US Forest Service 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 USDA Research Guidelines/Peer Review, based on OMB’s Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review.

In compliance with the requirements of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Quality of Information Guidelines, this page provides information pertaining to the Forest Service Peer Review Plan and agenda for performing peer reviews for the influential or highly influential scientific work our agency performs.

Read About Scientific Research Guidelines/Peer Review

To submit comments on the peer review agenda please email
wo_qoi@fs.fed.us

Link to USA.gov