The International Journal of Economics, Business, and Entrepreneurship (IJEBE) upholds the integrity of scholarly publishing. Authorship provides academic credit and entails responsibility and accountability for the published work. Therefore, IJEBE follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1. Authorship Requirements

An individual may be listed as an author only if they meet *all four* of the following criteria:

1. Make a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the study, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
2. Draft the manuscript or critically revise it for important intellectual content.
3. Approve the final version of the manuscript to be published.
4. Agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work, including ensuring that any concerns regarding its accuracy and integrity are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Everyone who meets all four criteria must be listed as an author.

2. Contributions That Do Not Qualify for Authorship

The following contributions do not, on their own, justify authorship. Contributors should instead be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section, with their consent:

- Routine technical, administrative, or laboratory assistance.
- Provision of funding, facilities, or research materials.
- Holding a position, such as department head, dean, or laboratory head, without making a genuine intellectual contribution.

3. Unacceptable Authorship Practices

IJEBE does not tolerate the following practices:

- Ghost authorship, which involves omitting individuals who meet the authorship criteria.
- Gift authorship or guest authorship, which involves listing individuals who have made no genuine contribution.
- Buying, selling, or trading authorship positions.

4. Corresponding Author

The corresponding author must be marked with an asterisk (*) in the manuscript and provide an active telephone/WhatsApp number and email address. The corresponding author is responsible for:

- Communicating with the journal throughout the submission and peer review processes and after publication.
- Ensuring that all listed authors meet the authorship criteria, have approved the final version of the manuscript, and have agreed on the order of authors.
- Submitting the manuscript through the journal's Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform in accordance with the Author Guidelines.

5. Changes to the Author List or Author Order

Requests to add, remove, or change the order of authors after manuscript submission must meet the following requirements:

- Be submitted in writing by the corresponding author to the Editor-in-Chief, with a clear justification.
- Receive written approval from all authors, including any author whose name is to be removed from the author list.
- Be accompanied by an updated author contribution statement.

IJEBE reserves the right to delay publication until all required documents and approvals have been received in full.

6. Authorship Disputes

Determining who qualifies for authorship is the collective responsibility of the authors, not the journal. In the event of a dispute, the editorial board may request clarification from the institution(s) with which the authors are affiliated and will handle the case in accordance with COPE guidelines.

7. Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the work produced. Any use of AI tools in preparing the manuscript must be transparently disclosed, and the authors remain fully responsible for the entire content of the manuscript.