Dmitry A. Ruban is an associate professor at the Southern Federal  University (Rostov-on-Don, Russia). He received his CGMS (Russian Ph.D. equivalent) degree from the Rostov State University (Russia) in 2004 and Ph.D. degree from the University of Pretoria (South Africa) in 2009. He has served as a member of the editorial board of several international and national journals, and he has reviewed dozens of articles for various journals. He has published several hundred articles in international and national peer-reviewed journals. His fields of expertise include earth sciences (geology, geography, and environmental sciences), economics and management, tourism studies, philosophy (philosophy of science), and some humanitarian disciplines.