Authorship Criteria

Al-Mizan (e-Journal) is committed to ensuring transparency, accountability, fairness, and appropriate recognition of contributions to scholarly work. This policy has been drafted in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1. Authorship Requirements

Authorship must be strictly limited to individuals who have made a substantial and significant scholarly contribution to the research and/or the drafting of the manuscript. Individuals listed as authors are expected to:

  • Make a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, analysis, interpretation, or drafting of the work;
  • Review and approve the submitted manuscript as well as the final version to be published; and
  • Accept responsibility and accountability for their respective contributions and the integrity of the published work.

All individuals who meet the authorship criteria must be properly credited as authors, whereas individuals who do not meet these criteria must not be listed as authors. Academic rank, seniority, institutional authority, professional relationships, or reputation alone do not constitute a valid basis for listing an individual as an author.

2. Author Contributions

Al-Mizan (e-Journal) requires every manuscript to include an Author Contributions Statement detailing the specific contributions of each author. Al-Mizan (e-Journal) provides a standardized framework to describe contributions to scholarly work in a transparent manner:

  • Conceptualisation: formulation of overarching goals and aims of the research.
  • Methodology: development or design of methodology; creation of models.
  • Software: programming, software development, implementation of computer code and supporting algorithms, or testing of existing code components.
  • Validation: verification of the reproducibility or validity of results, experiments, or other research outcomes.
  • Formal analysis: application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other formal techniques to analyze or synthesize research data.
  • Investigation: conducting a research process, experiments, or data/evidence collection.
  • Resources: provision of study materials, instrumentation, facilities, samples, computing resources, or other research resources.
  • Data curation: management, organization, annotation, maintenance, and preservation of research data for initial use and subsequent re-use.
  • Writing - original draft: preparation, creation, and presentation of the initial manuscript.
  • Writing - review & editing: critical review, commentary, revision, or editing of the manuscript.
  • Visualization: preparation, creation, and presentation of research data or findings in visual format.
  • Supervision: oversight, leadership, and mentorship regarding research planning and execution.
  • Project administration: management and coordination of research activities.
  • Funding acquisition: acquisition of financial support for the research project.

An author may be assigned more than one role, and the same role may be assigned to multiple authors as appropriate. Only roles actually performed by contributors should be listed.

This framework in Al-Mizan (e-Journal) is used to describe who contributed to the work and in what capacity. The assignment of roles does not automatically determine whether an individual qualifies for authorship. The Author Contributions Statement must be included within the manuscript and will be published as part of the final article, as shown in the example below:

Author 1: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, formal analysis, writing – original draft.

Author 2: supervision, validation, resources, writing - review & editing.

3. Corresponding Author and Mandatory Responsibilities

The corresponding author acts as the primary contact between the authors and the journal throughout the submission, peer review, publication, and post-publication processes. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that:

  • All listed authors qualify for authorship.
  • No qualified author has been omitted, and no inappropriate author has been included.
  • All authors have reviewed and approved the submitted manuscript.
  • All authors have agreed to the list and order of authors.
  • The contribution statements accurately represent the contributions of all authors and have been approved by them.

All statements and relevant information submitted to Al-Mizan (e-Journal) must be complete and accurate.

4. Author Order and Changes to Authorship

The author list and sequence must be determined and agreed upon by all authors prior to manuscript submission. Al-Mizan (e-Journal) does not determine author order. Any request to add, remove, reorder, or alter authorship after manuscript submission will only be considered if accompanied by a valid justification.

Al-Mizan (e-Journal) generally does not permit changes to authorship after a manuscript has been accepted for publication, unless necessary to correct a proven error in authorship or to address issues of publication ethics and research integrity. If an authorship change is approved post-publication, the scholarly record will be updated transparently via a Correction notice or another appropriate post-publication notification.

5. Non-Author Contributors and Inappropriate Authorship

Individuals who contributed to the research or manuscript but do not meet the criteria for authorship must not be included in the author list. Where appropriate, their contributions should be recognized in the Acknowledgments section.

Al-Mizan (e-Journal) does not tolerate inappropriate or misleading authorship practices, including:

  • Guest or gift authorship: listing an individual as an author despite their lack of qualifying scientific contributions.
  • Honorary authorship: granting author status solely based on seniority, academic position, authority, reputation, or institutional affiliation, rather than actual scientific contribution.
  • Ghost authorship: omitting an individual who made qualifying contributions, or concealing substantial contributions to the research or manuscript.

The buying, selling, swapping, transferring, or assigning of authorship status without genuine scientific contribution is strictly prohibited.

6. Authorship Disputes and Misconduct

Authors are expected to resolve all questions regarding authorship, author order, and contributions prior to manuscript submission. If an authorship dispute arises during the editorial process, Al-Mizan (e-Journal) may suspend manuscript processing until the issue is clarified. The Editorial Team may request statements from the authors, contribution details supported by documentation, or clarification from the relevant institution(s).

The Editors of Al-Mizan (e-Journal) may assess compliance with the journal’s authorship policies, but are generally not responsible for adjudicating disputes regarding the relative contributions of individual researchers. If the authors cannot resolve a substantive dispute, the journal may refer the matter to the relevant institution or research integrity body.

Allegations of inappropriate authorship practices, such as Guest, Gift, or Ghost Authorship, will be handled in accordance with the relevant COPE guidelines. When necessary to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record, Al-Mizan (e-Journal) may take appropriate editorial or post-publication action, including issuing corrections or retractions.

7. Artificial Intelligence and Authorship

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), Large Language Models (LLMs), chatbots, and other AI-based technologies cannot be listed as authors or co-authors, as these technologies cannot assume responsibility or accountability for scholarly work.

Human authors remain fully responsible and accountable for all content submitted to and published by Al-Mizan (e-Journal), including content generated with the assistance of AI or other supporting technologies.

Any use of AI or AI-assisted technologies must comply with Al-Mizan (e-Journal)’s Generative AI Policy and applicable disclosure requirements.