Authorship Policy

Authorship, in its simplest form, endows the author of a work with the credit of its creation. With this credit, however, also comes the responsibility and accountability for the published piece and its content.

At De Gruyter, we strongly support that any individual who has substantially contributed to a published paper or work is given the appropriate credit. We also believe authorship should more clearly define the scope of each author’s contribution to a project.

An author is an individual who meets the following criteria:

• Has provided a substantial contribution to the concept or execution of a published piece, data acquisition, analysis or interpretation, guidance, writing, or critical revision of the work;

• Is accountable for the submission and is willing to take responsibility and ownership for the originality, accuracy, and integrity of the work as a whole;

• Will only receive authorship credit once approval for the final version has been given.

In the case of co-authors, each author must be able to identify which co-author is responsible for different elements of the work and be willing to take responsibility for their respective contributions to a piece.

If an individual does not meet these criteria, they do not have authorship and are therefore not considered authors. Those who do not meet these criteria should still receive acknowledgement for their contribution to the published work.

An individual who acts as an intermediary between the authorship team and the publishing house, and who handles the following:

• Communication with the co-authors throughout the submission, review, and production process regarding the status of the manuscript;
  

• Final approval from all authors which is submitted to them directly;
  

• Is responsible for taking accountability for the originality, ownership, accuracy and integrity of every part of a work.

A corresponding author who signs the Publisher’s Agreement is legally responsible and grants exclusive rights for the use of an article. The corresponding author must be authorised by all co-authors to sign the Publisher’s Agreement on their behalf and must communicate all the terms of the Agreement with them.

A gift author is an individual who has received authorship but has not met any of the criteria to be recognised as an author. This is seen as an unethical practice. Someone is considered a gift author when:

• The individual in question has made no intellectual contributions to the manuscript

• Has made a contribution but does not meet any of the criteria for authorship

Please note that we do not accept papers that are generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning Tools primarily because such tools cannot take responsibility for the submitted work and therefore cannot be considered as authors. Where such tools or technologies are used as part of the design or methodology of a research study, their use should be clearly described in an acknowledgements section.

Our default expectation is that all scholarly articles clearly name their authors to ensure credit is properly assigned. However, in rare and exceptional circumstances, anonymous authorship may be considered where the publication of an author’s identity presents a credible risk to their life, liberty, or personal safety.

This includes, for example:

1. Scholars working in politically sensitive or repressive environments
2. Researchers publishing on highly controversial or high-risk topics
3. Individuals facing verified threats of violence, harassment, or state persecution.

Requests to publish anonymously will not be granted lightly, and the Publisher and Editor retain full discretion in each case.

Requests must be submitted before acceptance and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis by the journal Editor-in-Chief in consultation with the Publisher’s Ethics Office.

Authors will be asked to:

1. Provide a written rationale describing the potential risk
2. Supply legal identity and institutional affiliation (if applicable), to be held in confidence
3. Sign all required publishing and copyright documentation under their legal name.

If approved, the identity of the author(s) must still be known to the journal and publisher and will be treated as confidential.

The published article will include an editorial footnote, such as: “The identity of the author(s) is known to the journal and publisher but has been withheld for reasons of personal safety.”

This policy is aligned with international best practice, including guidance from COPE, and is intended to balance academic integrity with human rights and researcher security.

Authors are advised that, while De Gruyter Brill will make every effort to protect anonymity, no system can guarantee absolute confidentiality.

While an individual may have contributed to a piece and failed to meet the bar for authorship, their contributions towards the work must still be recognised. People who must receive an acknowledgement credit include those who were involved in any of the following:

• Acquired funding

• Supervised the research

• Provided administrative support

• Were involved with technical editing, language editing, proofreading, or some other aspect of the writing process