Peer Review Agenda

U.S. Forest Service Research & Development (R&D) provides research information to the public that is reliable, accurate, and presented clearly. We require all scientific manuscripts to be reviewed by qualified personnel, including written reviews by at least two peers, competent in the subject matter and with demonstrable objectivity. FS R&D scientists are further required to incorporate review comments, and when appropriate obtain statistical review before submitting a manuscript to the publications control officer. A set of standard guidelines is made available to reviewers containing review criteria including, but not limited to factual accuracy, quality of information, clarity, consistency, references, effectiveness, and overall merit. For manuscripts containing influential information and highly influential assessments, we adhere to additional applicable requirements embodied in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Research Guidelines/Peer Review, based on The Office of Management & Budget's (OMB) Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review.

Plans Under Review

1. 2020 National Report on Sustainable Forests
2. Direct Effects of Albedo Offset Half of US Forest Carbon Storage Benefits
3. Wicked problems and sticky wickets: defining and inventorying mature and old-growth forests
4. Classifying Mature Federal Forests in the United States: The Forest Inventory Growth Stage System
5. Quantifying old-growth forest based on United States Forest Service National Forest System definition
6. A national-scale tree volume, biomass, and carbon modeling system for the United States

Completed Peer Review Plans

2023

1. Summary document for the 2020 Resources Planning Act (RPA) Assessment

2022

1. Fireshed Registry General Technical Report
2. Wood Borer Detection Rates on Wood Packaging Materials Entering the United States During Different Phases of ISPM 15

2021

1. An empirical assessment of cross-boundary wildfire transmission in the western United States
2. Second COVID-19 impacts on wildland firefighting workforce capacity (revised May 2021)
3. COVID-19 impacts on wildland firefighting workforce capacity

2020

1. Potential COVID-19 Outbreak in Fire Camp: Modeling scenarios and interventions
2. Timber Growth and Yield in a Changing Forest, Black Hills

2019

1. Forest Health and Inventoried Roadless Areas
2. USDA Forest Service, National Woodland Owner Survey

2016

1. Synthesis of existing science to provide managers with a science foundation for revision of forest plans within NWFP area

2015

1. Revising the National Forest Timber Sale Appraisal Process
2. The California spotted owl: current state of knowledge
3. A climate adaptation strategy for conservation and management of yellow-cedar in Alaska
4. Northern Spotted Owls and Barred Owls in the Eastern Cascades, Washington
5. Tongass National Forest Timber Demand, Projections for 2015 to 2030
6. Summary document for the Update to the 2010 Resources Planning Act (RPA) Assessment

2014

1. Interim Update of the 2010 Resources Planning Act (RPA) Assessment
2. Mapping habitat suitability for at-risk plants and its implications for restoration and reintroduction
3. A life cycle carbon dioxide inventory of the Million Trees Los Angeles program
4. Restoring composition and structure in frequent-fire forests: a science-based framework improving ecosystem resiliency

2013

1. Central Hardwoods Ecosystem Vulnerability Assessment and Synthesis
2. Science Synthesis to Promote Resilience of Social-ecological Systems in the Sierra Nevada and Southern Cascades
3. The Structure, Distribution and Biomass of the World's Forests
4. Implications for Expansion of GE Freeze-Tolerant Eucalyptus Plantations on Water Resources in the Continental U.S.
5. Projecting potential adoption of genetically engineered freeze-toleratnt Eucalyptus plantations