01

Basis

The journal follows the COPE Core Practice on authorship and contributorship, and uses the CRediT taxonomy to describe contributions.

02

Who is an author

An author meets all four of these conditions:

1.  a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work, or to the collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data;

2.  drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content;

3.  approval of the final version;

4.  accountability for all aspects of the work.

Funding, general supervision, administrative or logistical help, data collection without a role in design or interpretation, language editing, and seniority alone do not qualify. These contributors are thanked in the Acknowledgements, with their permission.

03

Practices that are not accepted

—  Gift or honorary authorship, guest authorship, and ghost authorship.

—  Purchased, traded, or coerced authorship.

—  Listing an AI tool as an author. AI cannot take responsibility for the work. See the Generative AI Policy.

These practices are handled under Research Misconduct.

04

Corresponding author

—  Communicates with the journal on behalf of all authors.

—  Makes sure that all co-authors approve the submission and each revision.

—  Collects the declarations of all authors and keeps the co-authors informed.

—  Remains the contact for the article after publication.

05

Order and contributions

—  Co-authors agree on the order of names before submission.

—  For an article based on a student’s thesis, the student is normally the first author. Supervisors are co-authors only if they meet all four conditions.

—  Every manuscript with more than one author includes an Author Contributions statement on the title page, using the CRediT roles. Every author must have contributed to the writing, either the original draft or the review and editing.

06

Changes and disputes

Changes to the author list and disputes are handled under Authorship Changes and Disputes. Requests before acceptance are decided within 14 days. After acceptance, changes need the approval of the Editor-in-Chief. After publication, they are made only through a corrigendum. Using a person’s name without consent is treated as misconduct.

07

After publication

—  All authors respond to concerns and cooperate with corrections, investigations, or retractions. See Correction and Retraction.

—  An author who has died may be listed if they met the criteria, and this is noted in the article.

08

Related

Authorship Changes  ·  Generative AI Policy  ·  Research Misconduct  ·  Correction & Retraction

09

Sources

This policy is based on the guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE):