Authorship and Contributorship Policy

Scholarly Contribution • Transparency • Accountability

Authorship and Contributorship Policy

Sinergi International Journal of Education requires authorship to accurately reflect substantial scholarly contributions to research in education, teaching and learning, curriculum, educational technology, assessment and evaluation, teacher development, educational management, inclusive education, learning innovation, education policy, 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, ethical conduct, participant protection, 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 educational research problem, conceptual framework, learning theory, curriculum design, instructional intervention, classroom or school research, participant recruitment, assessment development, educational-technology evaluation, teacher-development study, methodology, statistical or qualitative analysis, or interpretation of findings.
2	Intellectual Contribution to the Manuscript Active participation in drafting the manuscript or critically revising its educational theory, pedagogical rationale, curriculum analysis, methodological approach, assessment interpretation, policy implications, discussion, or scholarly contribution.
3	Final Approval Review and approval of the final manuscript, including the accuracy of author names, affiliations, participant characteristics, instructional procedures, assessment results, classroom or school findings, declarations, ethical information, and references.
4	Accountability Agreement to take responsibility for the author's contribution and to cooperate in resolving questions concerning student or teacher data, educational interventions, assessment instruments, qualitative coding, learning outcomes, research ethics, participant privacy, 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 schools, universities, classrooms, students, teachers, or educational datasets only
• General academic, pedagogical, or administrative supervision	• Holding a principal, dean, teacher, administrator, institutional, or managerial position
• Routine questionnaire distribution, classroom scheduling, data entry, transcription, or clerical assistance	• Language editing, proofreading, translation, or formatting only
• Providing classrooms, learning platforms, teaching materials, devices, software, or facilities only	• General encouragement, mentoring, or professional support 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 educational research ideas, pedagogical questions, learning hypotheses, curriculum concepts, teacher-development models, educational-technology frameworks, or education-policy perspectives.	Methodology Development or design of quantitative, qualitative, mixed, experimental, quasi-experimental, classroom-action, survey, case-study, assessment, evaluation, or educational-design methods.
Formal Analysis Statistical, psychometric, learning-outcome, assessment, qualitative, thematic, curriculum, classroom, evaluation, or other educational analytical work.	Investigation Conducting classroom observations, student or teacher surveys, interviews, focus groups, instructional interventions, school studies, learning assessments, or empirical data collection.
Data Curation Collecting, cleaning, coding, anonymizing, organizing, documenting, or maintaining student, teacher, classroom, assessment, learning-management-system, or educational datasets.	Software Statistical coding, learning-analytics processing, educational-platform development, assessment tools, digital-learning applications, or development of analytical software.
Validation Verification of assessment instruments, learning measures, educational interventions, coding frameworks, psychometric properties, analytical results, or research outputs.	Visualization Preparation of research tables, figures, learning models, curriculum diagrams, educational frameworks, student-performance charts, 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 educational datasets, learning materials, assessment instruments, digital platforms, school access, teaching resources, 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 / Educational Intervention Research

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

Example – Qualitative / Classroom / Teacher Development 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, ethics or consent 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, ethics approval, participant consent, and Conflict of Interest Statements	✓ Coordinates Data Availability, learning-material, instrument, or supplementary-material statements 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, principals, deans, school administrators, education officials, institutional leaders, or respected individuals who did not make sufficient scholarly contributions.	✕ Ghost Authorship Excluding individuals who made substantial contributions to educational design, instrument development, classroom investigation, assessment, learning analysis, qualitative interpretation, 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, academic, school, governmental, institutional, 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, educational institution, ethics committee, 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 educational or learning-analytics platforms must not be listed as authors or co-authors. AI cannot accept accountability, approve a manuscript, provide informed consent, declare conflicts of interest, or take responsibility for research integrity. Relevant AI-assisted activities, including AI-supported writing, translation, coding, assessment analysis, learning analytics, instructional-material generation, educational-data processing, 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	✓ Ethics approval, participant consent, student/teacher privacy, assessment instruments, educational data, 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 Education, authorship is based on substantive intellectual contribution and accountability. Academic rank, school or institutional authority, access to students, teachers, classrooms, schools, educational datasets, learning platforms, teaching materials, funding alone, routine classroom or administrative assistance, supervisory status, or professional seniority does not by itself justify authorship.