Who qualifies as an author

IJF applies the four ICMJE authorship criteria. Each author must:

1. make a substantial contribution to the conception or design; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data;
2. draft the work or revise it critically for important intellectual content;
3. approve the final version to be published; and
4. agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work and help resolve questions about accuracy or integrity.

People who meet fewer than all four criteria should be acknowledged, with their permission, rather than listed as authors. Funding, general supervision, administrative support, language editing or data collection alone does not establish authorship.

Contributor roles

The submission should include a contribution statement using relevant CRediT roles: conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, visualization, supervision, project administration and funding acquisition. Contribution statements complement, but do not replace, the authorship criteria.

Author order and corresponding author

Authors must agree on order before submission. The corresponding author confirms that the author list is complete, all authors approve the manuscript, required disclosures are accurate and communication reaches every author. More than one corresponding author may be identified in the article when justified, but one account must manage the OJS workflow.

Changes to authorship

A request to add, remove or reorder authors after submission must explain the reason and include written agreement from all listed, added and removed authors. IJF may ask institutions to assist where agreement or contribution is disputed. Changes after acceptance are exceptional; after publication, a justified change requires a formal correction. The journal does not adjudicate institutional ownership disputes.

Unacceptable authorship arrangements

• Gift or guest authorship: naming someone who did not qualify to increase prestige or favour.
• Ghost authorship: hiding a qualifying contributor, writer or sponsor role.
• Purchased authorship: buying, selling or trading positions on a manuscript.
• Coerced authorship: demanding credit through seniority, authority or access rather than contribution.
• Artificial-intelligence authorship: an AI tool cannot meet accountability criteria and must never be listed as an author.

Competing interests

Every author must disclose relationships or circumstances that a reasonable reader might perceive as influencing the work. These may be financial—employment, grants, consultancies, fees, shares, patents or supplied products—or non-financial, including personal relationships, academic competition, leadership roles, strongly held positions or editorial involvement. “No competing interests” should be stated when none exist.

Funding and sponsor role

Name every funding source and grant number. State the sponsor's role in design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, writing and the decision to submit. If the sponsor had no role, say so. Authors must retain appropriate access to the data and freedom to report results responsibly.

Editor or reviewer conflicts

An editor or board member who is an author, collaborator, institutional colleague or otherwise conflicted takes no part in selecting reviewers or making the decision. Reviewers must decline when a relationship or interest could compromise, or reasonably appear to compromise, objective assessment.