The journal is committed to ensuring that authorship and contributorship are assigned fairly, transparently, and in accordance with established principles of research integrity and publication ethics. All individuals listed as authors must have made substantial contributions to the research and must accept responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and content of the published work. Contributions from individuals who do not meet the authorship criteria should be appropriately acknowledged.

Authorship Criteria

Individuals should be listed as authors only when they have made substantial intellectual contributions to the research and manuscript. The journal encourages authors to follow recognized authorship principles, including the criteria established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), where applicable. In general, authors should meet all of the following criteria:

• Make substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
• Participate in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content.
• Approve the final version of the manuscript submitted for publication.
• Agree to be accountable for their contributions and to help ensure that questions concerning the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Individuals who do not meet the applicable authorship criteria should not be listed as authors. Providing funding, general supervision, administrative support, technical assistance, or routine data collection alone does not automatically qualify an individual for authorship.

Author Contributions

Authors are encouraged to describe their individual contributions clearly in a dedicated Author Contributions statement. This statement should accurately reflect each author's role in the research and manuscript preparation. Where appropriate, the journal recommends using the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) to describe contributions consistently and transparently.

Contribution roles may include:

• Conceptualization: Development of the research idea, objectives, and overall framework.
• Methodology: Development or design of the research methods and procedures.
• Software: Development, implementation, or testing of software and computational tools.
• Validation: Verification of the reliability and reproducibility of methods, results, or findings.
• Formal Analysis: Application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other analytical techniques.
• Investigation: Conducting experiments, collecting evidence, or carrying out research activities.
• Data Curation: Organization, cleaning, documentation, and maintenance of research data.
• Writing – Original Draft: Preparation of the initial manuscript.
• Writing – Review & Editing: Critical review, revision, and editing of the manuscript.
• Supervision: Oversight, leadership, and guidance of the research activities.
• Project Administration: Coordination and management of the research project.
• Funding Acquisition: Obtaining financial support for the research.

Not every contribution role applies to every manuscript. Authors should report only the roles that accurately represent their actual contributions. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that the contribution statement is complete, accurate, and approved by all co-authors.

Corresponding Author Responsibilities

The corresponding author serves as the primary contact between the editorial office and the authors. This individual is responsible for coordinating manuscript submission, communicating editorial decisions and reviewer comments, submitting revisions, ensuring that all authors have approved the submitted and final versions, and confirming that authorship information and contribution statements are accurate. The corresponding author must also ensure that relevant ethical declarations and disclosures are provided as required by the journal.

Author Order and Changes in Authorship

The order of authors should be agreed upon by all contributors before manuscript submission and should reflect their agreed contributions to the work. Any request to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission must be justified in writing and approved by all affected authors, including any individual being added or removed. The editorial team may request additional documentation before considering such changes. Authorship changes will not be accepted solely on the basis of informal requests or without appropriate consent.

Acknowledgment of Non-Author Contributions

Individuals or organizations that have contributed to the work but do not meet the authorship criteria may be acknowledged in an appropriate section of the manuscript. Such contributions may include technical assistance, language editing, administrative support, provision of materials, or general guidance. Authors should obtain permission from individuals before identifying them in the acknowledgments and should disclose relevant financial or institutional support where appropriate.

Research Integrity and Disputes

All authors are expected to act honestly and responsibly in determining authorship and reporting contributions. Practices such as guest authorship, gift authorship, ghost authorship, exclusion of eligible contributors, or misrepresentation of individual contributions are not acceptable. If an authorship dispute arises, the journal may request clarification from the individuals concerned and refer the matter to their affiliated institution when appropriate. The journal may suspend editorial processing while a dispute is being resolved.

Use of Generative AI in Authorship

Generative artificial intelligence tools and other AI systems cannot be listed as authors or co-authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and accountability of scholarly work. Authors remain responsible for verifying AI-assisted content, ensuring the validity of references and research findings, and disclosing the use of AI tools in accordance with the journal's Generative AI Policy.

The journal expects all authors to maintain transparency, fairness, and accountability throughout the research and publication process. Clear authorship criteria and contribution statements help recognize individual efforts appropriately, prevent authorship disputes, and preserve trust in the integrity of published scholarly work.