Operations, Machinery, and Transportation in Forestry Timber Harvesting

Dear Colleagues,

Forests represent a significant reality in environmental, social and cultural terms, and their multifunctional potential is notable. In recent years, the availability of woody biomass has favoured the spread of technological innovation in timber harvesting operations with the application of work systems even at a high level of mechanization. However, forestry mechanization oscillates between tradition and innovation and the reasons for this are manifold. Consequently, technology in the forestry sector is slow to spread, due primarily to a lack of planning of interventions and poor exchange of information among forestry workers. Furthermore, commitments to sustainable development have resulted in a greater awareness of the need to reduce excessive industrialization by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources. In this context, this special issue aims to welcome contributions related to operations, machinery, and transportation in forestry timber harvesting in the form of review papers and research contributions.

In particular, contributions covering the following subtopics, among others, are welcome:

• Innovative forest harvesting systems, technology, and techniques;
• Operator safety and ergonomics;
• Analysis and evaluation of environmental impacts caused by machinery in forestry operations;
• Wood supply chains;
• Timber harvesting efficiency;
• Precision forestry;
• Sustainability in forest operations;
• Productivity study;
• Advanced technologies in forest and biomass

Dr. Maria Francesca Cataldo
Prof. Dr. Stelian Alexandru Borz
Dr. Ebru Bilici
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.