Authorship criteria
The authorship should be based on all of the following criteria:
1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work;
2. Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content;
3. Final approval of the version to be published;
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Authors should meet all 4 of the above criteria. If a large, multi-center group conducted the research, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. The author submitting a collectively authored manuscript should establish the authorship order, provide all individual authors of the particular group, and provide the group's name. All those designated as Authors should meet all criteria for authorship, and all who meet the criteria should be identified as Authors. The contribution of each Author must be documented to the extent of taking public responsibility for appropriate portions, the content, and the conflict of interest.
Other individuals who have participated in the generation of the research paper but who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section with a brief indication of the nature of their contribution. Any editing services used in the preparation of the manuscript should be disclosed in the Acknowledgments.