Authorship and Contributorship Policy

Scholarly Contribution • Transparency • Accountability

Authorship and Contributorship Policy

Sinergi International Journal of Psychology requires authorship to accurately reflect substantial scholarly contributions to research in clinical psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology, educational psychology, organizational psychology, counseling, mental health, psychological assessment, behavioral science, community psychology, 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, confidentiality, 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 psychological research problem, theoretical framework, study design, participant recruitment, psychological assessment, intervention design, behavioral observation, clinical or counseling procedure, survey or experimental design, qualitative inquiry, methodology, statistical analysis, psychometric analysis, or interpretation of findings.
2	Intellectual Contribution to the Manuscript Active participation in drafting the manuscript or critically revising its psychological theory, clinical or behavioral interpretation, methodological rationale, psychometric analysis, intervention implications, discussion, or scholarly contribution.
3	Final Approval Review and approval of the final manuscript, including the accuracy of author names, affiliations, participant characteristics, psychological instruments, intervention procedures, psychometric properties, clinical or behavioral findings, declarations, ethical information, and references.
4	Accountability Agreement to take responsibility for the author's contribution and to cooperate in resolving questions concerning participant data, psychological assessments, intervention procedures, clinical or counseling records, behavioral data, psychometric analyses, informed consent, confidentiality, research ethics, 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 participants, clients, schools, clinics, counseling centers, organizations, or psychological records only
• General academic, clinical, counseling, organizational, or administrative supervision	• Holding a psychologist, counselor, clinician, manager, institutional, or professional position
• Routine participant scheduling, test administration, data entry, transcription, or clerical assistance	• Language editing, proofreading, translation, or formatting only
• Providing testing rooms, psychological instruments, software, facilities, or logistical support only	• General encouragement, referral, 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 psychological research ideas, behavioral questions, clinical hypotheses, social or developmental concepts, mental-health problems, counseling frameworks, or psychological models.	Methodology Development or design of experimental, quasi-experimental, survey, psychometric, qualitative, mixed-methods, intervention, clinical, longitudinal, cross-sectional, or observational methods.
Formal Analysis Statistical, psychometric, behavioral, clinical, qualitative, thematic, mediation or moderation, factor-analytic, longitudinal, or other psychological analytical work.	Investigation Conducting psychological assessments, experiments, interviews, observations, surveys, counseling or intervention studies, focus groups, community fieldwork, or empirical data collection.
Data Curation Collecting, cleaning, coding, anonymizing, organizing, documenting, securely storing, or maintaining psychological, behavioral, clinical, assessment, interview, or survey datasets.	Software Statistical coding, psychometric analysis, behavioral-data processing, qualitative-data management, experiment programming, assessment-platform development, or analytical software where relevant.
Validation Verification of psychological instruments, psychometric properties, intervention procedures, coding frameworks, clinical assessments, behavioral measures, analytical results, or research outputs.	Visualization Preparation of research tables, figures, psychological models, behavioral frameworks, intervention diagrams, psychometric plots, participant-flow diagrams, 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 psychological instruments, behavioral datasets, intervention materials, participant access, software, clinical or counseling facilities, 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 / Psychometric / Behavioral Research

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

Example – Clinical / Counseling / Qualitative Psychology 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 and 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, informed consent, participant confidentiality, and Conflict of Interest Statements	✓ Coordinates Data Availability, psychological-instrument, intervention, or supplementary-material statements where applicable
✓ Coordinates final proof approval	✓ Responds to post-publication methodological, ethical, or research-integrity inquiries when necessary

6. Unacceptable Authorship Practices

✕ Guest / Honorary Authorship Adding senior academics, psychologists, clinicians, counselors, institutional leaders, department heads, managers, or respected individuals who did not make sufficient scholarly contributions.	✕ Ghost Authorship Excluding individuals who made substantial contributions to psychological assessment, intervention design, psychometric analysis, behavioral research, qualitative interpretation, data analysis, 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, clinical, counseling, institutional, organizational, 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, ethics committee, healthcare or counseling institution, employer, 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 psychological or behavioral-analysis 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, transcription, translation, coding assistance, psychometric analysis, behavioral-data processing, sentiment or text analysis, assessment support, 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, informed consent, participant confidentiality, psychological instruments, intervention procedures, and data 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 Psychology, authorship is based on substantive intellectual contribution and accountability. Academic, clinical, counseling, or institutional rank, access to participants, clients, psychological records, schools, clinics, organizations, assessment instruments, facilities, funding alone, routine test administration or participant coordination, supervisory status, or professional seniority does not by itself justify authorship.