Author Credit Policy
Author Credit Policy
Agricultural Science Horizons (ASH), published by the Gondars Institute of Research and Skill Development (GIRSD), is committed to promoting transparency, accountability, and fairness in scholarly authorship. Accurate attribution of contributions is essential for maintaining trust, recognizing individual efforts, and preserving the integrity of the scientific record.
This policy establishes clear criteria for assigning authorship credit and documenting individual contributions to published research.
The policy aligns with internationally recognized best practices in scholarly publishing and supports transparency standards commonly adopted by reputable journals and indexing systems, including DOAJ, Scopus, and Web of Science.
1. Principles of Authorship
Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the research and accept responsibility for the published work.
Every listed author must have actively participated in the study and approved the final version of the manuscript before submission.
All authors share collective responsibility for the integrity, accuracy, and reliability of the publication.
2. Authorship Eligibility Criteria
To qualify as an author, an individual should have made significant contributions to one or more aspects of the research process, such as conceptualization, methodology development, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of findings, manuscript preparation, critical revision, or project supervision.
Individuals who only provide funding, administrative support, language editing, technical assistance, or general supervision without substantial intellectual involvement should not be listed as authors.
3. Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT)
Agricultural Science Horizons strongly encourages the use of the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) to enhance transparency regarding individual contributions.
Contributors may be associated with one or more recognized roles, including conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing of the original draft, review and editing, visualization, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition.
Author contribution statements may be published as part of the final article.
4. Corresponding Author Responsibilities
The corresponding author serves as the primary contact between the authors and the journal throughout the editorial and publication processes.
The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript, verified contribution information, agreed to the order of authorship, and consented to submission.
The corresponding author also assumes responsibility for communication during post-publication matters when necessary.
5. Author Order
The order of authors should be determined collectively by all co-authors before manuscript submission.
The journal does not prescribe specific criteria for author order and respects disciplinary differences and collaborative agreements among contributors.
Any disputes regarding author order must be resolved by the authors before submission.
6. Equal Contribution Statements
Authors who have contributed equally to the work may be identified through an equal contribution statement when appropriate.
Such declarations should be agreed upon by all co-authors prior to submission.
7. Changes to Authorship
Requests to add, remove, replace, or rearrange authors after submission require written justification and documented agreement from all existing and proposed authors.
The journal reserves the right to request additional evidence before approving any authorship modifications.
Authorship changes after publication may require formal corrections or additional editorial actions.
8. Prohibited Authorship Practices
Agricultural Science Horizons strictly prohibits honorary authorship, guest authorship, gift authorship, ghost authorship, purchased authorship, undisclosed authorship arrangements, and any form of authorship manipulation.
Individuals who do not meet authorship criteria must not be listed as authors.
Authors who meet authorship criteria must not be intentionally excluded from the publication.
9. Artificial Intelligence and Authorship
Artificial intelligence systems, software applications, or automated tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility, accountability, or legal ownership of scholarly work.
Human authors remain fully responsible for all submitted and published content.
10. Acknowledgement of Non-Author Contributions
Individuals who contributed to the research but do not satisfy authorship criteria should be recognized in the acknowledgements section with their permission.
Examples may include technical assistance, language editing, statistical consultation, laboratory support, or administrative contributions.
11. Resolution of Authorship Disputes
The journal does not serve as an arbitration body for authorship conflicts.
When disputes arise, authors are expected to resolve them through their affiliated institutions or research organizations.
The journal may suspend editorial processing while disputes remain unresolved.
12. Editorial Actions for Authorship Misrepresentation
Misrepresentation of authorship information may result in manuscript rejection, suspension of editorial processing, publication of corrections, retractions, institutional notifications, or additional editorial restrictions when necessary.
13. Policy Review and International Alignment
This policy may be periodically reviewed and updated to reflect evolving international standards and best practices in scholarly publishing.
Agricultural Science Horizons and GIRSD remain committed to ensuring fairness, accountability, transparency, and proper recognition of scholarly contributions.
14. Official Author Credit Statement
All listed authors must have made substantial intellectual contributions to the research and accept responsibility for the published work. Honorary, guest, ghost, purchased, and other inappropriate forms of authorship are strictly prohibited.
