Dr. Keith Blatner Next Editor in Chief of Journal of Forestry

December 15, 2017

The Society of American Foresters announced Dr. Keith A. Blatner, CF, as Editor in Chief of the Journal of Forestry. Dr. Blatner’s appointment for a three-year term to the Journal will officially begin on January 1, 2018. Dr. Blatner follows the Journal’s most recent editor, Dr. Don C. Bragg, and Dr. Richard Guldin, who served as interim Editor in Chief during SAF’s search and interview process for this position.

Dr. Blatner is currently Professor and Program Leader for Forestry and Director of the Grizzly Bear Research, Education and Conservation Center in the School of the Environment at Washington State University. Dr. Blatner has served SAF’s journals for many years, most recently as an Applied Research Editor for Forest Science, and previously as Editor in Chief of the Western Journal of Applied Forestry, and has also served on SAF’s Board of Directors.

“I am honored to have been selected as the Editor in Chief for the Journal of Forestry,” Dr. Blatner said. “The current stature of the Journal of Forestry is due to the hard work of the previous editors, associate editors, authors, reviewers, and editorial staff, without whose efforts the Journal would not have risen to its current level of prominence among the over 60 journals devoted to the publication of forestry-related research.” Dr. Blatner’s vision for the Journal of Forestry includes improving the use of available technologies such as online- ahead-of-print publication and better use of online-only supplementary materials like videos, data sets, and podcasts. He envisions continuing to publish timely special issues and sections such as 2017’s special section on forest inventory and analysis.

“Dr. Blatner’s appointment comes at a time of great opportunity for SAF’s journals, and I am excited about what is in store,” said Jennifer Kuhn, SAF’s Director of Publications. Dr. Blatner is the first new Editor in Chief for SAF’s journals since the Society signed a contract to publish its journals with the Oxford University Press earlier this year.