Umm Al-Qura University (UQU) journals are committed to upholding recognized international standards and ethical guidelines regarding research authorship and contributorship. These principles aim to foster transparency, accountability, and integrity in scholarly publishing. All authors submitting manuscripts to UQU journals are expected to comply with the following authorship policies.
Authorship Criteria
UQU journals define authorship as an acknowledgment of individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to an academic work. Authorship confers both credit and responsibility for the integrity and credibility of the published content. The journals adhere to the criteria established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which stipulate that authorship must be based on:
Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the research, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
Drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content.
Final approval of the version to be published.
Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring its accuracy and addressing any questions related to academic integrity.
Individuals who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section rather than listed as authors.
Author Order and Roles
The sequence of authors should reflect the relative contribution of each individual involved in the research. All authors bear the collective responsibility of reaching an agreement on this sequence prior to manuscript submission.
It is strongly recommended to include a detailed author contribution statement—particularly for collaborative or interdisciplinary works—specifying the individual contribution of each listed author.
Corresponding Author Responsibilities
The corresponding author serves as the primary liaison between the journal and the co-authors. Their key responsibilities include:
Ensuring that all listed authors have reviewed the manuscript and approved both its content and its submission for publication.
Managing all correspondence with the journal throughout the peer review and production processes.
Coordinating any revisions to the author list or related disclosures.
Ensuring full compliance with institutional ethical standards, journal policies, and licensing agreements.
Institutional Affiliations
Each author must identify the academic or research institution where the primary contribution to the study was carried out. Authors holding multiple affiliations must disclose all pertinent institutions. Institutional affiliations must be current and accurate at the time of submission, and any sources of institutional funding or support must be fully declared.
Modifications or changes to institutional affiliations are not permitted following manuscript publication.
Disclosures and Declarations
All authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest, including financial, personal, or professional relationships that could inappropriately influence or bias the manuscript’s content.
The following declarations must be clearly stated:
Any potential conflicts of interest.
Sources of financial support and research funding.
Research ethics committee or Institutional Review Board (IRB) approvals (where applicable).
Informed consent from human participants.
Data availability statement.
These declarations should ideally be integrated into the designated sections within the manuscript or completed during the submission process.
Data Transparency
UQU journals strongly advocate for open science and research transparency, encouraging authors to share underlying research data, source code, and associated artifacts whenever feasible.
Authors are required to provide a Data Availability Statement detailing:
Whether the data are publicly accessible and where they can be obtained.
Any conditions, restrictions, or embargos governing data access and reuse.
The public repository or database hosting the dataset (if applicable).
If data sharing is precluded by legal, confidentiality, or ethical restrictions, this must be explicitly stated and justified.
Changes to Authorship
Any proposed alteration to the authorship list—including the addition, deletion, or reordering of authors—after initial submission requires a formal written request submitted by the corresponding author. The request must include:
A clear and sound justification for the requested change.
Written confirmation and signed agreement from all existing authors, as well as any individuals being added or removed.
No changes to authorship will be entertained or approved once the manuscript has been formally accepted for publication.
Deceased or Incapacitated Authors
In the event that an author passes away or becomes incapacitated during the preparation or peer review of a manuscript, the corresponding author must promptly notify the editorial office and provide supporting documentation or written confirmation from the remaining authors or the affiliated institution.
A formal posthumous acknowledgment may be appended to the published article to honor the author's scholarly contribution.
Group Authorship and Research Consortia
For manuscripts resulting from large collaborative initiatives, research groups, or scientific consortia:
The collective group name may be listed as the primary author, provided the individual contributors are comprehensively identified in a designated footnote or appendix.
Only individuals fulfilling the established authorship criteria may be credited as authors.
One or more designated individuals must be named to accept public responsibility for the integrity and credibility of the overarching research.
Confidentiality
All manuscripts submitted to UQU journals are treated as strictly privileged, confidential documents. Editors, reviewers, and editorial staff are prohibited from disclosing, sharing, or discussing any part of the submitted material prior to publication without explicit written authorization from the authors.
Authors are equally obligated to preserve confidentiality throughout the peer review process and must not share peer-review feedback or communicate with external parties regarding the review without prior editorial approval.
Authorship Misconduct
UQU journals treat allegations of authorship misconduct with utmost gravity, including ghost authorship, guest/honorary authorship, and authorship disputes. The journals adhere rigorously to the guidelines issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and reserve the right to seek formal clarification or initiate institutional inquiries in coordination with the relevant academic or research institutions.