Authorship and Author Responsibilities

IRJPL follows the authorship criteria established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) to ensure fairness, transparency, and accountability in scholarly publishing. To qualify as an author, an individual must meet all four ICMJE conditions, which include substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work, or acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content; final approval of the version to be published; and agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring that questions related to accuracy or integrity are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Individuals who contribute only in the form of funding acquisition, general supervision, routine data collection, administrative support, or technical assistance do not qualify for authorship. Such contributions should instead be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section. IRJPL strictly prohibits unethical authorship practices, including gift authorship, guest authorship, and ghost authorship under any circumstances.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscripts are original, accurate, and ethically conducted. They must guarantee that all data, results, and interpretations are reported honestly without fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate manipulation. Proper citation of all sources is mandatory to avoid plagiarism and maintain academic integrity.

Authors must also comply with journal submission requirements, ethical standards, and reporting guidelines. This includes obtaining appropriate ethical approval for studies involving human participants or animals, and ensuring that informed consent has been secured where required. All conflicts of interest and funding sources must be fully disclosed at the time of submission.

During the peer review process, authors are expected to respond to reviewer comments in a timely, professional, and transparent manner, clearly indicating revisions made or providing justified responses where suggestions are not adopted. Authors collectively retain responsibility for the integrity of the published work and are required to cooperate fully with the journal in the event of post-publication queries, corrections, or investigations.