Authorship Criteria and Contributorship Policy

The International Journal of Hydrological and Environmental for Sustainability (IJHES) [e-ISSN: 2828-5050 & p-ISSN:2828-6405] recognizes authorship as a fundamental component of academic integrity, reflecting the intellectual contributions, scholarly responsibilities, and accountability of individuals involved in scientific research. To promote fairness, transparency, and responsible publication practices, IJHES establishes clear criteria for determining authorship, documenting individual contributions, and managing authorship-related matters.

This policy is guided by the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT). It applies to all manuscripts submitted to, accepted by, or published in IJHES.

1. General Principles

The International Journal of Hydrological and Environmental for Sustainability (IJHES) is committed to maintaining transparency, accountability, fairness, and integrity in scholarly authorship. Authorship must accurately represent the intellectual and scientific contributions of individuals involved in the conception, design, implementation, analysis, interpretation, and reporting of research.

All individuals listed as authors must have made qualifying intellectual contributions and must accept responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the published work.

IJHES requires transparent documentation of individual author contributions to prevent inappropriate authorship practices, ensure proper scholarly recognition, and promote responsible scientific collaboration.

Authorship and author order should be discussed and agreed upon by all contributors before manuscript submission. Such agreements should reflect actual scholarly contributions rather than academic seniority, institutional position, financial support, or personal relationships.

Any disagreements regarding authorship should be addressed transparently and resolved in accordance with internationally recognized publication ethics standards.

2. Authorship Criteria

IJHES adopts the four authorship criteria recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). To qualify as an author, an individual must satisfy all four of the following requirements:

Substantial Contribution: Make substantial contributions to the conception or design of the research, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of research data.

Manuscript Preparation: Participate in drafting the manuscript or critically reviewing and revising its important intellectual content.

Final Approval: Review and approve the final version of the manuscript before publication.

Accountability: Agree to be accountable for all aspects of the research and ensure that questions concerning the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

All individuals who satisfy these criteria must be recognized as authors, and all individuals listed as authors must satisfy the criteria.

Contributors who do not meet all four authorship requirements should be appropriately acknowledged rather than included in the author list.

For interdisciplinary research involving hydrological observations, geochemical and isotopic analyses, environmental monitoring, geological investigations, numerical modelling, or laboratory experiments, authorship eligibility must be based on qualifying intellectual contributions rather than participation in fieldwork, provision of samples, access to equipment, or routine technical assistance alone.

Researchers who make substantial contributions to data collection, laboratory analysis, or computational modelling should be given the opportunity to participate in manuscript preparation, critical intellectual review, final approval, and accountability so that they may qualify for authorship.

3. Author Contributions

IJHES requires a transparent Author Contributions Statement describing the specific scientific and intellectual contributions of each author.

Author contributions should be identified using the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT), which includes the following 14 standardized roles:

Conceptualization: Development of research goals, ideas, and scientific objectives.
Methodology: Development or design of research methods, experimental procedures, or analytical frameworks.
Software: Programming, software development, implementation of computational algorithms, or testing of software components.
Validation: Verification of research results, models, experiments, or analytical outputs.
Formal Analysis: Application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other formal analytical techniques.
Investigation: Conducting research activities, including field investigations, experiments, observations, and data collection.
Resources: Provision of research materials, instrumentation, samples, laboratory facilities, or other resources.
Data Curation: Management, organization, documentation, and preservation of research data.
Writing – Original Draft: Preparation of the initial manuscript or substantial parts of the original draft.
Writing – Review & Editing: Critical review, revision, and intellectual improvement of the manuscript.
Visualization: Preparation and presentation of figures, maps, diagrams, graphs, and other scientific visualizations.
Supervision: Scientific oversight, leadership, and mentoring throughout the research.
Project Administration: Coordination and management of research planning and implementation.
Funding Acquisition: Acquisition of financial support for the research project.

The Author Contributions Statement must accurately represent the work performed by each author and must be reviewed and approved by all co-authors.

Authors may hold multiple CRediT roles, and individual roles may be shared among multiple authors. However, assignment of a CRediT role does not automatically establish authorship eligibility unless all four authorship criteria are satisfied.

Example of an Author Contributions Statement:

Author A: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal Analysis, Writing – Original Draft, and Visualization.

Author B: Investigation, Data Curation, Validation, and Writing – Review & Editing.

Author C: Resources, Supervision, Funding Acquisition, and Writing – Review & Editing.

All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript and agree to be accountable for their contributions to the work.

Contributors must not be assigned roles they did not perform, and individuals who satisfy the authorship criteria must not be intentionally excluded from the author list.

4. Corresponding Author Responsibilities

The corresponding author serves as the primary contact between the authors and the IJHES editorial office during manuscript submission, peer review, revision, publication, and post-publication communication.

The corresponding author is responsible for:

Ensuring that all listed authors satisfy the established authorship criteria.
Confirming that all authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript and consented to its submission.
Providing accurate author names, institutional affiliations, email addresses, and available ORCID identifiers.
Ensuring that the manuscript includes required ethical approvals, funding disclosures, conflict-of-interest statements, and data availability information, where applicable.
Confirming that research data, figures, tables, maps, laboratory results, and other scientific materials have been reported accurately and appropriately.
Communicating editorial decisions, reviewer comments, revision requests, and publication requirements to all co-authors.
Ensuring that all authors approve the final manuscript before publication.
Responding promptly to editorial inquiries and post-publication concerns regarding the accuracy, reproducibility, interpretation, or integrity of the research.
Coordinating responses to requests for corrections, clarifications, or supporting research documentation.

A primary corresponding author must be clearly identified during manuscript submission.

Requests to designate additional corresponding authors in the published manuscript may be considered at the discretion of the editorial team, provided that their responsibilities and agreement are clearly established.

The designation of a corresponding author does not diminish the ethical responsibilities and accountability of other co-authors.

5. Authorship Changes

Any request to modify the authorship of a manuscript after submission must be supported by a clear justification and written agreement from all authors involved.

Authorship changes include:

Adding a new author.
Removing an existing author.
Changing the order of authors.
Changing or replacing the corresponding author.
Correcting author identities or affiliations when such changes materially affect authorship records.

Requests for authorship changes must be submitted to the IJHES editorial office as early as possible and, preferably, before manuscript acceptance.

The request must include:

A written explanation of the reason for the proposed change.
An updated Author Contributions Statement, where applicable.
Written confirmation from all existing authors and any author being added or removed.
Supporting documentation when requested by the editorial team.

Authorship changes after manuscript acceptance will be considered only when supported by legitimate justification and sufficient documentation.

Changes requested after publication will be assessed in accordance with the journal's correction and publication ethics policies. Approved changes may require publication of a formal correction to preserve the transparency and integrity of the scholarly record.

IJHES reserves the right to suspend editorial consideration of a manuscript while an authorship dispute remains unresolved.

The editorial team does not independently adjudicate disputed intellectual ownership or determine authorship rights when sufficient agreement or evidence is unavailable. Such disputes may be referred to the relevant academic institutions or research organizations in accordance with COPE guidance.

6. Unacceptable Authorship Practices

IJHES strictly prohibits authorship practices that compromise academic integrity, transparency, and fair attribution of scientific contributions.

These practices include:

Gift Authorship: Including an individual as an author without a qualifying intellectual contribution to the research or manuscript.

Honorary Authorship: Granting authorship solely because of academic rank, institutional authority, professional reputation, administrative position, or personal relationships.

Guest Authorship: Including an individual primarily to increase the perceived credibility, prestige, or likelihood of acceptance of a manuscript.

Ghost Authorship: Intentionally excluding individuals who have made qualifying intellectual contributions or concealing substantial manuscript-writing contributions.

Authorship Manipulation: Deliberately misrepresenting author identities, contributions, affiliations, author order, or participation in the research.

Coercive Authorship: Pressuring researchers, students, junior academics, or collaborators to include individuals who do not qualify for authorship.

Unauthorized Authorship: Listing individuals as authors without their knowledge, consent, or approval of the manuscript.

Providing research funding, general supervision, laboratory access, research samples, routine field assistance, administrative support, technical editing, translation, or language proofreading alone does not automatically qualify an individual for authorship.

Similarly, providing laboratory instruments, performing routine measurements, supplying existing datasets, or granting access to research sites does not independently establish authorship eligibility without meeting the complete authorship criteria.

Individuals who provide meaningful assistance but do not qualify for authorship should be recognized in the Acknowledgments section, with their permission.

IJHES encourages ethical collaboration and proper recognition of contributions from field assistants, laboratory technicians, research institutions, funding organizations, and other supporting parties.

7. Artificial Intelligence and Authorship

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems, generative AI tools, large language models, and other automated technologies cannot be recognized as authors or co-authors of manuscripts submitted to IJHES.

AI systems cannot independently satisfy the ethical and scholarly responsibilities associated with authorship, including final manuscript approval, accountability for research integrity, and responsibility for scientific accuracy.

Authors who use AI-assisted technologies during manuscript preparation must disclose their use in accordance with the journal's Declaration of Generative AI in Scientific Writing and GenAI Policies.

Such disclosure should identify the AI tool used and describe its purpose when required by the journal's applicable policies.

Human authors remain fully responsible for:

The accuracy and scientific validity of AI-assisted content.
The originality and integrity of the manuscript.
Verification of references, citations, research findings, and technical statements.
The accuracy of data interpretation and scientific conclusions.
Compliance with ethical standards, confidentiality requirements, and applicable publication policies.

The use of AI-assisted technologies does not transfer responsibility from human authors to automated systems.

Undisclosed or inappropriate use of AI that compromises research integrity may be investigated under the journal's publication ethics policies.

8. Author Identification and Accountability

IJHES requires accurate and transparent identification of all manuscript authors to ensure reliable scholarly attribution and research accountability.

Authors must provide their correct names, institutional affiliations, valid contact information, and ORCID identifiers where required by the journal's submission procedures.

Affiliations must accurately represent the institutions associated with the research or the authors' institutional appointments. Authors must not provide fabricated, misleading, or unauthorized institutional affiliations.

All authors must:

Confirm their participation in the research and their agreement to be included in the author list.
Approve the manuscript before submission and its final version before publication.
Ensure that their declared contributions are accurate and verifiable.
Accept responsibility for their own contributions and cooperate in addressing concerns about the integrity of the overall work.
Provide reasonable clarification or supporting documentation when requested during editorial assessment.
Cooperate with legitimate editorial investigations, corrections, or post-publication inquiries.

Any suspected authorship misconduct, including falsified contributions, fictitious authors, unauthorized authorship changes, or deliberate misrepresentation of affiliations, will be evaluated in accordance with COPE guidance and the IJHES Publication Ethics and Misconduct Policy.

When necessary, the editorial team may request additional documentation, suspend editorial processing, consult relevant institutions, or initiate appropriate corrective procedures.

IJHES recognizes that authorship disputes may require investigation by the institutions responsible for the research and will cooperate with legitimate institutional inquiries when appropriate.

9. Compliance and Enforcement

Compliance with this Authorship Criteria and Contributorship Policy is mandatory for all manuscripts submitted to IJHES.

Authors are expected to understand and fulfill their ethical responsibilities before submitting their work for editorial consideration.

Failure to comply with the policy may result in:

Requests for clarification or correction of author information and contribution statements.
Temporary suspension of manuscript evaluation or publication processing.
Rejection of manuscripts involving unresolved or substantiated authorship misconduct.
Referral of serious authorship disputes or suspected misconduct to relevant academic or research institutions.
Publication of corrections or other appropriate editorial notices.
Retraction or other post-publication action when justified by the nature and severity of confirmed misconduct.

Editorial decisions will be based on available evidence, the seriousness of the concern, procedural fairness, and internationally recognized publication ethics principles.

Authors involved in an authorship investigation will be given an appropriate opportunity to provide explanations and supporting documentation.

IJHES is committed to preserving the integrity of the scholarly record through responsible editorial oversight, transparent attribution of scientific contributions, and consistent application of publication ethics standards.

This policy should be read in conjunction with the journal's Publication Ethics and Misconduct Policy, Peer Review Process, Correction and Retraction Policy, Declaration of Generative AI in Scientific Writing, and GenAI Policies.