An author is a person who has made a significant intellectual contribution to the reported work and accepts responsibility for it. Each author should be able to identify which co-authors are accountable for which parts of the work, and should have confidence in the integrity of their co-authors' contributions. All authors must approve the final manuscript.
Following the ICMJE Recommendations, every author of an Afarand journal must meet all four of the following criteria:
Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data for the work;
Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
Final approval of the version to be published; and
Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring that questions about the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Every author must provide a valid ORCID iD (mandatory for the corresponding author), an institutional affiliation (with a ROR identifier where available), and a working institutional email address.
At submission, authors must provide an author contribution statement describing the role of each author in the work.
Only natural persons may be listed as authors. Group or consortium names are handled as described below.
Corresponding author. The corresponding author communicates with the journal during submission, peer review and publication, ensures that the journal's guidelines are followed, and is available to answer editorial questions, including after publication to provide additional details and respond to criticism. Responsibilities may be delegated to a co-author, but the designation of a responsible, reachable corresponding author is essential for the journal and for readers. Although the corresponding author is the primary contact, editors copy all correspondence to all authors. The same applies to teams working across multiple sites.
Non-author contributors. People who meet some, but not all, of the authorship criteria should be acknowledged. General administrative oversight of a research team, funding acquisition alone, writing assistance, technical or language editing, and proofreading do not qualify a person for authorship. These contributors may be thanked individually or as a group at the end of the article. Because acknowledgment can imply endorsement, authors must obtain written consent from the persons named, and journals may request it.
Ghost authors. A ghost author is a person who made a substantial contribution meeting the authorship criteria but is not listed (for example, a professional writer paid by a sponsor, or an unlisted researcher). All who qualify for authorship must be listed, and Afarand journals do not permit ghost authorship. Where writing assistance was used, it must be disclosed, as it may represent a conflict of interest.
Gift (guest) authors. A gift or guest author is listed without having made a significant contribution, for example to win favor, because of seniority (such as a department head), or through reciprocal arrangements between colleagues. Afarand journals do not permit gift authorship.
The use of generative AI tools, including large language models (LLMs), chatbots and image generators, in research and writing is expanding rapidly. In line with COPE, ICMJE and WAME guidance, Afarand journals apply the following rules.
AI tools cannot be listed as authors. They cannot take responsibility for submitted work, cannot declare the presence or absence of conflicts of interest, and cannot manage copyright and licensing agreements.
At submission, authors must disclose whether they used AI-assisted technologies in producing the work (including writing, image or figure creation, and data collection or analysis). The disclosure must name the tool and version, describe how it was used, and appear both in the cover letter and in the manuscript (in the Methods or a dedicated declaration section). Use of basic spelling and grammar checkers does not require disclosure.
Humans remain fully responsible for all submitted content, including any material produced with AI assistance. Authors must carefully verify and edit AI output, which can sound authoritative while being incorrect, incomplete, biased or fabricated (including fabricated references).
AI-generated or AI-altered images and figures are not acceptable unless the use is an explicit part of the research design and is fully described.
Sole authorship is more common in the arts, humanities and social sciences, while multiple authorship is common in disciplines where large, multinational groups collaborate on long-term projects.
Large multi-author groups should decide who will be an author before the work begins and confirm this before submission.
All listed authors must meet all four authorship criteria and submit their own disclosure forms.
Where authorship is attributed to a group or consortium name, the corresponding author must specify the group name at submission and clearly identify the members who qualify as authors and can take credit and responsibility for the work. Contributors who are not authors should be listed in an end-note or acknowledgment section.
Each journal's instructions state any limits on the number of authors, co-first authorship, multiple corresponding authors, and how to present group authorship.
Copyright ownership and signature procedures must be clarified when a group is the author.
Journal instructions state any specific requirements for supplementary material, such as trial registration, ethics committee or institutional review board approval, informed consent for case reports, data availability, and permission to use instruments or other copyrighted material.
The order of authors on the byline is decided by the author group, not by the editors, and conventions vary by discipline. In biomedical research the first author is generally assumed to have done most of the work and the senior investigator is usually last; in some social science fields authors are listed alphabetically, which implies equal contribution.
In Afarand journals, the order of authors is expected to reflect each author's level of contribution, as documented in the author contribution statement.
Before peer review, all authors must sign an agreement on the authorship sequence. The order is not changed after the final editorial decision. Changes before acceptance require a new form signed by all authors.
Authorship disputes should be raised as early as possible, ideally before submission. They fall into two groups: pre-publication and post-publication. When an investigation is needed, editors and institutions keep communication open to the extent permitted by law.
Editors prioritize protecting the integrity of the scholarly record over penalizing authors. Sanctions are the responsibility of the institutions that employ the authors.
The most frequent forms of authorship misconduct that call for institutional investigation are plagiarism, stolen, fabricated or manipulated data, disputes involving several authors, groups, institutions or countries, and undisclosed conflicts of interest.
Plagiarism calls authorship into question because the person who created the new work did not originate the original idea or text. Afarand journals regard plagiarism as unacceptable and take corrective action whenever it is found in a submission or a published article. Similarity-detection software (e.g., Crossref Similarity Check) is used, but editorial judgment is needed to assess the extent of overlap and any mitigating circumstances. Submissions containing plagiarism are rejected, and the editor gives a clear explanation.
Editors decide, case by case, whether to inform the authors' institution. In cases involving stolen, fabricated or falsified data, editors are more likely to involve institutions, because ownership of data and intellectual property is difficult to determine and funding is often awarded to the institution. If several institutions or groups are involved, or an institution cannot investigate outside its own jurisdiction, editors rely on their own judgment.
During a dispute, review or publication may be suspended until the matter is resolved. Editors state which statements or forms are required, set a firm deadline, and authors may then withdraw the submission or fulfil the requirements.
If a dispute arises after publication, the editor updates the scholarly record through a correction or, in serious circumstances, an expression of concern or retraction.
Journal instructions explain author responsibilities, the definition of authorship, ethical expectations for planning, conducting and reporting research, and the need for statements on originality, competing interests and funding. Afarand journals follow COPE guidance in all disputes.
Pre-publication disputes. Editors use the following COPE flowcharts: How to recognise potential authorship problems; Suspected ghost, guest or gift authorship; Addition of extra author before publication; Removal of an author before publication; and Systematic manipulation of the publication process. Review and publication are postponed while disputes over authorship or competing interests remain unresolved. Firm deadlines for responses may encourage prompt replies.
Post-publication disputes. Editors conduct a systematic investigation when authorship concerns arise after publication. Changes to authorship are generally not accepted after publication, but the journal follows COPE guidance in cases of violation: How to recognise potential authorship problems (after publication); Suspected ghost, guest or gift authorship; Request for removal of an author after publication; Request for addition of an extra author after publication; and Systematic manipulation of the publication process.
This page is part of the Afarand Best Practice Statement, which contains the complete text of all sections.