General Information

Sylwan is the oldest forestry journal in Poland (est. 1820), publishing high-quality, peer-reviewed original research, reviews, and short communications. We welcome submissions covering forest ecology, silviculture, forest protection, wood science, and forest policy. The journal is published in English. The manuscript should be the intellectual property of the authors, has not been published before and is not under consideration for publication anywhere else, and all authors have approved its publication. The publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any compensation claims.. Sylwan is an Open Access monthly journal, which provides immediate open access to its content under the Creative Commons BY 4.0 license. Authors who publish with this journal retain all copyrights and agree to the terms of the above-mentioned CC BY 4.0 license.

Types of Publications
Sylwan has no restrictions on the length of manuscripts, provided that it is comprehensive and concise. Some papers are rejected or recommended for publication in other, more specialised journals if they are unrelated to journal scope. Suggested maximum length of research papers, including references, tables and figures, is 10,000 words.

• Original paper: should report the results of original research.
• Review: should present a synthesis of recent advances in a particular area of research.
• Short communications: short papers that present original and significant research that needs to be published quickly.
• Correspondence/commentary: should present an important event, critical or alternative point of view or contributing to new information in the discussed field.

Submitting your manuscript

Manuscript should only be sent in electronic form to the address sylwanar@ibles.waw.pl. Materials should be archived (packed) using the free 7-zip archiver or other popular archiving tools (WinZIP, WinRAR, etc.).

Before submitting, please ensure the following items are present:

• Cover letter: A brief explanation of the study’s novelty and why it fits Sylwan’s scope.
• Title page: Separate file containing author names, affiliations, and ORCIDs.
• Manuscript: Blinded version (no author details) including Abstract, Keywords, Main Text, and References. Figures should be inserted into the text.
• Figures and tables: High-resolution files with English captions.
• Declarations: Conflict of interest, funding sources, and ethical approvals, generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing.

Article structure (IMRaD)

Please ensure your title page includes the following details:

• Article title: Titles should be concise and informative. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible, unless they are widely established (e.g., DNA).
• Author names: Provide the full given name(s) and family name(s) and ORCID for each author. Ensure the order matches the information in the submission system and that all names are spelled correctly.
• Affiliations: List the addresses where the work was conducted directly below the author names.
• Corresponding author: Clearly designate the person responsible for correspondence throughout the peer-review, publication, and post-publication stages. This role includes responding to inquiries regarding methodology, data, and materials.
• Abstract: Please provide a concise and factual abstract that does not exceed 300–400 words. The abstract must be self-contained and able to stand alone, as it is often indexed and presented separately from the full article. 
• Keywords: Authors are required to provide 5 to 7 keywords in English for indexing purposes. We recommend using single terms rather than complex multi-word phrases, and abbreviations should only be included if they are firmly established within the field.
• Introduction: State the objectives and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
• Materials and methods: Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced.
• Results: Should be clear and concise. Use tables and figures to support the text, not repeat it.
• Discussion: Explore the significance of the results. Compare with previous studies. Avoid extensive citations of published literature.
• Conclusions: The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short section.
• References: The list of references organised according to the journal rules (see details below).
• Extended summary: The Polish summary should be a total of 3000 (minimum) to 5000 (maximum) characters, including spaces. It is intended to be accessible for Polish-speaking readers. The summary should present a broader context and the purpose of the study, the results obtained, major interpretations and conclusions. It should contain references to all figures and tables appearing in the main text. Polish-speaking authors are required to submit the extended summary in Polish (including the Polish wording of the article title). Other authors are requested to submit an extended summary in English. It will be translated into Polish at the effort and expense of the editorial office.

Policy on generative AI and AI-assisted technologies

Authors must adhere to the specific policy regarding the use of generative AI and AI-assisted tools in figures, images, and artwork. In principle, the use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools to create or alter images within submitted manuscripts is strictly prohibited, unless such tools are an integral part of the research design or experimental methods. In such cases, the application of AI must be described in a reproducible manner within the methods section, including the specific model name, version, extension numbers, and manufacturer. During the submission process, authors must formally declare the use of any generative AI or AI-assisted technologies – collectively referred to as "AI Tools" – including AI agents and deep research technologies. While these tools can enhance efficiency and improve language readability, they must never serve as a substitute for human expertise, critical thinking, or evaluation; therefore, AI technology should always be applied under human oversight. Ultimately, authors remain fully accountable for the content of their work, which includes verifying the accuracy and impartiality of all AI-generated output, ensuring that references are not fabricated, and thoroughly editing the material to reflect original analysis. Furthermore, AI Tools must not be listed or cited as authors or co-authors, as authorship implies responsibilities that can only be performed by humans. The use of AI Tools must be formally disclosed in a dedicated section titled "Declaration of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the manuscript preparation process," placed immediately before the references list. The standard disclosure should follow this format: "During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME OF TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the published article." This declaration is not required for basic tools used for checking grammar, spelling, or references. If no AI Tools were used in the article, Author should inform about it.To protect authors’ rights and research confidentiality, this journal does not currently permit reviewers or editors to use generative AI or similar services, such as ChatGPT, during the peer review and evaluation process.

Technical specifications

Units, classifications codes and nomenclature: This journal requires the use of the International System of Units (SI) in accordance with internationally accepted rules and conventions. If non-SI units are mentioned within your article, you must provide their SI equivalents.

Math formulae: Regarding mathematical formulae, all equations must be submitted as editable text rather than images. 

Tables: Tables should be limited to the necessary minimum and excluded from the text of the manuscript. All tables and figures should be numbered using Arabic numerals consecutively with their accordance in the text.Tables can contain a maximum of 7 columns (in justified cases, after consultation with the editorial office, up to 13 columns).

Figures, images and artwork: Figures (charts, drawings and photographs) must be clearly lettered and suitable for reproduction, the fonts in the figures should be of a size readable at least with the figure width of 13 cm. Only black and white figures will be printed at the expense of the editorial office, while colour figures will be payable by the author. Figures should be saved in JPEG, TIFF, PNG or BMP format. Vector drawings should be saved as EPS or PDF files with embedded fonts. Colour or grayscale photographs (halftones) require a minimum resolution of 300 dpi, while bitmapped line drawings require at least 1000 dpi. 

Acknowledgements: The acknowledgements section should be used to recognize any individuals who provided assistance during your research, including support with language, writing, or proofreading. 

Author contributions (CRediT): Corresponding authors are required to acknowledge co-author contributions by applying the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) framework (Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, and Writing – review and editing). Please note that not all CRediT roles will apply to every manuscript.

Ethics in publishing and submission declaration: By submitting an article, it is implied that the work has not been previously published (except as a preprint, abstract, lecture, thesis, or registered report) and is not currently under consideration elsewhere. If accepted, the article may not be published elsewhere in any form or language, including electronically, without the written consent of the copyright holder. To ensure compliance with these policies, all manuscripts may be screened using specialized verification tools.

Declaration of competing interests: All authors are required to disclose any financial or personal relationships with individuals or organizations that could bias their work, such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership, grants, or patent registrations. This includes disclosing any professional affiliation with the journal as an Editor, Editorial Board or Advisory Board Member. In such cases, authors must state within the declaration that they had no involvement in or access to the peer-review process of their own article, as editorial responsibility was delegated to another editor. If no such interests exist, authors must select the "I have nothing to declare" option. The final declaration must be uploaded as a .doc or .docx file during the submission process; physical signatures are not required.

Reference style: All citations in the text must include the author’s family name (without initials, unless needed for clarity) and the year of publication. For works by two authors, both names should be listed; for three or more authors, use the first author’s name followed by ”et al.”. Citations may be made directly or parenthetically, with multiple references listed either chronologically and then alphabetically (e.g., “Allan 2020, Jones 2021, Abel 2022”). The final reference list must be arranged alphabetically by the first author’s name and then chronologically. If an author has multiple publications from the same year, distinguish them by appending lowercase letters (a, b, c) to the year. Do not translate to English the titles of publications that have a title only in original language – in that case provide only the original title of publication. For journal publications, include a DOI or an article number where applicable; for book chapters, specify the editors and page ranges. Web references must, at a minimum, provide the full URL and the date of last access. Preprints must be clearly identified by including the word “preprint”. For authors using reference management softwarewe recommend selecting “Harvard Educational Review” template to automate formatting. However, all field codes must be removed before the manuscript is submitted. Follow the examples:

Adhikari, S. and Menalled, F.D. (2018). Impacts of dryland farm management systems on weeds and ground beetles (Carabidae) in the Northern Great Plains. Sustainability, 10(7), 2146. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072146.

Sierota, Z. and Małecka, M. (2004). Formowanie „sztucznych luk” w celu ograniczania huby korzeni i inicjowania przebudowy monokultur sosnowych na gruntach porolnych [Creation of “artificial gaps” to reduce root rot effects and initiate reconstruction of pine monocultures established on post-agricultural land]. Sylwan, 148(1), 6-11. https://doi.org/10.26202/sylwan.2004101.

Aleksandrowicz, O.P. (2004). Biegaczowate (Carabidae). In: W. Bogdanowicz, E. Chudzicka, I. Pilipiuk, E. Skibińska, eds. Fauna Polski – charakterystyka i wykaz gatunków, tom I. Warszawa: Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii PAN, 28-42.

BCC AB (2025). Product information. Available from: https://bccab.com/products-planting/growing-systems/ [accessed: 07.05.2025].