Declaration of Ethical Standards

The mission of Pesquisa Florestal Brasileira is to publish findings from original research on forest-related topics. With a commitment to scientific integrity, the journal subjects all published manuscripts to peer review in a process that considers neutrality, confidentiality, and merit. In this way, we strive to maintain a fair position in the manuscript evaluation process and to avoid discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, and ethnic or geographical origin.

PFB is edited by Embrapa Forestry, a Brazilian research institution founded in 1978 to promote research, development, and innovation solutions for forest sustainability. In 1980, shortly after its creation, it began to publish the Boletim de Pesquisa Florestal (Forest Research Bulletin), which was published until 2006. In 2007 the journal was reconfigured and modernized for international readers and renamed Pesquisa Florestal Brasileira.

The publication of a journal since its founding indicates Embrapa Forestry’s awareness of the dynamics of modern science, in which scientific communication is fundamental for the visibility, validation, and reproducibility of research findings. PFB maintains that free, swift access to information strongly contributes to scientific development, and for this reason does not charge fees for publication or access to content. Current published works are distributed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

As a public research corporation, Embrapa Forestry is observant of various national laws and international regulations that addressing information security, research data governance, transparency, and access to information. Embrapa Forestry’s values include commitment, cooperation, equity, ethics, excellence, social and environmental responsibility, flexibility and transparency. The company’s concern with ethical publication practices is in line with its mission, as well as a continuous process of striving to ensure research neutrality and quality.

Ethical standards

The journal’s management and Editorial Team:

  • State that no fees are required for submission, publication, or content access.
  • Consider and advise on publication of original and unpublished work.
  • Describe authorship criteria in the author guidelines.
  • Advise on responsibility for content, including the list of references.
  • Advise on the need to acknowledge funding, when applicable.
  • Advise on and publish retractions and/or corrections when necessary.
  • Ensure that all published content is subjected to peer review.
  • Describe the review process on the website.
  • Maintain confidentiality of the review process, content and opinions.
  • Advise on confidentiality and neutrality in the evaluation process.
  • Advise on declaring conflicts of interest and how to respond when conflicts are identified.
  • Understand that research misconduct includes plagiarism, redundant publication, and falsification of data.
  • Advise on the journal’s Misconduct Policy, and encourage editors, reviewers and technical staff to report any suspected misconduct.
  • Advise on and offer procedures in response to misconduct.

The Editor-in-Chief and members of the Editorial Committee:

  • Assess manuscripts and oversee the initial review (compliance with PFB requirements and plagiarism evaluation) and peer review.
  • Maintain confidentiality regarding content and opinions.
  • Evaluate content based on scientific neutrality and merit.
  • Declare conflicts of interest at the start of the process or at any time.
  • Reinforce objective opinions.
  • Investigate any suspected misconduct from various perspectives, offering the authors an opportunity to respond.
  • Any confirmed misconduct in relation to manuscripts under evaluation will result in their immediate rejection. If the works are already published, a letter of retraction will be published and the publication will be removed from the PFB webpage. 

Authors are expected to:

  • Declare that their submission is original and unpublished and has not been submitted to or is not under analysis by any other journal.
  • List each author’s contribution in the cover letter.
  • Track the manuscript evaluation process.
  • Take responsibility for published content, including cited references.
  • Acknowledge funding, when received.
  • In case of errors, arrange for retraction or correction.
  • Provide information on suspected misconduct, if requested.
  • Authors shall have the right to respond in any cases of suspected unethical behavior or conflicts, in order to provide multiple viewpoints in such situations.
  • If suspicions are confirmed, authors may be required to publish a letter of retraction.

Peer reviewers are expected to:

  • Maintain confidentiality on the content they review.
  • Declare any conflicts of interest, at the start of the process or at any time.
  • Evaluate content based on neutrality and scientific merit.
  • Cooperate to improve submitted manuscripts.
  • Report any suspected misconduct to the Editor-in-Chief.

PFB’s policies, principles and procedures for advising on, investigating, and dealing with situations involving misconduct follow the COPE guidelines, as well as national and international legislation and declaration.

Any questions, suggestions, or complaints from reviewers, authors 0or readers should be sent to pfb@embrapa.br.

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Updated November 21st, 2024