Banko Janakari 
A Journal of Forestry Information for Nepal

Banko Janakari: status and way forward

The Forest Research and Training Centre (FRTC) has a long history in forestry research 
in Nepal. The end-users (planners, decision makers, and managers of government/
community forests, researchers and so on) won’t be informed about the research 
and survey outcomes unless those are published and disseminated to them. So, the 
publication of those research findings via its own scientific open access journal Banko 
Janakari (BJ) has been regularly published by the FRTC, under the Ministry of Forests 
and Environment since 1987 when this organization used to be in the name of Forest 
Survey and Research Office (FSRO, directly under the then Department of Forests, 
Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation). 

Banko Janakari, a journal of forestry information for Nepal, is an internationally 
recognized peer-reviewed journal (in English), which publishes the forestry and 
environment-related research articles. It aims to communicate scientific information 
and latest development in forestry researches to the national and international forestry 
stakeholders as well as scientific community. The genesis of the nomenclature of this 
Journal is quite historical; the name “Banko Janakari” for this Journal was approved 
through the consensus amongst a significant number of foresters and others concerned 
with forests and environment at its initial stage. The Nepali name of the Journal literally 
means “information about forests” in English. It has been recognized as a “Two Star 
Journal” in Nepal. Initially indexed in NepJol, it has been recently listed in “Elsevier’s 
Scopus”, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature.

There are defined rules and regulations regarding the publication of any forestry or 
environment-related article in the BJ; the FRTC has published a Publication Manual 
for the purpose. The submitted manuscripts are first screened by its Managing Editor, 
and if they are found to have covered the scope of the Journal, these are sent to the 
relevant national and/or international experts listed in the roster through its Editorial 
Board. Despite the rigorous review, the journal endeavors to keep the decision duration 
relatively short. 

https://doi.org/10.3126/banko.v31i1.37312



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Banko Janakari, Vol 31 No. 1, 2021

The articles so submitted are accepted only after the approval from the experts along 
with their comments and suggestions for improvement. Initially, only the articles related 
with the organization’s forestry research and survey activities used to be published in 
this Journal. Later on, the articles from outside, mainly from the university graduates 
and faculty members, have also been considered for publication after recommendations 
from the related competent reviewers. 

The students pursuing PhD degree courses in various fields of Forestry and Environment 
from the Nepalese Universities must fulfill the requirements of publishing at least 
three scientific articles (based on their field-data) in any internationally recognized 
peer-reviewed scientific journal. BJ has largely served these students in fulfilling their 
requirements. Moreover, the foreign students studying such courses at the universities 
in their own countries or abroad can also be attracted for getting their articles published 
in BJ. For this purpose, the present BJ Editorial Board which is composed of mostly the 
Nepalese members except a few from other countries of the Asian continent needs to be 
restructured so as to include some from other continents as its members. Undoubtedly, 
it will enhance the standard and broad spectrum of the Board as well as fulfill the 
requirements of the international practices of peer-reviewed scientific publications. 
Besides, the articles to be published in BJ need to be improved in every aspect, including 
scientific writing and subject coverage. Similarly, the articles prepared on the basis of the 
research and studies conducted outside Nepal should also be considered for publication 
in this Journal. 

The BJ has established itself as the leading and one of the most reputed journals of 
forestry sector in Nepal. The challenges exist to maintain its high reputation and upscale 
its visibility to international scientific community as well. 

Kiran Kumar Pokharel
Managing-Editor
Banko Janakari