Authorship Criteria

Authorship Criteria and Author Contributions Policy

International Journal of Business, Law, and Education (IJBLE)
e-ISSN: 2747-139X
Website: https://ijble.com/index.php/journal/index

1. General Principles of Authorship

The International Journal of Business, Law, and Education (IJBLE) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity, transparency, accountability, and ethical scholarly publishing.

Authorship must accurately reflect the substantial intellectual contributions of individuals involved in the conception, development, execution, analysis, interpretation, and preparation of scholarly research.

IJBLE adopts authorship principles informed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT).

All individuals identified as authors must have made qualifying intellectual contributions, approved the final manuscript, and accepted responsibility for the integrity of the published work.

2. Criteria for Authorship

To qualify for authorship, each individual must satisfy all four of the following criteria:

  1. Substantial Intellectual Contribution: Making significant contributions to the conception or design of the study, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of research data.

  2. Manuscript Preparation and Critical Review: Participating in drafting the manuscript or critically reviewing its important intellectual content.

  3. Final Approval: Reviewing and approving the final version of the manuscript intended for publication.

  4. Accountability and Research Integrity: Agreeing to take responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the research and cooperating in the investigation and resolution of any concerns regarding the work.

Individuals who do not meet all four criteria should not be identified as authors but may be acknowledged for their contributions, where appropriate.

All contributors who substantially participate in the research should be provided a fair opportunity to fulfill the remaining authorship requirements.

3. Author Contributions and CRediT Taxonomy

IJBLE encourages transparent reporting of individual author contributions using the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT).

The following contributions may be declared:

  • Conceptualization

  • Methodology

  • Software

  • Validation

  • Formal Analysis

  • Investigation

  • Resources

  • Data Curation

  • Writing – Original Draft

  • Writing – Review & Editing

  • Visualization

  • Supervision

  • Project Administration

  • Funding Acquisition

Each author's contribution should be accurately identified. Multiple authors may share the same contribution, and an individual author may fulfill several roles.

CRediT classifications are intended to improve transparency and do not independently determine eligibility for authorship. All listed authors must satisfy the authorship criteria described in Section 2.

4. Responsibilities of the Corresponding Author

The corresponding author serves as the primary contact between the authors and the IJBLE editorial office.

The corresponding author is responsible for:

  1. Ensuring that all listed authors meet the journal's authorship criteria.

  2. Obtaining the consent of all co-authors before manuscript submission.

  3. Providing accurate author names, institutional affiliations, email addresses, and available ORCID identifiers.

  4. Ensuring that all authors approve the submitted manuscript and subsequent revisions.

  5. Coordinating responses to editorial decisions and peer-review comments.

  6. Submitting accurate disclosures concerning funding, conflicts of interest, ethics approval, and data availability, where applicable.

  7. Maintaining communication with the journal throughout submission, peer review, publication, and post-publication processes.

  8. Cooperating with editorial investigations and responding to concerns regarding the published research.

The corresponding author does not hold exclusive responsibility for research integrity. All co-authors share accountability for the published work.

5. Authorship Order and Institutional Affiliations

The sequence of authors must be determined collectively by the authors before manuscript submission.

IJBLE recognizes that authorship order may reflect the relative intellectual contributions of the researchers or accepted conventions within their academic disciplines.

Authors must provide their institutional affiliations accurately, reflecting the institutions where the reported research was conducted or with which they were affiliated during the research.

Institutional affiliations must not be fabricated, misleading, or included solely to improve the perceived credibility of a manuscript.

IJBLE does not determine authorship order on behalf of the research team.

6. Prohibited Authorship Practices

IJBLE does not permit unethical authorship practices, including:

Gift Authorship: Granting authorship to individuals who have not made qualifying intellectual contributions.

Guest Authorship: Including prominent researchers, institutional leaders, or other individuals primarily to increase the likelihood of manuscript acceptance.

Ghost Authorship: Omitting individuals who qualify for authorship or concealing substantial contributions that should be transparently disclosed.

Honorary Authorship: Assigning authorship solely based on academic rank, professional position, administrative authority, or institutional relationships.

Coercive Authorship: Pressuring researchers to include individuals who do not meet the established authorship criteria.

Authorship Trading or Sale: Offering, purchasing, exchanging, or commercially transferring authorship positions.

Suspected violations may result in editorial investigation, rejection, correction, retraction, or notification to relevant institutions, depending on the nature and severity of the violation.

7. Changes in Authorship

Requests to add, remove, or rearrange authors after manuscript submission must be supported by a reasonable written explanation.

The corresponding author must provide written confirmation of agreement from all affected authors, including individuals being added or removed.

Changes to authorship after acceptance or publication are subject to additional editorial scrutiny.

IJBLE reserves the right to suspend manuscript processing while authorship disputes are being investigated.

Where an authorship dispute cannot be resolved through documented agreement among the authors, the journal may refer the matter to the relevant institutions for investigation.

Any approved post-publication authorship correction will be documented transparently.

8. Acknowledgment of Non-Author Contributors

Individuals who contributed to the research but do not satisfy all authorship requirements should be recognized in the Acknowledgments section.

Examples include individuals providing:

  • Administrative or logistical assistance.

  • Technical or laboratory support.

  • Professional language editing or proofreading.

  • General academic supervision.

  • Funding acquisition without additional qualifying intellectual contributions.

  • Research assistance that does not fulfill all authorship criteria.

Authors should obtain appropriate permission from individuals named in the Acknowledgments section.

9. Use of Artificial Intelligence in Manuscript Preparation

Artificial intelligence systems, large language models, automated writing applications, and AI-assisted research tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors.

Authorship requires human accountability, ethical responsibility, and the capacity to approve and defend the integrity of scholarly research.

Authors must transparently disclose the substantive use of AI-assisted technologies in manuscript preparation, data analysis, image generation, or other research activities.

The disclosure should identify the technology used, explain its purpose, and describe the extent of its involvement, where applicable.

Human authors remain fully responsible for verifying the accuracy, originality, citations, methodological validity, and integrity of all AI-assisted content.

The use of artificial intelligence does not exempt authors from compliance with the journal's plagiarism, research ethics, confidentiality, and publication integrity policies.

10. Authorship Disputes and Editorial Investigation

IJBLE addresses suspected authorship misconduct in accordance with recognized scholarly publishing ethics and relevant COPE guidance.

Where credible concerns arise, the editorial team may request:

  • Written author contribution statements.

  • Confirmation of authorship from all co-authors.

  • Supporting research documentation.

  • Clarification of institutional affiliations.

  • Relevant correspondence concerning manuscript development.

Where necessary, IJBLE may contact the authors' affiliated institutions or research integrity offices.

Editorial decisions will be based on available evidence, procedural fairness, and the journal's publication ethics policies.

11. Authorship Declaration

By submitting a manuscript to IJBLE, the corresponding author confirms on behalf of the author group that:

  1. All listed authors satisfy the established authorship criteria.

  2. All authors have contributed meaningfully to the research.

  3. All authors have reviewed and approved the submitted manuscript.

  4. The order of authors has been agreed upon collectively.

  5. All relevant contributors have been appropriately acknowledged.

  6. The manuscript is original and is not under simultaneous consideration elsewhere.

  7. All relevant conflicts of interest, funding sources, and ethical considerations have been disclosed.

  8. All authors accept responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the work.

  9. No unauthorized, fraudulent, or misleading authorship practices have occurred.

Failure to comply with these requirements may result in rejection of the manuscript or appropriate post-publication action.

12. References and Ethical Standards

This policy is informed by the following international scholarly publishing resources:

 

International Journal of Business, Law, and Education (IJBLE)
Commitment to Responsible Authorship, Research Integrity, and Ethical Scholarly Publishing

Website: https://ijble.com/index.php/journal/index