Prospects of research on cable logging in forest engineering community

An analysis about researches on cable logging carried out in the past 12 years (2000-2011) as found in the scientific literature at international level is proposed in order to evaluate which have been the main topics of interest of the researchers and to evaluate the evolution of the research in the field of cable logging in the next future. International scientific literature on cable logging was extracted from main database, scientific journals and conferences proceedings on forest engineering. A total of 244 references were retrieved and used to create a library implemented in Thompson Reuter EndNote® software. The analysis of the references through the use of some descriptors has allowed to define that in the period 2000-2011 most of the attention of forest engineers interested in cable logging was attracted by the study of the efficiency of the cable system, followed by the study and the analysis of the impact produced or derived on the environmental components by the use of cable logging. Cable system simulation has played an important role, especially because of the variety of methodologies developed by forest engineers. Even if the number of references indicates some interest in cable system mechanics, most of the references deal with studies and tests about ropes, mainly synthetic ones. Carriage, yarders and supports seem to have been less attractive as objects of study. Ergonomics and safety in the field of cable logging have revealed a growing attention especially in the recent years, while education and training were nearly lacking of interest. Starting from such considerations some prospects of the cable logging research for the next future were envisaged