Authorship Criteria and Responsibilities

Authorship Criteria and Responsibilities

"The Shield - Research Journal of Physical Education & Sports Science" strictly adheres to authorship criteria adapted from the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and general academic best practices.

Only individuals who meet all four of the criteria listed below should be designated as authors.

Criteria for Authorship

  1. Substantial Contribution:
    • Significant involvement in the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data (e.g., designing athlete performance metrics, conducting sports trials, or interpreting results relevant to sports sciences).
  2. Critical Intellectual Input:
    • Actively drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content, scholarly rigor, clarity, and relevance to Physical Education or Sports Sciences.
  3. Final Approval:
    • All authors must review the final version of the manuscript and approve it for submission to the journal.
  4. Accountability:
    • Authors agree to be personally accountable for their contributions, uphold the work’s integrity, address questions regarding accuracy or integrity, and ensure ethical concerns (e.g., data validity in sports trials or informed consent) are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Note: "The Shield" strictly follows the guidelines and flowcharts set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). For detailed guidance on authorship disputes and roles, authors are encouraged to refer to COPE’s authorship guidelines.

Authorship in Collaborative Research

For studies involving multi-institutional or interdisciplinary teams:

  • Authorship Eligibility: Only individuals meeting all four authorship criteria defined above may be listed.
  • Non-Author Contributions: Roles such as securing funding, providing general supervision of a research group or facility, general administrative support, or mere data collection assistance do not qualify for authorship.
  • Acknowledgments Section: Individuals who have made contributions to the research but do not meet all four criteria must be acknowledged (e.g., sports facility staff, technical assistants, statistical consultants). Authors must obtain written permission from all acknowledged individuals/organizations.

Use of AI Tools in Manuscript Preparation

Transparency and accountability are paramount when Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools (e.g., LLMs, chatbots, AI analytics tools) are used in any part of the research or writing process.

Prohibitions:

  • AI cannot be listed as an author or co-author as it cannot assume responsibility for the integrity of the work.
  • Human authors must verify all AI-generated content for accuracy, ethics, and originality.

Disclosure Requirements:

  • Mandatory Disclosure: Declare any AI-assisted technology used in the research process in the cover letter and the relevant manuscript sections.
  • Writing Assistance: If AI was used for language editing, summarization, or text polishing, this must be clearly described in the Acknowledgments section (e.g., "AI tools were used for language editing and text refinement.").
  • Data/Methods: If AI/Machine Learning was used for data analysis, data processing, or figure creation, full details must be provided in the Methods section (e.g., "Machine learning algorithms were applied to analyze athlete performance data using [Software/Model Name].").
  • Plagiarism Checks: The journal utilizes standard plagiarism/AI detection software. Authors must ensure that AI-generated text content, as identified by the software, does not exceed 19% of the total manuscript text.