Authorship and Contributorship

Description 

This policy defines authorship, contributorship, author responsibilities, changes to the author list, and the handling of authorship disputes. It applies to all submissions to JFU. 

JFU uses authorship to identify those who deserve credit and accept accountability. CRediT roles are used to describe contributions, but assignment of a CRediT role does not by itself qualify a person for authorship. 

Policy 

  1. An author must have made a substantial scholarly contribution to the work; participated in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content; approved the submitted and published versions; and agreed to be accountable for their contribution and to cooperate in resolving questions about the work. 
  2. Contributors who do not meet all authorship criteria must be acknowledged, with their permission. Examples include administrative assistance, language editing, routine technical support, or general supervision without a qualifying scholarly contribution. 
  3. Every submission must include an author-contribution statement using the CRediT taxonomy: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, and Writing - review and editing. 
  4. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all authors approve the manuscript, author order, contribution statement, disclosures, revisions, and final proof, and that all eligible authors are included. 
  5. Gift, guest, honorary, purchased, ghost, coercive, and fictitious authorship are prohibited. Artificial-intelligence tools cannot be authors because they cannot accept responsibility or accountability. 
  6. Author order must be agreed by all authors. Status, seniority, payment, or editorial influence must not determine authorship or author order. 
  7. Changes to the author list after submission require a written explanation and documented agreement from all existing, added, and removed authors. Requests after acceptance receive heightened scrutiny. 
  8. JFU does not adjudicate unresolved factual disputes over contribution. Such disputes may be referred to the relevant institution. Editorial processing may be paused until the institution or all parties provide an adequate resolution. 
  9. Approved post-publication changes to authorship will be made through a formal correction linked to the article. 

Technical Operational Steps 

  1. At submission, the corresponding author enters complete names, affiliations, ORCID identifiers where available, email addresses, author order, and CRediT roles in the submission system. 
  2. The Journal Office checks consistency between the manuscript, submission metadata, contribution statement, funding statement, and competing-interest declaration. 
  3. Before acceptance, the journal obtains confirmation that all authors approve the final author list and manuscript. 
  4. An authorship-change request must identify the requested change, explain why it is necessary, and include written agreement from every affected author. 
  5. The handling editor assesses timing, rationale, contribution records, and possible coercion or manipulation. The editor may request institutional confirmation. 
  6. If agreement is incomplete or a dispute remains, review or production is paused and the parties are directed to their institution for resolution. 
  7. When a change is approved before publication, all metadata and declarations are updated. When approved after publication, JFU publishes a correction and updates the article metadata without silently replacing the record. 
  8. Suspected authorship manipulation is handled under the Allegations of Research and Publication Misconduct Policy. 
  9. Authorship and contribution records are retained in the editorial file.