Journal of Forest and Livelihood

Journal of Forest and Livelihood

Initiated in 2001, JFL is a peer reviewed journal that documents and disseminates the insights, lessons and innovations taking place in socio-cultural, political and economic aspects of environmental governance and rural livelihoods in Nepal. We are open to all academic perspectives from political ecology and cultural politics, as long as they identify a relevant theoretical lens and draw implications for policy and practice.

Editor-in-Chief

Ram Bahadur Chhetri
Professor in Anthropology (Tribhuvan University)

Editors
  • Naya S Paudel, ForestAction Nepal
  • Ambika Gautam, Kathmandu Forestry College
  • Bir Bahadur Khanal Chhetri, Institute of Forestry, Pokhara (Tribhuvan University)
  • Birendra K Karna, ForestAction Nepal
  • Kanchan Lama, Women Leading for Change in Natural Resources Management (W-LCN), Nepal
  • Sujata Tamang, ForestAction Nepal
Managing Editor

Rahul Karki

ISBN: 1684-0186

JOURNAL INFORMATION

Journal of Forest and Livelihood (JFL) is a peer-reviewed journal, targeted for professionals, policy makers and academicians in the field of forestry and natural resource management. JFL is an open access journal and is published biannually and welcomes articles, but not limited to, in the following themes.

  • Forest policy and governance
  • Forest agriculture interaction and food security
  • Climate change, forestry and livelihoods
  • Biodiversity, conservation and development
  • Ecosystems services and development
  • Social inclusion, gender, equity in forest and natural resource management
  • Community based resource management
  • Markets and community based forestry enterprises
  • Politics of knowledge in forest governance
  • Environmental justice
  • Political ecology

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Chair/Founding Chief Editor

Dr. Hemant Ojha, University of Canberra, Australia

Members

Prof. Andrea Nightingale, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Dr. Don Gilmour, Freelance Consultant, Australia

Dr. Giridhar Kinhal, Indian Institute of Forest Management, India

Prof. Jesse Ribot, University of Illinois, USA

Dr. Krishna K Shrestha, The University of New South Wales, Australia

Dr. Parvin Sultana, Middlesex University, UK

Dr. Phuntsho Namgyel, Bhutan Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation, Bhutan

Prof. Prodyut Bhattacharya, GGS Indraprastha University, India

Dr. Ravi Prabhu, World Agroforestry Centre, Indonesia Prof. Rodney Keenan, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Dr. SP Singh, Center for Ecology Development and Research, India

Peer Review Policy

All manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Forest and Livelihood undergo a double-blind peer review process and follow the steps listed below;

  • All submissions to the Journal of Forest and Livelihood are first screened by the editorial officer for basic structural elements  and appropriateness of formatting. Those satisfying these requirements are then passed on to the Chief Editor.
  • The Chief Editor assigns a member of the editorial team to review the theme, content, style of presentation and relevance.
  • Only those papers that are judged to be of potential interest to our readership, and are most likely to meet the editorial criteria (quality, originality, accuracy and contribution to the field) are sent for formal review.
  • Papers judged by the Chief Editor to be of insufficient interest or otherwise inappropriate for the journal are rejected out rightly without external review and the author(s) are advised accordingly.
  • Manuscripts are sent for formal review, to at least two reviewers in a full ‘double blind’ refereeing process.
  • The reviewers are asked to critically assess the overall quality of the paper and comment on several aspects such as relevance  of the topic, methodology, quality of analysis, novelty of contributions, clarity of argument and the balance of theory and  evidence.
  • The Chief Editor then makes a decision on the paper based on the reviewers’ reports, from among several possibilities, which  will be shared with the author. These are:
    • Accept, with or without minor editorial revisions
    • Accept with major revisions (as suggested in the peer review reports)
    • Reject, but invite for resubmission after major rewriting or additional data collection and analysis
    • Reject out rightly
  • Editorial decisions are based on the evaluation of the strength of the arguments raised by each reviewer and by the authors.
  • The papers are sometimes reverted to the reviewers for reassessment. This is considered in terms of commitment to review subsequent revisions.
  • Reviewers’ critiques are taken seriously. Additional reviewers may be requested to resolve serious contradictions in a paper that  is otherwise very promising.
  • Editorial policy, procedures and criteria are reviewed periodically with contributions of the editorial advisory board, which  provides additional editorial guidance and advice to the editorial team for enhancing the quality of the Journal.

REVIEWERS

Contributions of the reviewers to maintain the standards of this peer reviewed journal is highly appreciated. The following reviewers have contributed to different volumes of the journal.

Bhaba Tripathi

Internation Rice Research Institute

Bharat Pokheral

HELVETAS Nepal

Bhaskar Karki

International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Nepal

Bishnu Hari

Paudyal RECOFTC Bryan Bushley University of Hawaii, USA

Dil B Khatri

ForestAction Nepal

Edwin Cedamon

University of Adelaide, Australia

Eak Rana

Charles Sturt University

Hari S Luintel

Portland State University, Portland, USA

Hari Dhungana

Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies, Nepal

Jagannath Adhikari

Australian National University, Australia

Krishna P Paudel

ForestAction Nepal

Krishna P Pant

Ministry of Agriculture Development, Government of Nepal

Laxman Joshi

Freelance Consultant

Mani Ram Banjade

Centre of International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia

Ramesh Sunam

Australian National University, Australia Randell Bluffstone Portland State University, USA

Rajendra Upreti

Ministry of Agriculture Development, Government of Nepal

Ramji Neupane

MEDEP, UNDP, Nepal

Bhaba Tripathi

IRRI, Nepal

Sindhu Dhungana

Monash University, Australia

Sudeep Jana

Curtins University, Australia

GUIDELINES

The Journal of Forest and Livelihood aims to inform environmental policy process by facilitating dialogue among politicians, professionals, activists, researchers and policy makers. The Journal documents and disseminates the insights, lessons and innovations taking place in socio‐cultural, political and economic aspects of environmental governance and rural livelihoods in South Asia. Original scientific papers, short communications and review articles are published in the journal. In this connection, we welcome articles analysing contemporary issues on nature‐society interactions that have direct implications both on local livelihoods and resource sustainability. We particularly encourage the papers that are guided by critical social sciences perspectives and enriched by insights from deliberative governance, political economy, political ecology, social learning and institutional theories. The authors are fully responsible for the originality of the paper and formal correctness and should ensure that the paper is not published previously.

Click here for more detail