Al-Mada: Jurnal Agama, Sosial, dan Budaya is committed to maintaining transparency, accountability, and integrity in authorship. All authors listed in a submitted manuscript must have made substantial intellectual contributions to the research and must take responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the work.

The journal adopts the following authorship criteria to ensure that authorship reflects genuine scholarly contributions and that all individuals involved in the research receive appropriate recognition.

1. Eligibility for Authorship

An individual may be listed as an author of a manuscript submitted to Al-Mada only if they have made substantial contributions to the research and meet the following criteria:

1. Substantial intellectual contribution: Participation in the conception or design of the research, the acquisition of research data, or the analysis and interpretation of the findings.

2. Writing and critical revision: Participation in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content.

3. Final approval: Approval of the final version of the manuscript before submission or publication.

4. Accountability: Agreement to take responsibility for their contributions and to cooperate in resolving questions concerning the accuracy, integrity, or ethical conduct of the research.

All listed authors are expected to satisfy these criteria. Individuals who have contributed to the research but do not meet the authorship requirements should be acknowledged appropriately rather than listed as authors.

2. Corresponding Author Responsibilities

The corresponding author serves as the primary contact between the authors and the editorial office throughout the submission, peer-review, revision, and publication processes.

The corresponding author is responsible for:

• Ensuring that all listed authors meet the journal's authorship criteria.

• Obtaining approval from all co-authors for the submitted manuscript and its final version.

• Ensuring that all authors agree to the author list and the order in which their names appear.

• Providing accurate author names, institutional affiliations, email addresses, and other required information.

• Disclosing relevant funding sources and conflicts of interest.

• Communicating editorial decisions and revision requests to all co-authors.

• Ensuring that any corrections to authorship or author information are communicated to the editorial office promptly.

The corresponding author must not submit a manuscript on behalf of co-authors without their knowledge and approval.

3. Author Order and Contributions

The order of authors must be determined collectively by the authors based on their relative scholarly contributions and their agreement before submission.

All authors should discuss and agree on the author order at an early stage of manuscript preparation. The journal does not impose a universal formula for determining author order because conventions may vary across disciplines and research traditions.

Where appropriate, authors are encouraged to provide a statement describing each author's individual contributions to the research and manuscript preparation.

4. Contributions That Do Not Qualify for Authorship

The following contributions, when provided alone, do not normally justify authorship:

• General supervision or administrative oversight.

• Securing funding without substantial intellectual involvement in the research.

• Providing access to research facilities, institutional resources, or research participants without further intellectual contribution.

• Routine data collection or technical assistance without substantial involvement in research design, analysis, or interpretation.

• Language editing, proofreading, or formatting alone.

• General advice or informal discussion that does not constitute a substantial intellectual contribution.

Individuals who have made these or other limited contributions may be acknowledged in the manuscript, with their permission, where appropriate.

5. Changes to Authorship

Any request to add, remove, or rearrange authors after manuscript submission must be justified in writing and approved by all authors concerned, including any individual being added or removed.

The corresponding author must submit the request to the editorial office, explaining the reasons for the proposed change and providing written confirmation that all authors agree to the change.

The editorial team reserves the right to suspend the editorial process while the request is being assessed. Changes to authorship after publication will be considered in accordance with the journal's publication ethics and correction policies.

Authorship changes must not be made solely to accommodate institutional hierarchy, academic seniority, personal relationships, or other considerations unrelated to genuine scholarly contributions.

6. Guest, Gift, and Ghost Authorship

Al-Mada does not permit guest authorship, gift authorship, or ghost authorship.

• Guest or gift authorship refers to listing an individual as an author despite their failure to meet the journal's authorship criteria.

• Ghost authorship refers to omitting an individual who has made substantial contributions that warrant authorship.

All authorship decisions must reflect actual scholarly contributions. Academic position, institutional authority, or supervisory status alone does not automatically entitle an individual to authorship.

7. Artificial Intelligence and Authorship

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including generative AI systems, cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume the responsibilities of authorship, approve the final manuscript, or be held accountable for the integrity of the research.

Human authors remain fully responsible for all content submitted to Al-Mada, including content generated or assisted by AI tools.

Where required by the journal's AI policy, authors must disclose the use of AI tools that materially contributed to the development of the manuscript. Such disclosure does not transfer authorship or accountability from the human authors to the AI tools.

8. Authorship Disputes and Ethical Concerns

Any dispute concerning authorship, author order, or the attribution of contributions should first be addressed by the authors and their affiliated institutions, where appropriate.

If an authorship dispute arises during editorial assessment, the journal may suspend the review or publication process until the matter has been resolved satisfactorily.

The editorial team will assess reported concerns in accordance with the journal's publication ethics policies and recognized principles of publication integrity. The journal will not determine authorship solely on the basis of academic rank, institutional position, or personal relationships.

9. Declaration of Authorship

By submitting a manuscript to Al-Mada: Jurnal Agama, Sosial, dan Budaya, the corresponding author confirms that:

1. All listed authors meet the journal's authorship criteria.

2. All authors have approved the submitted manuscript and agreed to its submission.

3. The author list and author order have been agreed upon by all authors.

4. No individual who meets the authorship criteria has been improperly excluded.

5. Any relevant contributions, funding sources, conflicts of interest, and uses of AI tools have been disclosed in accordance with the journal's applicable policies.

The journal reserves the right to request additional information or documentation when questions arise concerning authorship or the integrity of a submission.