CERNE

Brief Background

CERNE is a journal edited by the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA) which publishes original articles and reviews that represent relevant contributions to Forest Science development (Forest Ecology, Forest Management, Silviculture, and Technology of Forest Products). Since its start in 1994, the journal has promoted forest science globally by disseminating researchers' and scientists' findings and knowledge from all regions worldwide. Its abbreviated title is CERNE, which should be used in bibliographies, footnotes, and bibliographical references and strips. The manuscripts are submitted electronically by Cerne's online submission system.

 Open Science Compliance

CERNE follows a series of open science practices. The journal is published under the Open Access model and therefore, articles are free for anyone to read, download, copy, and disseminate for educational purposes. CERNE accepts manuscripts deposited on known preprint servers for evaluation. The Journal requires citation, referencing, and declaration of research data; and promotes peer review. The journal also requires an indication of the role of each of the authors in articles with multiple authorships. Upon previous acceptance by the reviewer and author(s), the content of the reviewer's suggestions might be open for access. All articles are assigned to a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and all authors must be registered with an Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID) number. Finally, the names of the editors responsible will be published in each article.

Ethics in Publication

The journal complies with the SciELO Guidelines Practices for Strengthening Ethics in Scientific Publication as well as the ethical principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The manuscript that involves experimentation with living animals, genetically modified organisms, human beings, or LGPD-sensitive data must provide evidence that it was performed under local ethical guidelines. This evidence must be officially stated in the Material and Methods section, describing that the study was evaluated and approved by an appropriate ethical committee.

Focus and Scope

Articles published in CERNE cover research areas of Forest Ecology, Forest Management, Silviculture, and Technology of Forest Products.

Submission of a manuscript to the journal requires that it has neither been published nor is under consideration for publication elsewhere. Concepts and affirmations included in articles are the entire responsibility of the author(s).

The journal is published online in a continuous flow mode. Original research articles and reviews (by invitation only) are the main publication formats.

Digital Preservation

The journal follows the Digital Preservation Policy of the SciELO Program .

Indexing Sources

• AGRIS - International Information System for the Agricultural Sciences and Technology
• AGROBASE - Base de Dados da Agricultura Brasileira
• CAB Abstracts - Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau
• CIRS - International Center for Scientific Research
• DOAJ - Directory of Open Access Journals
• EZB - Eletronic Journals Library
• LATINDEX - Sistema Regional de Información en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina, el Caribe, España y Portugal
• OpenAlex
• PERIÓDICA - Índice de Revistas Latinoamericanas en Ciencias
• REDALYC - Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina y El Caribe, Espanã y Portugal
• SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online
• SCOPUS - Elsevier
• SUMÁRIOS.ORG - Sumários de Revistas Brasileiras
• WEB OF SCIENCE - Thomson Reuters

Bibliographic Journal Information

Title: CERNE

Abbreviated title: CERNE

Publisher: Editora UFLA

eISSN: 2317-6342; ISSN: 0104-7760

Periodicity: Annual

Publication model: Continuous publication

Year of journal start: 1994

Websites and Social Media

https://cerne.ufla.br/site/index.php/CERNE

https://www.scielo.br/j/cerne/

EDITORIAL POLICY

Received manuscripts are forwarded to the editorial board to be initially evaluated in terms of comparative relevance to other manuscripts of the same research area that were submitted for publication. If considered relevant, the manuscript is submitted for peer review. If considered as not relevant, the manuscript is rejected without further review.

Preprints

In accordance with the purposes of Open Science, the CERNE allows the corresponding author, when submitting the article or later, to submit the manuscript, preferably to the SciELO Preprints server. The identification of whether the article submission is a preprint will be given by the authors at the time of submitting the article, attaching to the Journal's submission platform the form on compliance with Open Science provided by the link below.

Form on compliance with Open Science

Peer Review Process

The review process of manuscripts submitted to CERNE follows two critical stages, each designed to ensure that only the highest quality research is published. Here's an overview of how it works and the underlying rationale behind each step.

1. Preliminary Evaluation by the Editor-in-Chief

The first step begins with an initial assessment conducted by the Editor-in-Chief. This phase ensures that the manuscript aligns with the journal's standards and objectives. The Editor-in-Chief carefully examines several elements:

• Relevance to the Journal's Aims and Scope: This ensures that the manuscript addresses topics pertinent to the journal's specific focus areas.
• Technical Grammatical and Formal Norms: The manuscript is checked for basic language and formatting issues, ensuring it adheres to the journal’s submission guidelines.
• Content, Coherence, and Methodological Consistency: The Editor-in-Chief reviews the manuscript to verify that it contains well-structured content, flows logically, and is grounded in sound theory and methodology.

If the manuscript passes this initial screening and is deemed valuable by the editorial board, it moves to the second stage for a more in-depth evaluation.

2. Blind Peer Review by Scientific Experts

Once the preliminary evaluation is complete, the manuscript is passed to the Field Area Editors. If the article does not meet the criteria for originality and relevance, the scientific editor has the authority to reject the manuscript. If the article has merit, the scientific editor, an expert in the field, assigns two or three independent reviewers. These experts in the relevant field conduct a blind peer review, meaning they review the manuscript without knowing the identity of the authors.

The reviewers assess the manuscript based on several important factors:

• Subject Matter Appropriateness: The reviewers verify whether the topic fits within the journal's focus, ensuring the content is relevant to its audience.
• Novelty of the Information: They examine whether the research brings something new to the table, contributing original knowledge to the field.
• Presentation Quality: Reviewers evaluate whether the manuscript is clearly written, concise, and precise, paying attention to how well the ideas are communicated.

In terms of scientific quality, the reviewers focus on the following aspects:

• Topicality: Is the research relevant to current developments in the field?
• Originality: Does the manuscript provide innovative ideas or approaches?
• Theoretical Rigor: Is the work grounded in solid theory and methodology that contributes to knowledge development in the area?
• Writing and Organization: Reviewers evaluate how well-structured and coherent the manuscript is, ensuring it's easy to follow.
• Methodology and Data Analysis: If applicable, they assess whether the research methods are appropriate and whether the analysis is sound.
• Conclusions: Finally, the reviewers check if the conclusions are logical, well-supported by the data, and coherent with the rest of the manuscript.

After peer review, the manuscript might be returned to the corresponding author with requests for revision (by e-mail). These revisions are essential to address any gaps, improve clarity, or refine the analysis. The author must submit the corrections within a specified deadline; otherwise, the publication process will be canceled.

Additionally, if required, authors may need to have their manuscripts reviewed by a professional English editor to ensure readability and polish before final acceptance.

By ensuring rigorous evaluation in each stage, the CERNE review process maintains the integrity and scientific quality of the articles it publishes.

Open Data

The CERNE encourages the sharing of analysis datasets, instruments, statistical analysis scripts, roadmaps, and additional materials, made available at Open online repositories, such as Guia TOP (Guide to promoting the opening, transparency, and reproducibility of research published by SciELO Journals), if they cannot be published in the manuscript itself, and this information must be indicated in the manuscript. Reproducibility of research can be improved by increasing transparency of the research process and products. Also, in this context, research data may be made available by author(s) upon request.

Fees

CERNE does not charge fees for submission, publication, or manuscript evaluation.

Ethics and Misconduct, Correction and Retraction Policy

The CERNE is committed to defending the integrity of the literature and publishes Errata, Expressions of Concerns, or Notices of Retraction depending on the situation and the COPE Guidelines for Retraction.

The retraction mechanism follows the Publication Ethics Committee (COPE) Retraction Guidelines, which can be accessed at COPE - Retraction Guidelines. Please see the following guidelines:

• Guidelines on Best Practices for Strengthening Ethics in Scientific Publication
• Guide to recording, marking and publishing Correction (Portuguese Only)
• Guide for registering, marking and publishing a retraction (Portuguese Only)

Policy on Conflict of Interest

If, for any reason, a conflict of interest is observed, the author(s) must inform the journal in a specific statement. Conflict of interest may occur when authors, reviewers, or editors show interests that may affect the preparation and evaluation of the manuscript.

Adoption of Similarity Software

 Ideas or writing from someone else must be properly cited. The journal might use similarity software to detect article plagiarism (Copyspider, https://copyspider.com.br/main/), at the time of manuscript submission. If detected, the submitted manuscript is automatically rejected without further review.

Adoption of Software Using Artificial Intelligence Resources

The use of tools and resources that assist authors in preparing their manuscripts is recommended, if attribution standards are respected, and ethics and scientific integrity are maintained. Authors have the right and freedom to utilize tools and resources that aid in the preparation, writing, reviewing, and translation of their articles, book chapters, or books. Many of these tools and resources are provided by AI applications. However, only humans can be considered authors, as outlined in the following standards and practices:

• Disclose the sources of materials used in the research and writing of the article. Any use of or content generated by an AI application must be reported in both the abstract and methods section or the equivalent.
• Ensure that all cited material is properly attributed, including complete citations, and that the cited sources support AI-generated claims, as AI applications sometimes generate references to non-existent works.
• Take public responsibility for your work.
• Concealing the use of AI-generated content is an ethical violation that breaches the principles of transparency and honesty in research.

Gender and Sex Issues

The journal encourages gender equity in publication authorship. If needed, gender equity may also be taken into consideration for technical staff and associate editor selections.

Ethics Committee

The journal complies with the SciELO Guidelines Practices for Strengthening Ethics in Scientific Publication as well as the ethical principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The manuscript that involves experimentation with living animals, human beings, or LGPD-sensitive data must provide evidence that it was performed under local ethical guidelines. This evidence must be officially stated in the Material and Methods section, describing that the study was evaluated and approved by an appropriate ethical committee.

 Copyright

Authors who publish in this Journal agree to the following terms: Authors retain copyright and grant the Journal the right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY), allowing the work to be shared with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this Journal.

Intellectual Property and Terms of Use

Responsibility of the site:

• The publication reserves the right to make normative, orthographic, and grammatical changes to the originals to maintain the cultured standard of the language while respecting the authors' style.
• The originals will not be returned to the authors.

Author's responsibility:

• The authors retain full rights to their work published in CERNE and its total or partial reprinting, deposit or republication is subject to the indication of first publication in the Journal, through the CC-BY license.
• The original source of publication must be acknowledged.
• The opinions and concepts expressed by the authors of the manuscripts are their sole responsibility.

This manuscript is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License CC-BY.

CERNE encourages authors to self-archive their accepted manuscripts, publishing them on personal blogs, institutional repositories, and academic social media, as well as posting them on their social media, if the full citation is included in the version of the Journal website.