Authorship serves as a means to attribute credit and responsibility for published works. Recognition and accountability are interconnected, and providing an accurate account of events is crucial for establishing authorship. These criteria apply to various forms of intellectual activity, including printed and digital releases of text, data, and images. Authors bear accountability and responsibility for their published works, and they should have made significant intellectual contributions. Authorship criteria help reduce ambiguity about contributions, but they don't address the specific quantity and quality of assistance required for authorship.

CRITERIA FOR AUTHORSHIP

All individuals who have made significant intellectual contributions to the study supporting the article, such as research question formulation, design, analysis, interpretation, and written description, should be listed as authors. Only those who have made substantial contributions to knowledge should be considered authors. While contributions such as technical services, translation, patient identification, material delivery, funding, or administrative oversight may be acknowledged, they do not qualify for authorship. One author, typically the corresponding author who submits the work and receives evaluations, should be responsible for the overall integrity of the work. Other authors may also share this responsibility. All authors must approve the final version of the text. Ideally, every author should be familiar with all aspects of the work, but in team-based research with complementary skills, authors may have expertise limited to specific areas of the study.

NUMBER, NAMES ORDER, and AUTHORS DISPUTES

The KJMS editorial board does not impose restrictions on the number of authors for each manuscript. Manuscripts with multiple authors often benefit from a strong scientific and literary structure, particularly when authors come from different institutions. In such cases, a paragraph titled "authors' contributions" should be included to clarify individual involvement in the experimental stages, result recording, data interpretation, and final manuscript approval. If multiple authors are involved, they must meet the minimum authorship criteria outlined previously. The editor-in-chief may request additional details on authorship contributions and explanations to address concerns of nepotism. In such cases, the editor-in-chief reserves the right to omit their names from the final accepted version. The authors themselves should determine the order in which their names appear, as they best understand their contributions and agreements. The importance of the authorship order should not be assumed or inferred by readers if the authors have not explicitly disclosed the method for assigning the order.

Ideally, authorship disputes should be resolved among the authors before the journal's peer review process begins. In exceptional cases, the Editor-in-Chief may assist in resolving such disputes. If there are any changes to the authorship order or if authors are omitted, a written request supported by all original authors must be provided at different stages of the manuscript's peer review process, acceptance, and publication.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Authors should include a paragraph titled "Conflict of Interest" at the end of their submitted manuscript, preceding the references section. In this paragraph, authors should disclose and explain any potential conflicts of interest related to the submission, peer review process, acceptance, and funding of the manuscript. All contributing authors must approve this section.