Tourist Destination (TD) maintains a clearly defined editorial structure designed to ensure academic quality, editorial independence, transparency, accountability, and consistency throughout the manuscript evaluation and publication process.
Editorial decisions are based exclusively on the academic merit, originality, methodological quality, relevance, clarity, ethical compliance, and contribution of submitted manuscripts to the scope of the journal. Decisions are made independently of commercial, institutional, personal, political, or other external considerations.
The Editor-in-Chief has overall responsibility for the academic and editorial direction of the journal and for ensuring that editorial policies are consistently implemented.
The Editor-in-Chief:
oversees the overall editorial process and scientific quality of the journal;
ensures that submitted manuscripts are evaluated in accordance with the journal's aims, scope, ethical standards, and peer-review policies;
may conduct or supervise the initial editorial assessment of submitted manuscripts;
may assign manuscripts to the Associate Editor or another qualified Editorial Board Member for further handling;
ensures that appropriate and independent reviewers are selected;
evaluates reviewer reports and editorial recommendations;
makes or confirms the final editorial decision on manuscripts, except where a conflict of interest requires recusal;
ensures consistency, fairness, confidentiality, and academic integrity throughout the editorial process;
oversees the implementation and development of editorial, ethical, and publication policies.
The Editor-in-Chief may delegate manuscript-handling responsibilities but retains overall responsibility for the integrity of the journal's editorial processes.
The Associate Editor supports the Editor-in-Chief in the scientific and editorial management of the journal and may independently handle manuscripts assigned by the Editor-in-Chief.
The Associate Editor may:
conduct preliminary editorial evaluations;
assess the suitability of manuscripts for the journal's scope;
recommend desk rejection where a manuscript clearly fails to meet the journal's scientific, ethical, methodological, or formal requirements;
identify and invite qualified reviewers;
monitor the peer-review process;
assess reviewer reports and author revisions;
provide an editorial recommendation regarding acceptance, revision, or rejection;
make editorial decisions when formally delegated by the Editor-in-Chief;
assume responsibility for manuscripts where the Editor-in-Chief has a conflict of interest.
When acting as handling editor, the Associate Editor exercises independent academic judgment and is expected to comply with the same confidentiality, impartiality, and conflict-of-interest standards applicable to the Editor-in-Chief.
Editorial Board Members contribute to the scientific quality, disciplinary coverage, and academic development of the journal.
Depending on their expertise and availability, Editorial Board Members may:
advise the Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editor on matters related to journal scope and academic standards;
conduct preliminary assessments of manuscripts;
serve as handling editors where appropriate;
recommend qualified reviewers;
provide expert advice on complex methodological, theoretical, ethical, or disciplinary matters;
contribute to the periodic review and development of journal policies;
support the maintenance of international academic standards.
Editorial Board membership does not automatically confer authority to make final decisions on every manuscript. Decision-making authority is exercised only where such responsibility has been formally assigned.
The Language Editor supports the linguistic and stylistic quality of manuscripts that have successfully completed the scientific evaluation process.
The Language Editor may review manuscripts for:
grammar and language accuracy;
academic writing quality;
clarity and readability;
consistency of terminology;
stylistic conformity with journal standards.
The Language Editor does not evaluate the scientific merit of manuscripts and does not participate in acceptance or rejection decisions unless separately appointed to an editorial role for which they are academically qualified.
Language editing must not alter the scientific meaning, interpretation, argumentation, or findings of a manuscript without consultation with the authors or responsible editor.
The Social Media Editor is responsible for supporting the dissemination and public visibility of published journal content through appropriate communication channels.
The Social Media Editor may:
promote newly published articles, issues, calls, and journal announcements;
support the responsible communication of scholarly content to wider academic and professional audiences;
contribute to the journal's digital visibility and engagement strategy.
The Social Media Editor has no role in peer review, manuscript evaluation, or editorial decision-making unless separately appointed to another editorial position.
All submitted manuscripts are subject to an initial editorial assessment before external peer review.
At this stage, the responsible editor may assess:
conformity with the journal's aims and scope;
originality and academic relevance;
basic methodological adequacy;
compliance with ethical requirements;
adherence to submission and formatting requirements;
similarity and plagiarism screening reports;
overall suitability for external peer review.
A manuscript may be rejected without external peer review when it is clearly outside the scope of the journal, lacks sufficient academic quality or originality, contains serious methodological deficiencies, violates publication ethics, or fails to meet fundamental journal requirements.
Such decisions are editorial decisions and are not based solely on numerical similarity scores, formatting deficiencies, or other mechanical indicators.
Manuscripts that successfully pass the initial editorial assessment are normally evaluated through double-blind peer review by at least two independent reviewers with appropriate subject expertise.
The responsible editor considers the reviewer reports together with their own academic assessment of the manuscript.
Reviewer recommendations are advisory rather than determinative. Reviewers do not make the final editorial decision.
Where reviewer reports substantially conflict, the responsible editor may:
conduct an additional editorial assessment;
request clarification from one or more reviewers;
invite an additional independent reviewer;
request further revision from the authors;
make a reasoned editorial judgment based on the available evidence.
Editorial decisions must therefore reflect a holistic assessment of the manuscript rather than a mechanical aggregation of reviewer recommendations.
Following peer review, the responsible editor may issue one of the following decisions:
Accept;
Minor Revision;
Major Revision;
Reject.
Where necessary, additional rounds of peer review or editorial assessment may be conducted before a final decision is reached.
Acceptance requires that the manuscript satisfy the journal's standards concerning originality, academic contribution, methodological quality, ethical compliance, clarity, and relevance to the journal's scope.
The final decision must be based on the complete editorial record, including the manuscript, reviewer reports, author responses, revisions, and any relevant ethical or methodological considerations.
Editors must not participate in the evaluation or decision-making process for manuscripts where an actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest may compromise editorial independence.
A conflict of interest may arise where a manuscript:
is authored or co-authored by an editor;
is authored by a close collaborator, supervisor, student, colleague, family member, or other person with whom the editor has a relationship that could reasonably affect impartiality;
involves an institution, project, financial interest, or professional relationship directly connected to the editor;
presents any other circumstance that may reasonably create doubt regarding editorial independence.
Where the Editor-in-Chief has a conflict of interest, the manuscript is assigned to the Associate Editor or another suitably qualified and independent Editorial Board Member.
Where the Associate Editor or another handling editor has a conflict of interest, responsibility is transferred to another independent editor.
The conflicted editor must not:
select reviewers;
access confidential reviewer identities where anonymity applies;
influence the editorial assessment;
participate in correspondence concerning the decision;
make or approve the final editorial decision.
The journal applies the same principles to manuscripts submitted by Editorial Board Members or individuals connected to the publisher.
Editors and Editorial Board Members are not prohibited from submitting manuscripts to Tourist Destination; however, such submissions must be handled through an editorial process fully independent of the author-editor.
The submitting editor or board member must have no involvement in reviewer selection, peer-review management, editorial correspondence, or decision-making concerning their own manuscript.
The manuscript must be assigned to an independent editor who has no relevant conflict of interest.
Editorial status must not provide any advantage in the evaluation, peer-review, acceptance, publication timing, or treatment of a manuscript.
Editorial decisions are made independently from ownership, publishing administration, financial considerations, sponsorship, advertising, institutional relationships, or other non-academic interests.
The publisher does not intervene in the scientific evaluation or acceptance and rejection of individual manuscripts.
Where one individual holds both a publishing and an editorial role, decisions concerning individual manuscripts must be made solely in the person's editorial capacity and in accordance with the journal's established editorial policies, peer-review procedures, and conflict-of-interest safeguards.
Where such dual responsibility creates an actual or perceived conflict of interest, the manuscript must be transferred to an independent editor.
Editors and Editorial Board Members must maintain the confidentiality of all unpublished manuscripts, reviewer reports, editorial correspondence, author information, and other confidential materials obtained during the editorial process.
Information obtained through manuscript evaluation must not be used for personal, academic, commercial, or competitive advantage.
Editorial decisions should be academically justified, procedurally consistent, and supported by the available evidence.
The journal maintains appropriate records of editorial decisions, reviewer reports, author revisions, and relevant editorial correspondence.
Where concerns regarding an editorial decision, peer-review process, conflict of interest, or publication ethics arise, the matter will be reviewed in accordance with the journal's relevant policies and internationally recognized principles of publication ethics.
Tourist Destination is committed to ensuring that editorial authority is exercised responsibly, independently, transparently, and consistently in order to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.
