Authorship and Contributorship Policy

Scholarly Contribution • Transparency • Accountability

Authorship and Contributorship Policy

Sinergi International Journal of Economics requires authorship to accurately reflect substantial scholarly contributions to research in microeconomics, macroeconomics, development economics, monetary economics, public economics, international economics, labor economics, industrial economics, environmental economics, digital economy, applied econometrics, and related fields.

SUBSTANTIAL CONTRIBUTION CRediT TAXONOMY FULL ACCOUNTABILITY

Authorship represents both academic credit and responsibility. A person should be listed as an author only when they have made a meaningful intellectual contribution to the research and accept responsibility for the integrity, accuracy, transparency, reproducibility, and scholarly quality of the published work.

1. Criteria for Authorship

All listed authors must demonstrate substantial scholarly involvement in the study. Authorship should normally include all of the following:

1	Substantial Research Contribution Significant contribution to the economic research problem, theoretical framework, hypothesis development, research design, economic-data collection, survey design, policy analysis, econometric specification, model development, statistical analysis, forecasting, simulation, or interpretation of economic findings.
2	Intellectual Contribution to the Manuscript Active participation in drafting the manuscript or critically revising its economic theory, conceptual argument, model specification, econometric strategy, policy interpretation, discussion, implications, or scholarly contribution.
3	Final Approval Review and approval of the final manuscript, including the accuracy of author names, affiliations, economic variables, datasets, model specifications, statistical results, tables and figures, policy implications, declarations, and references.
4	Accountability Agreement to take responsibility for the author's contribution and to cooperate in resolving questions concerning economic data, model assumptions, econometric procedures, statistical analyses, calculations, coding, policy interpretation, research integrity, authorship, or other aspects of the published work.

Activities That Do Not Alone Qualify for Authorship

The following activities, when performed alone, are generally insufficient to justify authorship:

• Providing research funding only	• Providing access to economic databases, company data, government statistics, survey respondents, or administrative records only
• General academic, policy, or administrative supervision	• Holding a governmental, institutional, corporate, managerial, or professional position
• Routine data extraction, data entry, survey administration, transcription, or clerical assistance	• Language editing, proofreading, translation, or formatting only
• Providing statistical software, database subscriptions, reports, facilities, or logistical support only	• General encouragement, networking, or mentorship without scholarly contribution

Individuals providing these forms of assistance may be recognized in the Acknowledgments section, subject to their permission where appropriate.

2. Author Contribution Statement – CRediT

Every accepted manuscript must include an Author Contribution Statement. Authors are encouraged to use the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) to identify each author's contribution transparently.

Conceptualization Development of economic research ideas, theoretical questions, behavioral hypotheses, development problems, macroeconomic issues, policy concepts, or economic frameworks.	Methodology Development or design of econometric, statistical, survey, experimental, panel-data, time-series, cross-sectional, qualitative, mixed-methods, forecasting, or economic-modeling approaches.
Formal Analysis Econometric, statistical, microeconomic, macroeconomic, financial-economic, development, labor, trade, fiscal, monetary, environmental, or other economic analysis.	Investigation Conducting surveys, interviews, field studies, policy assessments, market observations, institutional studies, economic experiments, or empirical data collection.
Data Curation Collecting, cleaning, coding, merging, transforming, documenting, validating, or maintaining economic, household, firm-level, market, labor, trade, fiscal, monetary, or administrative datasets.	Software Econometric coding, statistical programming, simulation, forecasting, economic modeling, database construction, reproducible scripts, or development of analytical tools.
Validation Verification of datasets, variable definitions, model assumptions, robustness checks, statistical results, simulations, calculations, coding procedures, or research outputs.	Visualization Preparation of research tables, figures, economic models, trend charts, maps, forecasts, dashboards, or data visualizations.
Writing – Original Draft Preparation of the initial scholarly manuscript.	Writing – Review & Editing Critical intellectual review and substantive manuscript revision.
Resources Provision of essential economic datasets, government statistics, survey instruments, company records, databases, software access, policy documents, or other resources combined with scholarly contribution.	Supervision Intellectual oversight and scholarly guidance of the research process.
Project Administration Coordination and management of research activities.	Funding Acquisition Acquisition of financial support for the research project.

Note: Assignment of a CRediT role does not automatically qualify an individual for authorship. The individual must also satisfy the journal's authorship requirements and accept accountability.

3. Example of Author Contribution Statement

Example – Quantitative / Econometric Research

Author Contributions: A.B.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal Analysis, Writing – Original Draft. C.D.: Data Curation, Software, Validation, Visualization. E.F.: Supervision, Writing – Review & Editing. All authors approved the final manuscript and agreed to be accountable for their contributions.

Example – Development / Policy / Field Economics Research

Author Contributions: A.B.: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – Original Draft. C.D.: Investigation, Data Curation, Formal Analysis. E.F.: Validation, Supervision, Writing – Review & Editing. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

4. Author Order

Author order must be determined and agreed upon collectively by the author group before manuscript submission. The journal does not assign or determine author order.

The authorship list and order must be consistent across the submitted manuscript, OJS metadata, Author Contribution Statement, declarations, data and code documentation where applicable, and final published article.

5. Corresponding Author

One author must be identified as the corresponding author and serve as the primary contact between the journal and all co-authors.

✓ Ensures all authors approve manuscript submission	✓ Verifies author names, affiliations, email, and ORCID information
✓ Coordinates responses to reviewers	✓ Ensures all authors approve substantive revisions
✓ Verifies funding, data-access permissions, and Conflict of Interest Statements	✓ Coordinates Data, Code, Model, or Supplementary Material Availability where applicable
✓ Coordinates final proof approval	✓ Responds to post-publication methodological or research-integrity inquiries when necessary

6. Unacceptable Authorship Practices

✕ Guest / Honorary Authorship Adding senior academics, government officials, economists, executives, institutional leaders, policy officials, or respected individuals who did not make sufficient scholarly contributions.	✕ Ghost Authorship Excluding individuals who made substantial contributions to economic modeling, econometric analysis, data construction, field investigation, policy analysis, statistical programming, or manuscript preparation that qualify for authorship.
✕ Gift / Reciprocal Authorship Exchanging or granting authorship without genuine scholarly contribution.	✕ Purchased Authorship Buying, selling, or transferring authorship positions.
✕ Coercive Authorship Requiring inclusion because of supervisory, governmental, institutional, corporate, policy, managerial, or professional authority.	✕ Unauthorized Authorship Listing a person without their knowledge and approval.

7. Changes to Authorship

Addition, removal, or rearrangement of authors after submission must be exceptional and supported by a clear explanation and written consent from all affected authors.

BEFORE ACCEPTANCE
May be considered with full written agreement

AFTER ACCEPTANCE
Exceptional and subject to editorial approval

AFTER PUBLICATION
May require a formal Correction Notice

8. Authorship Disputes

The Editorial Team may request explanations and documentation when an authorship dispute arises. However, the journal does not normally adjudicate disputes concerning who should or should not qualify as an author. Unresolved disputes may be referred to the authors' institution, research-integrity office, employer, professional body, or another appropriate authority. Editorial processing may be suspended until the dispute is resolved.

9. Artificial Intelligence and Authorship

Artificial intelligence tools, large language models, generative AI systems, and AI-based economic or econometric platforms must not be listed as authors or co-authors. AI cannot accept accountability, approve a manuscript, declare conflicts of interest, or take responsibility for research integrity. Relevant AI-assisted activities, including AI-supported writing, coding, economic forecasting, econometric programming, data cleaning, simulation, predictive modeling, literature synthesis, or analytical interpretation, must instead be disclosed according to the journal's Artificial Intelligence (AI) Usage Policy.

Authorship Checklist Before Submission

✓ Every listed author has made a genuine scholarly contribution	✓ No eligible contributor has been omitted
✓ Author order has been approved by all authors	✓ All authors approved the submitted manuscript
✓ Author Contribution Statement is complete	✓ Corresponding author has been identified
✓ OJS metadata matches the manuscript	✓ Economic-data sources, variable definitions, model specifications, robustness checks, code, and supplementary-material statements are accurate where applicable
✓ AI-assisted activities have been disclosed where required	✓ All authors accept responsibility for the published work

Authorship Principle

In Sinergi International Journal of Economics, authorship is based on substantive intellectual contribution and accountability. Academic rank, governmental or institutional authority, access to economic databases, government statistics, firm-level records, survey respondents, policy documents, statistical software, funding alone, routine data extraction or survey assistance, supervisory status, or professional seniority does not by itself justify authorship.