Authorship

Authorship serves as a means of recognizing both credit and responsibility for the content of published articles. The guiding principle in authorship decisions is to provide an honest account of contributions. Authorship applies to all intellectual products, including text, data, and images in both print and digital formats.

Being listed as an author implies responsibility and accountability for the published work. Contributors who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the study should be credited as authors. They must also understand their role in ensuring the integrity of the work. Since authorship alone does not specify individual contributions, editors are encouraged to implement a contributorship policy to clarify each author's role.

Criteria for Authorship

To qualify as an author, an individual must have made significant intellectual contributions to at least one of the following aspects:

  • Research question and study design
  • Data analysis and interpretation
  • Writing or revising the manuscript for important intellectual content

Performing technical services, identifying study participants, translating text, or providing funding and administrative oversight do not alone qualify for authorship, though such contributions may be acknowledged separately.

At least one author (a "guarantor") must take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole. This is typically the corresponding author, but may be another contributor. All authors must approve the final version before submission. While some authors may not be familiar with all aspects of the research, they are still responsible for their specific contributions.

Number of Authors

Editors should not arbitrarily limit the number of authors. Some studies, such as multicenter trials, may require multiple authors. In such cases:

  • A subset of authors may be listed in the byline, while others are acknowledged in an appendix.
  • A corporate author (e.g., a research group) may be listed, with at least one investigator taking responsibility for the work.

If an article has an unusually large number of authors, editors may request a detailed contribution statement and remove names that do not meet authorship criteria.

Order of Authorship

The order of authors should be determined by the authors themselves, as they best understand their respective contributions. Readers should not assume the meaning of authorship order unless explicitly stated.

Authorship Disputes

Disputes should be resolved at the institutional level before submission. However, editors may intervene if necessary. Any changes in authorship (addition, removal, or reordering of authors) during review or after acceptance must be accompanied by a written explanation and approval from all original authors.

User License Agreement

MJTU provides access to archived materials through its official archives. All Open Access articles are permanently free to read and download under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, allowing unrestricted reuse with proper attribution.

Conflicts of Interest

All authors must disclose potential conflicts of interest by submitting a conflict-of-interest statement as part of the manuscript.

Responsibilities Regarding Conflicts of Interest

1. Authors:

  • Must disclose all financial and personal relationships that could influence their work.

2. Reviewers:

  • Must declare any potential conflicts of interest before agreeing to review a manuscript.
  • Should recuse themselves if a conflict of interest may bias their review.
  • Must not use unpublished manuscript content for personal gain.

3. Editors:

  • Should recuse themselves from editorial decisions if they have conflicts of interest.
  • Editorial staff must provide a statement of financial or personal interests to ensure transparency.

Reporting Conflicts of Interest

Manuscripts should include statements or supporting documents disclosing:

  • Authors' conflicts of interest (if any).
  • Sources of funding and the role of funders (if applicable).
  • Whether authors had access to study data and the extent of that access.