Authorship Principles

The Uzbek Journal "Problems of Mechanics" recognizes authorship as both scholarly credit and responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and reliability of published work.

Authorship must be based on substantial intellectual contribution rather than academic position, institutional authority, professional status, funding acquisition, administrative responsibility, personal relationships, or honorary recognition.

All individuals listed as authors must meet the journal’s authorship criteria. Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet these criteria must not be listed as authors and should instead be acknowledged appropriately.

Authorship Criteria

To qualify as an author, an individual must meet all of the following criteria:

  1. have made a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, interpretation, verification, or validation of data or results;
  2. have drafted the manuscript or critically revised it for important intellectual content;
  3. have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript submitted for publication;
  4. have agreed to be accountable for their own contribution and to cooperate in addressing questions concerning the accuracy, integrity, or reliability of any part of the work.

All authors must be able to identify their own contribution and, where reasonably possible, understand which co-authors are responsible for other parts of the work.

Individuals who meet the first criterion should be given a reasonable opportunity to participate in drafting or critically revising the manuscript and approving its final version.

Contributions That Do Not Qualify for Authorship

The following activities alone do not normally justify authorship:

  • obtaining funding without substantial intellectual contribution;
  • providing general administrative or institutional supervision;
  • holding a senior academic or managerial position;
  • providing laboratory space, equipment, materials, or routine technical support;
  • collecting data without involvement in the intellectual development, analysis, or interpretation of the study;
  • performing routine language editing, proofreading, formatting, or translation;
  • providing general advice that does not constitute a substantial scholarly contribution;
  • arranging access to participants, organizations, facilities, or research sites;
  • providing paid professional or technical services.

Individuals who make such contributions should be identified in the Acknowledgments section, where appropriate and with their permission.

Unacceptable Authorship Practices

The journal does not permit:

Guest authorship: listing an individual primarily to increase the prestige, credibility, or likelihood of publication of the manuscript.

Gift or honorary authorship: listing an individual because of their position, authority, personal relationship, or expected reciprocal benefit rather than a qualifying contribution.

Ghost authorship: omitting an individual who made a substantial contribution that would qualify for authorship or failing to disclose professional writing or other material assistance.

Purchased or transferred authorship: adding, removing, selling, purchasing, or exchanging authorship positions for financial, professional, or other improper advantage.

Coercive authorship: requiring an individual to include another person as an author because of institutional hierarchy, supervisory power, funding control, or another form of pressure.

Evidence of inappropriate authorship may result in suspension of editorial consideration, rejection, correction, retraction, notification of relevant institutions, or other action under the journal’s Research and Publication Misconduct Policy.

Author Contributions

All research manuscripts must include an Author Contributions statement describing the specific contribution of each author.

Contributions should be reported using the CRediT Contributor Roles Taxonomy, where applicable. CRediT identifies specific contribution roles and improves transparency, but the assignment of a CRediT role does not automatically establish eligibility for authorship.

The applicable CRediT roles include:

  • Conceptualization;
  • Data Curation;
  • Formal Analysis;
  • Funding Acquisition;
  • Investigation;
  • Methodology;
  • Project Administration;
  • Resources;
  • Software;
  • Supervision;
  • Validation;
  • Visualization;
  • Writing – Original Draft;
  • Writing – Review and Editing.

Only roles that were actually performed should be included.

Authors should be identified by their initials in the contribution statement. The contribution statement must be approved by all authors before submission.

Where two or more authors contributed equally, this may be stated explicitly. Shared supervision or shared senior authorship may also be declared where it accurately reflects the work performed.

Order of Authors

The order of authors must be agreed upon collectively by all authors before submission.

The journal does not determine the order of authors and does not assume that a particular position automatically represents a specific level or type of contribution.

The authors are responsible for resolving the order according to accepted practices within their discipline and for ensuring that the order accurately reflects their agreement.

Any statement concerning equal contribution, joint first authorship, or shared supervision must be approved by all authors and clearly included in the manuscript.

Role of the Corresponding Author

The Corresponding Author serves as the primary point of contact between the journal and all authors during submission, peer review, production, publication, and post-publication correspondence.

The Corresponding Author is responsible for:

  • confirming that all listed authors meet the journal’s authorship criteria;
  • ensuring that no qualifying contributor has been omitted;
  • confirming that all authors have approved the manuscript, author order, disclosures, and submission;
  • providing complete and accurate author names, affiliations, ORCID identifiers, and contact information;
  • ensuring that the manuscript includes all required statements concerning author contributions, funding, competing interests, ethics approval, consent, data availability, and use of artificial intelligence tools;
  • communicating editorial decisions, reviewer comments, revisions, and production materials to all authors;
  • coordinating and submitting point-by-point responses during revision;
  • ensuring that all authors approve the final version before publication;
  • responding to reasonable questions concerning the work after publication;
  • cooperating with the journal in correcting errors or investigating integrity concerns.

Administrative submission tasks may be performed by a Submitting Author or another authorized person. However, delegation of administrative tasks does not remove or transfer the responsibilities of the designated Corresponding Author.

Responsibilities of All Authors

Each author must:

  • ensure that their contribution is accurately described;
  • review the complete manuscript, not only the section they prepared;
  • approve the submitted and final published versions;
  • disclose relevant competing interests;
  • disclose relevant funding and institutional support;
  • cooperate with requests for supporting data, documentation, clarification, or correction;
  • inform the Corresponding Author and the journal promptly of any significant error or concern;
  • accept responsibility for the integrity of their own contribution;
  • cooperate in resolving concerns relating to any part of the work.

No manuscript may be submitted without the knowledge and approval of all listed authors.

Group and Consortium Authorship

Research conducted by a formally organized group or consortium may be published under a group name where appropriate.

The manuscript must clearly identify:

  • the name of the group or consortium;
  • the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript;
  • the authors who meet the journal’s authorship criteria;
  • other contributors who do not meet the authorship criteria;
  • the individual responsible for communication with the journal.

Where technically possible, individual group members who qualify as authors should be identified in the article metadata.

Acknowledgments

Individuals who contributed to the work but do not qualify for authorship may be acknowledged for activities such as:

  • technical assistance;
  • administrative assistance;
  • language editing or translation;
  • statistical consultation;
  • provision of facilities, equipment, materials, or data;
  • general academic advice;
  • logistical or organizational assistance.

Authors must obtain permission from named individuals before identifying them in the Acknowledgments section.

Acknowledgment must not imply that the named person endorses the findings or conclusions unless such endorsement has been explicitly confirmed.

Disclosures and Declarations

Authors must provide complete and accurate declarations concerning:

  • sources of funding;
  • grant numbers and funding organization names;
  • financial and non-financial competing interests;
  • ethics approval, where applicable;
  • informed consent, where applicable;
  • consent for publication of identifiable information, where applicable;
  • data availability;
  • code, software, models, and materials availability, where applicable;
  • use of artificial intelligence or AI-assisted tools;
  • author contributions.

Disclosures must be provided even where the authors believe that a relationship did not affect the research.

Failure to disclose relevant information may result in editorial investigation and appropriate corrective action.

Data and Materials Transparency

Authors must describe the availability of data, computer code, computational models, software, materials, protocols, and other resources supporting the findings of the manuscript.

Authors are encouraged to deposit supporting research outputs in trusted repositories and provide a DOI, accession number, persistent identifier, or stable link where possible.

Public access is not mandatory where access is restricted because of:

  • privacy or confidentiality;
  • ethical approval conditions;
  • intellectual property rights;
  • commercial restrictions;
  • legal requirements;
  • national security or public safety considerations;
  • third-party ownership;
  • legitimate technical limitations.

Where access is restricted, the Data Availability Statement must clearly explain the nature of the restriction and whether controlled access may be requested.

Authors must not claim that supporting materials are publicly available unless the relevant files and links are functional and accessible.

Affiliation

Each author’s primary affiliation should normally identify the institution at which the majority of the reported research was conducted or principally supported.

If an author moved to another institution after completing the work, the new institution may be listed as a present address or secondary affiliation, provided the original research affiliation remains clearly identified.

Affiliations must not be added solely to increase institutional prestige or imply support that did not exist.

After publication, affiliations normally remain part of the historical record. However, factual errors may be corrected in accordance with the journal’s Correction and Retraction Policy. A later change of employment does not normally require correction.

Author Identification

Authors are strongly encouraged to register for and provide an ORCID identifier.

ORCID identifiers must belong to the authors to whom they are assigned and should be authenticated through the journal submission system where technically possible.

Authors must not provide:

  • another person’s ORCID identifier;
  • fabricated researcher identifiers;
  • misleading institutional profiles;
  • inaccurate contact information.

The journal may verify author identities, affiliations, institutional email addresses, ORCID records, and publication histories when necessary to protect the integrity of the submission process.

Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

Artificial intelligence tools, language models, chatbots, and other non-human systems cannot be listed as authors because they cannot approve the manuscript, accept accountability, disclose competing interests, transfer copyright, or respond to questions concerning the integrity of the work.

Human authors remain fully responsible for:

  • the accuracy and originality of the manuscript;
  • verification of facts, calculations, references, data, and generated content;
  • protection of confidential or personal information;
  • compliance with copyright and intellectual property requirements;
  • disclosure of relevant use of AI tools.

Any reportable use of AI or AI-assisted tools must be disclosed in accordance with the journal’s Policy on the Use of AI Tools.

AI-assisted language correction does not qualify a tool for authorship and does not remove the authors’ responsibility for the final text.

Changes to Authorship Before Acceptance

Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission must be exceptional and must be submitted before acceptance whenever possible.

The request must include:

  • a clear explanation of the reason for the proposed change;
  • an updated Author Contributions statement;
  • written agreement from all existing authors;
  • written agreement from any author being added or removed;
  • confirmation from the Corresponding Author that all authors approve the change.

The journal may contact each author independently to verify consent.

Editorial consideration may be suspended while the request is evaluated. The Editor-in-Chief may approve, reject, or refer the matter to the relevant institution where the justification or consent is unclear.

No author may be removed without appropriate consideration of the views of all affected parties. COPE guidance recommends careful scrutiny of authorship changes and confirmation that all listed authors meet the applicable criteria.

Changes to Authorship After Acceptance

Changes to authorship after acceptance are strongly discouraged and will be considered only in exceptional and adequately documented circumstances.

Publication may be delayed while the request is assessed.

A change will not be approved solely because an author requests a different position, seeks academic credit, or wishes to include a senior colleague who did not make a qualifying contribution.

All affected authors must provide written agreement, and the Editor-in-Chief must approve the change before publication.

Changes to Authorship After Publication

After publication, a justified authorship change may require:

  • publication of a formal correction;
  • amendment of article metadata;
  • notification of indexing and registration services;
  • an institutional investigation where the authors cannot reach agreement;
  • retraction in serious cases involving fraudulent or misleading authorship.

The original publication record will be preserved, and changes will be documented transparently unless privacy considerations justify a different procedure.

Author Name Changes

An author may request that their name be updated after publication.

The journal will not require the author to disclose the personal reason for the change or provide legal documentation unless verification of identity is reasonably necessary to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.

Where technically and legally feasible, the journal may update:

  • the online article;
  • downloadable publication files;
  • article metadata;
  • indexing deposits;
  • author profile information.

At the author’s request, a name change may be implemented without a public correction notice where privacy and safety considerations justify a confidential process. COPE recommends minimizing barriers and protecting the privacy of authors requesting name changes.

Deceased or Incapacitated Authors

An individual who made a qualifying contribution before death or incapacity may remain listed as an author.

Where an author dies before submission or publication:

  • the Corresponding Author must inform the journal;
  • the author’s contribution must be accurately described;
  • the remaining authors must confirm, to the best of their knowledge, that the deceased author met the authorship criteria;
  • the death may be indicated in a footnote or author note;
  • the deceased author must not be listed as having approved actions that occurred after death.

COPE guidance recognizes that a deceased contributor may remain listed as a co-author where authorship is justified and the circumstances are transparently identified.

Where an author becomes unable to communicate, the journal will consider the individual circumstances and may seek information from co-authors, the author’s institution, or an authorized representative where appropriate.

The Editor-in-Chief retains discretion to determine whether the available evidence sufficiently supports continued authorship.

Confidentiality

Authors must treat confidential editorial information responsibly.

Authors must not publicly disclose:

  • confidential reviewer identities;
  • confidential editorial correspondence;
  • reviewer reports marked as confidential;
  • internal editorial discussions;
  • protected information concerning another individual.

Authors may share the manuscript and editorial communications with co-authors and authorized contributors where necessary for preparing, revising, or responding to the submission.

Public posting of manuscripts is governed by the journal’s Preprint Policy. The existence of a preprint must be declared at submission where required.

Authors must not attempt to identify anonymous reviewers, contact reviewers directly, or retaliate against individuals believed to have participated in the review process.

Authorship Disputes

The journal is not in a position to determine the legal or factual ownership of contributions where authors disagree.

Where an authorship dispute arises, the journal may:

  • suspend peer review, acceptance, or publication;
  • request written statements and contribution records from all affected authors;
  • require confirmation of the proposed author list;
  • ask the authors to resolve the matter through their institutions;
  • contact an institution, research integrity office, funding organization, or other competent authority;
  • publish a correction, expression of concern, or retraction where necessary after publication.

Editors should not independently adjudicate unresolved authorship disputes that require institutional investigation. COPE identifies institutions as the appropriate bodies for resolving many disputes involving contribution and authorship.

Until the dispute is resolved, the journal may decline to continue processing the manuscript.

Suspected Authorship Misconduct

Where guest, gift, ghost, purchased, coerced, fabricated, or manipulated authorship is suspected, the journal may request:

  • individual contribution declarations;
  • written confirmation from every author;
  • original research records;
  • correspondence documenting contributions;
  • institutional verification;
  • information concerning professional writing or third-party services.

The journal will consider allegations fairly and confidentially and will not presume misconduct before the available evidence has been assessed.

Actions may include rejection, correction, retraction, restriction of future submissions, removal of an individual from an editorial role, or notification of relevant institutions.

External Standards

The authorship practices of the Uzbek Journal "Problems of Mechanics" are informed by:

  • COPE Core Practices;
  • COPE guidance on authorship and contributorship;
  • COPE guidance on changes to authorship lists;
  • COPE guidance on author name changes;
  • the CRediT Contributor Roles Taxonomy;
  • the journal’s Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement;
  • the journal’s Competing Interests Policy;
  • the journal’s Policy on the Use of AI Tools;
  • applicable national legislation and internationally recognized standards of research integrity.

Policy Administration

This policy is effective from 1 August 2026 and will be reviewed periodically to ensure its continued alignment with applicable ethical standards and the editorial practices of the Uzbek Journal "Problems of Mechanics".

Questions, requests for authorship changes, authorship complaints, or allegations of authorship misconduct should be submitted to the Editorial Office at instmechofficial@gmail.com.

All relevant matters will be considered in accordance with the journal’s applicable policies and relevant COPE guidance.


ISSN 2010-7250 (Online)