Characteristics and trends of scientific-technical publications on plantations and agroforestry systems

— Forest plantations management demands generating knowledge and developing innovative technologies that make their production process more efficient. The objective of this research was to analyze the characteristics and trends of scientific publications from the Centro Nacional de Investigación Disciplinaria en Conservación y Mejoramiento de Ecosistemas Forestales (National Center for Disciplinary Research in Conservation and Improvement of Forest Ecosystems) from Mexico produced from 1994 to 2021, by the Plantations and Agroforestry Systems research program. A documentary review was performed in scientific journals and documents with an editorial committee; the compiled information was systematized and analyzed through graphs prepared in Microsoft Excel®. A total of 36 documents were found for three periods: 18 documents from 2019-2021 (52.78%), 14 documents from 2008-2018 (38.89%), and three (8.33%) from 1994-2007. Specifically, 30 scientific articles, five technical guidelines, and one book chapter were published from 1994 to 2021. The main research topic from 1994 to date was conservation. Their keywords analysis indicates that the main study subject was the Pinus genus. Regarding their geographical scope, 40 works were carried out at five levels: one international, twelve national, seven regional, fourteen states level, five municipal, and one local. Most of the studies (77.78%) were published in Mexican journals and publishers. The number of reported species in these documents amounted to 90. To increase its impact in the coming years, it is advisable to strengthen the research carried out with other institutions and researchers.


INTRODUCTION
In Latin America, forest development has focused on the management of the forests and non-timber resources, as well as the establishment of commercial plantations (Soler et al., 2021); however, efforts for biodiversity conservation are moderate (Chaudhary et al., 2016). Because forest resources play an important role in the populations of different countries -because they promote their economy and improve quality of life and their environment (FAO and UNEP, 2020)-establishing strategies that guarantee their permanence and stability through time for a country's improvement is a priority.
The knowledge about forest resources, based on scientific research, is important for decision-makers during the implementation of effective policies, i. e., the reduction of carbon emissions from forestry activities (Houghton et al., 2015), the effect of land reconversion policies on national scales (Liu et al., 2020). In this regard, studies on the state of the art are a tool that provides ranking criteria. On the contrary, the lack of knowledge about the response and behavior of the species when erroneously managed can have a negative effect. Generally, three sociopolitical factors are reported that directly influence forest area reduction: i) political failures, ii) institutional failures, and iii) policies favoring social growth (Scullion et al., 2019).
In that respect, in Mexico, activities that reduce the forest area are supported by political instruments for agricultural development -like the "Procampo" and "Alianza para el Campo" programs (Schmook and Vance, 2009) -, which are not connected to any conservation policy that reduces The search was based on the authors who were or are assigned to the Cenid Comef in the Plantations and Agroforestry Systems program. The researchers referred to as the first author or co-author of the manuscript were considered when the predecessor was not assigned to the Cenid Comef, and as the author for correspondence. The search period comprised 28 years (1994-2021), which corresponded to three stages of study during the operation of the Cenid Comef: establishment, growth, and consolidation.
The compiled information was systematized through bibliographic reference files -which determined the year       Table 1). The average number of authors per technical guidelines/year and per book chapter/year was not compared between periods due to the lack of publications.
Regarding the geographical scope of the studies, one was international (Jiaozuo, Henan province, China), twelve national, and seven at the regional level (    shows the main characteristics that they have had and the research topics that have been addressed for almost three decades. The growth in the production of scientific articles is highlighted, but also a decrease in technical guidelines and book chapters. The periods with a higher and intermediate production have been 2019-2021 (consolidation stage) and 2008-2019 (growth stage), respectively. The main subject of study has been conservation and dominated the research carried out at the national level. Most of the research has been published in national journals, most of which has been in the Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Forestales (formerly Revista Ciencia Forestal en Mexico). It is suggested to strengthen the research work carried out in this Center with other institutions and researchers to increase its impact in the coming years.