Peer Review Process

1. The Journal of Geography and Sustainability of Environment is a publication which has adopted peer review and open access policies in line with international publishing standards. Accordingly, the journal employs a double blind peer review process in which the identity of the authors and the reviewers  is not revealed to the other party. This measure is taken to ensure that the manuscripts are reviewed purely in terms of scientific merit and without any bias or prejudice.

2.The esteemed authors are required to read the authors' guide in journal website before submission of their work and structure the article carefully on the basis of the guide and then submit it.

3. After submission, the editor-in-chief would review the article for its compliance with all the principles which have been laid out in the authors' guide. Articles which are not in line with the journal's scope and objectives or which diverge substantially from the writing conventions of this publication are promptly excluded from the review process; however, if the manuscript is found to be in line with the journal objectives and its structure be modifiable, the editors or the editor-in-chief would review it and notify the authors about the areas which need modification. This step would usually take about seven to ten days. After the authors make the required modifications, if the editor-in-chief is convinced that they have seriously addressed the problem areas and the manuscript could be further refined with the guidance provided throughout the review process, he/she would allow the manuscript to undergo the review process.

4. The article review process includes the following steps:

- The manuscript will be sent to two reviewers and the reviewers will have one month to offer their comments on the manuscript.

- If two reviewers reject the article, the article will be rejected.

- If a reviewer suggests a major revision and the other rejects the article, the article will be rejected.

- If a reviewer suggests minor revisions to the manuscript but the other rejects the article, the manuscript will be sent to a third reviewer and with the consideration of his/her evaluation, the fate of the manuscript will be decided on the basis of what was expressed in the above two paragraphs.

- If the two reviewers both suggest major revisions to the manuscript, the manuscript will be returned to the authors and they will have 15 days to implement the revisions and modifications. When the manuscript is revised by the authors and re-submitted to the journal, it will be sent to the reviewers and they will have 15 days to re-evaluate and re-consider the manuscript.

- If a reviewer votes for a major revision and the other for a minor revision, the article will be returned to the authors and they will have 15 days to revise it and implement the required changes. When the manuscript is revised and resubmitted to the journal, it will be sent to the reviewer who suggested a major revision and he/she will have 15 days to re-assess the manuscript.

- If both reviewers suggest minor revisions, the manuscript will be sent to the authors to revise it within 10 days. After the revision, with the approval of the editor-in-chief and the editorial board or the editors, the manuscript could be accepted for publication.

- Every week, a reminder email will be sent to the reviewers, and if the manuscript is not reviewed after one month, it will be withdrawn from the reviewer and sent to another reviewer. Considering the reviewers' comments and requirements for modification and the authors' speed and accuracy in carrying out the modifications, it would take authors three to four months to obtain an acceptance for publication for their manuscript (provided that final approval of the reviewers is obtained).

5. Upon acceptance, the authors are required to pay a publication fee of two million (2,000,000) Rials to cover the review costs and a part of the publication costs. If the manuscript exceeds fifteen pages, for each extra page the authors must pay two hundred thousand (200,000) Rials.