Authorship and Contributorship Policy
Research Integrity Policy
Authorship and Contributorship Policy
This policy establishes the criteria for authorship, contributor recognition and responsibility for manuscripts submitted to the International Journal of Education and Skills for the Green Economy.
Policy statement
Authorship provides academic credit and carries responsibility for the integrity of published work. Every listed author must have made a meaningful intellectual contribution to the manuscript and must accept accountability for the work.
Individuals who do not satisfy the authorship criteria must not be listed as authors. Their legitimate contributions may instead be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements or Contributor Statement.
Criteria for authorship
To qualify as an author, an individual should satisfy all of the following conditions:
Substantial contribution
Make a substantial contribution to the conception, design, data acquisition, analysis or interpretation of the work.
Manuscript preparation
Participate in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
Final approval
Review and approve the final version submitted for consideration and the version accepted for publication.
Accountability
Accept responsibility for the author’s own contributions and help address questions concerning the accuracy or integrity of the work.
Artificial intelligence and authorship
Artificial intelligence systems, language models and automated tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors. They cannot approve a manuscript, accept legal and ethical responsibility or respond to questions about research integrity. Human authors remain fully responsible for any AI-assisted content.
Contributor roles
IJESGE encourages authors to describe individual contributions transparently. Contributor roles may include:
Example author contribution statement
Author order
The order of authors must be agreed upon by all authors before submission. The journal does not determine author order and will not normally arbitrate disputes concerning the relative importance of individual contributions.
The corresponding author must confirm that every listed author has approved the author list and its order.
Corresponding author
The corresponding author manages communication with the journal, verifies authorship information, coordinates revisions and ensures that all authors approve the final manuscript.
Collective authorship
A research group or consortium may be identified as an author when its members meet the applicable criteria and individual contributors are transparently identified where practicable.
Deceased authors
A deceased contributor may remain listed as an author if the individual met the authorship criteria before death. A note should explain the circumstances, and the remaining authors accept responsibility for the work.
Contributions that do not automatically qualify for authorship
The following activities alone do not normally justify authorship:
- Providing general administrative support;
- Obtaining funding without an additional intellectual contribution;
- Providing facilities, equipment or routine technical assistance;
- Holding a senior institutional or supervisory position;
- Routine data collection without involvement in the study’s intellectual development;
- Language editing, proofreading or formatting alone;
- General mentorship that does not include a substantial contribution to the submitted work.
These contributions may be recognized in the Acknowledgements section with the contributor’s permission.
Acknowledgements
Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the authorship criteria may be acknowledged for technical support, language editing, data collection, institutional assistance or other clearly identified contributions.
Authors should obtain permission from acknowledged individuals because inclusion may imply their agreement with the work or its conclusions.
Unacceptable authorship practices
Gift or honorary authorship
Listing a person because of status, authority, reputation or institutional position without a qualifying contribution.
Guest authorship
Adding a well-known individual to increase the perceived credibility or publication prospects of a manuscript.
Ghost authorship
Excluding an individual who made a substantial contribution or concealing the involvement of a professional or commercial writer.
Authorship for sale
Buying, selling, exchanging or offering authorship positions is a serious violation of publication ethics.
Changes to authorship
Requests to add, remove or reorder authors after submission must be submitted in writing by the corresponding author. The request must explain the reason for the change and include written agreement from all listed, added or removed authors.
The editorial process may be suspended while the request is evaluated. The journal may contact individual authors or their institutions when verification is required.
Changes after publication will be considered only in exceptional and properly documented circumstances and may require publication of a formal correction.
Authorship disputes
IJESGE cannot investigate workplace relationships or independently determine the ownership of contributions. Authors are encouraged to resolve disagreements through their institutions.
When a dispute cannot be resolved, the journal may suspend editorial consideration until written confirmation or an institutional determination is provided.
Shared responsibility
Transparent authorship protects contributors, readers and the scholarly record. All authors share responsibility for ensuring that authorship information is complete, accurate and ethically justified.
Policy owner: Editorial Office of the International Journal of Education and Skills for the Green Economy
Effective date: 2026
Last reviewed: August 2026
