Authorship Guidelines

 

Naming authors on research articles confirms that the individuals who actually contribute get credit, and are responsible, for the research. When scientists’ relationships with respect to their work are misrepresented intentionally, it leads to misconduct that drastically affects the reporting of research work.

We believe, in the face of the prevailing challenges to authorship, its indispensable to set certain rules to manage authorship. No universal definition of authorship exists. However, an “author” is generally defined as an individual who has significantly contributed to the research work.

As per the guidelines established by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), all individuals credited as authors must meet the set criteria for authorship that consists of following basic three points:

  • Substantial Intellectual contribution in the study idea, conceptual framework, data collection and analysis and results interpretation.
  • Draft or revise the article for conceptual content.
  • Approve the final form of manuscript for publication.

A “co-author” is considered to be any person who significantly participate in the scholarly work and who is also responsible and accountable for the research results.

There are some other general guidelines that must be follow and vary from field to field.

  1. Authors for journal article must take confirmation from all co-authors for authority and to act on their behalf.
  2. The order for authorship must be based on a joint decision of all co-authors.
  3. Other individuals who do not fulfil the authorship criteria but are involved in reported work, should be listed as “Contributors”.

When a manuscript has been prepared collectively by two or multiple authors, KKG needs a “Corresponding author” to be selected because it seems impractical for KKG to get names for all co-authors to sign the Publishing Agreement warranties.

While signing a publishing Agreement, the Corresponding Author confirms that:

  1. All co-authors have authorized him/her to act on their behalf as an agent.
  2. All co-authors have conveyed their consent that he/she can sign the Publishing Agreement as their agent.
  3. The order of names is approved by all co-authors.

When the authorship issues are not properly addressed, it can give rise to disputes. These disputes may be based on misconduct such as misrepresenting one’s role or some may be due to question of interpretation regarding substantiality of others contributions. In addition, non-listing of contributors, displaying or removing one’s name without his/her permission may also become a potential issue.

In cases when complains are files over certain disputes, an editor may conduct an investigation with author’s institution to resolve the issue.

Once the article has been accepted, no changes whether addition or removal of a co-author will be allowed.

The corresponding author will be responsible and accountable that all information given against co-authors like email, address and contact number are correct.