Number of authors

Manuscripts submitted for publication may have a maximum of five authors.

Authors should be aware of the following criteria regarding authorship:

The order in which the authors appear should be in direct relation to their level of contribution to the manuscript, with the lead author named first. Manuscripts should also state clearly the name of the contact author.

To be named as an author on a manuscript intended for publication, researchers should meet all of the following criteria:
1. Have made an essential contribution to the study in its conception or design, or to the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data.
2. Have participated in writing the manuscript and critically reviewing its content.
3. Participate in making any revisions required by the reviewers and in preparing the final version of the manuscript for publication.

Activities which do not entitle a researcher to be named as an author: acquisition of funding, general supervision of the research group, administrative support, technical assistance in writing, translating and editing the manuscript or correcting proofs.

Persons whose collaboration does not entitle them to be named as authors may be acknowledged individually or as a group in the Acknowledgements section, where details of their contribution may be given (e.g. advice and expertise, critical review of study proposal, data collection, technical editing of manuscript, etc.)

In exceptional cases, additional authors may be named, where the complexity and duration of the study or research justifies their inclusion. In such cases, submissions should include an additional document outlining in concise detail the individual contribution of each author (one paragraph per author). This document will be assessed by the journal prior to proceeding with the rest of the manuscript assessment process.