Authorship and Contributorship

Purpose and Scope

The SDEWES Journals Authorship and Contributorship Policy sets out the principles for determining authorship, describing author contributions and recognising non-author contributions in journals published by SDEWES Centre.

This policy applies to all submitted, accepted and published manuscripts, including regular articles, review articles, special issue papers, article collections, conference-linked submissions and supplementary materials. It applies to individual, group and consortium authorship, author contribution statements, acknowledgements and authorship-related concerns.

Related guidance, statement templates, declaration forms and checklists relevant to this policy are listed in Appendix A: Related COPE and International Guidance and Appendix B: Practical Forms, Statements and Checklists.

Authorship Criteria

Authorship is reserved for individuals who have made a substantial scholarly contribution to the work and who accept responsibility and accountability for the submitted and published manuscript.

To qualify as an author, an individual must meet all of the following criteria:

  • make a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work; the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data; or the development of methodology, models, software, tools or other substantive research components; 
  • participate in drafting the manuscript or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; 
  • approve the version submitted to the journal and the final version accepted for publication; and 
  • agree to be accountable for their contribution and to cooperate in resolving questions concerning the accuracy, originality or integrity of any part of the work. 

All individuals who meet the authorship criteria must be included as authors, and individuals who do not meet the criteria must not be listed as authors. Contributors who do not qualify for authorship may be recognised in the acknowledgements or contribution statement, as appropriate.

Determining who qualifies for authorship is the collective responsibility of the authors. Journal editors may assess whether the reported authorship and contributions are consistent with this policy, but do not normally decide who should receive authorship credit or determine author order.

Responsibilities of Authors

By submitting a manuscript, the authors confirm that:

  • all listed authors meet the authorship criteria established in this policy; 
  • no individual who meets the authorship criteria has been omitted; 
  • all author names, affiliations and other author details are accurate; 
  • all authors have approved the submitted manuscript; 
  • all authors have approved the author list and author order; 
  • where an author contribution statement is required or provided, it accurately reflects the work performed; 
  • contributors who do not qualify for authorship are appropriately acknowledged, where applicable; and 
  • all authors agree to cooperate with the journal where questions arise concerning authorship, contributions, accuracy or integrity. 

Authors must also ensure that declarations required under Competing Interests and Funding Disclosure, Research Ethics, Research Data and Transparency and Generative AI Policy are complete, accurate and consistent with the author list and, where applicable, the contribution statement.

General requirements concerning originality, simultaneous submission, duplicate publication and publication misconduct are set out in Publishing Ethics.

Corresponding Author Responsibilities

The corresponding author is the primary contact between the authors and the journal before, during and after the editorial and publication process.

The corresponding author must ensure that all authors are correctly identified, have approved the submitted and accepted versions, have agreed to the author list and order, and have reviewed the contribution statement and required declarations. The corresponding author must keep all co-authors informed of editorial decisions, revision requests and relevant publication-related communications.

The corresponding author should remain available after publication to respond to questions and to cooperate with requests concerning the manuscript, data, methods, authorship, competing interests, ethical approvals, corrections or other matters affecting the scholarly record.

Corresponding authorship does not give one author authority to add, remove or reorder authors without the agreement and documentation required under Authorship Changes and Inclusive Name Changes. Designation as the corresponding author also does not reduce the responsibilities of the other authors.

Author Order and Equal Contributions

Authors should agree on the author order before submission. The meaning of author order may differ between disciplines and collaborations and is determined collectively by the authors rather than by the journal.

Equal contribution, joint first authorship, joint senior authorship or another shared-contribution designation may be indicated where it accurately reflects the work performed, is agreed by all authors and is presented in accordance with the relevant journal’s Guide for Authors.

Requests to alter author order or shared-contribution designations after submission must follow Authorship Changes and Inclusive Name Changes.

Author Contributions and CRediT Taxonomy

SDEWES journals may require authors to provide an author contribution statement. Where required, the statement should identify the contribution made by each author and should be approved by all authors.

Contributions should normally be described using the CRediT Contributor Role Taxonomy or another clear contribution format accepted by the relevant journal. The standard CRediT roles are:

  • Conceptualization 
  • Data curation 
  • Formal analysis 
  • Funding acquisition 
  • Investigation 
  • Methodology 
  • Project administration 
  • Resources 
  • Software 
  • Supervision 
  • Validation 
  • Visualization 
  • Writing – original draft 
  • Writing – review & editing 

Not all roles apply to every manuscript, and one author may perform several roles. Contribution statements must accurately reflect the work performed and must not exaggerate, conceal or misrepresent individual contributions.

CRediT roles describe contributions but do not independently determine authorship. An individual may perform a recognised contributor role without meeting the authorship criteria established in Section 2. Conversely, assigning a CRediT role does not justify guest, gift or honorary authorship.

The relevant journal’s Guide for Authors may specify the required format, placement and level of detail for contribution statements.

Acknowledgements and Non-Author Contributions

Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the authorship criteria must not be listed as authors. Their contribution may be recognised in the acknowledgements or another contributorship section, where appropriate.

Non-author contributions may include technical or administrative assistance, data collection support, language editing, proofreading, professional writing assistance, software or statistical support, general supervision, provision of materials, or funding acquisition without an additional substantial scholarly contribution.

The nature of each acknowledged contribution should be described sufficiently clearly. Authors should obtain permission from individuals named in the acknowledgements because acknowledgement may be understood as indicating awareness of or association with the work.

Funding and sponsor involvement must also be disclosed under Competing Interests and Funding Disclosure. Use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies must be reported under Generative AI Policy rather than by identifying the tool as an author or human contributor.

Unacceptable Authorship and Contributorship Practices

SDEWES journals do not accept practices that misrepresent authorship, contribution, identity, responsibility or accountability.

Unacceptable practices include:

  • guest or gift authorship, where a person is listed despite not meeting the authorship criteria; 
  • ghost authorship, where a person who meets the authorship criteria is omitted; 
  • coercive authorship, where a person is added, removed or repositioned because of pressure, hierarchy or institutional influence; 
  • honorary authorship based only on seniority, position, reputation or general supervision; 
  • purchased, sold, exchanged or otherwise traded authorship; 
  • fabricated or misrepresented author identities; 
  • false, incomplete or misleading contribution statements; and 
  • inappropriate alteration of the author list, author order or corresponding author to manipulate credit, responsibility, eligibility or editorial handling. 

Suspected authorship manipulation or misrepresentation is assessed under Publishing Ethics. Requests to change authorship after submission are handled under Authorship Changes and Inclusive Name Changes. Where the published record may require amendment, Corrections, Retractions and Withdrawals also applies.

Group, Consortium and Collaborative Authorship

Where work is conducted by a research group, consortium or large collaboration, the manuscript should clearly distinguish individuals or group members who qualify as authors from collaborators and other non-author contributors.

A group or consortium name may be included in the author byline where permitted by the relevant journal. The corresponding author must identify the individuals who take authorship responsibility for the manuscript and must provide any contributor or collaborator list required by the journal.

Each individual identified as an author must meet the authorship criteria, approve the submitted and accepted versions, and accept the responsibilities established in this policy. Membership of a consortium, project or research group alone does not qualify an individual for authorship.

Artificial Intelligence and Authorship

Generative AI tools and AI-assisted technologies cannot be listed as authors or co-authors because they cannot approve a manuscript, accept responsibility, respond to questions about the work or hold legal rights and obligations.

Human authors remain fully responsible for all submitted content, including content generated, edited, translated, analysed or otherwise supported by AI-assisted technologies. Relevant use must be disclosed in accordance with Generative AI Policy.

CRediT or another contributorship framework must not be used to attribute authorship or human contributor status to an AI tool.

Authorship Disputes and Concerns

Authors should discuss and agree authorship, author order and contributions when planning the work and should review those arrangements if contributions change during the research or manuscript-preparation process.

SDEWES Centre and journal editors do not normally adjudicate personal, institutional or employment-related disputes about who qualifies for authorship or how authors should be ordered. Where authors cannot reach agreement, the journal may pause editorial handling, peer review, production or publication and request that the matter be resolved by the authors or, where necessary, by the relevant institution or organisation.

The journal may nevertheless assess whether the submitted or published authorship record is consistent with this policy and whether an authorship concern affects the integrity of the editorial or scholarly record. Suspected guest, gift, ghost, coercive, purchased or manipulated authorship may be assessed under Publishing Ethics.

Any request to add, remove or reorder authors, change the corresponding author or amend the published authorship record must follow Authorship Changes and Inclusive Name Changes. Personal data and confidential authorship correspondence must be handled in accordance with Privacy.

Policy Review and Updates

SDEWES Centre may review and update this policy periodically to reflect developments in publication ethics, authorship standards, contributorship practices, open science, research integrity and international standards.

Updated policies apply from the date of publication on the SDEWES Journals Policies website unless otherwise stated.

Appendix A. Related COPE and International Guidance

COPE Council. COPE Flowcharts and infographics – How to recognise potential authorship problems

Identifies warning signs of guest, gift, ghost and other potentially inappropriate authorship practices.

COPE Council. COPE Flowcharts and infographics – Ghost, guest, or gift authorship in a submitted manuscript

Provides steps for editors where the listed authors may not reflect the individuals who contributed to and are accountable for the work.

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors

Provides widely used criteria connecting substantial scholarly contribution, manuscript preparation or critical review, final approval and accountability, together with guidance on corresponding authors, author order, group authorship and non-author contributors.

CRediT – Contributor Role Taxonomy

Provides a standard taxonomy of 14 roles for transparently describing contributions to research outputs while remaining separate from the determination of authorship.

Appendix B. Practical Forms, Statements and Checklists

The documents below provide practical support for preparing author contribution statements and assessing possible authorship or contributorship concerns. Documents used primarily to submit or process formal authorship-change requests are listed in Appendix B of Authorship Changes and Inclusive Name Changes.

Author Contribution Statement Template

Author guidance template – Used to prepare a manuscript contribution statement using the CRediT Contributor Role Taxonomy or another accepted format, including statements for individual, equal, group and consortium contributions.

Authorship Dispute or Authorship Concern Checklist for Editors

Internal editor and publisher checklist – Used to assess authorship disputes, unclear or inconsistent contribution statements and possible guest, gift, ghost, coercive, purchased or manipulated authorship.