Authorship

Authorship reflects both intellectual contribution and accountability for published work. Advances in BioScience is committed to ensuring that authorship credit is assigned accurately, transparently, and ethically, in accordance with internationally recognized standards. This section defines the criteria for authorship, contributor roles, permissible authorship changes, acknowledgment of non-author contributions, and author identification.

Authorship Criteria and Contributor Roles

All submitted manuscripts must meet the authorship standards outlined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Authorship should be attributed only to those who have made significant intellectual contributions to the research reported in the manuscript. All individuals listed as authors must meet all of the following criteria:

• Substantial Contributions: Authors must have made substantial intellectual contributions to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
• Drafting or Critical Revision: Authors must have participated in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
• Final Approval: Authors must have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission to the journal.
• Accountability: Authors must agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

To qualify for authorship, individuals must meet all four criteria. Those who do not fulfill all criteria should be recognized in the Acknowledgments section rather than listed as authors.

The journal encourages the use of the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) to clearly and transparently describe each author’s specific contributions to the work (e.g., conceptualization, methodology, data curation, writing, supervision). While AI tools may support various stages of the research lifecycle, they do not qualify for any CRediT roles, as these roles imply an intellectual agency and accountability that only human contributors can provide.

Changes to Authorship

To preserve the integrity of the scholarly record and ensure transparency in authorship, any modification to the author list is subject to strict editorial and ethical oversight. Authorship changes are governed by the principles and best practices outlined by the COPE.

Authorship Changes during Review and Post-Acceptance

Changes to authorship—including the addition, removal, or rearrangement of author names—after the initial manuscript submission are discouraged. While requests made during the revision stage are subject to review, changes requested after manuscript acceptance will be considered only in exceptional circumstances, such as verified authorship errors or substantiated ethical concerns.

Requests for authorship changes at any stage must:

• Be submitted in writing by the corresponding author to the Editorial Office;
• Clearly state the reason for the proposed change;
• Include signed written consent from all listed authors, including those being added or removed;
• Be supported by appropriate documentation where required.

All requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis in accordance with COPE guidelines. If a dispute arises regarding authorship at any point in the process, the Editorial Office will suspend the publication process (or retract the article if already published online) until the matter is resolved by the authors' institutions or a formal consensus is reached. The journal reserves the right to seek institutional verification or to reject requests that lack consensus, transparency, or ethical justification.

Post-Publication Legal Name Changes

Legal name changes do not constitute changes in authorship (i.e., the individuals contributing to the work remain the same) and are handled separately from authorship modifications.

Requests to update an author’s name after publication may be considered in cases of formal legal name changes, including those resulting from gender transition, marriage, divorce, or religious conversion. Such requests must be submitted confidentially to the Editorial Office and include appropriate supporting documentation.

When approved, the journal will update the author's name while preserving the integrity, citation record, and authorship attribution of the published article. To protect the author’s privacy, these updates are typically performed without the issuance of a formal correction notice, ensuring updates are handled sensitively and confidentially in accordance with the journal’s privacy policy and COPE’s best practices for identity respect in scholarly publishing.

Authors are strongly encouraged to ensure that all authorship details are accurate and finalized at the time of initial submission. By submitting a manuscript, the corresponding author warrants that all individuals listed meet the criteria for authorship and that no qualified authors have been omitted.

Acknowledgments

Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors. They should instead be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section, with their permission, and their specific contributions should be clearly described. This may include those who provided technical assistance, writing or language support, administrative assistance, or general research support.

Honorary (Guest) and Ghost Authorship

Honorary, guest, and ghost authorship are considered forms of research misconduct and are strictly prohibited.

Honorary (Guest) Authorship involves listing individuals as authors who have not made substantial intellectual contributions that meet the established authorship criteria, often based on their seniority, reputation, or role as a department head.

Ghost Authorship refers to the failure to appropriately credit individuals who have made substantial intellectual contribution, such as professional medical writers, junior researchers, or statisticians.

All individuals who contribute significantly must be listed as authors—provided they meet the ICMJE authorship criteria—or be named in the Acknowledgments if those criteria are not fully met. Any attempt to obscure the involvement of a contributor (ghost authorship) or to artificially inflate an individual’s publication record (guest/honorary authorship) will be investigated as research misconduct in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Authorship Identification

To promote transparency in authorship and ensure proper attribution of scholarly work, Advances in BioScience requires all authors listed on the manuscript to provide a valid Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID iD) at the time of submission.

What is ORCID?

An ORCID iD is a unique, persistent 16-digit identifier that distinguishes individual researchers and resolves ambiguities arising from name similarities, changes, or variations. By reliably linking researchers to their work across disciplines, institutions, and publishing platforms, ORCID ensures accurate attribution and appropriate credit for all scholarly contributions.

ORCID Registration

Authors who do not yet have an ORCID iD must register for one free of charge at https://orcid.org. Registration takes approximately 2-3 minutes and requires only a valid email address. Once registered, the ORCID iD remains with the researcher throughout their career and across institutional changes.

When and Where to Provide ORCID iDs

To ensure accurate indexing and professional attribution, Advances in BioScience requires ORCID iDs at two stages of the publication process:

During Manuscript Submission: The corresponding author must provide a valid ORCID ID for themselves and, where applicable, for all co-authors within the submission portal. The use of authenticated ORCID links is strongly recommended to eliminate data entry errors and ensure seamless synchronization between the iD and the article’s metadata. 

In the Manuscript File: To facilitate clear identification during peer review and production, ORCID iDs should be listed on the title page immediately following each author’s name and affiliation.

ORCID and Privacy

ORCID iDs are public identifiers designed to be shared openly. However, you maintain full control over what information is associated with your ORCID profile. You can choose to make your email, employment history, and other details private while still using your ORCID for publication attribution.