Announcements

We welcome the following recognized researchers, who recently joined the Editorial Board of Forests:

We wish them every success in developing the journal.

Further details concerning the Editorial Board can be found at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests/editors

In order to better categorize the papers published in the journal, the section “Genetics and Molecular Biology” has recently been established. We are now recruiting Editorial Board members for this new section (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests/sections/genetics_molecular_biology).

If you are an active researcher in the field and are passionate about participating in cutting-edge research publications, please do not hesitate to contact us about joining the Editorial Board. As an Editorial Board member, you will have the following responsibilities:

• Make decisions on whether a manuscript can be accepted or not based on the reports we collect;
• Serving as the Editor of a Special Issue on a topic related to your research interests when it is convenient for you;
• Reviewing a number of manuscripts in your area of interest when you are available;
• Recommending topics or appropriate conferences;
• Promoting Forests and increasing its visibility at related academic conferences.

Editorial Board Members are entitled to publish one paper free of charge in Forests each year and apply for additional discounts for papers invited by you.

Further information about the Editorial Board may be found at https://www.mdpi.com/editors.

If you are interested in becoming an Editorial Board Member for Forests, please send us your full academic CV and a short cover letter that details your interest and enthusiasm for the position.

Forests Editorial Office

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Carol A. Loopstra has been appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of the new Section “Genetics and Molecular Biology” in Forests.

Dr. Carol A. Loopstra is an Associate Professor at the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology at Texas A&M University, College Station. She works on the genomics of loblolly pine. Her most recent publications have dealt with SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) discovery and association genetics in loblolly pine. Her current work focuses on identification of markers that could be used by breeding programs to increase drought tolerance, water-use efficiency, and yield of loblolly pine in the southeastern United States. Gene expression and regulation has been her long-term interest as well. Dr. Loopstra teaches “Forest Trees of North America” and “Forest Tree Improvement and Regeneration” in the undergraduate Forestry program, where she also serves as the Forestry Program leader.

We warmly welcome Dr. Loopstra as the Editor-in-Chief of the section “Genetics and Molecular Biology”, and we look forward to Forests achieving many milestones under her leadership.

For further information on the journal section, please click: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests/sections/genetics_molecular_biology

MDPI is proud to adopt the principles of the Coalition for Diversity & Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC) to support building equity, inclusion, diversity, and accessibility in scholarly communications.

The C4DISC represents organizations and individuals working in scholarly communications and is focused on addressing issues of diversity and inclusion within the publishing industry.

MDPI’s Managing Editors encourage the Editors-in-Chief and Associate Editors to appoint diverse expert Editorial Boards. This is also reflective in our multi-national and inclusive workplace. We are proud to create equal opportunities without regard to gender, ethnicity, geographic location, sexual orientation, age, disability, political beliefs, religion, or socio-economic status. There is no place for discrimination in our workplace and editors of MDPI journals are to uphold these principles in high regard.

Representatives from C4DISC meet monthly, and have started to implement initiatives to shed light and improve on the lack of diversity in scholarly communications. Some of the initiatives include developing a joint statement of principles; conducting market research; providing training resources, best practices, toolkits, and documentation for our collective memberships; and establishing outreach programs, curricula, events, and publications.

The Coalition is committed to:

• eliminating barriers to participation, extending equitable opportunities across all stakeholders, and ensuring that our practices and policies promote equitable treatment and do not allow, condone, or result in discrimination;
• creating and maintaining an environment that respects diverse traditions, heritages, and experiences;
• promoting diversity in all staff, volunteers, and audiences, including full participation in programs, policy formulation, and decision-making;
• raising awareness about career opportunities in our industries to groups who are currently underrepresented in the workforce;
• supporting our members in achieving diversity and inclusion within their organizations.

At MDPI we have slightly revised the layout for articles to be published in the 2021 Volume, starting at the end of December 2020. As of today, the article templates available for download on ‘Instructions for Authors’ pages have been updated.

The most noticeable change can be found on the first page of the article, where a left-hand column has been created to include the following front matter elements: (i) the recommended citation style for the article, (ii) the publishing history, (iii) as well as the Creative Commons Attribution license used (iv) a standard note regarding affiliations. At the same time, the extra spacing on the left means the authors’ affiliations are now more clearly set apart than before. Other front matter key elements such as journal logo, article type, article title, authors, abstract and keywords remain unchanged.

The blank column on the left runs through all pages in an article; as a result, the main text is slightly more condensed, which improve reader friendliness for smaller screens. Small figures/tables are aligned on the left with standard indenture, while large figures/tables are centered and covering the full width of the page. The revised layout was applied in the article pictured below, to serve as an example:

1) Information is displayed in the left information bar.

2) In the main text, there is a blank column on the left.

3) Small tables/figures are aligned on the left, large tables/figures are centered.

We are pleased to acknowledge that many academic editors who have made an impact on MDPI journals as editorial board members, editors-in-chief, or section editors, are recognized as 2020 Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate.

Highly Cited Researchers highlights the top 1% of researchers, by citations, in one or more of the 22 fields used in Clarivate Analytics Essential Science Indicators. We offer our congratulations to 279 academic editors of MDPI journals who were recognized as the most influential scholars in their fields in 2020.

The full list of 2020 Highly Cited Researchers  can be accessed on https://recognition.webofsciencegroup.com/awards/highly-cited/2020/

--- Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) is a Clarivate product.

Forests is inviting nominations for the 2020 Young Investigator Awards. This prize will be given to two young investigators in recognition of their excellence in the field of forestry and forest ecology research. All nominations will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee led by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Timothy A. Martin.

Eligibility and Requirements:

− Should be below 40 years of age or have received their Ph.D. no more than 10 years prior to 31 December 2020;

− Should have produced groundbreaking research and made a significant contribution to the advancement of their research field;

− Should be nominated by their supervisor(s), research director, or department head.

List of Documents for Nomination:

− Detailed curriculum vitae, including an updated publication list and a list of the researcher’s own research grants;

− Birth certificate or other proof of age;

− Scanned copy of doctorate certificate;

− Signed nomination letters from two established senior scientists.

Prize for Winners:

− An engraved plaque;

− 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs);

− Option to publish two papers, after peer review, in Forests with a 50% discount on the article processing charge.

Nomination deadline:

15 December 2020.

How to apply?

The nominations must be submitted online here.

Please apply online before 15 December 2020. The winners will be informed via email and announced on the Forests web page by March 2021.

Kind regards,
Forests Editorial Office

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Olga Viedma was appointed Section Editor-in-Chief for the Section “Forest Inventory, Modeling and Remote Sensing”.

Dr. Olga Viedma is an assistant professor of Environmental and Land Planning at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). Her main interest is focused on ecological responses to wildfires in a context of climate change and other changes such as land use-land cover or the socio-economy of fire-affected areas. She works on new methodologies for mapping fires from satellite images, analysis of spatiotemporal patterns of forest fires, post-fire effects by satellite and LiDAR; and spatio-temporal modeling of historical land use-land cover changes related to fire hazard. She has carried out digital mapping of land use changes since the 1950s, and forest fires from the 1970s to the present, from satellite images and historical cartography. She also has modeled the different roles played by physiographic, climatic, and socio-economic conditions in the abandonment of agricultural activities over time. On the other hand, through selectivity analysis and randomization processes, she has determined the different preferences of fires towards land use and changes (abandonment, reforestation, densification, etc). She has also analyzed the effect of changes in land uses, climate, physiography, and socio-economics on the occurrence of fires from the 1970s to the present using temporarily explicit models (analysis of longitudinal data) and satellite data. Another important line of research is based on estimating the severity of fire and biomass consumed using field data, satellite image, and LiDAR data; as well as identifying the factors that control fire severity.

We are confident that the strong academic background and connections of Dr. Viedma will help to continue raising Forests' prestige and quality, while maintaining the efficiency of manuscript processing that Forests authors have come to expect.

We would like to inform you that Forests is updating two of its section names: “Forest Economics and Human Dimensions” will change to “Forest Economics, Policy, and Social Science” and “Forest Inventory, Quantitative Methods, and Remote Sensing” will become “Forest Inventory, Modeling, and Remote Sensing”.

With this change, Forests aspires to provide a medium for research throughout the world on forest economics and related disciplines, and especially encourages work within a broad interdisciplinary framework with explicit management or policy recommendations.

Forests also aspires to become a respected venue for the peer-reviewed, rapid, and affordable publication of papers related to various technologies and their applications in forest modeling, mensuration, and inventory areas.

We invite you to visit thes two updated website to discover the latest topics and articles!

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests/sections/Forest_Economics_Policy_Social_Science

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests/sections/forest_inventory_modeling_remote_sensing

We are delighted to announce the establishment of our Open Access agreement with Jisc Collections, which will allow UK institutions to benefit from access to article processing charge (APC) discounts and streamlined payment workflows.

All institutions participating in the agreement will also gain access to the MDPI online submission system where they can find full article metadata and pricing information for easy identification and additional transparency.

Eligible authors affiliated with the participating institutions are prompted to choose the corresponding Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP) when they submit an article via our online submission system.

About Jisc

Jisc's vision is for the UK to be the most digitally advanced education and research nation in the world. At its heart is the super-fast national research and education network, Janet, with built-in cyber security protection.  Jisc also provides technology solutions for its members (colleges, universities and research centres) and customers (public sector bodies), helps members save time and money by negotiating sector-wide deals and provides advice and practical assistance on digital technology. Jisc is funded by the UK higher and further education and research funding bodies and member institutions.

For more information, contact helen.dobson@jisc.ac.uk.

About MDPI

MDPI is a publisher of fully peer-reviewed, Open Access journals with a focus on thorough and rapid editorial processing. Its aim is to ensure that high-quality research is verified and made available to the research community as quickly as possible. MDPI stands at the forefront of the Open Access movement, having launched its first online journal Molecules in 1996. Today, MDPI is a leader in Open Access publishing with over 250 journals across all research disciplines, and all content published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).

For any questions about this agreement, please contact the MDPI IOAP team at ioap@mdpi.com.