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MRD attaches great importance to maintaining the acknowledged high standard of its research sections. The sections (see individual descriptions) offer a choice selection of recent, original research on mountains, sustainable mountain development, and mountain development experiences. Coverage ranges widely, from topics in the natural sciences to anthropological, economic and sociocultural issues. Contributions have contemporary relevance, offer scientific insights or methodological innovations, include disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary approaches, and are relevant to sustainable mountain development and policy. Manuscripts submitted for publication in MRD must not have been published elsewhere. Papers must present arguments and evidence in a concise and readable form (max. length according to guidelines = 25,000 characters including spaces). They are written by scholars and development specialists from throughout the world and cover all continents. Contributions by authors from developing countries are encouraged. All manuscripts submitted to the editors for publication in one of MRD's two peer-reviewed sections are sent to 2 independent reviewers. For MountainDevelopment papers, one of the reviewers will have experience in development practice. Reviewers of papers in both peer-reviewed sections are requested to assess the value of the manuscript in terms of scholarship and research and to comment on the value of the work presented. In addition, reviewers of MountainDevelopment papers are asked to assess the practical value of the insights presented. The review process is strictly confidential: authors' identities are not disclosed to reviewers, and reviewers' identities are not disclosed to authors unless explicitly requested by the reviewers. Papers in MRD cover several types of knowledge. The following distinction between knowledge types is useful in sustainable development research and is used to distinguish between MountainDevelopment and MountainResearch articles: Systems knowledge describes how current systems—ie society, the economy, the environment, etc—work. In order to shape sustainable development, all actors concerned need to be involved in defining a vision and negotiating what are the “right” things to do, ie they need to develop target knowledge together. They do this on the basis of systems knowledge, which helps find missing links and enhance understanding of complex wholes. Transformation knowledge is needed to shape the transition from the current to the envisaged situation, to decide how to do the “right” things and put the vision of sustainable development into practice, and to define what corrective action is needed.
The purpose of papers in this section is to focus on “transformation knowledge” and present practice-oriented research aimed at coping with development challenges in mountain regions, or well-researched and validated development and policy experiences, exploring the transferability of these experiences across mountain contexts. Papers should present innovative development approaches and development recommendations for policy, decision-making and practice, and be embedded in the relevant national or international debate. Possible contents are case studies in which development practice and research are combined, reflections on how the interrelationship between the social, economic and ecological spheres can be explored, examples of building and sharing knowledge for sustainable development, etc. Papers should be well researched and documented; results should be presented based on sound facts, systematic procedures and well-founded arguments. Work in progress can also be presented, offering exploratory data even if based on incomplete datasets and hypotheses still to be fully verified. Papers should address a multi-disciplinary community of development-oriented researchers, policy-makers, decision-makers, project planners, and people in educational institutions. Papers will be reviewed by two experts who have an academic and development background.
This section contains papers on original and innovative scientific research relevant to sustainable mountain development; it focuses on enhancing “systems knowledge” . Papers may present new concepts and methodologies employing disciplinary, interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary approaches. In addition, case studies on little researched topics or mountain areas are welcome. Papers must present sound scientific research of relevance to an international academic audience. Papers should address a scientific community interested in mountains, mountain people, sustainable mountain development, development-oriented research, and interdisciplinary interaction. Disciplinary papers are welcome provided they address an academic audience broader than that dealing with the specific field of research presented.
This section is reserved for institutional members of the International Mountain Society (IMS), who use it to present information about their mountain initiatives, priorities, and networks.
MountainNotes articles present mountain research and mountain development agendas of global relevance, reviews of the state-of-the-art in research and development, etc. Papers are reviewed by the Editors.
Books on mountain-relevant topics are reviewed by experts on request from the MountainMedia Editor (Prof. Martin Price, Centre for Mountain Studies , UHI, Scotland ).
This section occasionally publishes Letters to the Editor containing various forms of responses from readers to material published in MRD, etc. It offers a platform for exchange of opinions and comments. |
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Peer-reviewed