Authorship And Contributorship Policy

Authorship gives academic credit and also carries responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of published work.

TJCSS requires that authorship be based on substantial intellectual contribution rather than status, position, financial support, or personal relationship.

Authorship Requirements

A listed author should normally have made a substantial contribution to the work and should:

  • Contribute to the research idea, design, data collection, analysis, or interpretation
  • Participate in drafting or critically revising the manuscript
  • Approve the final version
  • Agree to be accountable for the work
  • Cooperate in resolving questions about accuracy or integrity

Every listed author must approve the manuscript before submission.

Unacceptable Authorship Practices

TJCSS does not accept:

Gift Authorship

Listing a person as an author because of friendship, respect, or personal benefit.

Guest Authorship

Adding a well known person to increase the perceived status or acceptance chances of a manuscript.

Honorary Authorship

Giving authorship because of seniority, position, or institutional authority without a qualifying contribution.

Ghost Authorship

Excluding a person who made a substantial contribution or failing to disclose the involvement of a professional writer or other contributor.

Contributions That Do Not Automatically Qualify for Authorship

The following activities alone do not normally justify authorship:

  • General supervision
  • Administrative support
  • Funding acquisition
  • Language editing
  • Proofreading
  • Data entry
  • Technical assistance
  • Providing office space or equipment
  • Introducing researchers to participants
  • Holding a senior institutional position

Such contributions may be recognized in the acknowledgements section with the contributor’s permission.

Corresponding Author

The corresponding author is responsible for:

  • Communicating with the journal
  • Confirming that all authors approve the submission
  • Ensuring that author names and affiliations are accurate
  • Disclosing funding and conflicts of interest
  • Responding to reviewer comments
  • Keeping coauthors informed
  • Approving publication proofs
  • Cooperating with post publication enquiries

The corresponding author does not have greater ownership of the research than the other authors.

Author Order

Authors should agree on the order of authors before submission.

The journal will not determine the order of authors. Any dispute should be resolved by the authors or their institutions.

Contribution Statement

Authors should provide a statement describing each author’s contribution.

Contributions may include:

  • Conceptualization
  • Methodology
  • Data collection
  • Data analysis
  • Investigation
  • Writing the original draft
  • Reviewing and editing
  • Supervision
  • Project administration
  • Funding acquisition

The contribution statement must accurately reflect the work performed.

Changes in Authorship

Requests to add, remove, or rearrange authors must be submitted before publication.

The request must include:

  • Reason for the proposed change
  • Written agreement from all current authors
  • Written agreement from any author being added or removed
  • Confirmation from the corresponding author

The editor may request institutional confirmation where an authorship dispute exists.

Authorship changes after publication will only be considered in exceptional circumstances and may require a formal correction.

Authorship Disputes

TJCSS will not decide which person deserves authorship when the parties disagree about their contributions.

The journal may suspend review or publication until the dispute is resolved by the authors or their institutions.

Deceased or Unavailable Authors

If an author dies or becomes unavailable before publication, the remaining authors must inform the editor.

The journal may retain the person as an author if the individual made a qualifying contribution and the remaining authors can confirm approval of the manuscript to the extent reasonably possible.

Artificial Intelligence and Authorship

Artificial intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors.

An author must be a person capable of:

  • Approving the final manuscript
  • Declaring conflicts of interest
  • Holding copyright
  • Accepting responsibility
  • Responding to questions about the work

Significant use of artificial intelligence must be disclosed, but the human authors remain fully responsible for the manuscript.