Authorship and Contributorship Policy

Authorship in the Global South Journal of Applied Research (GSJAR) must reflect substantial intellectual contribution and accountability for the published work.

Every listed author should have made a significant contribution to the conception or design of the study, acquisition or interpretation of evidence, development of the argument, or another substantive scholarly component. Each author must participate in drafting or critically revising the manuscript, approve the final version and accept responsibility for the integrity of the work.

Individuals who provide only funding, routine administration, general supervision, proofreading, technical support or access to participants do not qualify automatically for authorship. Their contributions may be acknowledged with permission.

Gift authorship, guest authorship, honorary authorship and ghost authorship are prohibited. Artificial-intelligence systems cannot be authors.

The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal, confirmation of author details, submission of declarations and circulation of editorial correspondence. This role does not create greater ownership of the research.

Authors are encouraged to describe contributions using a recognised contributor-role framework where appropriate. The contribution statement should accurately identify responsibility for conceptualisation, methodology, data collection, analysis, writing, supervision, funding or other relevant work.

The author list and order should be agreed before submission. Requests to add, remove or reorder authors after submission require an explanation and written agreement from all affected authors. After acceptance or publication, changes will be permitted only in exceptional and properly documented circumstances.

Disputes that cannot be resolved by the authors may be referred to their institution. The journal will not determine ownership of contributions where evidence requires an institutional investigation.