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        

Forest Service Peer Review Plans for 2008: 

1. Study of flammability for several types of mulch used for landscapes around the homes        

2. Naturalness and Beyond

3. Biomass to Energy

4. Forest Critical Acid Loads        

Forest Service Peer Review Plans for 2009: 

1. Demography of Northern Spotted Owl

Forest Service Peer Review Plans for 2010: 

1. Aspen Free-Air Carbon Enrichment Experiment

2. Effectiveness of road-related BMPs

3. Southern Forest Futures Project

4. Fire Safe Mulch

Forest Service Peer Review Plans for 2011: 

1. Guiding Concepts for Park and Wilderness Stewardship

2. Effects of Wildfire on Carbon Cycling, Carbon Stocks, and Emissions

3. Options and Strategies for Active Forest Management in Riparian Zones

4. Resources Planning Act Assessment

Forest Service Peer Review Plans for 2012: 

1. Climate Change Vulnerabilities within the Forestry Sector for the Midwestern United States

2. Climate Change impacts on forests of the Northeastern US and Eastern Canada

3. Economic impacts of non-native forest insects in the continental United States

4. Effects of Federal and State Policies on Family Forest Owners of the United States

5. SINAMI a tool for the economic evaluation of forest fire management programs in Mediterranean ecosystems

6. Trends and causes of severity size and number of fires in northwestern California

7. Managing Sierra Nevada Forests General Technical Report

8. Four Mile Canyon Fire Assessment

9. Social Science at the Wildland-Urban Interface: A Compendium of Research Results to Create Fire-Adapted Communities

10. Interactive Effects of Anthropogenic Nitrogen Enrichment and Climate Change on Biodiversity

11. Science Synthesis to Support Forest Plan Revision in the Sierra Nevada and Southern Cascades

12. Mapping Hazard Due to Forest Insects and Disease 2012

"THIS INFORMATION IS DISTRIBUTED SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF PRE-DISSEMINATION PEER REVIEW UNDER APPLICABLE INFORMATION QUALITY GUIDELINES. IT HAS NOT BEEN FORMALLY DISSEMINATED BY THE FOREST SERVICE. IT DOES NOT REPRESENT AND SHOULD NOT BE CONTRUED TO REPRESENT ANY AGENCY DETERMININATION OR POLICY."

Completed Peer Review Plans: 

The effectiveness of vegetation management practices for prevention and control of bark beetle infestations in coniferous forest of the western and southern United States

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

Link to FirstGov.gov