Authorship Criteria

PUBLICATION ETHICS & INTEGRITY

Authorship Criteria

Ethical authorship, transparent contributions, and shared accountability in legal research and scholarly publishing.

UIR LAW REVIEW | AUTHORSHIP POLICY
OUR COMMITMENT

UIR Law Review is committed to fair, transparent, and responsible authorship practices. Authorship must reflect meaningful intellectual contributions to the legal research, analysis, interpretation, and scholarly work reported in a manuscript. All authors must meet the eligibility criteria and accept responsibility for the integrity of the published work.

01

General Principles of Authorship

Authorship represents both academic credit and scholarly responsibility. The order of authorship must be agreed upon by all authors and should reflect their respective contributions. Academic rank, institutional position, seniority, or personal relationships do not independently justify authorship.

UIR Law Review expects authorship decisions to reflect genuine intellectual contributions to legal research, doctrinal analysis, empirical legal studies, comparative law, or other scholarly work within the journal's scope.

02

Authorship Eligibility Criteria

To qualify as an author, an individual must satisfy all four criteria below.

CRITERION 01

Substantial Contribution

Make a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of research data, legal materials, cases, statutes, or other relevant sources.

CRITERION 02

Writing and Critical Review

Participate in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content, legal reasoning, theoretical argument, or interpretation.

CRITERION 03

Final Approval

Review and approve the final version of the manuscript before submission or publication.

CRITERION 04

Accountability and Integrity

Accept accountability for individual contributions and cooperate in resolving questions about the accuracy, integrity, or ethical conduct of the work.

Important: All four criteria must be met. Contributors who satisfy the first criterion should be given a reasonable opportunity to participate in manuscript drafting or critical review and final approval.

These criteria are based on the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), adapted to the context of legal scholarship.

03

Contributions That Do Not Independently Qualify

The following contributions alone do not establish eligibility for authorship:

  • Providing funding or financial support without substantive intellectual involvement.
  • Holding a senior academic, administrative, or institutional position.
  • Providing general supervision or administrative assistance.
  • Providing access to legal documents, institutions, courts, or research locations without further qualifying contributions.
  • Providing routine technical assistance, data collection, proofreading, or language editing alone.
  • Providing equipment, facilities, or logistical support without meeting the authorship criteria.

Individuals who contribute to the work but do not meet all authorship criteria should be acknowledged appropriately. Their contributions must be described accurately, and their permission should be obtained before they are acknowledged.

04

Responsibilities of the Corresponding Author

The corresponding author serves as the primary contact between UIR Law Review and the author team throughout submission, peer review, revision, and publication.

  • Confirm that all listed authors meet the journal's authorship criteria.
  • Obtain all authors' approval of the submitted manuscript and its final version.
  • Ensure that all authors agree with the author order and corresponding author designation.
  • Provide accurate author names, affiliations, contributions, and contact details.
  • Disclose relevant conflicts of interest, funding sources, and ethical approvals where applicable.
  • Communicate editorial decisions and revision requirements to all co-authors.
  • Ensure that requested authorship changes are transparently communicated and supported by the agreement of all affected authors.
05

Author Contributions

UIR Law Review encourages transparent reporting of individual contributions. Where appropriate, authors may use the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) to describe contributions such as conceptualization, methodology, investigation, data curation, formal analysis, supervision, validation, visualization, project administration, and writing.

For legal scholarship, contributions may include legal research, analysis of legislation and case law, comparative legal analysis, empirical data collection, theoretical development, and interpretation of legal findings. Contribution statements must accurately represent the work performed by each individual.

Policy note: A contribution statement or CRediT role does not replace the requirement to meet all authorship eligibility criteria.
06

Changes in Authorship

Requests to add, remove, or rearrange authors after submission must be justified in writing and supported by the agreement of all authors affected by the change, including individuals being added or removed.

The corresponding author must submit the request and required confirmations to the editorial office. UIR Law Review may suspend editorial processing while the request is evaluated. Post-publication changes will be considered in accordance with the journal's publication ethics and correction policies.

Where necessary, the journal may request supporting documentation or refer unresolved authorship disputes to the relevant institutions.

07

Guest, Gift, Honorary, and Ghost Authorship

Guest or Gift Authorship

Listing someone who has not made sufficient contributions to qualify as an author.

Honorary Authorship

Granting authorship solely because of academic rank, seniority, position, funding, or personal relationships.

Ghost Authorship

Improperly omitting an individual who has made substantial qualifying contributions to the work.

Ethical Standard

All authorship decisions must reflect actual contributions, fulfillment of the stated criteria, and transparent agreement among the author team.

Editorial action: Suspected inappropriate authorship may lead to requests for clarification, suspension of editorial processing, rejection, correction, or other appropriate action under UIR Law Review's publication ethics policies.
08

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including generative AI systems, cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility or accountability for scholarly work.

Authors who use AI tools in manuscript preparation must disclose such use in accordance with the journal's applicable AI policy and submission requirements. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, references, ethical compliance, and integrity of all submitted content, including content generated or assisted by AI tools.

AI assistance does not independently qualify an individual for authorship.

09

Authorship Disputes and Editorial Action

Authorship disputes should initially be addressed by the authors and their affiliated institutions. UIR Law Review does not determine authorship solely on the basis of academic rank or institutional authority.

When concerns arise about inappropriate authorship, undisclosed contributions, or inaccurate author declarations, the editorial team may request clarification, supporting documentation, or an institutional investigation. Depending on the circumstances and publication stage, the journal may suspend processing, reject a manuscript, request a correction, or take other appropriate action in accordance with its publication ethics policies.

10

Author Declaration

By submitting a manuscript to UIR Law Review, the corresponding author confirms that all listed authors have made qualifying contributions, approved the submitted version, agreed with the author order, and accepted responsibility for the integrity of the work. The corresponding author also confirms that no eligible contributor has been improperly excluded and that non-author contributions have been acknowledged appropriately.

AUTHORSHIP POLICY

Reference and Further Guidance

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors.

Read the ICMJE Recommendations on Authorship ↗
UIR Law Review
Authorship Criteria · Publication Ethics and Research Integrity