Journal of Chinese Ecotourism is a prestigious academic publication sponsored by the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS. It is published bi-monthly, typically in the middle to late period of even-numbered month. The journal focuses on addressing significant theoretical, practical, and policy issues pertinent to the development of ecotourism and the establishment of tourism ecology. By emphasizing theoretical exploration, policy guidance, and practical applicability, the journal features academic articles in various ecotourism-related fields such as ecotourism, tourism environment, tourism resources, and tourism geography. The journal is committed to serving as an academic platform for disseminating original contributions in the realm of tourism.
1. Scope
Our journal welcomes original research papers characterized by innovation, high standards, and substantial significance, along with literature reviews and informative articles that reflect the latest developments in the field. Submissions should present clear viewpoints, comprehensive evidence, reliable data, well-structured content, and logical coherence. We offer 20 distinct columns for articles (please refer to the Sections and Columns). The submitted manuscript should follow the requirement of the corresponding column and address specific issues about theories or practices around tourism science.
2. Submission Requirements and Notes
(1) The manuscript title should be concise and accurate, avoiding the use of abbreviations and limited to 25 Chinese characters. Papers, research reports, and reviews typically should not exceed 15 pages. Please include a Chinese abstract of approximately 300 characters, along with 4 to 8 keywords. The abstract should succinctly outline the research objectives, methods, and primary conclusions. The English abstract should correspond to the Chinese version and should not exceed 300 words.
(2) Anonymous submission: For online submission, please ensure that the manuscript does not include any personal information such as names, affiliations, addresses, postal codes, author biographies, funding projects, etc. Any inclusion of such personal information may lead to automatic rejection during the preliminary review. Please accurately provide all authors’ names upon submission (usually no more than 6 authors and the first and corresponding authors cannot be changed after submission), DOB, professional titles, academic degrees, phone numbers, emails, fields of expertise, and other relevant details in the system. If any authors are already registered in the system, please verify and provide the same information as before, particularly regarding names, phone numbers, emails, and other contact details.
(3) The paper should adhere to the formatting guidelines outlined in the national standard GB7713-87: Presentation of Scientific and technical reports, dissertations and scientific papers, utilizing Arabic numerals for classification and numbering. Usage of quantities, units, and symbols in the text must conform to both international and national standards. Names of individuals from abroad and terminologies should be consistently presented in English. In general, the number of decimal places for numerical values should not exceed 3 digits unless there are specific circumstances.
(4) Figures, tables, and equations/formulas should be sequentially numbered throughout the manuscript. Captions for figures and tables should be provided in both Chinese and English. Tables should be formatted using the three-line table format, with content presented in Chinese. For detailed requirements, please refer to the “Guidelines for Manuscript Preparation”, available for download on our journal's website.
(5) References: Follow the national standard GB/T 7714-2005: Rules for content, form and structure of bibliographic references. Chinese references must be accompanied by English translations. References should be cited sequentially in the text using superscript numbers in the upper right corner. List only the first three authors followed by “et al.”, and include classification identifiers. For specific guidelines, please consult “GB/T 7714-2005: Rules for content, form and structure of bibliographic references, or download the “Guidelines for Manuscript Preparation” from our journal’s website.
(6) This journal accepts online submissions (http://www.zgstly.net) in Word format, with a file size not exceeding 10 MB.
(7) Maps included in the manuscript must utilize the standard map base provided by the Ministry of Natural Resources (download link: http://bzdt.nasg.gov.cn/index.jsp). Beneath the map caption, please include the following note: “Note: This map was created using the standard map downloaded from the Ministry of Natural Resources’ standard map service website, with approval number GS(2016)xxxx. The base map remains unaltered.”
Special reminder: Limit the use of world and national maps in the manuscript whenever possible, and opt for tables where appropriate.
3. Submission Agreement
(1) Original manuscripts must not have been previously published in any domestic or international journals. This journal strictly prohibits simultaneous submissions, repeated submissions of identical content, or duplicate submissions in different languages. In the event of such occurrences detected, manuscripts will be rejected, and the author’s institution, as well as relevant tourism journals, will be notified. Submissions from the author in question will not be considered for future publication. In addition, this journal does not accept manuscripts returned from other publications without significant modifications.
(2) This journal operates under a review system comprising “preliminary review by the editorial board→peer review by experts→re-evaluation by responsible editors→final review by the chief editor”. Each stage of the review process typically takes 3-4 weeks to complete (with extensions during statutory holidays). Authors may request to withdraw their submission at any stage of the review process (provided they promptly inform the editorial board). However, authors are not allowed to submit their manuscript to another journal within the agreed-upon timeframe (i.e., simultaneous submissions are prohibited). Manuscripts may only be submitted to other journals after the agreed-upon timeframe has elapsed or after a withdrawal declaration has been made. Following the completion of the preliminary review and before the manuscript is sent for peer review, authors will receive an email notification to pay the processing fee. Once the processing fee is received, the manuscript will be forwarded for expert review.
(3) During the manuscript revision, if the deadline of 30 days is exceeded, the editorial board will consider the date of the author’s resubmission of the revised manuscript as the submission date. If the deadline of 30 days is exceeded, the editorial board reserves the right to reject the manuscript.
(4) Authors bear full responsibility for the content of their submissions. The editorial board reserves the right to make technical and stylistic modifications to manuscripts, and substantive content changes may be made with the author's consent.
(5) Once a paper is published, authors are responsible for its content and its consequences. In manuscripts with multiple authors, the first author bears direct responsibility. If the first author lacks the qualifications or ability to assume responsibility, their supervising teacher or project leader should be listed as the corresponding author and bear the corresponding responsibility.
(6) After a paper is published, it may not be republished in other journals or any other publicly available mediums (including print, CDs, various digital platforms, and online). If included in personal compilations or collections (including web pages), the source and format of the paper must be indicated.
(7) Electronic copies of all submissions will be permanently retained by the journal. Authors can log in to the website to access and download their submissions at any time. However, the journal cannot guarantee the absolute security of website data and does not assume corresponding storage responsibilities. Authors are advised to make backups of their submissions when submitting.
(8) Authors will receive remuneration after their papers are published (including compensation for online versions). The current standard rate is 50 RMB per page, along with three complimentary copies of the current issue of the journal.
(9) This journal is indexed in databases such as CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), China-Journal Net, China Academic Journals (CD Edition), and the Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database. The remuneration provided by this journal includes the fee for digital copyright usage, and no additional payment will be made. By submitting manuscripts to this journal, authors agree to have their papers included in the aforementioned databases for dissemination purposes.
(10) Upon acceptance for publication, the rights to digitally replicate, distribute, compile, and disseminate the paper are transferred to the editorial board of the Journal of Chinese Ecotourism.
4. Fees
(1) Manuscript processing fee (review fee): 300 RMB per article.
(2) Publication fee: 200 RMB per page. For articles requiring color images or photographs, an additional fee of 600 RMB per page will be charged for color image preparation and printing.
5. Manuscript Processing
(1) Submission: Manuscripts should be submitted via the journal’s website. An email confirmation will be sent upon successful submission.
(2) Receipt: Upon receipt, the editorial board will assign a manuscript number and send the information to the author via email.
(3) Preliminary review: The editorial board will conduct a preliminary review. If the manuscript is accepted, it will proceed to external review. Authors will be notified to pay a 300 RMB review fee at this stage. If failed in the preliminary review, the manuscript will be rejected without any charge incurred.
(4) External review: The manuscript will be sent for anonymous review by two experts.
(5) Re-evaluation: Manuscripts with recommendations for revisions and re-evaluation will be sent for review again after revisions.
(6) Final review: The final decision will be made by the chief editor or associate editor and board members designated by the chief editor, considering external review comments and revisions. The decision may be accepted, publication after revision, re-review after revision, or rejection.
(7) Editorial board review: Accepted manuscripts will undergo a comprehensive review by the responsible editor. If any issues are identified, authors will be notified to make improvements.
(8) Final manuscript approval by the responsible editor: Authors will receive an electronic acceptance notification for manuscripts accepted after the final review and revision. Upon receiving the notification, authors must return the final manuscript and copyright transfer agreement via email.
(9) Soliciting contributions and publication: Accepted manuscripts will be included in a specific issue based on the requirement of soliciting contributions. The responsible editor will conduct editing and processing, notify authors accordingly, and request authors to thoroughly review (three rounds of proofreading) before publication. Authors will be notified to pay the publication fee based on typesetting requirements at this stage.
For detailed information on formatting and other matters, new authors are highly encouraged to visit the “Download Center” on the journal’s website and download the “Guidelines for Manuscript Preparation”, “Guidelines for Writing English Abstracts”, and “Requirements for Figure Preparation”. Please read these documents carefully. If you have any further questions about the submission process, feel free to contact the editorial board.