Authorship Criteria

The journal is committed to maintaining transparency, accountability, and integrity in scholarly publishing. Authorship must accurately reflect the intellectual contributions of individuals involved in the research and preparation of a manuscript.

The journal adopts authorship criteria based on the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the ethical publishing principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1. Authorship Requirements

To qualify for authorship, an individual must meet all four of the following criteria:

Substantial Contribution: Making significant contributions to the conception or design of the study, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of research data.
Manuscript Preparation: Drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content.
Final Approval: Approving the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Accountability: Agreeing to be accountable for all aspects of the work and ensuring that questions regarding the accuracy or integrity of any part of the research are appropriately investigated and resolved.

All individuals who meet these four criteria should be listed as authors. Individuals who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged appropriately.

2. Author Contributions

All authors must clearly disclose their individual contributions to the research and manuscript preparation.

The journal encourages the use of the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT), which includes conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing of the original draft, review and editing, visualization, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition.

3. Corresponding Author Responsibilities

The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the editorial office throughout the submission, peer-review, revision, and publication processes.

The corresponding author must ensure that all listed authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript, agreed to its submission, and complied with the journal's publication ethics policies.

4. Changes in Authorship

Any request to add, remove, or rearrange authors after manuscript submission must be accompanied by a clear explanation and written consent from all affected authors.

Such changes are subject to editorial review and approval. The journal reserves the right to reject requests that do not comply with ethical authorship standards.

5. Acknowledgment of Contributors

Individuals who have contributed to the research but do not meet the authorship criteria should be recognized in the Acknowledgments section, with their permission.

Contributions such as technical assistance, administrative support, language editing, or funding acquisition alone do not automatically qualify an individual for authorship.

6. Unethical Authorship Practices

The journal strictly prohibits unethical authorship practices, including:

Gift Authorship: Granting authorship to individuals who have not made sufficient intellectual contributions.
Guest Authorship: Including individuals as authors primarily to increase the manuscript's credibility or prestige.
Ghost Authorship: Excluding individuals who have made substantial contributions that qualify them for authorship.

Suspected authorship misconduct will be investigated by the editorial board in accordance with applicable COPE guidance.

7. Authorship Disputes

Any dispute regarding authorship must be reported to the editorial office. The editorial board may request supporting documentation, author contribution statements, and written clarification from the individuals involved.

Where appropriate, unresolved authorship disputes may be referred to the authors' affiliated institutions for investigation.