1. Journal Scope and Article Types

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Download the Manuscript Template (.docx)