At the European Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems (EJITS), we adhere to strict guidelines to ensure that authorship reflects the genuine contributions of individuals involved in the research process. Authorship confers both credit and responsibility for the published work, and all authors must meet the criteria outlined below.

1. Authorship Criteria

To be listed as an author on a manuscript submitted to EJITS, individuals must meet all of the following criteria:

• Substantial Contribution: Authors must have made significant contributions to at least one of the following:

  • The conception and design of the study
  • Data collection, analysis, and interpretation
  • Drafting or critically revising the manuscript

• Final Approval: All authors must have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript prior to submission.

• Accountability: Each author must agree to be accountable for their contribution and ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Authors who do not meet all of these criteria should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section of the manuscript.

2. Contributors and Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT)

To ensure transparency and credit for contributions, EJITS encourages authors to use the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) system, which defines specific roles that contributors to a manuscript may perform. The CRediT taxonomy includes the following roles:

• Conceptualization: Formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims.
• Methodology: Development or design of the methodology; creation of models.
• Software: Programming, software development, and implementation of the computer code and supporting algorithms.
• Validation: Verification of the overall replication/reproducibility of the results.
• Formal Analysis: Application of formal statistical, mathematical, computational, or other analytical techniques.
• Investigation: Conducting a research and investigation process, specifically performing experiments or data/evidence collection.
• Resources: Provision of study materials, reagents, instrumentation, or other resources.
• Data Curation: Management and verification of data (including software code) for initial use and later reuse.
• Writing – Original Draft: Preparation and creation of the published work, specifically writing the initial draft.
• Writing – Review & Editing: Contribution to reviewing and editing the manuscript, including critical revision.
• Visualization: Preparation and presentation of published work, including visualization and data presentation.
• Supervision: Oversight and leadership responsibility for the research activity and planning.
• Project Administration: Coordination and responsibility for the overall planning and execution of the research project.
• Funding Acquisition: Acquisition of financial support for the project, including research grants and funding for personnel and resources.

When submitting a manuscript, the specific contributions of each author using the CRediT taxonomy should be listed in the Author Contributions section.

3. Corresponding Author Responsibilities

The corresponding author serves as the primary point of contact between the journal and the co-authors. Responsibilities include:

• Ensuring that all listed authors meet the authorship criteria
• Coordinating the approval of the final manuscript from all co-authors before submission
• Handling all communications with the journal, including revisions and proofs
• Ensuring that any changes to the author list (additions, deletions, or reordering) after submission are communicated to and agreed upon by all authors, along with providing justification for such changes

4. Changes to Authorship

Any request to add, remove, or rearrange authors after the manuscript has been submitted must be formally communicated to the editor. The request must include a reason for the change and confirmation from all authors (including any being added or removed) that they agree with the change. EJITS reserves the right to request additional information in cases of disputes regarding authorship.

5. Contributions Disclosure

EJITS encourages transparency in terms of author contributions. Authors should clearly state the individual contributions of each author to the manuscript using the CRediT roles (as described in section 2). For example:

• Author A contributed to Conceptualization and Investigation
• Author B contributed to Formal Analysis and Writing – Original Draft
• Author C contributed to Writing – Review & Editing and Visualization

This disclosure should be included in the Author Contributions section of the manuscript.

6. Group Authorship

In cases where a large group has conducted the research, the group should decide who will be named authors and who will be acknowledged. Group members who meet the authorship criteria should be listed as individual authors. If the work is carried out by a collaborative group, the group name may be included in the manuscript title, with individual members listed in an appendix or footnote.

7. Acknowledgments

Contributions that do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged. This may include:

• Financial support
• Technical assistance
• Administrative support

Acknowledgments must be provided with the explicit consent of the individuals being acknowledged.

8. Authorship Disputes

In cases of disputes over authorship, EJITS encourages the parties involved to resolve the matter internally. If this is not possible, the journal may consult institutional guidelines and follow the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The editorial team will act as an impartial party and ensure that the issue is handled fairly and transparently.