A Complete Guide to Preparing and Submitting Your Manuscript
The Mustansiriyah Journal of Sustainable Tourism Sciences (MJSTS) invites researchers to submit original work in accordance with the detailed guidelines below, aligned with best practice among leading Scopus Q1 journals in tourism and hospitality, and consistent with the journal Publication Ethics policy. Please read this guide carefully before submission to maximize your manuscript chance of acceptance and a smooth review process.
The journal publishes original research within sustainable and eco-tourism, hospitality and hotel management, tourism marketing and economics, tourism planning and development, heritage and cultural tourism, human-resource management in tourism, tourism policy and entrepreneurship, and digital transformation in tourism. Accepted article types are: full original research articles (4,000-8,000 words including references and tables), comprehensive review articles (up to 9,000 words), and short papers/research notes (up to 3,000 words) presenting preliminary findings or new methodological proposals.
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2. Initial Screening Criteria
All manuscripts undergo an editorial desk review to verify fit with the journal scope, soundness of the study design, clarity of the research problem, and compliance with minimum scholarly and linguistic quality standards. The editorial board may desk-reject a manuscript without sending it to peer review if these standards are not met, if it falls outside the journal scope, or if it does not comply with the authorship guidelines below.
To maximize your chances of passing initial screening, ensure the title is concise, the abstract can stand alone, and the argument and methodology are coherent and clearly articulated.
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3. Peer Review Process
The journal follows a double-blind peer review process involving at least two reviewers with relevant subject-matter expertise. The average time to an initial editorial decision is approximately two weeks from submission, while full peer review typically takes six to eight weeks. Authors may submit a formal appeal against an editorial decision following the procedure described in the Complaints and Appeals section below.
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4. Manuscript Structure and Formatting
Manuscripts should be submitted in Word format (.doc/.docx), single to double line spacing, using Times New Roman or an equivalent 12-point font, with a separate title page (containing the article title, author names and affiliations, and the corresponding author) apart from the anonymized manuscript body, in support of the double-blind review policy. As the journal is bilingual, an abstract of 150-250 words is required in both Arabic and English, along with 4 to 6 keywords. The body should be organized into: introduction, theoretical framework/literature review, methodology, results and discussion, and conclusion and recommendations, with tables and figures numbered sequentially and cited within the text.
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5. Citations and References (APA)
The journal follows the American Psychological Association (APA) 7th edition style for in-text citations and the reference list. References should be arranged alphabetically by the first author's surname, with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) included where available. All in-text citations must correspond to the reference list, and all data sources and quotations must be accurately and completely documented.
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6. Authorship and Contribution
Authorship criteria follow the journal's Publication Ethics policy (ICMJE criteria): a substantial contribution to study design, data collection, or analysis; participation in drafting or critically revising the manuscript; and final approval of the submitted version. Corresponding authors are encouraged to clarify each author's contribution using CRediT roles at submission, such as study design, data collection, statistical analysis, and writing and review.
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7. Conflicts of Interest, Funding and AI Use
Any research funding source and any potential financial or personal conflict of interest must be disclosed, consistent with the Publication Ethics policy. Where generative AI tools were used to draft portions of the text, this must be explicitly disclosed in a dedicated section before the reference list, with authors retaining full responsibility for the accuracy and originality of the content; no AI tool may be listed as an author or contributor.
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8. Publication Fees, Open Access and Copyright
All articles are published under full open access immediately upon acceptance, under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, allowing reading, downloading, and distribution with proper attribution to the authors. Publication fees are 150,000 IQD for researchers within Iraq (up to 25 pages) plus 3,000 IQD per additional page, or USD 150 for researchers outside Iraq plus USD 2 per additional page, payable only after final acceptance of the article.
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9. Complaints and Appeals
The journal provides a formal channel for complaints regarding the conduct of the editorial board or reviewers, as well as for appeals against editorial decisions, via the Editor-in-Chief's official email. For full details on the handling procedure and response timeframe, please refer to the Complaints and Appeals section within the journal's complete Publication Ethics policy.
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10. Manuscript Template and Final Checklist
To facilitate preparing your manuscript in the required format, the journal provides a downloadable Word template including the title page and the full article structure. Before submitting, please confirm that: the manuscript complies with the authorship guidelines above; it has not been previously published or submitted elsewhere; all references are accurate and complete; all tables and figures are numbered and clearly captioned; and any necessary permissions for third-party images, data, or materials have been obtained.
For any inquiry regarding submission or manuscript status, please contact the journal editorial office via its official email. We look forward to receiving your scholarly contributions in sustainable tourism, hospitality, and development.
Last reviewed: August 2026
Submission Preparation Checklist
All submissions must meet the following requirements before being sent for peer review:
This submission meets the scope requirements and word-count limits outlined in the Author Guidelines.
This work has not been previously published and is not currently under consideration by any other journal or publisher.
The submission file includes an abstract in both Arabic and English (150-250 words each) and 4-6 keywords.
The title page and author details have been separated from the main manuscript file, in support of the double-blind review policy.
All references have been checked for accuracy and completeness and follow the APA (7th edition) style.
All tables and figures are numbered sequentially and referenced within the text.
Any conflicts of interest, funding sources, and use of generative AI tools in preparing the text have been disclosed.
Each author's contribution has been clarified in line with ICMJE/CRediT criteria (see Section 6 of the Author Guidelines).
The corresponding author agrees to the journal's CC BY 4.0 open-access terms and publication-fee policy.