Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism: Scopus, Scope & Submission Guide
Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism (JORT) is an Elsevier journal for peer-reviewed research on outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism, particularly work that connects social-science or natural-resource questions with planning, management, design, policy, and sustainable use of outdoor settings. For researchers evaluating the journal, the most important questions are not only whether it is indexed, but whether the manuscript clearly fits this applied interdisciplinary mission and satisfies the journal's article-type and double-anonymized submission requirements.
Quick Answer: What Is Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism?
Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism is an international, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary journal published by Elsevier. Its official scope focuses on outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism in settings ranging from wilderness and protected areas to urban outdoor recreation opportunities. The journal welcomes fundamental and applied work, but expects a clear relationship to outdoor recreation or nature-based tourism and an explanation of why the findings matter to managers, planners, designers, or policymakers.
Elsevier's current journal pages list the journal in Scopus and the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). The supplied source record identifies Scopus Source ID 21100255547. As of this guide's preparation date, Elsevier displays a 7.6 CiteScore and a 4.4 Impact Factor. Because metrics and database classifications change, researchers should verify the live journal profile before using any metric or quartile as evidence for a university, promotion, funding, or PhD requirement.
The journal may be a strong candidate for researchers whose work addresses recreation experiences, visitor behavior, tourism in natural settings, protected-area use, outdoor leisure planning, sustainable tourism, visitor management, recreation policy, or related social-ecological questions. A manuscript that mentions tourism only incidentally, or that lacks an outdoor/nature-based recreation connection, may be less well aligned even if it belongs broadly to tourism or management research.
Key Takeaways
- Publisher: Elsevier; the official journal platform is ScienceDirect.
- Identifiers: Print ISSN 2213-0780; online ISSN 2213-0799; supplied Scopus Source ID 21100255547.
- Indexing: Elsevier lists Scopus and the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), and its insights page also references SJR and SNIP.
- Displayed metrics: 7.6 CiteScore and 4.4 Impact Factor on the official journal pages reviewed for this guide.
- Peer review: Double anonymized; suitable manuscripts are typically sent to at least two independent reviewers.
- Publishing model: Hybrid/supports open access; current OA APC is USD 3,500 excluding taxes, while Elsevier states that the subscription route has no publication fee for authors.
- Core fit signal: A clear connection to outdoor recreation or nature-based tourism plus implications for management, planning, design, or policy.
Journal Information at a Glance
| Field | Journal information |
|---|---|
| Journal name | Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism |
| Common abbreviation | JORT |
| Publisher | Elsevier |
| ISSN | 2213-0780 |
| Online ISSN | 2213-0799 |
| Scopus Source ID | 21100255547 |
| Primary subject focus | Outdoor recreation; nature-based tourism; social sciences; natural-resource planning and management |
| Subject areas listed by Elsevier | Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management; Geography, Planning and Development; Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law; Forestry |
| Scopus | Listed by Elsevier as indexed; verify live source profile for current coverage |
| Web of Science | Elsevier lists Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) |
| CiteScore | 7.6 displayed by Elsevier at time of preparation |
| Impact Factor | 4.4 displayed by Elsevier at time of preparation |
| SJR / SNIP | Elsevier lists SJR and SNIP among indexing/impact resources, but current numeric values are not reproduced here; verify live database values |
| Quartile | Verify current category-specific quartile in the latest applicable database |
| Peer review | Double anonymized; typically at least two independent reviewers after editorial suitability screening |
| Open access | Supported; current APC USD 3,500 excluding taxes, subject to applicable reductions/agreements |
| Subscription option | Available; Elsevier states no publication fee is charged to authors under this route |
| Publication pattern | Quarterly issue pattern visible in recent annual volume listings (March, June, September, December) |
| Official journal | ScienceDirect journal page |
| Author guidelines | Official Guide for Authors |
| Scopus profile | Scopus Source ID 21100255547 |
What This Page Covers
- the journal's aims, scope, subject areas, and likely readership;
- Scopus and other major indexing information, including what researchers should recheck;
- current metrics shown on Elsevier's journal pages and how to interpret them cautiously;
- Research Papers, Research Notes, Review Articles, Commentaries, and Rejoinders;
- double-anonymized review and the required separation of identifying information;
- manuscript preparation, abstracts, keywords, management implications, references, and source files;
- open-access and subscription options, APC information, and published journal-level timelines;
- a practical journal-fit checklist and ethical Contentxprtz publication-readiness support.
Methodology and Source Note
This profile was prepared by cross-checking the supplied journal record against authoritative sources, primarily the journal's official ScienceDirect page, Journal Insights, the Guide for Authors, the editorial-board page, the open-access information page, and the supplied Scopus source record. Journal metrics, editorial teams, fees, timelines, policies, and indexing classifications can change. Treat the dated values on this page as a research aid and reconfirm any requirement that affects eligibility, funding, or submission.
What the Journal Publishes and Why Its Scope Matters
JORT is more specific than a general tourism, leisure, business, or environmental journal. The journal is designed around questions arising where people, outdoor settings, natural resources, recreation systems, visitor experiences, tourism activity, and management decisions meet. Its official scope explicitly spans environments from wilderness to urban outdoor recreation opportunities and welcomes both discipline-based and integrative interdisciplinary work.
A key editorial signal is the journal's emphasis on relevance beyond theory alone. Fundamental research is possible, as is applied research, but authors are expected to connect the work to the practical concerns of outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism. That can include implications for protected-area managers, destination planners, recreation designers, public agencies, policymakers, or others making decisions about outdoor leisure settings.
Topics that may align well
- visitor behavior, preferences, motivation, satisfaction, crowding, conflict, or experience quality;
- protected-area recreation, park tourism, trail use, recreation carrying capacity, and visitor-use management;
- nature-based tourism, ecotourism, hiking, mountain recreation, winter recreation, wildlife tourism, or outdoor adventure where the natural-setting connection is clear;
- sustainable recreation planning and management, environmental impacts, climate adaptation, and social-ecological systems;
- spatial planning, recreation demand, accessibility, equity, governance, policy, monitoring, and management tools;
- theoretical, methodological, conceptual, empirical, and case-study work relevant to outdoor recreation or nature-based tourism.
Editorial interpretation: a broadly tourism-focused paper is not automatically a JORT paper. Authors should make the nature-based or outdoor-recreation relationship visible in the research question, literature framing, methods, findings, and implications rather than relying on a destination label alone.
Who Should Consider Submitting?
The journal may be appropriate for researchers in tourism, recreation, geography, forestry, protected-area management, planning, environmental social science, leisure studies, natural-resource policy, visitor-use management, and related interdisciplinary areas. PhD scholars and early-career researchers can submit if their work meets the same standards of scope, theory, method, ethics, and practical relevance expected of any author.
Researchers working across disciplines may find the journal particularly useful when a study combines, for example, tourism behavior with conservation planning, outdoor experience with spatial analysis, visitor management with environmental monitoring, or recreation policy with social-science evidence. The decisive question is whether the integration advances understanding of outdoor recreation or nature-based tourism and produces insights that the journal's scholarly and practitioner audiences can use.
Indexing, Scholarly Visibility, and Metrics
Elsevier's official insights page lists JORT in Scopus and the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). It also identifies SJR and SNIP in its abstracting-and-indexing/impact information. The journal record supplied for this article gives Scopus Source ID 21100255547. These identifiers matter when researchers need to distinguish JORT from similarly named publications and when institutions require evidence of database coverage.
At the time this article was prepared, Elsevier displayed a CiteScore of 7.6 and an Impact Factor of 4.4. Those figures are useful indicators of citation activity, but they should not be treated as a substitute for manuscript fit or research quality. A journal can have strong citation metrics and still be unsuitable for a manuscript whose central question falls outside its scope.
Quartile caution: quartiles vary by database, year, and category. Because Elsevier's public page reviewed here does not provide a single category-specific quartile statement that can safely be treated as permanent, this guide does not label the journal Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4. If a doctoral program or institution requires a quartile, check the latest live database record and save dated evidence.
Article Types and Manuscript Length
The official Guide for Authors distinguishes several routes. Authors should choose the article type before drafting the final structure because length, abstract requirements, and editorial expectations differ.
| Article type | Officially described expectations |
|---|---|
| Research Paper | Typically 6,000-9,000 words including manuscript text and references; may be applied, conceptual, or theoretical; requires sound foundations and clear planning/design/management/policy relevance. Abstract up to 250 words, keywords, and management implications are required. |
| Research Note | A shorter contribution with clear management implications. The Guide for Authors requires a short abstract (up to 150 words), keywords, and management implications; the title should be prefaced with “Research Note”. Authors should confirm the current length expectations in the live guide. |
| Review Article | Typically 6,000-9,000 words; should provide a rigorous, balanced synthesis, identify trends and unresolved issues, and point to future directions. The journal considers only a small number, typically after invitation or consultation with the Editorial Board. |
| Commentary / Rejoinder | Commentaries critically address a JORT article and generally require prior approval from an Editor-in-Chief before submission; commentaries are typically 2,500 words or less. Rejoinders may be invited from authors of the original article. |
For Research Papers, the official guide states that the abstract should not exceed 250 words. The guide also requires keywords and a management-implications statement/list, while its current general keyword guidance asks authors to provide 1-7 English keywords. Where an article-type paragraph specifies a narrower number, authors should follow the live submission form and current article-type instructions.
Peer Review and Editorial Assessment
JORT uses double-anonymized peer review. This means reviewers should not know the authors' identities, and authors should not know reviewers' identities. To support that process, the journal asks for a separate title page containing identifying information and an anonymized manuscript that excludes author names and affiliations.
According to the Guide for Authors, editors first assess whether a submission is suitable for the journal. When it is considered suitable, it is typically sent to at least two independent expert reviewers for assessment of scientific quality. Editors make the final decision on acceptance or rejection. Conflicts involving editors are handled independently through the journal's normal peer-review procedures.
What this means in practice
Before submission, remove identifying acknowledgements and author details from the anonymized manuscript, check self-citations for inadvertent identity disclosure where relevant, and ensure the title page carries the required author, affiliation, correspondence, acknowledgement, and declaration information. A technically strong paper can still fail editorial screening if its contribution to outdoor recreation or nature-based tourism is unclear.
Submission Files and Formatting Requirements
The official guide asks authors to provide editable source files. Word submissions should use .doc or .docx in a single-column layout, while LaTeX authors can provide .tex files and are encouraged to use Elsevier's LaTeX template. A PDF alone is not accepted as the editable source file for the complete submission.
For the double-anonymized process, the title page should include the article title, author names, affiliations, acknowledgements, declaration of interest, and full corresponding-author contact details. The anonymized manuscript should contain the main text, references, figures, and tables without identifying author information.
Core content checks before upload
- concise and informative title;
- article-type-appropriate abstract and keywords;
- clear management implications where required;
- numbered sections and subsections;
- complete figures, tables, captions, and any supplementary files;
- consistent references with every in-text citation represented in the reference list and vice versa;
- permissions for copyrighted material reproduced from other sources;
- funding, competing-interest, authorship, and other required declarations;
- spelling and grammar checks completed before submission.
References, Data, CRediT, and Research Transparency
JORT does not require authors to perfect the final journal reference layout at first submission, provided the references are complete and consistently formatted. The Guide for Authors states that in-text citations follow APA style and refers authors to the seventh edition of the APA Publication Manual. DOIs are recommended when available because they support durable linking and accurate indexing.
Corresponding authors are required to acknowledge co-author contributions using CRediT roles. The journal also asks authors to disclose funding sources and the funder's role where applicable. Researchers are encouraged to link or deposit relevant research data and may be able to co-submit related data or methods work to Elsevier Research Elements journals such as Data in Brief or MethodsX, subject to those journals' own processes and fees.
Publication Ethics and AI-Use Policies
Submissions are subject to Elsevier's publishing-ethics policies. The journal requires original work that is not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere, appropriate authorship, disclosure of competing interests and funding, responsible image handling, and adherence to the publisher's rules on prior dissemination, preprints, inclusive language, and jurisdictional claims.
The current Guide for Authors also explains that generative AI or AI-assisted tools may be used in manuscript preparation only with human oversight and responsibility. Authors must verify output, protect privacy and intellectual property, and disclose reportable AI use in the manuscript as instructed. AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Basic tools used only for grammar, spelling, or reference checks do not require the same declaration under the policy described in the guide.
Because AI policies evolve quickly, authors should read the live Elsevier policy immediately before submission rather than relying only on a previously saved version.
Open Access, Subscription Publishing, and Fees
JORT supports open access but is not an open-access-only journal. Elsevier's current page lists an open-access APC of USD 3,500 excluding taxes for all articles. The final amount may be reduced through institutional agreements, funder arrangements, geographic pricing, or other applicable conditions presented during the publishing process.
The same official insights page lists a subscription route with no publication fee charged to authors. Under that model, the published article is available to subscribers rather than immediately open to everyone. Authors should choose the route based on funder mandates, institutional agreements, budget, desired license, and access requirements—not on an assumption that paying an APC affects editorial acceptance. Editorial and peer-review decisions should remain independent of the publication model.
What the Published Timelines Do—and Do Not—Tell You
Elsevier currently reports journal-level timelines of 8 days to first decision, 85 days to decision after review, 248 days from submission to acceptance, and 15 days from acceptance to online publication. These figures are useful for rough planning, especially when a researcher has a graduation, funding, or reporting deadline.
They are not guarantees. An individual manuscript may move faster or slower because of editorial screening, reviewer availability, major revisions, additional rounds of review, author response time, special-issue workflows, or production queries. The journal does not publicly state an acceptance rate on the official pages reviewed for this guide, so no acceptance percentage should be inferred from these timelines.
How to Decide Whether Your Manuscript Fits JORT
Journal selection should begin with the manuscript, not the metric. A practical fit check is to compare the study with the journal's official scope and several recent papers. Look at the problems recent articles address, settings they study, theories and methods they use, and how they explain management or policy implications.
- Does the research question directly concern outdoor recreation or nature-based tourism?
- Is the natural/outdoor setting analytically important rather than incidental?
- Does the study add theoretical, methodological, empirical, or applied knowledge relevant to the journal's community?
- Can the findings be translated into implications for planning, design, management, or policy?
- Does JORT publish the intended article type?
- Can the manuscript meet the article-type length, abstract, keyword, and management-implication requirements?
- Can the files be prepared for double-anonymized review?
- Does your institution accept the journal's current indexing and metric status for your purpose?
- Do you understand the subscription versus open-access options and any funding obligations?
If several answers are weak, revising the manuscript's framing may not solve a fundamental scope mismatch. In that case, a different journal may be more appropriate.
Common Reasons a Manuscript May Be Unsuitable
Although editors decide each manuscript individually, the official scope suggests several predictable fit risks. A paper may struggle if outdoor recreation or nature-based tourism is merely background context; if it lacks relevance to social-science or natural-resource questions; if it provides no meaningful planning, management, design, or policy implications; or if its methods and conclusions do not support the claims being made.
Other avoidable problems include submitting the wrong article type, ignoring double-anonymization, exceeding article-type expectations without justification, providing incomplete declarations, weakly linking the literature review to the journal's research community, or offering a generic “tourism implications” paragraph that is disconnected from the actual findings.
A Publication-Readiness Workflow for JORT Authors
- Confirm identity and scope. Recheck the journal title, ISSNs, publisher, Scopus Source ID, and live aims and scope.
- Compare recent articles. Identify several recent JORT papers that are genuinely adjacent to your problem, theory, method, or setting.
- Select the correct article type. Decide whether the work is a Research Paper, Research Note, Review Article, or approved Commentary route.
- Strengthen journal-specific framing. Make the outdoor recreation/nature-based tourism contribution explicit from title through discussion.
- Write actionable implications. Show what managers, planners, designers, or policymakers can learn from the evidence without overstating causality.
- Prepare anonymized files. Separate the title page from the main manuscript and remove identifying details from the review file.
- Audit references and research reporting. Verify citations, DOIs, tables, figures, data statements, authorship, funding, and competing interests.
- Check current policies. Reconfirm AI-use rules, open-access charges, licenses, and any reporting requirements.
- Submit through the official journal route. Use the submission link reached from the official ScienceDirect journal page or Guide for Authors, not a third-party submission service.
- Respond to review transparently. If revisions are invited, answer each reviewer point with a clear change, rationale, or evidence-based explanation.
How Contentxprtz Can Support Ethical Publication Readiness
Preparing for JORT involves more than grammar correction. Authors may need to sharpen the scope argument, improve academic English, align sections with the selected article type, check anonymization, standardize references, strengthen table and figure presentation, and make the contribution and management implications easier for editors and reviewers to evaluate.
Contentxprtz can support academic editing, manuscript editing, research-paper proofreading, ESL language polishing, journal formatting, reference and citation checks, manuscript assessment, cover-letter editing, reviewer-response editing, thesis-to-journal preparation, and publication-readiness review. The aim is to help authors present their own research clearly, accurately, and ethically while following applicable journal instructions.
Contentxprtz does not control editorial decisions and does not guarantee acceptance or publication. Peer review, editorial judgment, indexing, publication timing, and final acceptance remain entirely with the journal and publisher.
Explore Journal Publication Services
Summary: Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism
Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism is an Elsevier journal focused on interdisciplinary research in outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism, with a strong expectation that published work connects to planning, management, design, or policy. Elsevier currently lists Scopus and SSCI indexing and displays a 7.6 CiteScore and 4.4 Impact Factor. The journal uses double-anonymized peer review, supports both subscription and open-access publication, and currently lists an OA APC of USD 3,500 excluding taxes.
For a prospective author, the most important selection test is fit: the manuscript should make its outdoor recreation or nature-based tourism contribution unmistakable and should match the journal's article type, reporting, anonymization, ethics, and submission requirements. Metrics and indexing can support a selection decision, but they should be rechecked live and should not replace a careful assessment of scope and readership.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism?
The Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism (JORT) is an Elsevier journal focused on peer-reviewed social-science and natural-resource research relevant to outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism. Its scope connects research with planning, management, policy, and sustainable use of outdoor leisure settings, from wilderness areas to urban outdoor recreation opportunities.
Who publishes the Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism?
Elsevier publishes the Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism. The journal is hosted on ScienceDirect, where authors can access its aims and scope, Guide for Authors, editorial board, journal insights, publishing options, and submission route.
Is the Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism indexed in Scopus?
Yes. Elsevier's official Journal Insights page lists Scopus among the journal's abstracting and indexing services. The supplied journal record identifies Scopus Source ID 21100255547. Researchers who need proof for institutional or PhD requirements should recheck the live Scopus source profile before submission because database coverage and classifications can change.
What is the Scopus Source ID for the Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism?
The supplied source record gives Scopus Source ID 21100255547 for the Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism. The journal identity can also be cross-checked using ISSN 2213-0780 and online ISSN 2213-0799.
What are the current CiteScore and Impact Factor?
At the time this guide was prepared, Elsevier's official journal page and Journal Insights page displayed a CiteScore of 7.6 and an Impact Factor of 4.4. Metrics are reporting-year dependent and can change, so authors should confirm the live values before using them in an application, university form, promotion dossier, or journal-selection decision.
What quartile is the Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism?
A single current quartile is not reproduced here because quartiles depend on the database, reporting year, and subject category. Authors should verify the latest quartile directly in the current Scopus/SCImago or relevant institutional database view, especially when a university requires Q1, Q2, Q3, or Q4 evidence.
What topics fit the journal?
Potentially suitable work includes outdoor recreation behavior and experience, nature-based tourism, protected-area visitation and management, sustainable recreation planning, visitor use, recreation policy, environmental and social impacts, recreation-resource management, destination and park management, and interdisciplinary work linking social sciences with natural-resource questions. Fit still depends on the manuscript's explicit connection to outdoor recreation or nature-based tourism in natural settings and its relevance for management, planning, design, or policy.
What article types does JORT publish?
The official Guide for Authors describes Research Papers, Research Notes, Review Articles, and Commentaries/Rejoinders. Research Papers and Review Articles are typically 6,000-9,000 words. Review Articles are considered selectively and are often pursued after invitation or consultation with the Editorial Board. Authors should read the live Guide for Authors because article-type requirements can change.
Does JORT use double-anonymized peer review?
Yes. The official Guide for Authors states that JORT uses double-anonymized peer review. Authors submit a title page with identifying details separately from an anonymized manuscript. Suitable submissions are typically sent to at least two independent reviewers, while editors make the final accept-or-reject decision.
How much is the open-access publication fee?
Elsevier currently lists an open-access article publishing charge of USD 3,500 excluding taxes for this journal. The amount may be reduced depending on the author's circumstances, institutional agreements, country, or funding context. The subscription route is also available and Elsevier states that no publication fee is charged to authors for that route. Always confirm the live price before submission.
How long does publication take?
Elsevier's Journal Insights page currently reports journal-level indicators of 8 days from submission to first decision, 85 days from submission to decision after review, 248 days from submission to acceptance, and 15 days from acceptance to online publication. These are aggregate journal insights, not promises for an individual manuscript; actual timing varies by editor, reviewer availability, revisions, and manuscript complexity.
What reference style does the journal use?
The Guide for Authors states that references do not need strict final formatting at initial submission as long as they are complete and consistent, while in-text citations follow American Psychological Association style. The publisher applies the journal's reference style after acceptance and may request missing details at proof stage. Authors should still verify every citation and DOI before submission.
Does the journal publish an acceptance rate?
An official acceptance rate was not found on the journal's ScienceDirect pages reviewed for this guide. It should therefore not be estimated or inferred from third-party websites. Authors should evaluate fit using scope, recent articles, article type, editorial requirements, and methodological relevance instead.
Is this journal suitable for a PhD scholar or early-career researcher?
It can be suitable when the research clearly fits the journal's outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism scope, uses a sound theoretical or conceptual foundation, and explains implications for planning, management, design, or policy. Degree status alone neither improves nor weakens fit. Researchers should also confirm that the journal's indexing and publication model satisfy their university or funder rules.
Can Contentxprtz guarantee acceptance in this journal?
No. Contentxprtz can support ethical publication readiness through manuscript editing, proofreading, journal-formatting checks, reference and citation review, manuscript assessment, cover-letter editing, reviewer-response editing, and submission-readiness support. Editorial decisions, peer-review outcomes, acceptance, and publication remain entirely with the journal and publisher.
Conclusion: Verify the Live Journal Record, Then Submit for Fit
JORT can be an appropriate outlet for rigorous research that genuinely advances understanding of outdoor recreation or nature-based tourism and explains why the evidence matters to planning and management. Before submission, use the official journal and publisher pages to reconfirm current metrics, database coverage, article types, fees, editorial information, and author instructions. Then assess the manuscript against recent JORT research rather than choosing the journal on citation metrics alone.
