Acta Forestalia Fennica instructions to authors


Updated 9 Feb 98

[ Acta Forestalia Fennica ]

Contents

General
Submission of Manuscripts
Form of Manuscript
Lay-out
Headings
Italics
Equations
Citing References in the Text
References to Figures and Tables
Notes
Tables
Figures
Title and Abstract
List of References
Scientific Names
 
Procedure after Acceptance
Correcting the Proofs
Offprints

General

Acta Forestalia Fennica publishes monographs in forest science. These may be original research articles or comprehensive reviews aiming at a synthesis of knowledge in a particular topic. The series covers all aspects of forest science, both basic and applied subjects. Manuscripts are subject to peer review. Authors are anonymous to reviewers of manuscripts.
 
Acta Forestalia Fennica is published in English. The minimum length of the papers is 32 printed pages, and the maximum 80 printed pages.
 
The series carries a page charge of FIM 200 per printed page. Contents

Submission of Manuscripts

Submission of a manuscript to Acta Forestalia Fennica is taken to imply that the manuscript has not been published nor is being considered for publication elsewhere.

Research Articles, Review Articles and Research Notes

Please submit the manuscript to the editorial office in three copies complete with text, tables, figures and figure captions. Provide good quality prints of such photographs that need to be critically examined during the review process. In the cover letter, give full name(s) of the author(s), title of the manuscript, postal address, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the corresponding author, and state the intended category of your manuscript. Do not identify the author(s) in the manuscript itself nor on the figures. You may suggest reviewers.
 
You may also submit the manuscript in PDF format via e-mail to silva.fennica@metla.fi.
 
Manuscripts are usually sent to two or three reviewers. Once you have received the reviewers' comments, you should send the revised manuscript to the editor in two weeks. The editor-in-chief will inform you about his/her decision. Following acceptance, no major changes may be made to the manuscript without the permission of the editor. Contents

Discussion Papers

Decision on discussion papers is made by the editor. Submit the text on a 3.5" PC or Mac diskette together with a printout, accompanied by original figures. In the cover letter, state the intended category of your manuscript. Contents

Form of Manuscript

Lay-out

Print the manuscript on A4-sized paper, leaving enough margin for referee comments. Leave enough space between lines (maximum 40 lines per page). Pages should be numbered consecutively, starting with the title page.
 
Paragraphs are separated by blank lines. Headings are preceded by two blank lines and followed by one blank line.
 
Equations are separated from the body text by a blank line.
 
Information presented in tabular form in the text itself should be of single column width (68 mm on the printed page) and no more than 10 printed lines in height. Anything larger than this should be presented in the form of a table with an appropriate title. Contents

Headings

If possible, use no more than three levels of headings. Words in the headings should have an initial capital. Headings are numbered as follows: 1, 1.1, 1.1.1 etc. "Acknowledgements" and "References" are not numbered. Contents

Italics

Use italics for scientific names of species, but not for expressions or abbreviations such as in vitro, a priori, et al., e.g. Contents

Equations

Equations will be printed over a single column width. Equations are numbered consecutively in parenthesis on the right margin of the page. Symbols used should be explained in the List of Symbols. Preferable software formats are MathType and MsWord's Equation Editor. Contents

Citing References in the Text

For references in the text, the name-year system is used:
 
"Allen (1984) has shown..." or "It has been shown (Allen 1984)..."
Allen and Jones (1980)
Allen et al. (1986)
(Allen 1978, Smith 1981, Jones 1984)*
(Handbook of forest... 1981)**
 
* When reference is made to several publications, arrange them in chronological order.
** Where a publication has no known author or editor, the first 2­3 words of the title are quoted (followed by three dots), together with the year of publication. The term "Anonymous" must not be used. Contents

References to Figures and Tables

References to all figures and tables should be made in the text. References are written with an initial capital letter: Fig. 3, Figs. 3-5, Table 2. Contents

Notes

If it is necessary to use notes, endnotes are preferable. Footnotes should be avoided in the body text but can be used in tables. Contents

Tables

Tables are numbered consecutively through the paper. Vertical dividers are not allowed. When typing tables, use the tabulator key to separate the columns. Never separate columns by multiple spaces. Also, if you prepare tables using a table editor, never enter a paragraph break within a table cell. Contents

Figures
 
Figures are numbered consecutively through the paper. Refer to them in the text as "Fig. 1" etc. Captions to figures are printed on a separate sheet. Captions should be self-explanatory and independent. When preparing figures, bear in mind the effect of reduction on text size and line weight. Characters should have a height of 1.5­2 mm when printed. Aim at clarity and simplicity, avoid unnecessary effects, like 3-D and shadows. Use solid black or white or coarse line fills for columns. Do not use grey (rasterised) fills. All lines should be in solid black. Do not use line weights below 0.5 point or, where heavy reduction is necessary, below 1.0 point.
 
Black-and-white photographs should be submitted as prints, colour photographs as slides. The costs of colour figures are normally paid by the author.
 
If the copyright to a figure is held by someone other than the author, the copyright holder's name should be published with the figure. In matters of copyright, strict adherence to the law must be observed. Contents
 
Title and Abstract
 
A good title is one that is brief and informative. Empty words and constructions like "A study of...", "Observations on..." and the like conveying very little to the reader are not used.
 
An abstract is a concise, independent résumé of the paper. Its purpose is to assist the reader in deciding whether it is worth reading the entire paper, to provide sufficient information for a reader who is not an expert on the topic involved, and to assist the communication of information. Its length should be no more than 250 words in one paragraph. References to literature are not allowed.
 
The abstract is followed by 3­7 keywords. Contents
 
List of References
 
Reference should be made only to published, available material. Reference should not be made to second-hand sources. Personal communications are not included in the list of references.
For the order, structure and form of the references, consult the examples below. In addition, note the following:
­ When the same author has more than one publication, the author's name is replaced by a dash. Only the first author's name is thus replaced.
­ If a publication has no obvious author or editor, the publication is listed in alphabetical order of its own title.
­ The standard number, ISBN in books, or STRN in reports, should be given for sources of low circulation at the end of the reference.
­ No italics are used in the reference list.
 
Order of references
Smith, C. 1996. Aspen. Timber 77(4): 369­384.
­ 1997. Silver birch. Timber 78(1): 17­23.
­ & Allen, A. 1997. Scots pine. Forest Management 15(1): 5­9.
­ & Harris, B. 1995. Scots pine. Forest Management 13(2): 105­119.
­ , Harris, B. & Allen, A. 1990. Sawn goods. Timber 71(2): 131­140.
­ , Allen, A. & Harris, B. 1995. Sawn goods revisited. Timber 76(3): 231­240.
 
Article in a journal
Deleuze, C. & Houllier, F. 1997. A transport model for tree ring width. Silva Fennica 31(3): 239­250.
 
Article in a book
Wilcove, D.S., McLellan, C.H. & Dobson, A.P. 1986. Habitat fragmentation in the temperate zone. In: Soulé, M.E. (ed.). Conservation biology: the science of scarcity and diversity. Sinauer, Sunderland, Massachusetts. p. 237-256.
 
Monograph
Ilvessalo-Pfäffli, M-S. 1995. Fiber atlas: identification of papermaking fibers. Springer Series in Wood Sciences. Springer-Verlag, Berlin­Heidelberg­New York. 400 p. Contents
 
Scientific Names
 
Scientific names should be according to authoritative contemporary sources. Scientific names should be in italics, except in the list of references. Authors of scientific names should be given only the first time a name appears but not in the manuscript title. Contents

Procedure after Acceptance

Send the final manuscript and original figures to the editorial office within one week from acceptance.
 
Text and tables are best submitted as MsWord or WordPerfect files on a 3.5" diskette or 100Mb zip disk. Provide graphs in EPS or TIFF formats plus in the original software format. The cover letter or the diskette label should give the names and versions of the software used. The diskette must be accompanied by printouts of text and tables, and good quality prints of graphs. On the text printout, indicate the desired positions of the figures and tables. If the text contains any special characters that may be lost in software conversion (Greek letters, mathematical symbols, dots, squares, etc.), mark them clearly on the printout.
 
Photographs, but not other illustrations, will be returned after the printing process is completed. Contents

Correcting the Proofs

The corresponding author will receive a pageproof for approval. Extensive alterations to the original text may not normally be made. Corrected proofs should be returned to the editors within one week from receipt. Contents

Offprints

Authors will usually receive 50 copies of the paper. They may request extra copies from the publishers at a cost based on the number of printed pages. Such extra copies must be ordered at the latest when the page proofs are sent in by the author. Contents
 


[ Acta Forestalia Fennica ]

METLA Editorial Office - TSal - 9 Feb 98