Authorship and Contributorship Policy

Avicenna Journal of Medical Sciences (AJMS) follows the authorship and contributorship recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Authorship confers both scholarly credit and responsibility, and all individuals listed as authors must meet the journal’s authorship criteria and accept accountability for the published work.

Authorship Criteria

All authors must meet all four ICMJE criteria for authorship:

Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; and
Drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content; and
Final approval of the version to be published; and
Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Individuals who do not meet all four criteria should not be listed as authors.

Contributorship

AJMS encourages transparent reporting of individual author contributions. Where applicable, manuscripts should include a contributorship statement describing the specific role of each author.

Contributions may include study conception, methodology, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript drafting, critical revision, supervision, project administration, and other relevant scholarly activities.

Funding acquisition, general supervision, administrative assistance, technical support, language editing, or data collection alone does not qualify an individual for authorship unless all authorship criteria are fulfilled.

Author Order

The order of authors should be agreed upon collectively by the authors before submission.

AJMS does not determine author order and does not normally arbitrate disputes regarding the sequence of authors.

Corresponding Author

The corresponding author serves as the primary point of communication between the journal and the author group and is responsible for:

ensuring that all listed authors meet the journal’s authorship criteria;
confirming that all authors have approved the submitted manuscript and author order;
ensuring accurate disclosure of conflicts of interest, funding, ethical approvals, and contributorship;
coordinating responses to editorial and peer-review correspondence; and
communicating relevant editorial decisions and post-publication matters to all co-authors.

Acknowledgements and Non-Author Contributors

Individuals who have contributed to the work but do not meet all authorship criteria should be acknowledged rather than listed as authors.

Acknowledged contributions may include technical assistance, administrative support, language editing, data collection, scientific advice, or other forms of support.

Permission should be obtained from individuals named in the acknowledgements.

Changes in Authorship

Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission must include:

a clear justification for the proposed change;
confirmation that the revised authorship complies with AJMS and ICMJE criteria; and
written agreement from all listed authors and any individual being added or removed.

Editorial processing may be suspended until the matter is satisfactorily resolved.

Changes in authorship after publication may require a formal correction.

Authorship Disputes

AJMS does not normally adjudicate disputes concerning authorship eligibility or author order.

Authors are expected to resolve such matters collectively. Where agreement cannot be reached, the journal may refer the matter to the relevant institution, research organization, or other appropriate authority for investigation and resolution.

Editorial processing or publication may be suspended while a substantive authorship dispute remains unresolved.

Guest, Gift, and Ghost Authorship

AJMS does not permit:

Guest authorship: inclusion of an individual primarily because of reputation, position, or influence without sufficient contribution;
Gift authorship: granting authorship as a professional courtesy or favor; or
Ghost authorship: omission of an individual whose contribution would qualify for authorship.

Concerns regarding inappropriate authorship may be investigated in accordance with the journal’s publication ethics procedures.

Group and Collaborative Authorship

For multicenter studies, consortia, or collaborative research groups, the same authorship criteria apply.

The manuscript should clearly distinguish individuals who qualify as authors from collaborators and other contributors.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies, including large language models and generative AI systems, cannot be listed as authors or co-authors, as they cannot assume responsibility or accountability for scholarly work.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, appropriate attribution, and ethical compliance of all submitted material, including content developed with AI assistance.

Substantive use of AI-assisted technologies should be transparently disclosed. Where AI tools have been used as part of the research methodology, data analysis, image generation, or other scientific processes, their use should be appropriately described in the Methods section.

AI-assisted technologies should not be treated as primary scientific sources.

Responsibility and Accountability

All authors share responsibility for the integrity of the published work and must cooperate with AJMS in addressing questions concerning accuracy, authorship, ethical conduct, or research integrity before or after publication.

Suspected authorship misconduct will be handled in accordance with the journal’s Research and Publication Ethics Policy and relevant guidance from the ICMJE and Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Authorship and Contributorship Policy