Authorship and Contributorship

Confmeets adheres strictly to the ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) criteria to ensure authorship is a truthful reflection of substantive intellectual contribution.

Mandatory Criteria for Authorship

Each author must meet all four of the following conditions:

• Substantial Conception or Design: Contribution to the genesis of the research idea or the architecture of the study; OR the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of the data.
• Critical Intellectual Drafting or Revision: Active participation in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for foundational intellectual content.
• Unqualified Final Approval: Approval of the final version of the manuscript that is to be published.
• Holistic Accountability: Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring that any questions regarding its accuracy or integrity are properly investigated and resolved.

Prohibited Authorship Practices

• Ghost Authorship: The deliberate omission of individuals who made significant contributions, often from the pharmaceutical or contract research organization sector, which obscures true accountability.
• Guest/Gift Authorship: The inclusion of individuals (e.g., departmental chairs, senior figures) solely to lend prestige or credibility to the work, despite a lack of meaningful intellectual input.
• Coercive Authorship: The demand for authorship by a superior based on position or provision of resources alone, rather than substantive scholarly contribution.

Protocol for Post-Submission Authorship Modifications

Any request to alter the author list post-submission is subject to intense scrutiny and requires:

• Unanimous Certified Consent: Signed statements from every single author on the original and the proposed new list, explicitly endorsing the change.
• Compelling and Transparent Rationale: A detailed, credible explanation for the oversight or re-evaluation that necessitates the change.
• Corresponding Author's Attestation: The corresponding author must formally initiate the request and certify that the process has the full, unequivocal support of the entire author team.