All persons involved in the act of publishing (the author, journal editor(s), reviewer, Editorial Board and publisher) are expected to act in an ethical manner. The Publication Ethics of SYLWAN are based on those of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

• When making decisions, the Editorial Board follows the principles of the editorial policy.
• The Editorial Board consists of:
1. The editor-in-chief, appointed and dismissed by the Polish Forest Society (publisher).
2. Section editors, representing the main branches of forest sciences, invited to join the Editorial Board by the editor-in-chief.
3. Assistant editor, appointed and dismissed by the editor-in-chief.
• The duties of the Editorial Board include:
1. ensuring the journal's development, its high substantive and editorial level,
2. performing the initial assessment of articles and appointing independent reviewers,
3. reading the content of the review, and in case of doubt, appointing an additional reviewer,
4. qualifying the article for printing or rejection.

• The editors take action against unfair practices (defamation, copyright infringement, plagiarism, ghostwriting and guest authorship)
• The editors apply a double-blind review policy, i.e. they do not disclose the identity of authors and reviewers.
• The editors define the procedures for accepting articles for printing and publishing them on the journal's website in a transparent manner.
• Commercial considerations do not affect editorial decisions.
• The editors prevent conflicts of interest between Editorial Board, authors and reviewers.
• The editors evaluate manuscripts in terms of intellectual content regardless of the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, citizenship or political beliefs of the author(s).
• The editors do not disclose information about the manuscript being considered to anyone except the author(s), reviewers and potential reviewers, and the publisher.
• The editors are always ready to publish corrections, explanations and apologies when the need arises.
• Unpublished materials may not be used by the editorial staff or reviewers without the written consent of their authors.
• The editors ensure the confidentiality and security of the personal data of both authors and reviewers, as well as other members of the publishing process.

• The review should improve the author's manuscript and help the editorial staff to make decisions.
• The reviewer refuses to assess the work when its subject matter goes beyond his/her area of expertise.
• The reviewer is required to provide a review within the prescribed period; if this is not possible, he/she should immediately inform the editors of this. The editors can then entrust the review to another person.
• The review should be objective, well founded and constructive. Personal criticism of the author is unacceptable.
• The manuscripts received for review should be treated as confidential documents.
• The reviewer should disclose all examples of scientific misconduct, i.e. data manipulation, similarity to other works, plagiarism (including self-plagiarism).

• The Advisory Board consists of employees of foreign and Polish scientific units.
• The Advisory Board defines the main directions of the journal's activities in the field of forest sciences.
• The Advisory Board is the consultative and advisory body of the editor-in-chief.

• The publisher of the journal monitors the compliance of editors, reviewers and authors with the adopted publication ethics.
• The publisher ensures compliance with copyright laws.
• The publisher accepts complaints about the editorial work and seeks to resolve them.
• In cases of dishonest scientific behaviour, e.g. plagiarism, the publisher, in close cooperation with the editors, takes appropriate measures to clarify the situation. This includes the rapid publication of an errata or, in the most severe cases, complete withdrawal of the work.

• Authors may submit only their own scientific papers for publication: original scientific papers, review papers, ,; as well as short communications, correspondences and commentaries.
• The author makes a statement about the originality of the work, ethics, the contribution of individual authors and conflicts of interest.
• Authors of original papers should provide a detailed description of the work done, results and an objective discussion of its significance. The article should contain sufficient details and references to enable others to repeat the study. False or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.
• Publications of the other authors used in the paper should be properly cited. Authorship of the manuscript should be limited to those persons who have made a significant contribution to the concept, design, execution or interpretation of the test results. Other persons participating in the project should be listed in the acknowledgements section.
• Ghostwriting and guest authorship are not allowed and are treated by the editors as a manifestation of unethical behaviour and scientific misconduct.
• The parallel submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal is unethical publishing behaviour.
• The main author should ensure that all co-authors have approved the final version of the paper and agree to submit it for publication.
• Authors of articles on animal research should attach to the typescript the relevant certificate from the Local Ethics Committee.
• All authors should disclose in the manuscript any financial or other material conflicts of interest that could be interpreted as having an effect on the results or their interpretation.
• The author discloses all sources of financial support for the research.
• If a significant mistake is noticed in a published work, the author should immediately notify the editors or publisher of the journal and in cooperation with them, withdraw the article or publish an appropriate errata.