Authorship and Contributorship
World Science is committed to transparent, ethical, and responsible authorship. To ensure proper credit is given and to support accountability in research, the journal follows clear guidelines on authorship and contributorship and encourages the use of the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT).
Authorship Criteria
Individuals designated as authors must have made substantial contributions to the research and manuscript, meeting all of the following criteria:
- Significant involvement in the conception, design, data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation.
- Participation in drafting or critically revising the manuscript for important intellectual content.
- Approval of the final version for publication.
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure its accuracy and integrity.
All those who meet these criteria should be listed as co-authors. Those who do not meet all criteria should be acknowledged appropriately.
Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT)
To enhance transparency regarding each author’s specific contributions, World Science encourages authors to include a CRediT author statement in their manuscript. The CRediT taxonomy defines 14 distinct contributor roles as follows:
| Role | Definition |
|---|---|
| Conceptualization | Ideas; formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims. |
| Data Curation | Management activities to annotate, clean, and maintain research data. |
| Formal Analysis | Application of statistical, mathematical, or computational techniques. |
| Funding Acquisition | Securing financial support for the project. |
| Investigation | Conducting the research and investigation process. |
| Methodology | Development or design of methodology; creation of models. |
| Project Administration | Management and coordination of the research project. |
| Resources | Provision of study materials, instruments, or data. |
| Software | Programming, software development, or implementation of algorithms. |
| Supervision | Oversight and leadership responsibility. |
| Validation | Verification of the results and reproducibility. |
| Visualization | Preparation, creation, and presentation of data or figures. |
| Writing – Original Draft | Preparation and writing of the initial manuscript draft. |
| Writing – Review & Editing | Critical review, commentary, and revision of the manuscript. |
Authors should specify their individual roles using this taxonomy. Example:
Author Contributions:
J.D. – Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – Original Draft;
M.S. – Data Curation, Formal Analysis;
L.K. – Writing – Review & Editing, Supervision.
Order of Authors
The order of authors should reflect the relative contributions of each co-author and must be agreed upon by all authors before submission. Disputes over authorship order are to be resolved internally by the authors prior to submission.
Changes in Authorship
Requests to change authorship after submission (addition, removal, or reordering) must be made in writing and accompanied by a statement signed by all authors, including those affected by the change. The editorial office will consider such requests and has the right to reject changes that lack proper justification.
Acknowledgments and Non-Author Contributions
Contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship (e.g., technical support, funding acquisition only) should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section with a description of their specific role. Written permission must be obtained from individuals acknowledged.
Corresponding Author Responsibilities
The corresponding author is responsible for:
- Ensuring all authors meet authorship criteria.
- Managing communications with the journal during submission and review.
- Ensuring disclosure of all conflicts of interest and funding sources.
- Coordinating responses to peer review and overseeing the final manuscript submission.
Ethical Compliance and Disputes
World Science adheres to COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines. Any concerns or disputes regarding authorship or contributorship will be investigated by the editorial office in accordance with COPE’s recommended procedures.
