Authorship and Contributorship Policy
Scholarly Contribution • Transparency • Accountability
Authorship and Contributorship Policy
Journal of Health Literacy and Qualitative Research requires authorship to accurately reflect substantial scholarly contributions to research in health literacy, health communication, patient education, qualitative health research, health behavior, community health, healthcare experiences, patient perspectives, health promotion, health information access, 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, 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:
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Substantial Research Contribution Significant contribution to the health-literacy or qualitative-health research problem, conceptual framework, study design, participant recruitment, interview or focus-group design, health-communication assessment, patient-education evaluation, fieldwork, qualitative data collection, coding framework, thematic analysis, methodology, or interpretation of findings. |
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Intellectual Contribution to the Manuscript Active participation in drafting the manuscript or critically revising its health-literacy framework, qualitative interpretation, methodological rationale, health-communication analysis, patient or community perspective, discussion, implications, or scholarly contribution. |
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Final Approval Review and approval of the final manuscript, including the accuracy of author names, affiliations, participant descriptions, quotations, themes, health-literacy findings, declarations, ethical information, confidentiality protections, and references. |
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Accountability Agreement to take responsibility for the author's contribution and to cooperate in resolving questions concerning participant data, interview records, qualitative coding, interpretation, health-information materials, 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 patients, communities, clinics, healthcare organizations, participants, or health records only |
| • General academic, clinical, community, or administrative supervision | • Holding a clinical, health-service, institutional, community, managerial, or professional position |
| • Routine transcription, scheduling, data entry, participant coordination, or clerical assistance | • Language editing, proofreading, translation, or formatting only |
| • Providing interview rooms, recording devices, health-education materials, or facilities only | • General encouragement, referral, 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 health-literacy research ideas, health-communication questions, patient-experience concepts, qualitative research problems, behavioral frameworks, or community-health perspectives. |
Methodology Development or design of qualitative, phenomenological, grounded-theory, ethnographic, case-study, narrative, mixed-methods, interview, focus-group, or health-literacy assessment methods. |
| Formal Analysis Thematic, content, framework, narrative, discourse, qualitative, descriptive, statistical, health-literacy, or other analytical work. |
Investigation Conducting interviews, focus groups, observations, community fieldwork, patient-experience studies, health-literacy assessments, document reviews, or empirical data collection. |
| Data Curation Collecting, transcribing, anonymizing, coding, organizing, documenting, securely storing, or maintaining interview, focus-group, observational, health-literacy, or participant datasets. |
Software Qualitative-data management, statistical coding, text analysis, health-literacy data processing, coding-database development, or use of analytical software where relevant. |
| Validation Verification of coding frameworks, thematic interpretations, triangulation, qualitative findings, health-literacy instruments, member-checking procedures, or research outputs. |
Visualization Preparation of research tables, thematic maps, conceptual frameworks, qualitative models, participant-flow diagrams, health-communication models, 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 health-literacy instruments, interview materials, participant access, health-information resources, qualitative datasets, 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 – Health Literacy / Patient Education 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 Health / Patient Experience 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, confidentiality, and Conflict of Interest Statements | ✓ Coordinates Data Availability and qualitative-data confidentiality 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, clinicians, healthcare managers, institutional leaders, community leaders, or respected individuals who did not make sufficient scholarly contributions. |
✕ Ghost Authorship Excluding individuals who made substantial contributions to study design, interviewing, coding, qualitative analysis, health-literacy assessment, 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, clinical, institutional, community, 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 institution, 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 qualitative or health-data platforms must not be listed as authors or co-authors. AI cannot accept accountability, approve a manuscript, provide informed consent, declare conflicts of interest, preserve ethical responsibility, or take responsibility for research integrity. Relevant AI-assisted activities, including AI-supported writing, transcription support, translation, coding assistance, text analysis, health-literacy 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, informed consent, anonymity, confidentiality, participant quotations, and qualitative-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 Journal of Health Literacy and Qualitative Research, authorship is based on substantive intellectual contribution and accountability. Academic rank, clinical or institutional authority, access to patients, participants, communities, healthcare organizations, interview data, health records, facilities, funding alone, routine transcription or participant-coordination assistance, supervisory status, or professional seniority does not by itself justify authorship.
