate image manipulation will be assessed by the Editors and handled in accordance with COPE guidance.

Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the study, acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data, drafting or revising the manuscript, and approval of the final version. All authors are accountable for the integrity of the work. Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged.

Any changes in authorship after submission, including addition, removal, or rearrangement of authors, must be approved by all authors and justified in writing to the Editors. Artificial intelligence tools and large language models cannot be listed as authors.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial board members must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could influence the objectivity, integrity, or interpretation of the research or editorial process.

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

The journal is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record. Corrections may be issued for errors that do not invalidate the main findings. Retractions may be issued where findings are unreliable due to misconduct or honest error, where the work has been published elsewhere without proper disclosure, where plagiarism is identified, or where the research is unethical. Expressions of concern may be issued when serious concerns remain unresolved or an investigation is ongoing.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors may appeal editorial decisions by submitting a reasoned written request to the Editors. Complaints concerning editorial procedures, peer review, publication ethics, conflicts of interest, corrections, or published content should be submitted in writing to the editorial office and will be handled fairly, confidentially, and in accordance with COPE guidance.

Research Ethics

Research involving humans, animals, protected areas, endangered species, genetic resources, biological samples, fieldwork permits, or regulated environmental data must comply with applicable legal, institutional, and ethical requirements. Where applicable, authors must state in the manuscript that relevant approvals, permits, licences, or exemptions were obtained.

COPE Guidance

The journal follows the guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)link opens in new page
• COPE Code of Conductlink opens in new page 
• Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishinglink opens in new page 
• COPE Guidancelink opens in new page 

Manuscript Submission

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically through the Editorial Manager submission system:

https://www.editorialmanager.com/FSMU/link opens in new page

Submission of a manuscript implies that:

• the work is original;
• the manuscript has not been published previously;
• the manuscript is not under consideration by another journal;
• all authors have approved the submitted version of the manuscript.

Article Types

Forestry Studies | Metsanduslikud Uurimused publishes:

• Original Research Articles
• Review Articles
• Short Communications
• Technical Reports

Language

The journal primarily publishes manuscripts in English. Manuscripts must be written in clear, precise, and grammatically correct English and must comply with the journal’s linguistic and stylistic requirements. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscripts have been carefully language-edited before submission. Manuscripts that do not meet an acceptable standard of English may be returned to the authors for language revision before peer review or publication.

Contributions in Estonian may be accepted when relevant to the journal’s scope and readership.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

Authors may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools and large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT or similar technologies, for language editing, grammar correction, readability improvement, or formatting assistance.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of all content submitted to the journal. AI tools may not be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the work, approve the final manuscript, or comply with authorship requirements.

Any substantial use of AI tools in the preparation of a manuscript, including text generation, data interpretation, image creation, or analytical support, should be disclosed in the manuscript, typically in the Acknowledgements section or another appropriate location.

AI-generated content must be carefully reviewed and verified by the authors, who are solely responsible for ensuring that all statements, citations, data, and conclusions are accurate and free from bias, fabrication, plagiarism, or copyright infringement.

The use of AI tools for language editing alone does not normally require disclosure.

Authors should not upload confidential, unpublished, sensitive, or third-party material to AI tools unless they have appropriate permission and the tool’s data handling complies with confidentiality and data protection requirements.

Manuscript Preparation

Manuscripts should be prepared clearly and concisely and should normally not exceed the following limits:

• Research articles: 25 manuscript pages
• Review articles: 20 manuscript pages
• Short Communication: 5 manuscript pages
• Technical reports: 5 manuscript pages

The page limit includes the abstract, tables, figures, references, and page and line numbers. Manuscripts should be submitted as one-sided documents in an editable file format, preferably DOCX. Authors should use a legible font, such as Arial, Calibri, or a similar typeface. The body text should be set in 11–12 pt font size, with line spacing of 1.2–1.5. A4 page format is preferred. Margins should be set to 2.0 cm on all sides. All pages should be numbered consecutively.

Longer manuscripts may be considered only in exceptional circumstances and should be justified at submission.

The manuscript should normally be organized as follows:

• Title
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Introduction
• Materials and Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusions
• Acknowledgements
• References

The title should be concise and informative and should not exceed 100 characters or 15 words. It should not be written in capital letters or boldface.

The manuscript should include the full names of all authors, their institutional affiliations, and the official institutional e-mail address of the corresponding author. The corresponding author should be clearly indicated.

To avoid unnecessary delays in the review process, please consider the following policies carefully before you submit your manuscript.
 

Manuscripts preferred for publication in FSMU are those which:
1. contain original work - which is not published elsewhere in any medium by the authors or anyone else, and is not under consideration for publication in any other medium. This restriction does not apply to review articles.
2. are focused on the core aims and scope of the journal - FSMU is a scientific journal publishing research papers on all aspects of forestry and also close subjects related to forest (environmental protection, ecology, botany, zoology, entomology, pathology, soil science, modelling, wood anatomy, biodivercity etc.).
3. are clearly and correctly written - should contain all essential features of a complete scientific paper, should be written in a clear, easy to understand manner.
4. are written in English or Estonian with English summary - should be clearly and grammatically written, in an easily readable style. Attention to detail of the language will avoid severe misunderstandings which might lead to rejection of the paper. (Please note that native-speaking Estonian authors whose papers are in English are encouraged to include also a summary in Estonian). 
5. are delivered in electronic format

The authors must submit their papers online via Editorial Manager on the web page: www.editorialmanager.com/fsmu/default.asplink opens in new page.

Address of the Editor-in-Chief of FSMU:
Dr. Maris Hordo
Forestry Studies / Metsanduslikud Uurimused
Institute of Forestry and Engineering
Estonian University of Life Sciences
Kreutzwaldi 5
51006 Tartu
Estonia
e-mail: [email protected] 

Peer Review Model

Forestry Studies | Metsanduslikud Uurimused operates a double-anonymous peer review process. Authors and reviewers remain anonymous to each other throughout the review process.

Initial Editorial Assessment

Following submission, each manuscript undergoes an initial assessment by the Editors to determine whether it falls within the journal's scope and meets the basic standards of scientific quality, originality, and presentation.

Manuscripts that do not meet these requirements may be rejected without external review.

External Review and Reviewer Selection

Reviewers are selected by the Editors on the basis of their expertise, independence, and relevance to the subject area of the manuscript. The journal may use external experts, members of the Editorial Board, or both. Authors may suggest potential reviewers, but the final selection of reviewers rests with the Editors.

Suitable manuscripts are evaluated by at least two independent expert reviewers.

Reviewers assess:

• originality and scientific significance;
• methodological soundness;
• quality of data analysis;
• interpretation of results;
• relevance to the journal's scope;
• clarity of presentation.

Editorial Decisions

Based on the reviewers' reports, the Editors may reach one of the following decisions:

• Accept
• Minor Revision
• Major Revision
• Reject

The final decision regarding publication rests with the Editors.

All research articles, review articles, short communications and technical reports considered suitable after initial editorial assessment are subject to peer review.

Revision Process

Authors are expected to submit revised manuscripts together with a detailed response to reviewers' comments.

The standard revision deadlines are:

• First revision: within 30 days
• Second revision: within 14 days

Failure to submit a revision within the specified period may result in the manuscript being treated as a new submission.

Review Timeline

The journal aims to provide an initial editorial assessment within 2–3 weeks of submission. The first decision after external peer review is normally provided within 8–12 weeks, depending on reviewer availability and manuscript complexity.

Supplementary material submitted with the manuscript may be assessed as part of the peer review process where relevant to the evaluation of the study.

Reviewers are required to treat manuscripts and related materials as confidential and must not use unpublished information for personal advantage.

Peer Review Charges

The journal does not charge authors for peer review.

Forestry Studies | Metsanduslikud Uurimused is a Diamond Open Access journal.

The journal does not charge any fees for:

• manuscript submission;
• peer review;
• article processing;
• publication of accepted articles.

There are currently no Article Processing Charges (APCs) and no submission fees.

All published articles are made freely available online immediately upon publication without subscription or access charges for readers.

If any charges apply to special issues, these will be clearly stated in advance on the journal website and in the relevant call for papers.

Authors will receive a pdf file with the edited version of their manuscript for final proofreading. This is the last opportunity to view an article before its publication on the journal web site and in print. No changes or modifications can be introduced once it is published. Thus authors are requested to check their proof pages carefully against manuscript within 48 hours of receipt and prepare a separate document containing all changes that should be introduced. Authors are sometimes asked to provide additional comments and explanations in response to remarks and queries from the language or technical editors.

After publication, the corresponding author is notified by email.

If any errors are detected in the published material they should be reported to the Editor. The corresponding authors should send appropriate corrected material to the Editor via e-mail [email protected]  

This material will be considered for publication in the earliest available issue of FSMU.

Authors retain copyright of their work published in Forestry Studies | Metsanduslikud Uurimused.

All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licenselink opens in new page (CC BY 4.0).

Under the terms of this licence, anyone may:

• read, download, copy, distribute, print, and share the published work;
• adapt, remix, transform, and build upon the material;
• use the material for any lawful purpose, including commercial use;

provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s), the source of publication, and a link to the licence is provided.

Upon acceptance of an article, authors grant the Estonian University of Life Scienceslink opens in new page a non-exclusive, irrevocable licence to publish, reproduce, distribute, archive, and make the article publicly available in all forms and media.

Authors warrant that the submitted work is original, does not infringe the rights of third parties, and that any necessary permissions have been obtained.

Further information on the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/link opens in new page

The full terms governing publication are described in the journal's Open Access Licence Agreement.

The licence agreements should be signed and sent by e-mail to the address listed below:
[email protected]

Forestry Studies | Metsanduslikud Uurimused is a fully open access journal. All articles are freely and permanently available online immediately upon publication without subscription fees, access restrictions, or embargoes.

Open Access Licence

All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licenselink opens in new page (CC BY 4.0). This licence permits users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, share, adapt, remix, transform, and build upon the published material for any lawful purpose, including commercial use, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s), source, and licence.

Copyright

Authors retain copyright of their published work. Upon acceptance, authors grant the Estonian University of Life Sciences a non-exclusive licence to publish, distribute, archive, and preserve the article.

Article Processing Charges

The journal does not charge submission fees, article processing charges (APCs), peer-review fees, or publication fees.

Self-Archiving

Authors may deposit submitted, accepted, and published versions of their articles in institutional repositories, subject repositories, personal websites, and research information systems, provided that full citation details and the DOI are included.

Forestry Studies | Metsanduslikud Uurimused is committed to the long-term preservation and accessibility of its published content.

Digital Preservation

The journal's content is preserved through Porticolink opens in new page, a trusted digital preservation service for scholarly journals, books, and collections. Portico ensures long-term access to published content in the event that the journal website or publisher platform becomes unavailable.

Similarity Check and Plagiarism Policy

The journal participates in the Similarity Check System'slink opens in new page service to support the publication of original and trustworthy scholarly content. Similarity screening is used as part of the editorial assessment process to identify possible plagiarism, duplicate publication, or inappropriate text recycling.

Persistent Identification

All published articles receive a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) through Crossref, ensuring permanent identification and reliable citation of scholarly content.

Repository Deposit

Authors may archive their published articles in institutional repositories, disciplinary repositories, personal websites, and research information systems in accordance with the journal's Open Access Policy.

Metadata Preservation

Article metadata are registered with Crossref and indexed in relevant scholarly databases to support long-term discoverability, accessibility, and citation tracking.

Revenue Sources

The journal is supported by the Estonian University of Life Sciences and the Environmental Investment Centre (KIK). The journal does not charge authors or readers. Any additional funding sources will be disclosed transparently.

Advertising Policy

The journal does not publish advertising. Editorial decisions are independent and are not influenced by commercial interests.

Direct Marketing

Any direct marketing activities, including calls for papers, are conducted in an appropriate, targeted, and truthful manner. Information provided to authors is accurate and not misleading.

Forestry Studies | Metsanduslikud Uurimused relies on the expertise of independent reviewers to ensure the scientific quality, originality, methodological soundness, and relevance of manuscripts submitted to the journal. Reviewers play an essential role in supporting fair editorial decisions and maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record.

Role of Reviewers

Reviewers are asked to provide an objective, constructive, and evidence-based assessment of the manuscript. The review should help the Editors reach an informed editorial decision and assist the authors in improving the quality, clarity, and scientific value of their work.

Reviewers should evaluate whether the manuscript:

• falls within the aims and scope of the journal;
• presents original research, valuable confirmation of existing knowledge, or a relevant scholarly contribution;
• is scientifically sound and methodologically appropriate;
• is clearly and concisely written;
• has an adequate and informative title;
• includes a clear and appropriate abstract;
• presents a well-defined research problem or objective;
• uses appropriate materials, methods, study design, and statistical analyses;
• presents results clearly and without unnecessary duplication;
• includes tables and figures that are easy to read and understand;
• draws conclusions that are supported by the data;
• discusses relevant literature adequately;
• complies with ethical and scholarly publishing standards.

Review Criteria

When preparing their review, reviewers should consider the relevance and originality of the manuscript, the scientific quality and methodology, presentation and structure, clarity of results, tables and figures, interpretation of findings, discussion, conclusions, and language quality.

Reviewer Recommendations

Reviewers are asked to provide one of the following recommendations: Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, or Reject. The recommendation should be supported by clear comments. Reviewers should distinguish between essential revisions required for scientific validity and optional suggestions intended to improve presentation or clarity. The final decision regarding publication rests with the Editors.

Reviewer Comments

Reviewers should provide comments that are clear, specific, constructive, and sufficiently detailed to help authors revise the manuscript and to assist the Editors in making a decision. Where appropriate, reviewers should refer to specific sections, pages, paragraphs, tables, figures, or lines in the manuscript. Comments intended for authors should be written in a professional and respectful tone. Confidential comments to the Editors may be provided separately where necessary.

Timelines

Reviewers should accept a review invitation only if they have the necessary expertise and can complete the review within the requested timeframe. If a reviewer is unable to complete the review on time, they should inform the Editors as soon as possible. If a reviewer is unable to review the manuscript, they may suggest alternative qualified reviewers, provided that there is no conflict of interest.

Confidentiality

All manuscripts and related materials received for review are confidential documents. Reviewers must not share, copy, distribute, discuss, or disclose the manuscript or its contents to anyone without prior permission from the Editors. Reviewers must not use unpublished information, data, interpretations, or ideas obtained through peer review for personal, professional, or research advantage. Reviewers should not contact the authors directly regarding the manuscript.

Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers must declare any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest before accepting a review invitation. Reviewers should decline the invitation if a conflict could affect, or be perceived to affect, their impartiality. If a potential conflict becomes apparent after accepting the review, the reviewer should inform the Editors immediately.

Objectivity and Professional Conduct

Reviews should be objective, fair, and based on scholarly assessment of the manuscript. Personal criticism of authors is not acceptable. Reviewers should provide reasoned arguments to support their comments and recommendations. They should avoid unsupported statements, inappropriate language, or comments influenced by personal bias.

Ethical Concerns

Reviewers should inform the Editors if they identify or suspect ethical concerns, including plagiarism or text recycling, duplicate or redundant publication, data fabrication or falsification, inappropriate image manipulation, unethical research practices, missing approvals or permits, undisclosed conflicts of interest, inappropriate authorship or contributorship, or substantial overlap with other published or submitted work. Reviewers should not investigate suspected misconduct independently or contact third parties without editorial approval.

Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of the peer review process when using digital tools. Manuscripts, figures, tables, supplementary materials, unpublished data, or reviewer reports must not be uploaded to artificial intelligence tools, large language models, or third-party platforms unless this is explicitly permitted by the journal and complies with confidentiality, copyright, and data protection requirements. Reviewers remain fully responsible for the content, accuracy, and integrity of their review reports.

Revised Manuscripts

Reviewers may be asked to evaluate a revised manuscript. In such cases, they should assess whether the authors have responded adequately to reviewer and editorial comments and whether the revised manuscript meets the journal’s scientific and editorial standards. Reviewers may indicate whether they are willing to review the manuscript again after revision.

Reviewer Anonymity

Forestry Studies | Metsanduslikud Uurimused uses a double-anonymous peer review process. Authors and reviewers remain anonymous to each other throughout the review process. Reviewers should avoid including identifying information in comments intended for authors. If reviewers annotate manuscript files, they should ensure that file properties, tracked changes, or comments do not reveal their identity.

Reviewer Information

Reviewer names, contact details, affiliations, and review reports are used only for editorial purposes and are treated as confidential. Reviewer identities are not disclosed to authors.

COPE Guidance

Reviewers are expected to follow the ethical principles and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethicslink opens in new page (COPE), including confidentiality, impartiality, timely review, disclosure of conflicts of interest, and responsible handling of ethical concerns.

COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewerslink opens in new page

Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishinglink opens in new page