About W&FS

The Sustainable Natural Materials Journal

Open Access, Published quarterly by

Impact Factor: 1.3 (Q3)

ISSN 0735-6161

Editor: Eric Hansen
Associate Editor:  Arijit Sinha, Oregon State University
Associate Editor:  Ling Li, University of Maine
Associate Editor:  Andreja Kutnar, University of Primorska

 

Aims and Scope

Wood and Fiber Science (W&FS), is an official publication of the Society of Wood Science and Technology (SWST). SWST is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The journal publishes original papers with both professional and technical content of international interest. The research must focus on the science, processing, and manufacture of renewable biomaterials of lignocellulosic origin.

Any manuscript submitted must be unpublished work not being offered for publication elsewhere. Manuscripts will be reviewed in a double anonymous format, judged on the basis of their contribution of original data and ideas or interpretation of, or in the case of reviews, on their relevancy and completeness.

Article Types

 Three types of manuscripts can be submitted to W&FS: Research Contribution, Short Original, and Commentary.

 Research Contribution     ($1800 members / $2000 non-members)

Research contributions are the customary manuscript documenting work important to the field of lignocellulosic science and the technology and processing of lignocellulosic raw materials. The content should report original findings following well-accepted scientific and ethical principles. Generally, Research Contributions are approximately 5000 words long. Other details regarding formatting and style are outlined below.

Short Original     ($1200 members / $1400 non-members)

A Short Original is a concise description of a new research finding, development, procedure, or device. The length should be no more than five pages of the submission template. Short Originals are handled the same as research papers, double-anonymized, peer-review process, etc. Short Originals should be submitted in the same manner as Research Contributions. The Rationale for Short Originals:

• Short Originals provide an early opportunity to report a significant finding, which could take years to complete as a full research study.
• Many researchers do “scoping studies” that never lead into a full project and yet have valuable information for others who might want to pursue follow-up work.
• Short Originals can serve as a useful publication on which to base and support a research proposal.
• Some “original research” manuscripts submitted to W&FS may not meet reviewers’ approval because of a limited number of specimens or variables (the most common criticism), and yet could easily be reduced to a Short Original, provide the author with a productive output, and give the readers possible ideas to pursue.

Commentary

Commentary manuscripts are an opportunity to provide an opinion or perspective on published articles, developments in the field, etc. Commentaries are not peer reviewed. Submission of Commentary manuscripts should be via email, directly to the Editor at Eric.Hansen@oregonstate.edu.

The Publication Process

Submitted manuscripts are evaluated by the Editor for suitability and compliance with author instructions. Manuscripts failing to meet guidelines will be returned to author(s) for additional development. Submissions are through the online manuscript management system at: PKP. The names and email addresses entered in the journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of W&FS and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party. After submission, authors will receive an automated notice from the online system. All revision processes are managed through the same system.

If appropriate, the Editor will initiate a double-anonymized review process.  Reviewers’ recommendations comprise the basis for the Editor’s decision to accept or reject a manuscript, however, the final decision for acceptance lies solely with the Editor. The review process will be conducted in a spirit of collegiality and fairness with an aim towards improving manuscripts.  However, this will be balanced with maintenance of high standards for acceptance.

Editorial Board

Open Access

Manuscripts published in the journal are open access and copyrighted according to the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) which requires attribution to the author, but can be readily shared and adapted. The journal allows the author(s) to retain publishing rights without restrictions.

Open access publishing is not without costs. These costs are defrayed through a one-time article processing fee of $1800 for SWST members and $2000 for non-members. Color photos/graphics have no added cost. This provides for immediate, global access to each article and covers all layout and web hosting costs. Any changes in this value are made by the SWST Board of Directors.

All W&FS articles are archived through the Public Knowledge Project platform (articles).   All of their servers are located in Canada (Vancouver and Toronto). Their main data center is located in Vancouver, BC and their offsite disaster recovery servers are located in Toronto, ON.  They provide onsite, versioned backups for all hosted clients with 4-hour, daily, weekly, and monthly data restore points. The servers are also mirrored offsite in Toronto, ON for emergency disaster recovery.

If due to unforeseen circumstances we are forced to stop publishing W&FS, existing manuscripts will be perpetually kept online and accessible to the readers.

Ethics

Ethics and Malpractice Statement, SWST Journals Wood & Fiber Science and BioProducts Business

The Society of Wood Science and Technology (SWST) is committed to publishing and disseminating high-quality content. We subscribe to transparent, fair, and rigorous ethical standards. Publication ethics are a shared responsibility among the Society, its editors, authors, and reviewers. We expect all stakeholders to follow the ethics and malpractice principles described below. These principles are closely aligned with COPE’s (Committee on Publication Ethics) Core Practices document.

Editor, Editorial Board, and Society Staff Responsibilities

Editors determine if a manuscript will be published. That decision must be made based on the merits of the manuscript without consideration of the author’s race, gender, religious or political beliefs, ethnicity, or citizenship.

Confidentiality – Information about submitted manuscripts will be shared only with the corresponding author, reviewers, editorial board members, or SWST staff/contractors.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest – Editors will recuse themselves from handling submissions in which they have a real or perceived conflict of interest with the authors or entities associated with the manuscript. In the case of a conflict of interest, the manuscript will be handled by another Editor or an Editorial Board member. Editors/Editorial Board members will not use unpublished information without the explicit written consent from the authors.

Allegations of Misconduct, Complaints and/or Appeals – Any allegations of misconduct, complaints and/or appeals should be communicated directly to the Executive Director of SWST. The Executive Director will lead an investigation in cooperation with the Journal Editorial Board to assess the situation and propose proper resolution.

Reviewer Responsibilities – Reviewers assist the Editor in reaching a publishing decision by judging the quality/suitability of a manuscript. They also assist author(s) in improving the quality/suitability of a manuscript.

Qualification – Reviewers should only agree to review manuscripts that they are reasonably qualified to evaluate.

Timeliness – Reviewers should only agree to review if they can do so in a timely manner, as defined by the Editor.

Confidentiality – Reviewers must treat all manuscripts as confidential. Nothing about manuscripts should be shared with others without written approval from the Editor.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest – Reviewers will not accept review of manuscripts in which they have a real or perceived conflict of interest with the authors or entities associated with the manuscript.

Objectivity – Reviewers must maintain objectivity in their manuscript assessments and critiques should be supported by logical arguments, literature, and/or data.

Acknowledgment of sources – Reviewers should identify critical work that is not cited in the manuscript. Reviewers should identify substantial similarity or overlap (plagiarism) between the manuscript under consideration and any other published work.

Author Responsibilities – Authors must accurately report the conducted work and provide an objective discussion of significance. Manuscripts must contain sufficient detail and references to allow replication of the work. It is unethical to provide fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements.

Data access and retention – Authors must ensure accessibility of their data for at least ten years after publication (assuming participant confidentiality or legal rights concerning proprietary data do not preclude this).

Originality, plagiarism, and acknowledgment of sources – Authors must submit only original work that appropriately cites or quotes others.

Research involving human subjects – Authors are responsible for conducting ethical research with respect to work involving human subjects. Authors may be asked to provide documentation from their institutional review board (or equivalent body).

Multiple, redundant, or concurrent publication – Manuscripts describing the same research should not be published more than once. Concurrent submission of a manuscript is unethical and unacceptable. Manuscripts previously published as copyrighted material cannot be submitted. Manuscripts from theses/dissertations may be an exception to the previous statement.

Acknowledgment of sources – Careful and appropriate acknowledgment must be given for others’ work. Authors should cite sources that were influential in creation of the reported work.

Authorship of the paper – Only individuals who have made a significant intellectual contribution to the work should be listed as authors. Conversely, all individuals making significant contributions must be listed as authors. Other individuals can be acknowledged as contributors. The corresponding author must assure that co-authors have approved the final version of the paper and agreed to its submission.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest – Authors must disclose conflict of interest that might be perceived to influence their results or interpretation. All sources of financial support must be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published articles – In the event that an author discovers a significant error in their published work, they must immediately notify the Editor and cooperate to formulate a retraction/correction. If the Editor learns that a published article contains an alleged significant error, the author must cooperate with the Editor to formulate a retraction/correction or provide the Editor with evidence that there is no significant error.

Use of Artificial Intelligence – any use of artificial intelligence by authors in preparing their manuscript must be acknowledged. Authors using English as a second language are encouraged to employ AI applications for copy editing.

Enquiries: Executive Director – execdir@swst.org

Retraction Guidelines

Wood & Fiber Science follows Retraction Guidelines from the Committee on Publication Ethics. Examples of reasons for retraction include clear evidence of unreliable findings, plagiarism, unethical research, and previous publication. Notices of retraction will be linked directly to the article in question indicating, among other things, who is retracting the article and for what reason.

Contact Information

Eric Hansen, Editor
Wood & Fiber Science
Eric.hansen@oregonstate.edu

Executive Director
Society of Wood Science and Technology
P.O. Box 6155
Monona, WI 53716-6155
execdir@swst.org

 

Submission Essentials

Style Guide

• Download the submission template here. The template includes the following: Title, Abstract, Keywords, Body Text (including tables and figures within the text), and References. The file should not include author names, acknowledgements, or anything that identifies the authors.
• A Graphical Abstract is optional with your submission
• Make sure to Anonymize your file via these directions
• Length of text should be limited to approximately 5000 words
• Page Numbers: Required
• Line Spacing: Single-spaced
• Line numbers: Required
• Font: Times New Roman, 12 pt
• Justification: Left only
• Paragraph Indentation: None
• Length: A suggested limit for the text is 5000-word
• Units: SI units shall be used; see complete reference in IEEE/ASTM SI-10, and an abbreviated reference in the “Related Material” section of ASTM standard volumes (see SI Units).
• Style: Webster’s Third New International Dictionary and The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, are useful guides for matters of form, style, and spelling.
• Equations: All equations not within the text must be numbered
• Citations: Make all references in text by author and year of For three or more authors, cite the first only and use et al.
• Symbols and Abbreviations: Proper symbols: % (not percent); s (not sec); h (not hour or hr) (see Symbols and Abbreviations)
• Numbers: Use proper numbers of significant digits, especially for conversions
• Make all references in text by author and year of publication. For three or more authors, cite the first only and use et al. List all references alphabetically by first author.
• The following are examples of how to format references for the literature cited

­Article	Brandt JP, Shook SR (2005) Attribute elicitation: implications in the research context. Wood Fiber Sci 37(1):127-146. Keyworth R (1958) The mechanics of multi-layer particleboards. Holz Roh Werkst 42(8):419-430. In German with summary in English.
Book	Sinclair S (1992) Forest products marketing. McGraw-Hill, New York. 403 pp.
Chapter	Leatham GF, Myers GC, Wegner TH, Blanchette RA (1990) Energy savings in biomechanical pulping. Pages 17-25 in TK Kirk and H-M Chang, eds. Biotechnology in pulp and paper manufacturers, applications, and fundamental investigations. Butterworths-Heinemann, Boston.
Web	Sassus F, Fournier M, Thibaut B (1995) Longitudinal growth strains and drying shrinkage in tension wood of poplars (Populus euroamericana cv 1214) IUFRO XX World Congress, Tampere, Finland. http://www.metla.fi/conf/ iufro95abs/d5pos13.htm. (8 June 1998). [date is when you accessed the file on the Web]
Proceedings	Vick CB (1996) Hydroxymethylated resorcinol coupling agent for enhanced adhesion to wood. Pages 47-55 in AW Christiansen and AH Conner, eds Proc Wood Adhesives, 29-30 June 1995, Portland, OR. Forest Prod Soc, Madison WI.
Thesis	Zhang J (1995) Rational design of dowel joints in case construction. MS thesis, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. 121 pp.
Patent	Kayihan F (1990) Method of perfusing a porous workpiece with a chemical composition using cosolvents. US Patent 5,094,892.
Multiple Publications by the same author	The references below are cited in the text as Schimleck et al; those with the same year must be identified with a, b, c, etc. Schimleck LR, Evans R, Ilic J (2001a) Application of near infrared spectroscopy to a diverse range of species demonstrating wide density and stiffness variation. IAWA J 22(4):415–429. Schimleck LR, Evans R, Ilic J (2001b) Estimation of Eucalyptus delegatensis wood properties by near infrared spectroscopy. Can J For Res 31(10):1671–1675.

• References should be abbreviated. Use the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) list of journal abbreviations: http://www.efm.leeds.ac.uk/~mark/ISIabbr/

 

Wood Fiber Sci	Forest Abstr	J Polym Sci	J Mater Sci
Wood Sci Technol	Pulp Pap Sci	Wood Sci	Sven Papperstidn
Forest Prod J	NZ For Sci	Agric Hdbk	Can Wood Preserv Assoc
Forest Genet	Silvae Genet	Aust J Bot	Proc Royal Soc London
Holz Roh-Werkst	Mater Org	J Testing Eval	USDA Gen Tech Rep

• Principles for Symbols and Abbreviations
  • Don’t confuse abbreviations with unit symbols, for example “sec” vs “s”
  • Time units: use “s” as the symbol for seconds, not sec (which is an abbreviation); h instead of hours or hr, da instead of day or days, wk instead of weeks, mo instead of months, yr instead of years
  • Symbols are not pluralized (kg, not kgs); kg is lower case
  • There are no periods after symbols (except at the end of a sentence)
  • The use of “M” for 1000 is obsolete; M is mega- (1 000 000); k is 1000 (and not capitalized) Avoid multiple prefixes: pF, not µµF; nm, not mµm
  • For multiple symbols, use the “dot” connector between all symbols: N·m, not Nm, N-m, or m, and W∙m^-2∙K^-1 or W/(m∙K)
  • There should always be a space between the number and the unit symbol (10 mm, not 10mm) Close spaces for % and °C: 25% and 25°C
  • Abbreviate Figure or Figures as Fig or Figs, except at the start of a sentence Leave out periods for Fig, eg, ie, et al, etc
  • Leave out symbols for ranges: 10 – 20%; 10 – 20°C

Upload Your Manuscript

1. Proceed to Wood and Fiber Science at wfs.swst.org
2. If you are new to W&FS, click the Register button on the top and register. If already registered, log in directly
3. Click on New Submission.
4. Under Start, you must scroll through the Checklist and check to see if all requirements have been met. At the bottom, there is a Save and Continue button, click on that button for continuing the submission process.
5. The system will now take you to step 2 where you upload the Manuscript
6. The system will take you to step 3 where you enter the metadata. The metadata contains the title, authors, abstract and keywords, and indexing information. There is also a place for adding agencies that have provided support. Finally, there is a place to list the references.
7. The final step is a confirmation by clicking save; the manuscript will be uploaded into the PKP system.

At any time during the process, if you have questions or concerns, please contact Executive Director at execdir@swst.org.

Read Published Wood and Fiber Science Articles

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