Editorial
Authors: Kropivšek Jože 
Published: January 2023

Dear readers!

At the editorial board of the journal LES/WOOD, we are aware that two conditions are important for the success of every scientific journal: that it publishes high-quality scientific articles that show the advancement of the profession in fundamental and frontier areas, and that they reach as wide range of readers as possible, and thus disseminate new knowledge. If the first condition is fulfilled, then fulfilment of the second is easier, because with good articles the journal becomes more recognizable and is sought by more readers. Conversely, more scientific and professional readers also create a larger pool of potential authors for new scientific publications. The two are therefore interconnected. Bibliographic databases also play a key role in fulfilling these two conditions and promoting the scientific journal. Namely, by joining the databases, the journal gains reputation and visibility, while increasing search engine accessibility and readability, and the articles it publishes are cited more. This again attracts new authors and encourages them to publish better articles, which in turn enhances the reputation of the journal. In this issue of LES/WOOD, it is with the pleasure and pride that we take a look at the path of the journal’s development and highlight some turning points over the years:

Since 1997, LES/WOOD has been listed in the CAB Abstracts database (https://www.cabi.org/publishing-products/cab-abstracts/), which is “the leading English-language bibliographic information service providing access to the world’s applied life sciences literature, giving users access to over 480,000 journal articles, conference papers and reports”. Being involved in this database has been crucial to the development of the journal, as it makes it one of the most important publications in the life sciences.

Today, it is crucial that the journal is being digitized. Until 2012, LES/WOOD was published in printed form only. With its revival in 2017, in addition to the printed version, we introduced an electronic version and offered it to readers via web services. The ISSN number for the electronic version of the journal was obtained, and at the same time a website was set up (http://www.les-wood.si). For greater visibility, the journal was incorporated into the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) system in 2017. Since then, each article in LES/WOOD has been signed with its own Digital Object Identifier (DOI) name, while the publisher has become a member of the CrossRef organization.

Different formal, technical, substantive and design amendments are required before the journal is published in international bibliographic databases, as different bibliographic databases set clear (minimum) technical and content requirements. Of particular importance is regular publication, a clear editorial policy, the redesign (and digitization) of the editorial process, and the online publication of articles in a readable form. Especially in recent years, ethical rules of operation, a plagiarism prevention policy and clear rules on the management of intellectual property are also important, which mainly apply to the electronic version of the journal. To this end, the website of LES/WOOD journal was completely updated in the first half of 2019.

The last important turning point happened during the summer of 2019 when LES/WOOD was included in the DOAJ database (the Directory of Open Access Journals). DOAJ is a white list of open access journals and aims to be the starting point for all information searches for quality, peer reviewed open access material. Being included in DOAJ also increases the visibility and ease of use of articles, and that of LES/WOOD as a whole. The DOAJ aims to be comprehensive and cover all open access scientific and scholarly journals that use a quality control system to guarantee the content that they publish meets high standards (https://doaj.org/).

Further development of LES/WOOD will move in the direction of indexing in the Scopus database, which will hopefully increase international visibility, widen the readership and increase the interest of authors in publishing in the journal. In this process, collaboration, the creative exchange of knowledge, new ideas and initiatives, are crucial, which will lead all the journal’s contributors to new successes. Therefore, I warmly invite you to contribute to the promotion of the journal and its development. Thanks in advance for your support!