Authorship & contributorship|

LUMEN adheres to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations related to authorship.  ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved (ICMJE: Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors, 2022).

These authorship criteria are intended to reserve the status of authorship for those who deserve credit and can take responsibility for the work. In the group of authors, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work, in order to being accountable for the parts of the work he/she has done. Also, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.

Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

All authors must agree on publication and be able to support research by answering questions about this research. Contributors who do not meet the criteria to be authors should be included in the acknowledgments.

As regards the authors' order, this should respect the volume of work and the importance of the scientific contribution of each author. Presenting in alphabetical order, mentioning the equal contribution of each author in acknowledgment, draws attention to the equal quoting of each author.

Lead Author (First Author)

In the case of publications with multiple authors, one author should assume the role of lead author. Even in different publications, the lead author is different to the first author; in all LUMEN Publishing Journals, the lead author is considered to be the first author and some case corresponding author. We admit exceptions, based on an all-authors’ request, for the corresponding author to be mentioned as being different to the lead author, with special mention, and is placed as the last author. Authors should decide to be equally responsible for the paper; in this case, they are mentioned in alphabetical order, with the acknowledgement that all authors have an equal contribution to the article.

The lead author assumes full responsibility for the order of the authorship and assume the responsibility to consult with the other authors before submitting the manuscript for evaluation.

If, following the peer review process, changes occur in the authorship, it is necessary to be agreed by all authors and justified from the perspective of the contribution of the newly introduced author / authors, respectively the elimination of the contribution of the one withdrawn from the author. An author cannot be removed if his contribution, even an idea, is maintained in the article. A special ethical evaluation is organized which may lead to the rejection of the article, regardless of the stage of the editorial evaluation. No change of authorship can be made after the final acceptance of the article.

Co-authors
All co-authors of a publication are responsible for:

• Authorship: By providing consent to authorship to the lead author, co-authors acknowledge that they meet the authorship criteria set above. A co-author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.
• Approval: By providing consent to authorship to the lead author, co-authors are acknowledging that they have reviewed and approved the manuscript.
• Integrity: Each co-author is responsible for the content of all appropriate portions of the manuscript, including the integrity of any applicable research.
• An individual retains the right to refuse co-authorship of a manuscript if s/he does not satisfy the criteria for authorship.

Non-Author Contributors

Where contributors meet fewer than all 4 of the above criteria for authorship, those should not be listed as authors, but they should be acknowledged.

In accordance with ICMJE guidelines, here are some examples of activities that alone (without other contributions) do not qualify a contributor for authorship:

• acquisition of funding;
• general supervision of a research group or general administrative support;
• and writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading.

In addition, those whose contributions do not justify authorship may be acknowledged individually or together as a group under a single heading (e.g. "Participating Investigators"), and their contributions should be specified (e.g., "served as scientific advisors," "critically reviewed the study proposal," "collected data," "provided and cared for study participants," "participated in writing or technical editing of the manuscript") (ICMJE: Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors, 2022).