All designated authors should meet the criteria for authorship and be appropriately listed. Authorship credit should be based on substantial contributions to all four categories established by the ICMJE: (1) conception and design, or acquisition, or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (3) final approval of the version to be published; and (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. Individuals who do not meet these criteria may be acknowledged as contributors in the Acknowledgments section. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, and general supervision of the research group, by themselves, does not justify authorship.
Role of corresponding author: The corresponding author takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal throughout the submission, peer review, and publication processes. This author ensures that all administrative requirements of the journal are met, including: (1) providing details of authorship, (2) securing ethics committee approval, (3) submitting clinical trial registration documentation, and (4) completing conflicts of interest forms and statements. While some of these tasks may be delegated to coauthors, the corresponding author remains accountable for their completion. They must be available to respond promptly to editorial queries during submission and peer review, and address critiques and journal requests for data post-publication.
Correction of authorship: Requests for changes in authorship (adding/removing authors or rearranging order) after submission but before manuscript acceptance must be submitted in writing to the editor with justification, signed by all authors, and require the editor’s approval. All authors must complete the copyright assignment form. Post-publication, authorship changes will not be permitted, even in the case of editorial staff errors, as authors are responsible for verifying authorship during the final proofreading process.
Recommendations for working with individuals with personal connections: Authors must disclose if minors (under 19) or family members (spouse, children, relatives) are involved in the research or publication in the cover letter. Refer to the “Guidelines for Preventing Illegitimate Authorship” by the National Research Foundation of Korea (
https://www.nrf.re.kr/eng/main) for details.
Use of AI-assisted technologies: In line with ICMJE policies, AI tools (e.g., generative AI, language models, chatbots) can be used to enhance scientific writing and language accuracy but cannot be listed as authors.