The journal Bois et Forêts des Tropiques (BFT) in free access

However, CIRAD is committed to an institutional strategy for open science, the promotion and free dissemination of knowledge, while helping to meet the development challenges of its French-speaking partners worldwide.

The aim of this strategy is to promote the FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, Reuse of digital assets) principles for research data management, while taking into account the legal and ethical frameworks that apply to some scientific disciplines, particularly in terms of data openness and reuse.

As a result, the journal Bois et forêts des Tropiques is now available for free access.

History of BFT, future and goals

The journal Bois et Forêts des Tropiques was created in 1947 by the former Tropical Forestry Technical Centre (CTFT), now part of CIRAD.

Since 2009, BFT articles have been referenced in the international Web of Science database.

In 2011, the journal benefited for the first time from an impact factor according to Thomson Reuters (formerly ISI), thus becoming the third CIRAD journal after Fruits et Cahiers Agricultures to obtain this international recognition. For the year 2011, this impact factor was 0.44, and it rose to 0.69 in 2020 after decreasing in some years.

At the interface of research and development, the journal is entirely dedicated to the science and technology of forestry in warm regions, forestry in the broad sense including the science and technology of wood and wood-based materials. CIRAD is responsible for its funding and operation.

It disseminates knowledge and research results on forests in intertropical and Mediterranean regions in more than sixty countries, focusing on an applied collaborative research involving North and South.

The articles, peer-evaluated and reviewed, are short, synthetic and accessible to researchers, engineers, technicians, students and decision-makers.

They are now freely available in French and English, and their abstracts are translated into French, English, and Spanish.

On the journal's website, all issues since 1947 can be consulted. In addition, a multi-criteria interrogation module allows to search for published articles by keywords.

Operation and conditions of publication

The journal is guaranteed by a collaborative work between :

* An Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Coordinator who selects the manuscripts and organizes the production of the articles.

* A team of Scientific Editors made up of members of the CIRAD scientific community who conduct the double-blind peer review of articles (the reviewers do not know the identity of the authors of the articles and vice versa).

* An Editorial Committee that participates in the implementation of the editorial policy, an external guarantee of the journal's quality.

* A team of international scientific experts who evaluate the manuscripts and ensure the validation of the articles.

To be admissible, the texts must be original. In order to ensure the originality of the published results, the journal uses the Ithenticate plagiarism detection tool.

Main topics covered

These topics are multiple, relating to the forest-wood sector, the multifunctional management of rural and forest areas, and the environmental approaches which result from this:

* Agro-sylvo-pastoralism.

* Integrated forest management and sustainable management methods.

* Characterization and dynamics of perennial, natural or planted forest ecosystems.

* Characterization and use of natural substances from forest products.

* International timber trade and strategy of the main private operators.

* Behaviour of the main forest species.

* Knowledge, characterization, processing and conservation of wood.

* Contribution of the different perennial and forestry agricultural speculations to carbon storage and clean development mechanisms.

* Carbon cycles.

* International debates and implementation of international conventions on forests, biodiversity, desertification, climate change.

* Assessment and uses of non-timber forest products.

* Evolution of policies and economies of Southern countries in the forest, wood and environment sectors.

* Decentralized management of forest and other natural resources.

* Multifunctional management of rural and forest areas.

* Impacts of logging on flora and fauna.

* Spatial organization of biodiversity.

* Fauna-flora relations.

* Land restoration and ecological engineering.

* Forestry sociology, motivations of stakeholders, interactions populations-trees-forests, and coordination of uses.

* Silviculture of natural forests and plantations.

* Energy transformation of woody biomass, the corresponding ecological stakes and ways of organising the forest-wood energy sector.