Authorship and Contributorship Policy

This policy defines the rules for determining authorship, identifying author contributions, assigning the corresponding author, changing the author list, and preventing unethical authorship practices.

Authorship must reflect the real, substantial, and honest contribution of each person to the preparation of the research and manuscript. All persons listed as authors must meet the authorship criteria and accept responsibility for the content of the submitted work.

1. General Principles of Authorship

Only a person who has made a substantial intellectual contribution to the research and preparation of the manuscript may be listed as an author.

Authorship must not be granted to persons who have not sufficiently participated in the research or preparation of the article. It is also not permitted to exclude from the author list persons who have made a substantial contribution to the work and meet the authorship criteria.

All authors must have reviewed the final version of the manuscript, agree to its submission to the journal, and accept responsibility for their respective contribution as well as for the integrity of the submitted work as a whole.

2. Authorship Criteria

A person may be listed as an author if they made a substantial contribution to one or more of the following elements of the work:

development of the idea, concept, or purpose of the research;
formulation of the scientific problem;
development of the methodology;
theoretical analysis, calculations, modeling, or experiment;
acquisition, processing, or analysis of data;
interpretation of results;
preparation of the initial manuscript text;
substantial scientific editing or revision of the manuscript;
preparation of figures, tables, calculations, code, or other materials of scientific significance for the article.

In addition, each author must:

approve the final version of the manuscript before submission;
agree to the submission of the article to the journal;
be prepared to take responsibility for the reliability and integrity of their contribution;
cooperate with the editorial office when clarification is needed regarding the manuscript.

3. Persons Who Do Not Meet Authorship Criteria

Persons who have not made a substantial intellectual or scientific contribution to the work must not be listed as authors.

The performance of the following functions alone is generally not sufficient for authorship:

general administrative supervision;
provision of funding;
provision of access to equipment, facilities, or software;
technical assistance without substantial scientific contribution;
language editing or proofreading;
organizational support;
general consultation without participation in the scientific content of the work.

Such persons may be acknowledged in the acknowledgements section if their contribution was useful for the research or preparation of the manuscript.

4. Unethical Authorship Practices

The journal does not tolerate unethical practices related to authorship.

Such practices include, but are not limited to:

guest authorship — including a person in the author list without a substantial contribution to the work;
honorary authorship — listing a person as an author due to their status, position, reputation, or administrative role;
gift authorship — including a person in the author list as a personal or professional favor;
ghost authorship — excluding from the author list a person who made a substantial contribution to the work;
forced authorship — including a person in the author list under pressure or due to administrative dependence;
using an author’s name without their consent;
changing the author list without the consent of all affected persons and without notifying the editorial office.

Identification of such practices may result in the manuscript being returned for revision, suspension of consideration, or rejection. If an authorship violation is identified after publication, the editorial office may consider publishing a correction, an expression of concern, or a retraction.

5. Order of Authors

The order of authors in the manuscript is determined by the authors themselves before submission to the journal.

The editorial office does not determine the order of authors and does not resolve disputes between authors regarding the order in which they are listed. The authors themselves are responsible for the correctness of the author order.

By submitting the manuscript, the corresponding author confirms that all authors agree with the author list, the order of authors, and the submission of the manuscript to the journal.

6. Corresponding Author

Each manuscript must clearly identify the corresponding author.

The corresponding author is the main contact person between the editorial office and all authors. The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the editorial office at all stages of manuscript consideration and publication.

The corresponding author must:

ensure that all authors agree to the submission of the manuscript;
make sure that information about all authors is provided correctly;
ensure timely communication of editorial messages to all co-authors;
submit responses to editorial requests, reviewers’ comments, and editorial decisions;
coordinate the preparation of the revised manuscript;
confirm the final version of the article before publication;
inform the editorial office of any issues related to authorship, conflicts of interest, or corrections.

The designation of a corresponding author does not release the other authors from responsibility for the content of the work.

7. Author Information

At the time of manuscript submission, full and accurate information about all authors must be provided, including:

full name of each author;
author affiliation, including the full name of the organization, city, and country;
e-mail address of each author;
ORCID of each author, if available.

The corresponding author must be clearly indicated in the manuscript next to their e-mail address.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the information provided.

8. Author Contributions

The journal may request information about each author’s contribution to the preparation of the research and manuscript.

The description of author contributions may include participation in:

development of the research concept;
formulation of the scientific problem;
development of the methodology;
theoretical analysis, calculations, modeling, or experiment;
collection, processing, or analysis of data;
preparation or use of software code;
interpretation of results;
preparation of the initial manuscript draft;
editing and revision of the manuscript;
preparation of figures, tables, graphs, and other materials of scientific significance for the article.

If the editorial office requests information on author contributions, such information must be presented honestly, clearly, and in agreement with all authors.

9. Acknowledgements

Persons who assisted in the preparation of the research or manuscript but do not meet the authorship criteria may be acknowledged in the acknowledgements section.

The acknowledgements section may include persons or organizations that provided:

technical assistance;
advisory support;
language editing;
assistance with equipment, software, or materials;
administrative or organizational support;
financial support, where applicable.

Authors should obtain the consent of persons mentioned in the acknowledgements section if such acknowledgement may imply their endorsement of the article’s content.

10. Changes to the Author List

Any changes to the author list after manuscript submission must be justified and agreed upon by all affected authors.

Such changes include:

adding an author;
removing an author;
changing the order of authors;
changing the corresponding author;
making substantial changes to author information.

A request to change the author list must be submitted to the editorial office by the corresponding author and must include:

a description of the proposed change;
the reason for the change;
confirmation of the agreement of all authors, including the author being added or removed, where applicable.

The editorial office may request additional explanations or documents.

Changes to the author list after manuscript acceptance are allowed only in exceptional cases and with sufficient justification.

11. Authorship Disputes

The editorial office does not act as an arbitrator in personal, institutional, or scientific disputes between authors regarding authorship order or the extent of individual contributions.

If an authorship dispute arises before publication, the editorial office may suspend consideration of the manuscript until the authors resolve the dispute and provide an agreed position.

If an authorship dispute is identified after publication, the editorial office may request explanations from the authors and, where necessary, consider publishing a correction or taking other editorial measures.

12. Responsibility of All Authors

All authors are responsible for the integrity of the submitted work.

Each author must be prepared to confirm their contribution to the research and manuscript. All authors must cooperate with the editorial office in the consideration of issues related to authorship, reliability of results, conflicts of interest, corrections, or possible violations of publication ethics.

Submission of a manuscript to the journal means that all authors agree to this Authorship and Contributorship Policy.

13. Use of Artificial Intelligence and Authorship

Generative artificial intelligence, AI tools, chatbots, language models, software systems, and other non-human tools cannot be listed as an author or co-author of an article.

Authorship implies responsibility for the content of the work, the ability to approve the final version of the manuscript, agreement with its submission, and accountability for the reliability and integrity of the scholarly material. These responsibilities can only be fulfilled by a human being.

The use of AI tools in the preparation of the manuscript must be disclosed in accordance with the journal’s Generative AI and AI-assisted Technologies Policy.

14. Violation of the Authorship Policy

Violation of this policy may result in the manuscript being returned for revision, suspension of consideration, or rejection.

If an authorship violation is identified after publication, the editorial office may consider publishing a correction, an expression of concern, or a retraction in accordance with the journal’s policies.

The editorial office reserves the right to update this policy to bring it into line with developments in international scholarly publishing practice and requirements for responsible publication conduct.