Journal Policy
Authorship and Contribution Policy
Journal of Biological and Sustainability Sciences
Policy Statement
The Journal of Biological and Sustainability Sciences requires that all listed authors have made a genuine scholarly contribution to the submitted work and accept responsibility for the integrity, accuracy, and ethical compliance of the manuscript.
Authorship must be based on substantial intellectual, experimental, analytical, methodological, writing, or supervisory contribution. Individuals who do not meet authorship criteria should not be listed as authors, but may be acknowledged where appropriate.
The journal expects all authors to agree on the author list, author order, corresponding author role, contribution statement, and final submitted version of the manuscript.
Authorship Criteria
An author should normally meet the following expectations:
- Make a substantial contribution to the conception, design, execution, data collection, analysis, interpretation, methodology, supervision, or scholarly development of the work.
- Participate in drafting the manuscript, revising it critically, or approving important intellectual content.
- Review and approve the final version submitted to the journal.
- Accept responsibility for their own contribution and agree to cooperate in resolving questions about accuracy, integrity, or ethics.
- Confirm that the manuscript is original and has not been submitted or published elsewhere inappropriately.
Valid Authorship Contributions
- Study conception and design.
- Experimental work, fieldwork, laboratory work, or sampling.
- Data analysis, statistical analysis, modeling, or validation.
- Development of methodology, tools, software, or protocols.
- Manuscript drafting, critical revision, or interpretation.
- Project administration, supervision, or research leadership.
Contributions Not Usually Sufficient Alone
- Only providing funding without intellectual contribution.
- Only providing laboratory space or administrative support.
- Only collecting routine data without scholarly input.
- Only technical editing, formatting, or proofreading.
- Only providing general supervision without direct contribution.
- Only helping with language correction or clerical assistance.
Author Contribution Statement
JBSS encourages authors to include a clear author contribution statement in the manuscript. The contribution statement should describe the specific role of each author in the work.
Example contribution statement:
Conceptualization: Author A and Author B; Methodology: Author B and Author C; Formal analysis: Author C; Investigation: Author A and Author D; Writing original draft: Author A; Review and editing: Author B, Author C, and Author D; Supervision: Author D; Project administration: Author D. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding Author Responsibilities
The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal during submission, peer review, revision, publication, and post-publication correspondence.
- Confirm that all listed authors meet authorship criteria.
- Confirm that all authors have approved the submitted manuscript.
- Ensure that author names, affiliations, emails, and contribution statements are accurate.
- Communicate editorial decisions, reviewer comments, and revision requests to all co-authors.
- Submit revisions, response letters, declarations, and required documents on behalf of all authors.
- Handle post-publication questions, corrections, or data requests.
Author Order
The author order should be agreed upon by all authors before submission. The journal does not normally determine author order; this is the responsibility of the author group.
Any disagreement about author order should be resolved by the authors before submission. If a dispute arises during editorial processing, the journal may pause the review or publication process until the matter is resolved.
Equal contribution or co-corresponding author statements may be included when justified and agreed by all authors.
Equal Contribution
Authors who contributed equally may be identified with a suitable note, provided that all authors agree and the contribution is clearly justified.
Co-Corresponding Authors
Co-corresponding authors may be allowed when more than one author has a major role in communication, supervision, or responsibility for the manuscript.
Changes in Authorship
Any request to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission must be explained clearly and approved by all authors. The editorial office may request written confirmation from all authors.
Authorship changes after acceptance are strongly discouraged and will only be considered when justified by a clear and documented reason.
- The reason for the authorship change must be provided.
- All existing authors must agree to the change.
- Any author being added or removed must agree to the change.
- The contribution statement may need to be updated.
- The editor may delay processing until the matter is resolved.
Unacceptable Authorship Practices
The following practices are considered unethical and may result in editorial investigation, rejection, correction, or further action.
- Gift authorship: listing someone who did not make a genuine contribution.
- Guest authorship: listing a senior or well-known person only to increase credibility.
- Ghost authorship: excluding someone who made a substantial contribution.
- Purchased authorship or selling authorship positions.
- Adding authors without their permission.
- Removing contributors without appropriate justification.
- Misrepresenting author contributions or affiliations.
Acknowledgments
Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria should be recognized in the acknowledgments section.
Acknowledged contributors may include individuals who provided technical support, language assistance, administrative support, field assistance, laboratory assistance, funding support, or general advice.
Authors should obtain permission from individuals named in the acknowledgments where appropriate.
Group Authorship and Consortium Authorship
For large collaborative studies, group authorship may be used when the manuscript represents the work of a consortium, research group, or multicenter team. The manuscript should identify responsible authors and provide details of individual or group contributions where possible.
AI Tools and Authorship
AI tools, language models, software systems, or automated writing tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the integrity, originality, ethics, or accuracy of the work.
Authors remain fully responsible for any content created, edited, translated, summarized, or supported by AI tools. Any use of AI tools should be reviewed carefully by the authors for accuracy, originality, citation quality, and ethical compliance.
Authorship Disputes
Authorship disputes should be resolved by the authors and their institutions. The journal may pause peer review or publication while an authorship dispute is being addressed.
The editorial office may request written statements, author confirmations, contribution details, or institutional guidance before proceeding.
The journal will not normally adjudicate personal or institutional disputes, but it will act to protect the integrity of the publication process.
Contact for Authorship Questions
Questions about authorship criteria, author contribution statements, author order, corresponding author responsibilities, authorship changes, or acknowledgments may be directed to the editorial office.