1. Authorship Policy

Purpose

The Pakistan Journal of Gastroenterology (PJG) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and accountability in scholarly publishing. Authorship confers both academic credit and responsibility. All individuals listed as authors must have made substantial intellectual contributions to the research and accept responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the published work.

The Journal follows the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices, and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) regarding authorship and contributorship.

1.1 Authorship Criteria

To qualify as an author, an individual must satisfy all of the following four criteria:

Make substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
Participate in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content.
Approve the final version of the manuscript before submission and publication.
Agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work and ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the research are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Individuals who do not meet all four criteria should not be listed as authors.

1.2 Contributors Who Do Not Qualify for Authorship

Individuals who contribute to the research but do not meet the authorship criteria should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section after obtaining their permission.

Examples include:

Technical assistance
Administrative support
Data collection only
Language editing
Statistical consultation
Financial support without intellectual contribution
General supervision

Such contributions alone do not justify authorship.

1.3 Corresponding Author Responsibilities

The Corresponding Author is responsible for:

Ensuring that all eligible contributors are included as authors.
Confirming that no ineligible individual is listed as an author.
Obtaining approval of the submitted manuscript from all co-authors.
Serving as the primary contact with the Journal during submission, peer review, and publication.
Ensuring that author affiliations, email addresses, ORCID iDs (where available), funding information, conflict of interest disclosures, and ethical approvals are accurate and complete.
Coordinating responses to editorial and reviewer comments.
Maintaining communication with all co-authors throughout the publication process.

1.4 Author Contribution Statement

The Journal encourages authors to submit an Author Contribution Statement using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy). Contributions may include:

Conceptualization
Methodology
Software
Validation
Formal Analysis
Investigation
Resources
Data Curation
Writing – Original Draft
Writing – Review & Editing
Visualization
Supervision
Project Administration
Funding Acquisition

Each author's contribution should be accurately described during manuscript submission.

1.5 Equal Contribution

Where applicable, two or more authors may be designated as having contributed equally to the work. Such contributions should be declared during manuscript submission and will be indicated in the published article.

1.6 Changes in Authorship

Requests to add, remove, or rearrange authors after manuscript submission must include:

A written explanation for the proposed change.
Written consent from all authors, including any author being added or removed.
Approval by the Editor-in-Chief.

After publication, changes in authorship will only be considered in exceptional circumstances and in accordance with COPE recommendations.

1.7 Ghost, Gift, and Guest Authorship

The Journal strictly prohibits unethical authorship practices, including:

Ghost Authorship: Failure to acknowledge individuals who made substantial scholarly contributions.
Gift (Honorary) Authorship: Listing individuals who did not make significant intellectual contributions.
Guest Authorship: Including individuals solely because of their reputation, position, or influence.

Any confirmed violation may result in manuscript rejection, publication of a correction, article retraction, or notification of the relevant institution(s).

1.8 Authorship Disputes

The Journal does not determine authorship disputes between researchers.

If a dispute arises:

Manuscript processing may be suspended until the matter is resolved.
Authors may be asked to provide institutional documentation.
The dispute may be referred to the relevant institution(s).
The Journal will follow applicable COPE guidance in handling such cases.

1.9 ORCID iD

Authors are strongly encouraged to provide their ORCID iD during manuscript submission to improve author identification, research transparency, and discoverability.

1.10 Author Declaration

By submitting a manuscript, the Corresponding Author confirms that:

All listed authors meet the Journal's authorship criteria.
All authors have approved the submitted manuscript.
The manuscript is original and has not been submitted elsewhere unless fully disclosed.
No eligible contributor has been omitted.
All information provided during submission is accurate.

Providing false or misleading authorship information constitutes publication misconduct and may result in rejection, correction, retraction, or notification of the relevant institution(s).