1- Preliminary evaluation of the manuscript by the executive director
After registering the manuscript in the system by the author/authors, the manuscript is first reviewed by the executive director in general and in terms of structure. In the preliminary review, some manuscripts are rejected due to the lack of relevance and the necessary criteria, and only manuscripts that meet the following conditions are sent for the specialized review:
• Be consistent with the aims and vision of the journal.
• The articlemanuscript should be eligible for submission to the review process in terms of content and scientific quality.
• The structure of the manuscript should be based on the writing style and the author’s guide form.
• Be innovative and use up-to-date sources.
2- Specialized review of the article
The manuscript, after the preliminary review by the executive director, the manuscript is sent to two reviewers related to the field of the manuscript for scientific and specialized review, while maintaining confidentiality and without the name of the authors. In fact, the review process is double-blind. It means that the authors and reviewers do not know each other’s names. Based on the results of the review and in accordance with the opinion of the editorial board, some manuscripts may also be sent to a maximum of 3 reviewers. In this case, the review process may take longer. Then the editor-in-chief, along with other members of the editorial board, reviews the manuscript based on the expert opinions of the reviewers and their explanations.
3- Final decision
• Acceptance: Based on the opinions of the reviewers, some manuscripts are accepted and prublished without any changes.
• Minor revision and acceptance: Some manuscripts are published by considering minor revision suggested by the editorial board or reviewers. At this time, the manuscript is sent to the author/authors for minor reviosion and then the manuscript is accepted.
• Major revision and re-review: Some other articles are accepted by considering major revision and general revision: In such cases, the author/authors must apply the changes suggested in the text of the manuscript by the reviewers and upload the revised manuscript again. After this stage, the manuscript is sent to the reviewers for re-examination.
• Rejection of the manuscript: Some manuscripts are rejected after review due to content and quality. Dear authors, please note that the review and revision do not necessarily mean the acceptance of the manuscript. The manuscript will be reviewed by the editor-in-chief and the editorial board after the revision and will be published if it obtains the necessary score in the publication process. It should be noted that in case of initial acceptance (scientific), sending an English abstract (300 words) is mandatory and the respected authors should pay attention to this important point that at any stage of printing and publishing the article, if the corresponding author does not revise and submit his/her manuscript according to the journal’s schedule, it will be rejected even in case of initial acceptance.
Payment of authors: The Journal of Geography and Regional Development does not receive any money from the authors for the initial review of the manuscripts. But manuscripts that are accepted after going through the review process must pay three million and five hundred thousand Rials for the editing and publishing costs of the articles.
