Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship must accurately reflect each individual’s substantive intellectual contribution, responsibility, and accountability for the published work. The journal applies the authorship principles recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

To qualify as an author, an individual must meet all four ICMJE authorship criteria:

• make a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
• draft the manuscript or critically review it for important intellectual content;
• approve the final version to be published;
• agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work and ensure that questions concerning the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

All persons listed as authors must meet all four criteria, and all individuals who meet these criteria should be identified as authors. Authorship must not be granted solely on the basis of seniority, administrative position, acquisition of funding, general supervision, provision of routine technical assistance, or institutional authority.

The journal does not permit guest, gift, honorary, or ghost authorship. Individuals who have contributed to the work but do not meet all authorship criteria should be identified in the Acknowledgments or contributorship statement, with their specific contribution described. Where an individual is named in the Acknowledgments, the corresponding author should obtain appropriate permission from that person.

For research articles, authors are expected to provide an Author Contributions Statement describing the contribution of each author. Where appropriate, contributions may be described using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) or another transparent contributorship framework accepted by the journal.

Examples of contributorship roles may include conceptualization, methodology, investigation, data curation, formal analysis, visualization, writing of the original draft, critical review and editing, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition. Identification of a contributor role does not by itself establish authorship; persons listed as authors must still meet all applicable authorship criteria.

Corresponding Author

The corresponding author has primary responsibility for communication with the journal during submission, peer review, publication, and relevant post-publication procedures.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring, as applicable, that:

• all authors meet the journal’s authorship criteria;
• all authors have reviewed and approved the submitted and final versions of the manuscript;
• the author list, affiliations, author order, and contribution statements are accurate;
• required declarations concerning ethics approval, clinical trial registration, funding, conflicts of interest, data availability, and related matters are properly provided;
• all co-authors are informed of significant communications with the journal;
• editorial enquiries are answered in a timely manner before and after publication.

Designation as corresponding author does not reduce the responsibility or accountability of the other authors. ICMJE identifies the corresponding author as the person with primary responsibility for communication with the journal, while all authors remain responsible for the published work.

Author Order

The order of authors must be determined collectively by the authors on the basis of their agreement and relevant disciplinary practice. The journal does not determine author order.

Authors are responsible for resolving authorship and author-order matters before submission whenever possible.

Changes in Authorship

Any request to add, remove, or rearrange authors after submission must be supported by a clear explanation of the reason for the change.

The journal may require written confirmation of agreement from all listed authors and the author being added or removed before approving the change. Changes requested after acceptance or publication are subject to additional editorial scrutiny and, where approved after publication, may require a formal correction to the published record. This follows current ICMJE guidance on author changes.

The journal will not normally adjudicate authorship disputes. When authors cannot reach agreement regarding authorship or author order, the matter may be referred to the authors’ institution(s) or another appropriate body for investigation or resolution.

Group and Collaborative Authorship

For multicenter studies, collaborative groups, or large research teams, the authors should determine authorship and contributorship before submission whenever possible.

Members identified as authors must meet the journal’s authorship criteria and accept responsibility for the work. Other members who contributed to the study but do not qualify as authors may be identified as collaborators or acknowledged contributors.

Fair and Inclusive Authorship

Authorship decisions should reflect genuine contributions and should not unfairly exclude researchers who made substantial intellectual contributions to the study.

For research conducted in particular countries, institutions, communities, or clinical settings, meaningful contributions from appropriately qualified local investigators should be fairly recognized. Current ICMJE guidance specifically cautions against unjustified exclusion of local researchers when research data originate from their settings.

Artificial Intelligence and Authorship

Artificial intelligence systems, large language models, chatbots, and other AI-assisted technologies cannot be listed as authors or co-authors because they cannot assume responsibility or accountability for published work.

Human authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, attribution, and ethical acceptability of all submitted content. Relevant use of AI-assisted technologies must be disclosed in accordance with the journal’s Artificial Intelligence Policy.

Suspected inappropriate authorship, undisclosed contributors, fabricated authorship information, sale or purchase of authorship, unauthorized changes to the author list, or other manipulation of authorship may be investigated as potential research or publication misconduct.