Authorship Criteria

Every author listed in a manuscript submitted to DEVELOPMENT: Journal of Community Engagement must meet all of the following criteria:

  1. Make a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the community engagement activity, community service program, research, or scholarly work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of relevant data and information.
  2. Participate in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content.
  3. Give final approval to the version of the manuscript to be published.
  4. Agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work and ensure that any questions concerning the accuracy, integrity, or ethical conduct of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Authorship must be based on genuine academic and intellectual contributions. Academic position, institutional rank, personal relationships, funding provision alone, or administrative responsibilities alone do not justify authorship.

Acknowledgment of Non-Author Contributors

Individuals who contribute to the community engagement activity, community service program, or manuscript but do not meet all the authorship criteria must not be listed as authors. Their contributions may be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section, provided that the contributions are relevant and the individuals concerned have given their consent.

Such contributions may include technical assistance, administrative support, facilitation of community activities, data collection, language editing, funding support, logistical assistance, or general supervision.

The roles of community partners, local organizations, community leaders, volunteers, and other stakeholders should be appropriately acknowledged when their contributions are relevant to the reported activities and they have consented to be acknowledged.

Unacceptable Authorship Practices

DEVELOPMENT: Journal of Community Engagement does not permit authorship practices that violate the principles of research integrity and publication ethics. Unacceptable practices include:

  1. Gift or Honorary Authorship: Listing an individual as an author without a substantial contribution to the activity, research, or manuscript, for example, solely because of academic position, institutional rank, or personal relationships.
  2. Guest Authorship: Including an individual who does not meet the authorship criteria to increase the manuscript's credibility, prestige, or likelihood of acceptance.
  3. Ghost Authorship: Excluding an individual who has made substantial academic contributions and meets the authorship criteria.
  4. Purchased Authorship: Buying, selling, or exchanging authorship positions in a scientific publication.
  5. AI Authorship: Listing generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools or systems as authors. AI tools cannot assume responsibility or accountability for the work and therefore cannot qualify for authorship. Any use of AI must be disclosed in accordance with the journal's policies.

Author Contributions

All authors must make genuine and identifiable contributions to the community engagement activity, research, and preparation of the manuscript. Contributions may include conceptualization, program design, methodology development, community needs assessment, implementation of community service activities, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of findings, preparation of educational or training materials, manuscript drafting, and substantive critical revision.

For community engagement manuscripts, authors should clearly identify their respective roles in the planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting of the activities, as applicable.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that the contributions of all authors are transparently documented and can be explained to the editor upon request. The order of authorship must be determined by mutual agreement among the authors, taking into account their respective contributions to the activity and manuscript preparation.

The use of generative AI tools in preparing a manuscript must be responsible, transparent, and consistent with the journal's policies. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, validity, ethical compliance, and integrity of the entire manuscript, including any content generated or assisted by AI tools.

Corresponding Author

The corresponding author represents all co-authors and serves as the primary contact with DEVELOPMENT: Journal of Community Engagement throughout the submission, peer-review, revision, and publication processes.

The corresponding author is responsible for:

  1. Ensuring that all authors have read and approved the submitted manuscript and all subsequent revisions.
  2. Ensuring that all authors' names, institutional affiliations, and other required author information are accurate.
  3. Providing ORCID identifiers for authors who have them, in accordance with the journal's submission requirements.
  4. Confirming that all authors are aware of and agree to the submission of the manuscript to the journal.
  5. Coordinating communication between the editorial team and all co-authors throughout the editorial process.
  6. Ensuring that all authorship and author contribution declarations are complete, accurate, and consistent with the journal's publication ethics policies.
  7. Ensuring that any required ethical approvals, permissions, and informed consent for community engagement activities, photographs, interviews, or the use of personal data have been obtained, where applicable.

Changes in Authorship

Any request to add, remove, or rearrange authors after manuscript submission must be submitted in writing to the editor, accompanied by a clear justification. The request must include written consent from all authors, including any author being added or removed, as well as all affected co-authors.

Changes in authorship after acceptance are generally discouraged and will only be considered under exceptional circumstances, subject to the review and approval of the Editor-in-Chief. Any approved change must be supported by a legitimate academic justification and comply with the journal's publication ethics policies.

The journal reserves the right to investigate suspected authorship misconduct and take appropriate action in accordance with its editorial policies and applicable publication ethics standards.