Publication ethics and malpractice statement

The Journal of Tourism and Development (JT&D), published bi-annually (January-June/July-December) by the University of Aveiro, has a governance body composed of two Editors-in-Chief, Associate Editors, Regional Editors and an Editorial Coordinator. It is an online, open-access scientific journal that follows a double-blind peer-review process. JT&D does not charge fees for manuscript submission and/or publication. Manuscripts can be submitted in English, Portuguese or Spanish. 

The guidelines presented in this document were developed by the Editorial Board of the Journal of Tourism & Development, based on recommendations from COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) and Elsevier. JT&D is responsible for their updating and safeguarding. This policy is freely accessible on the journal’s website, available in both Portuguese and English.

Since its establishment in 2004, JT&D has committed to scientific integrity by ensuring the ethical, rigorous, and transparent handling of submitted manuscripts. This commitment has supported the journal’s national and international recognition, reflected in the growth of the Scientific Reviewers Board and the inclusion of JT&D in high-impact indexing databases.

 

Publication frequency and attention to emerging topics
Issues range from a thematic issue or a collection of several topics within the journal’s aims and scope. The journal is published twice a year (semiannually). In certain years, a maximum of one special issue may be published to ensure the journal remains responsive to current and emerging topics.

Tourism is an extremely dynamic sector, with emerging areas of considerable interest, including technology, the environment, social conflicts, segregation phenomena, and armed conflicts. To address these developments, the journal may dedicate up to one special issue per year to such emerging topics.

In previous years, we have published issues linked to specific conferences, such as the major INVTUR conference, one of the world’s largest scientific conferences in the field of tourism, and an important platform for sharing cutting-edge research and innovative ideas. The journal is the sole publisher of the INVTUR International Conference proceedings. Publications arising from INVTUR are also intended to be integrated into the journal’s regular issues.

 

 

Objectives and ethical principles

One of its main goals is creating a neutral platform to analyse and debate tourism issues, based on scientific rigour, positioned at an international level. Therefore, all submitted articles are exclusively considered according to their originality, intellectual value and potential contribution to tourism literature. The authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethical origin, nationality and political affiliation are peremptorily excluded from any analysis.

JT&D has the duty to discontinue any material that is cancelled by the authors or rejected by the reviewers, without using it for own purposes or benefitting any third party.

From a transparency and objectivity perspective, JT&D Editorial Board publishes corrections and clarifications as well as public apologies whenever it is deemed necessary.

In conformity to the ethical standards and practices, respect for research development and core responsibility that lies in JT&D and the University of Aveiro, as the owner and editor of the journal - plagiarism, fraudulent information or other forms of unethical behaviour are unacceptable. If an article is found plagiarized, authors are directly accountable and not the JT&D. The journal reserves the right to take appropriate actions against any malpractice.

All articles submitted to the Journal of Tourism & Development are subject to similarity checks using the Turnitin tool. It is recommended that the total similarity level does not exceed 15%. In cases where similarity is between 15% and 25%, the article may be submitted to a more detailed analysis by the editorial team in order to assess the nature of the matching passages. Texts with higher percentages may be returned to the authors for revision or rejected, depending on the severity of the cases identified. We therefore advise authors to carry out a preliminary check before submission and to ensure the originality and academic integrity of their work.

 

Peer Review Policy

All manuscripts submitted to JT&D are subject to the double-blind peer-review process, where two reviewers evaluate and recommend if a paper should be accepted or rejected. In case of a profound discrepancy between the reports from two referees, another review shall be conducted by a third expert. Manuscripts are treated with the utmost confidentiality and the final publication decisions are made by the Editors-in-Chief, taking into consideration the reviewers’ reports and assurance that there are no conflicts of interest.

The general criteria for the acceptance of papers are:

  • Contribution to scientific knowledge in the field of tourism;
  • Adequate literature review;
  • Solid and scientifically accurate methodology;
  • Clear and logical writing style.

The overall recommendation regarding the submitted manuscript can be:

  • Accepted without changes.
  • Accepted with minor revisions.
  • Accepted with major revisions (re-review).
  • Rejected.

Usually, there are two rounds of revision, however, when needed, there can be more.

The objectivity of manuscript evaluation is guaranteed based on the following criteria:

  • Enhanced structure of the scientific work;
  • Clear, correct and written in standard English, Portuguese or Spanish language;
  • Relevance and novelty of the subject;
  • Coherent and well-defined objectives;
  • Appropriate references reflecting the state of the art;
  • Consistent and well-designed theoretical framework;
  • Clear methodology linked to the objectives of the work;
  • Data analysis consistent with the theoretical and methodological framework;
  • Final remarks consistent with the results and objectives; and
  • Scientific contribution to the tourism field.

Subsequent to review, authors accept or comment based on the recommendations by annexing a document file to the manuscript. Modifications to the manuscript structure or format are applied by the journal’s editorial staff, if necessary.

 

Archiving

The JT&D uses the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) system to ensure a secure and permanent archive for the journal’s safekeeping and restoration purposes.

Copyrights

The JT&D is distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

 

Responsabilities

1. Editors’ responsibilities

The JT&D Editorial Board has its main responsibilities:

  • To strive in meeting the needs of readers and authors, by ensuring the quality of the manuscripts and through constant improvement of the journal, in general.
  • To (i) reject any submitted manuscript, if it does not fit within the minimum criteria of a scientific article and inconsistent with the journal’s publishing guidelines; (ii) reject or accept a manuscript after passing both revision stages. The final publication decision is made by the Editors-in-Chief.
  • To inhibit any member from handling manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest—such as competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with the authors or affiliated institutions—the manuscript must be assigned to another member.
  • To ensure permanent confidentiality on manuscripts’ authorship, as well as anonymity of the evaluators who are members of the Review Board.
  • To administer the publication of accepted articles by defining the journal issue’s image, details and general design; assigning the Editorial preface’s inscription; suggesting administrative editorial proceedings, and initiating the introduction of advertising spaces.

The Editorial Board also has the responsibility to: (i) answer all requests and/or doubts from authors and reviewers, provided that those are related with the review process of the manuscripts or within the ethical conduct defined in this document; (ii) provide reviewers with the necessary tools to perform the review, namely files of the articles and complementary data (tables, figures, annexes, etc.) as well as evaluation forms; (iii) freely provide the journal’s publishing rules and the Submission Declaration, both in Portuguese and in English; and (iv) define and undertake the best promotion of the articles, and accordingly, of the published volumes.

Furthermore, material submitted to JT&D that is rejected from publication should not be used by the Editors in their own investigations without the authors’ formal consent. Privileged scientific information accessed through article revision should be kept under confidentiality and should not be used for own purposes.

After finding a mistake, the JT&D Editorial Board should promote the publication and disclosure of corrections or the statement and public revocation of lapses found, as well as the articles where those can be found.

2. Reviewer’s responsibilities

Reviewer’s main responsibilities include:

  • Advising the Editorial Board on the acceptance of submitted manuscripts. It is essential to include a general assessment of the quality, relevance, and coherence of the article.

  • Conducting an objective and constructive review within the specified deadline. Reviewers must act with impartiality, integrity, and scientific responsibility, providing courteous comments focused on improving the manuscript.

  • Completing the review forms provided by JT&D, using the language in which the article is written. Additionally, reviewers may use the track changes function to insert comments and suggestions directly into the manuscript.

  • Identifying and addressing any deficiencies or irregularities, offering a clear explanation to both the authors and the editor.

  • Respecting the confidentiality of the review process, and not disclosing or sharing any information about the manuscript. The content of rejected articles must not be used in the reviewer’s own research without the authors’ formal consent.

  • Being available to provide further clarification when reasonably and appropriately requested by the authors or the Editorial Board.

  • Notifying JT&D if they do not feel comfortable with the subject matter of the manuscript, or are unable to complete the review within the requested timeframe, providing a brief and respectful justification.

  • Declining to review manuscripts where a conflict of interest exists, in accordance with JT&D’s editorial policy.

  • Informing the editors if any plagiarism, duplicate publication, data manipulation, or other ethical concerns are detected in the manuscript.

  • Suggesting relevant bibliographic references, where appropriate, to enhance the theoretical or methodological framework of the article.

3. Publisher responsibilities

In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication or plagiarism, the publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and amend the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum, clarification or, in the most severe case, retraction of the affected work. The publisher, along with the editors, shall take reasonable steps in identifying and preventing the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred, and under no circumstances, encourage such misconduct to take place.

Besides, they have the duty to ensure permanent confidentiality on manuscripts’ authorship, as well as anonymity of the evaluators that sit on the Review Board.

 

Authors

1. Responsabilities and rights

Authors’ main responsibilities include:

  • Affirming that the manuscript has not been previously published (except as an extended abstract, a conference communication or an academic thesis) and is not under consideration for publication in any other journal.
  • Ensuring the submission is authorised by the responsible authorities or institutions where the research work was conducted.
  • Ensuring the veracity and authenticity of the manipulated and reported data in a coherent and respectful way, in order to generate tourism knowledge.
  • Disclosing any conflict of interest, real or potential, including any relationship (financial, personal, or other) with people or organisations that could inappropriately influence their work.
  • Making amendments if requested by the panel of referees assigned to the manuscript or by the Editorial Board.
  • Completing the Copyright Transfer Declaration form available on the journal’s website, where all authors transfer their respective copyrights in favour of JT&D. From the moment of submission, JT&D owns the publishing rights, so if the article is accepted, it cannot be published in any other media, printed or electronic, or in any other language, without the written consent of JT&D.

Authors’ rights include the following:

  • Disclosuring of the article on a personal or institutional level, for research and teaching purposes.
  • Holding patents, trademarks and other intellectual property rights (including raw survey data).
  • Receiving appropriate attribution for the authorship of the work.
  • Being able to withdraw the article from publication until the start of the second phase of the double-blind review process.

 2. Use of Inclusive Language

Authors are expected to use inclusive language throughout their manuscript. This means avoiding biased, stereotypical, or discriminatory expressions and ensuring the language respects diversity and promotes equality. Gender-neutral terms should be preferred, and references to personal attributes such as age, race, or disability should only be included when relevant. Offensive or outdated terminology should be replaced with more appropriate and respectful alternatives. For instance, it is preferable to use “person with a disability” instead of “handicapped,” “Asian” rather than “Oriental,” “undocumented migrant” in place of “illegal immigrant,” “workforce” instead of “manpower,” and “chairperson” rather than “chairman.”

 3. Use of Generative AI in the Writing Process

Authors who use generative artificial intelligence (AI) or AI-assisted technologies during the writing process must do so solely to improve the readability and language of their manuscript. The use of such tools must be carried out under human oversight, and the authors are fully responsible for reviewing and editing the content to ensure accuracy, completeness, and integrity, as AI-generated outputs may be incorrect, biased, or misleading.

AI tools must not be credited as authors or co-authors, nor cited as sources. Authorship implies accountability and contribution that only human authors can fulfil, in line with current ethical standards and editorial policies.

Authors must disclose in their manuscript any use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in the writing process. A corresponding statement will appear in the final published version. Please note that the authors remain fully responsible and accountable for the content of the work.

Authors must disclose the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references, etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.

 4. Appeals and Reconsideration Process

Authors who wish to challenge a decision to reject their manuscript may submit a formal request for reconsideration. This must be done by submitting a letter to the handling editor within 30 days of receiving the rejection notification. The letter should clearly outline the reasons for the appeal, including well-founded arguments and, where applicable, any revisions or additional clarifications to the manuscript.

The request will be reviewed by the editorial coordinator, as well as the editor-in-chief, who may seek a further peer review or consult the original reviewers. A final decision will then be communicated to the authors.

This process ensures transparency and fairness, providing authors with the opportunity to present their case before a final determination is made.

 5. Notification of Fundamental Errors

If an author identifies a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, it is their obligation to promptly inform the journal’s editor. The author must cooperate fully with any necessary correction or retraction process deemed appropriate by the editor.

If the editor or publisher is informed of a potential error by a third party, the author is expected to collaborate and provide supporting evidence or clarification as requested, to ensure the integrity of the scholarly record.

 

Procedures for dealing with unethical behaviour

In the event of a complaint or detection of plagiarism, duplicate submission, data manipulation, or disagreement from the authors regarding publication, the Editorial Board of JT&D will adopt the following procedures:

  • Assess the nature of the allegation or suspicion, taking into account the circumstances and specificities of the case.

  • Contact the author(s) concerned by the complaint or suspicion.

  • Investigate the truthfulness and severity of the possible ethical violation, conducting a careful, impartial analysis in accordance with the principles of integrity set out in this document.

  • Apply the measure or procedure deemed most appropriate to the situation in question.

Misconduct and unethical behaviour may be identified and reported to the Editorial Board at any time, by any individual.

The party reporting the situation to the editor must provide sufficient information and evidence to enable an investigation to be initiated. All allegations should be taken seriously and treated fairly and consistently until a well-founded decision or conclusion is reached.

For the final decision, the Editor-in-Chief should consult with the publisher whenever deemed appropriate. Evidence must be gathered rigorously, and the dissemination of allegations should be restricted to those who strictly need to be informed.

Minor breaches

Minor misconduct shall be dealt without the need to consult more widely. In any event, the author must be given the opportunity to respond to any allegation.

Serious breaches

In cases of serious misconduct, it may be necessary to notify the employer(s) of the individual(s) concerned.
The decision to involve the employer(s) shall rest with the Editor-in-Chief, in consultation with the publisher,  based on the analysis of the available evidence and/or consultation with a limited number of experts.

If plagiarism or self-plagiarism is confirmed, the editors reserve the right to implement the following measures, either individually or cumulatively:

  • Formally retract the published article.

  • Publish a statement of clarification regarding the retracted article.

  • Disseminate information about the case on the journal’s official website or in the following issue.

  • Include a link to the original source. The link to the retracted article shall be updated to include the statement of clarification. The article may remain accessible if it is deemed to contribute to readers’ understanding of the matter.

  • Publish an editorial dedicated to the analysis and discussion of the case.

  • Consider the refusal of future submissions from the author(s) involved.

 

Article withdrawal

Authors have the right to cancel the submission of the article and ask Editors to withdraw it, unless it is undergoing the second phase of the revision process. Cancellation must be properly explained by writing, via email, with justification.

For articles that have been accepted for publication but have not yet been formally published and those unpublished having complete details such as volume and pages, only the Editorial Board can initiate the decision process for its withdrawal. This decision may occur due to issues related to ethical lapses.

Further authorship and publishing information can be found here .

 

Declaration of Competing Interests and Ethical Standards

Competing Interests – Authors, Editors, and Reviewers

All authors, editors, and reviewers must declare any financial or personal relationships that could be perceived as potential influences on the content or outcome of the manuscript’s review and publication process.

Authors must include in the manuscript a statement disclosing any financial or personal relationships with individuals or institutions that may influence — or appear to influence — the work presented.

All sources of funding must be clearly identified, as well as the specific role (if any) of the funding body or bodies in the study design, data collection and analysis, interpretation of results, manuscript writing, and the decision to submit the work for publication. If the funders had no involvement, this must be explicitly stated.

Examples of potential conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to: employment relationships, consultancy roles, company shareholdings, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patents, and financial support or research grants.

Management of Competing Interests

To ensure impartiality and transparency in the editorial process, the journal carefully reviews all declared competing interests and implements measures to mitigate any potential undue influence. Reviewers or editors with relevant conflicts are recused from handling the affected manuscripts. Where appropriate, relevant competing interest declarations will be published alongside the article. This policy guarantees that all editorial decisions are made with fairness and objectivity.