Journal of Inclusive and Innovative Educational Technology

Authorship Policy

Journal of Inclusive and Innovative Educational Technology is committed to ensuring transparency, fairness, accountability, and integrity in authorship and contributorship. Authorship must reflect real scholarly contribution to the manuscript, while contributorship must acknowledge individuals who support the research but do not meet the criteria for authorship.

This policy explains the criteria for authorship, author contribution, role of the corresponding author, changes in authorship, and the prohibition of ghost authorship, gift authorship, guest authorship, and honorary authorship.

1. Authorship Criteria

Authorship is limited to individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the research and manuscript. A person may be listed as an author if they meet the following criteria:

Made substantial contribution to the conception or design of the study, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, development of instruments, development of learning media, system design, or other essential parts of the research.
Participated in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
Approved the final version of the manuscript before submission and publication.
Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy, integrity, or ethics of the manuscript are properly addressed.

All individuals listed as authors must meet the authorship criteria. Individuals who do not meet these criteria should not be listed as authors but may be acknowledged in the acknowledgment section.

2. Author Contributions

Each author must have a clear and identifiable contribution to the manuscript. The journal may request authors to provide an author contribution statement during submission or revision.

Author contributions may include, but are not limited to:

  1. Conceptualization of the study.
  2. Development of theoretical or conceptual framework.
  3. Research design and methodology.
  4. Development of learning media, digital tools, instruments, or
  5. educational technology products.
  6. Data collection.
  7. Data analysis.
  8. Data interpretation.
  9. Writing the original draft.
  10. Reviewing and editing the manuscript.
  11. Supervision of the research process.
  12. Project administration.
  13. Funding acquisition.

Example of author contribution statement:

Author Contributions
Author 1 contributed to conceptualization, methodology, data analysis, and writing the original draft. Author 2 contributed to instrument development, data collection, and manuscript revision. Author 3 contributed to supervision, validation, and final review of the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

3. Corresponding Author

The corresponding author is the author responsible for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer review, revision, copyediting, proofreading, and publication process.

The corresponding author is responsible for:

  1. Ensuring that all authors meet the authorship criteria.
  2. Ensuring that all authors have approved the manuscript before submission.
  3. Submitting the manuscript through the Online Journal System.
  4. Completing all required metadata, including author names, affiliations, email addresses, ORCID ID when available, abstract, keywords, and references.
  5. Communicating editorial decisions and reviewer comments to all authors.
  6. Submitting revised manuscripts and response to reviewers.
  7. Ensuring that ethical approval, informed consent, funding information, conflict of interest statement, and supporting documents are provided when required.
  8. Responding to editorial questions before and after publication.
  9. Ensuring that all authors approve any changes in authorship, manuscript content, or publication status.

The corresponding author does not have greater ownership of the article than other authors. All authors remain responsible for the integrity and accuracy of the published work.

4. Order of Authors

The order of authors must be agreed upon by all authors before manuscript submission. The journal does not determine author order. Author order should reflect the level of contribution, disciplinary norms, or agreement among the authors.

Any dispute regarding author order must be resolved by the authors and their institution before submission or publication. The journal may suspend the review or publication process until the authorship dispute is resolved.

5. Changes in Authorship

Changes in authorship include adding an author, removing an author, changing the order of authors, changing the corresponding author, or changing author affiliation after submission.

Any request for authorship changes after submission must be submitted in writing to the editorial office. The request must include:

  1. A clear reason for the proposed change.
  2. A revised author list.
  3. A statement of contribution from the added, removed, or reordered author.
  4. Written approval from all existing authors.
  5. Written approval from the author being added or removed.
  6. Confirmation from the corresponding author that all authors agree with the change.

The editorial team will review the request before approving any authorship change. The journal may reject the request if the explanation is unclear, if there is disagreement among authors, or if the change raises ethical concerns.

After an article has been published, changes in authorship will only be considered in exceptional cases and may require a formal correction notice.

6. Non-Author Contributors

Individuals who contributed to the research or manuscript but do not meet the authorship criteria should be acknowledged in the acknowledgment section. These contributors may include individuals who provided technical assistance, language editing, administrative support, data collection assistance, proofreading, supervision, funding support, or general academic advice.

Examples of non-author contributions include:

  1. Providing administrative assistance.
  2. Assisting with data entry or transcription.
  3. Providing technical support.
  4. Giving general supervision.
  5. Providing language editing or proofreading.
  6. Assisting with software operation.
  7. Providing institutional access or facilities.

Acknowledgment must not be used to imply authorship. Individuals mentioned in the acknowledgment section should be informed and should agree to be acknowledged.

7. Prohibition of Ghost Authorship

Ghost authorship occurs when an individual who has made a substantial contribution to the research or manuscript is not listed as an author or is not properly acknowledged.

The journal prohibits ghost authorship. Anyone who meets the authorship criteria must be included as an author. Anyone who contributed but does not meet the criteria for authorship must be acknowledged appropriately.

Examples of ghost authorship include:

  1. Excluding a researcher who substantially contributed to the study design, data analysis, or manuscript writing.
  2. Omitting a writer or contributor who made significant intellectual contributions.
  3. Failing to acknowledge individuals who contributed to the development of instruments, media, or research design.
  4. Hiding the role of a sponsor, consultant, or third party who contributed to the manuscript.

If ghost authorship is suspected, the editorial team may request author contribution details, written clarification, or institutional confirmation.

8. Prohibition of Gift, Guest, and Honorary Authorship

Gift authorship, guest authorship, and honorary authorship occur when an individual is listed as an author even though they do not meet the authorship criteria.

The journal prohibits listing individuals as authors only because of their academic position, institutional role, personal relationship, funding support, administrative authority, or seniority.

Examples of prohibited authorship practices include:

  1. Listing a supervisor, lecturer, dean, director, or institutional leader as an author without substantial contribution.
  2. Adding a person as an author only to increase the chance of publication.
  3. Adding a person as an author because of personal, professional, or institutional pressure.
  4. Listing a funder or sponsor as an author without intellectual contribution.
  5. Including a famous academic as an author to increase credibility, even though they did not contribute substantially.
  6. Adding an author after acceptance without valid contribution and approval from all authors.

Individuals who provide general supervision, funding, administrative support, access to research sites, or proofreading only should be acknowledged, not listed as authors.

9. Authorship Disputes

Authorship disputes may include disagreement about author order, inclusion or exclusion of authors, corresponding author role, or contribution claims.

The journal is not responsible for resolving personal or institutional authorship disputes. Authors are expected to resolve authorship issues before submission. If a dispute occurs during the editorial process, the journal may suspend the review or publication process until the dispute is resolved.

The editorial team may request written statements from all authors, contribution forms, institutional confirmation, or other supporting documents. If the dispute cannot be resolved, the manuscript may be rejected or withdrawn from the editorial process.

10. Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

Artificial intelligence tools, chatbots, or automated writing tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the integrity, accuracy, originality, and ethical accountability of the manuscript.

Authors who use AI-assisted tools for language editing, idea organization, translation assistance, data processing, coding support, or other technical purposes must disclose their use when relevant. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, citations, data, interpretation, and ethical integrity of the manuscript.

11. Author Declaration

During submission, authors may be required to confirm the following statements:

  1. All listed authors have made substantial contributions to the manuscript.
  2. All listed authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
  3. No person who qualifies for authorship has been omitted.
  4. No person who does not qualify for authorship has been included.
  5. The order of authors has been approved by all authors.
  6. The corresponding author has been authorized to communicate with the journal on behalf of all authors.
  7. All authors agree to be accountable for the integrity and accuracy of the manuscript.

12. Editorial Action for Authorship Misconduct

If authorship misconduct is suspected, the journal may take the following actions:

  1. Request clarification from the corresponding author.
  2. Request written confirmation from all authors.
  3. Request detailed author contribution statements.
  4. Suspend the peer review or publication process.
  5. Require correction of the author list.
  6. Reject the manuscript.
  7. Publish a correction if the issue is discovered after publication.
  8. Retract the article in serious cases involving deception, false authorship, or unethical publication practice.
  9. Contact the authors’ institution when necessary.

The final decision regarding authorship issues rests with the Editor-in-Chief or assigned editor, based on journal policy, publication ethics principles, and available evidence.

Journal of Inclusive and Innovative Educational Technology requires all authors to follow responsible authorship practices. Authorship must be based on real scholarly contribution, transparency, accountability, and ethical responsibility. The journal does not tolerate ghost authorship, gift authorship, guest authorship, honorary authorship, or any form of authorship manipulation.

 

related links/Menus

Author Guidelines

Publication Ethics