History

The Pesquisa Florestal Brasileira (PFB) first began in December 1980 under the name Boletim de Pesquisa Florestal (BPF), and at that time was edited by the Midwest Regional Forestry Research Unit (Unidade Regional de Pesquisa Florestal Centro-Sul, URPFCS), which today is Embrapa Forestry.

Its initial objective was to disseminate work by URPFC’s researchers so the resulting technologies would reach a broader audience.

Starting with Issue 5 in 1982, BPF also began to include forest research conducted by other Brazilian institutions when it published an article by external authors. Its first international article appeared in the June-December 1989 volume, which included Issues 18 and 19.

Its scope expanded and BPF became a vehicle of scientific communication, publicizing groundbreaking work by various teaching and research institutions in Brazil and abroad.

Between 1980 and 2006 BPF published 53 volumes. In January 2007, the BPF was transformed into the Pesquisa Florestal Brasileira; this change in name, format, and editorial norms and criteria was intended to boost its visibility and the reach of the technical and scientific information it published.

The timeline below depicts some landmarks in the history of Pesquisa Florestal Brasileira:

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2024 - PFB on Instagram and current indexing

• A PFB Instagram page was created.
  
  
• PFB is currently indexed in BDPA, Binagre/Agrobase, Agris, ASP/Ebsco, CAB Direct, Forestry Compendium, CCN, Diadorim, Latindex, MIAR, RCAAP, ROAD, Worldcat, ALICE, Scilit, CiteFator, Dimensions, DOAJ, E-Journal, Genamics JournalSeek, Google Scholar, Journals for Free, Livre, Oasisbr, OpenAIRE Explore, Periodica, Portal da Capes, REDIB, SABIIA and Scilit.

2020 - Adoption of ABEC/CROSSREF's Similarity Check

• Adoption of Similarity Check (ABEC/CROSSREF), including plagiarism analysis using iThenticate software.

2019 - Declaration of ethics and good practices in publication and special themed issue: Annals of the XXV IUFRO World Congress

• Declaration of ethics and good practices in publication was published. This statement addresses misconduct, plagiarism, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, and ethical standards for authors, reviewers, and the PFB team.
  
  
• Publication of a special edition containing the annals of the XXV IUFRO World Congress: Forest Research and Cooperation for Sustainable Development (special issue), in print and online versions.

2018 - ORCID and rolling publication

• Frequency of publication was shifted to ongoing, with an annual volume.
  
  
• ORCID identifier featured for the authors of each publication.

2016 - Updated policies and norms

• PFB policies and norms were updated to include a request for a cover letter together with the manuscript, separation of the Results and Discussion sections (which are now independent) and adjustments to the norms for references and citations.

2015 - Plagiarism assessment

• PFB adopted a plagiarism detection process using CopySpider software.

2014 - PFB on Facebook and expanded indexing

• A PFB Facebook page was created.
  
  
• This year, PFB was indexed in the Forestry Abstract, Agroforestry Abstracts, CAB, Agrícola, Tree CD, Agrobase/Binagre, BDPA, CIRS, CCN, ALICE, E-Journal, Google Scholar and Latindex databases.

2013 - DOI and last print issue

• The DOI was adopted, with retroactive attribution back to 2009.
  
  
• The last regular printed issue was Volume 33 of 2013 (containing Issues 73–76).
  
  
• Manuscripts are now submitted online, via the journal's website.

2011 - Special themed issue on energy forests

• Special themed issue published on energy forests (v. 31, Issue 68), addressing topics like solid biofuels, briquetting, wood charcoal, energy grid analysis and other themes related to production of eucalyptus and native species.

2010 - Publishing interval, Open Journal Systems, and special themed issue on dynamics and management of natural forests

• The journal shifted from two to three issues per year, brought together in an annual volume.
  
  
• Adoption of Open Journal Systems software.
  
  
• New journal webpage was published.
  
  
• Special themed issue on dynamics and management of natural forests (v. 30, Issue 64) reporting results from the Amazon biome in the Brazilian states of Pará and Amazonas, the Atlantic Forest biome in relation to the three states comprising the south of Brazil, as well as the Missiones region of Argentina.

2009 - Special themed issue on integrated crop-livestock-forest systems

• Issue 60 was dedicated to content on integrated crop-livestock-forest systems implemented in various regions and biomes of Brazil.

2007 - Pesquisa Florestal Brasileira

• The title was changed to Pesquisa Florestal Brasileira (and a subtitle in English: Brazilian Journal of Forestry Research) from Issue 54.
  
  
• A Note from the Editors states that PFB is a continuation of BPF, and that despite the new ISSN the issue numbers would not change.
  
  
• Publication in print as well as online under ISSN 1983-2605 (online) and ISSN 1809-3647 (printed).
  
  
• The editorial staff was reformulated to include associate editors from different institutions.
  
  
• The norms were adjusted and submissions were now accepted in Portuguese, English and Spanish. Authors now sent their submissions via email.
  
  
• Along with scientific articles and scientific notes, the journal now began to publish review articles.
  
  
• Print layout was changed from A5 to A4, and a visual identity was created for the journal.

2006 - Online version

• The Boletim de Pesquisa Florestal began to be published online, with a specific ISSN for this type of publication, from Issue 52 (ISSN 1809-3655).

2002 - Indexed in BDPA

• Issue 44: Indexed in Embrapa's agricultural research database.
  
  
• The Instructions for Authors added a request to provide an email address.

2001 - Indexed in Agrobase

• The journal was included in the Ministry of Agriculture's Agrobase database of Brazilian agriculture.

1999 - ISSN

• ISSN 1517-6371 was used for Issues 38-52.

1998 - Indexing

• The first journal indexes to list BPF were Forestry Abstract, Agroforestry Abstracts, CAB, Agrícola and Tree CD.

1997 - BPF mission

• The back cover of Issues 34-42 featured its mission: “To produce and promote scientific and technological knowledge for the conservation, production and use of forest resources, envisioning sustainable development to benefit society."

1995 - Published by Embrapa Forestry, Embrapa logo and reformulated layout

• The name of the publisher was updated in Issue 38.

• The current Embrapa logo first appears in BPF in 1995, in a volume that contains Issues 30 and 31. The cover layout was altered to include photos.

1991 - From typewriters to computers

• Submissions were typed through Issue 21; from Issue 22/23, the Instructions for Authors requested a copy of the corrected version of articles on a floppy disk in Word for Windows.

1989 - First international article

• This publication describes research on silvopasture management conducted in Chile by the Corporación Nacional Forestal, in the June-December 1989 volume containing Issues 18 and 19.

1988 - Scientific notes

• Along with scientific articles, in Issue 17 BPF began to publish scientific notes.

1985 - Published by CNPF

• The name of the publisher was altered to reflect the new name of the institution;  from Issue 10, it changed from URPFCS to the National Center for Forest Research (Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Florestas, CNPF).

1982 - First article by outside authors

• Issue 5 contains the first article by authors outside URPFCS. This work by professors at the Federal University of Santa Catarina analyzed methods to break the dormancy and sow seeds of canafistula (Peltophorum dubium).

1980 - Founding

• Edited by the Midwest Regional Forestry Research Unit (Unidade Regional de Pesquisa Florestal Centro-Sul, URPFCS).
  
  
• Printed journal, published twice yearly and including works in the form of original scientific articles subjected to peer review. Published in Portuguese, with title, abstract and keywords in Portuguese and English. ISSN 0101-1057 was used for Issues 2-37.