Authorship Criteria

Last change 08/06/2026

The journal adheres strictly to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations regarding authorship and contributorship.

Authorship Criteria
All listed authors must meet all four of the following ICMJE criteria:

1. Substantial Contribution
The author must have made a substantial contribution to at least one of the following:

  • Conception or design of the study; or
  • Acquisition of data; or
  • Analysis of data; or
  • Interpretation of data.

2. Intellectual Contribution
The author must have:

  • Drafted the manuscript; or
  • Critically revised it for important intellectual content.

3. Final Approval
The author must have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript before submission and publication.

4. Accountability
The author must agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work and ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Only individuals fulfilling all four criteria qualify for authorship.

Contributors Who Do Not Qualify for Authorship
The following contributions alone do not justify authorship:

  • Acquisition of funding
  • General supervision of a research group
  • Administrative support
  • Data collection without intellectual contribution
  • Technical assistance
  • Statistical consultation only
  • Language editing
  • Proofreading
  • Writing assistance

Such individuals should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgment section after obtaining their written permission.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Authorship
Artificial Intelligence tools (including ChatGPT, Large Language Models, image generators, and similar technologies):

  • Cannot be listed as authors.
  • Cannot assume responsibility or accountability for published work.
  • Must be disclosed if used for writing assistance, data analysis, figure generation, or other manuscript preparation activities.
  • Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of all submitted content.

Authorship Declaration
The journal requires submission of a signed Authorship Declaration Form confirming:

  • Compliance with ICMJE authorship criteria.
  • Individual author contributions.
  • Approval of the final manuscript.
  • Acceptance of accountability for the published work.

Failure to comply with these requirements may result in rejection, withdrawal, correction, or retraction of the manuscript.

Deceased Authors
Deceased authors would be included with a death dagger (†) next to the author's name and a footnote stating that the author is deceased along with the date of death.