Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship and Contributorship

AL-ARBAH: Journal of Islamic Finance and Banking recognizes that a research article is the result of contributions from several people, not all of whom qualify as authors. This policy explains how the journal distinguishes authors from contributors, and how each person’s role must be reported. It complements the journal’s Authorship Criteria and Publication Ethics pages. It follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) standard.

1. Authors and Contributors

• An author is a person who meets all four authorship criteria set out in the journal’s Authorship Criteria:
  1. a substantial contribution to the work;
  2. drafting or critically revising the manuscript;
  3. approval of the final version;
  4. accountability for the work.
• A contributor is a person who assisted the research or the preparation of the manuscript but does not meet all four criteria.

All authors are contributors, but not all contributors are authors. Both must be reported honestly: authors in the author list and the Author Contributions statement, and other contributors in the Acknowledgments.

2. Contributor Roles (CRediT)

The journal uses the 14 CRediT roles to describe what each author did. One author may hold several roles, and one role may be shared by several authors.

Holding only roles such as Funding acquisition, Resources, or Project administration, without contributing to the intellectual content and writing of the manuscript, does not qualify a person for authorship.

3. Author Contributions Statement

Every manuscript must include an Author Contributions statement, placed after the Conclusion and before the References. The statement names each author with their initials or full name and lists their CRediT roles.

Example:
Author Contributions: A.B.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing – original draft. C.D.: Formal analysis, Validation, Writing – review & editing. E.F.: Supervision, Writing – review & editing. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

The corresponding author enters the same information in the submission metadata in OJS. The editor may ask for clarification if the statement does not match the author list.

4. Acknowledgment of Non-Author Contributors

People who contributed to the work but do not meet the authorship criteria must be named in the Acknowledgments section, with a brief description of their contribution. Examples include:

• research assistants and enumerators
• informants or institutions that provided access to data
• colleagues who gave comments on an earlier draft
• language editors and translators
• providers of technical or administrative support
• funding institutions, with the grant number where available

Authors must obtain permission from everyone named in the Acknowledgments, because being named may imply that they endorse the findings.

5. Equal Contribution and Co-First Authorship

If two or more authors contributed equally, this may be indicated with a note under the author list, for example: “These authors contributed equally to this work.” Equal contribution must be agreed by all authors and is subject to the editor’s approval.

6. Group or Collaborative Authorship

For research conducted by a research group, consortium, or institutional team, the group name may be listed as an author. The individuals who meet the authorship criteria must be named in the article. Members who do not meet the criteria are listed in the Acknowledgments or in a supplementary list.

7. Student and Supervisor Contributions

For articles derived from undergraduate theses, master’s theses, or dissertations:

• The student who carried out the research is normally the first author.
• A supervisor is listed as a co-author only if they meet the authorship criteria, usually through Supervision combined with Conceptualization, Methodology, or Writing – review & editing.
• Supervision alone does not justify authorship.
• The contributions of both the student and the supervisor must be stated clearly in the Author Contributions statement.

8. Author Identification and Affiliation

• Each author must provide their full name (without academic titles), institutional affiliation, country, and an active institutional or personal email address.
• Authors are strongly encouraged to register and provide an ORCID iD, which is displayed with the published article.
• The affiliation listed must be the institution where the research was carried out. If an author has since moved, the current affiliation may be added as a note.

9. Use of Artificial Intelligence

AI tools cannot be listed as authors or contributors in the author list, because they cannot take responsibility for the work. Any use of AI tools in data analysis, writing, translation, or language editing must be disclosed in the Methods or Acknowledgments section, in line with the journal’s AI Usage Policy. The human authors remain fully responsible for the content.

10. Changes and Disputes

• Requests to change the author list or the contribution statements after submission must follow the procedure in the journal’s Authorship Criteria. All authors must give written consent.
• Disputes over authorship or contributorship are handled according to COPE guidance. Where necessary, the matter will be referred to the authors’ institution(s).
• If false or incomplete authorship or contribution information is found after publication, the journal may issue a correction or retraction.