Authorship Criteria and Contribution Policy

Authorship Eligibility Criteria

To be listed as an author, individuals must meet all four of the following criteria based on ICMJE guidelines:

  1. Substantial contributions to:
    • Study conception/design OR
    • Data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation AND
  2. Drafting the work or critically revising it for important intellectual content AND
  3. Final approval of the version to be published AND
  4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work

Author Contribution Categories

All authors must specify their contributions using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) system:

Role

Description

Conceptualisation

Ideas: formulation of research goals/aims

Methodology

Development/design of methodology; model creation

Investigation

Conducting research/experiments; data/evidence collection

Formal Analysis

Application of statistical/formal techniques to analyse study data

Writing - Original Draft

Preparation of the initial manuscript draft

Writing - Review & Editing

Critical review/comments/revision of manuscript

Visualisation

Preparation/creation of figures, tables, or visualisations

Supervision

Oversight/leadership responsibility for research activity

Funding Acquisition

Acquisition of financial support for the project leading to publication

Project Administration

Management/coordination responsibility for the research activity

Resources

Provision of materials/reagents/patients/laboratory samples/instruments

Data Curation

Management activities to annotate/maintain research data

Authorship Order Guidelines

  • First author: Made the most significant contribution (typically conducts research and writes the first draft)
  • Last author: Often the senior researcher/PI providing oversight
  • Middle authors: Listed in order of decreasing contribution
  • Corresponding author: Identified with † symbol; handles manuscript correspondence

Non-Author Contributors

Individuals who don't meet all authorship criteria but contributed should be acknowledged in:

  • Acknowledgements section with their specific contribution
  • Funding section, if providing financial/resource support

Examples of non-author contributions:

  • Technical assistance
  • Writing/editing assistance
  • General supervision
  • Data collection only

Changes to Authorship

Any changes to authorship after submission require:

  1. Written consent from all authors (including those being added/removed)
  2. Explanation for the change
  3. Approval by the Editor-in-Chief

Author Declaration Requirements

All submissions must include:

Authorship Statement

"All listed authors meet ICMJE authorship criteria. All authors have approved the final version to be published and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work."

Individual Contributions

Example format:

  • AB: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Writing - Original Draft
  • CD: Formal Analysis, Visualisation
  • EF: Supervision, Funding Acquisition
  • GH: Writing - Review & Editing

Conflict of Interest Disclosure

"All authors declare no conflicts of interest" OR detailed disclosure

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

  • AI tools cannot be listed as authors
  • Use of AI for writing assistance must be:
    • Disclosed in Methods/Acknowledgements
    • Verified and edited by human authors
    • Not used for data fabrication/falsification

Corresponding Author Responsibilities

  1. Ensure all authors meet the criteria and approve the final version
  2. Manage communication with the journal
  3. Verify data accuracy
  4. Arrange funding/APC payment if applicable
  5. Serve as the point of contact for post-publication inquiries

Violations & Consequences

Violations of authorship policy may result in:

  • Manuscript rejection/retraction
  • Notification to authors' institutions
  • Restrictions on future submissions

Publication Ethics

All authors must adhere to:

  • COPE guidelines on authorship
  • ICMJE recommendations
  • Global South Health Horizons plagiarism policy (<15% similarity allowed)

For questions: [team.gshh@cecr.com.ng]

Approved by Global South Health Horizons Editorial Board: [30/04/2025]