The Journal of Public Transportation Community recognizes authorship as being attributable to individuals who have made substantial intellectual and scholarly contributions to the conception, design, implementation, evaluation, and preparation of research articles that align with the journal's aims and scope. The designation of authorship must accurately reflect each individual's contributions and accountability for the content of the published article.

All individuals listed as authors must fulfill the authorship criteria established by the journal. Conversely, individuals who meet these criteria must not be excluded from the author list without appropriate and justifiable reasons.

Authorship Eligibility Criteria

An individual may be recognized as an author of an article submitted to the Journal of Public Transportation Community only if all the following criteria are fulfilled:

1. Substantial Contributions to the Research: Making significant contributions to the conception or design of the research, advancement of knowledge, implementation of research activities, data collection, evaluation, analysis, or interpretation of research findings.
2. Involvement in Manuscript Preparation: Actively participating in drafting the manuscript or critically reviewing and substantially revising its intellectual content, including the methodology, results, discussion, and conclusions.
3. Approval of the Final Manuscript: Reviewing and explicitly approving the final version of the manuscript prior to its submission for publication.
4. Responsibility and Accountability: Agreeing to take responsibility for their respective contributions, ensuring the integrity and accuracy of the manuscript, and cooperating in addressing any questions or concerns regarding the accuracy, validity, or ethical aspects of the published work.

All four criteria must be satisfied by every individual designated as an author. Individuals who have made substantial contributions during the initial stages of the research should be provided with opportunities to participate in manuscript preparation or revision, thereby enabling them to fulfill the complete authorship requirements.

Author Order and Corresponding Author

The order of authorship shall be determined through mutual agreement among all contributing authors, taking into consideration the extent of each individual's scientific and intellectual contributions to the research and manuscript preparation. Authorship order must not be determined solely by professional position, seniority, academic rank, or institutional authority.

The first author is generally the individual who has made the most significant contribution to the research and manuscript preparation, as agreed upon by all authors.

The corresponding author is responsible for maintaining communication with the journal's editors and editorial office, ensuring the completeness of submission documentation, communicating relevant information to all co-authors, and coordinating responses throughout the editorial and peer-review processes.

The corresponding author must ensure that all co-authors have explicitly agreed upon the authorship order, approved the manuscript's content, and consented to its submission to the Journal of Public Transportation Community.

Author Contributions Statement

Every manuscript submitted to the Journal of Public Transportation Community must include an Author Contributions Statement that clearly specifies the contributions of each author. This statement must accurately represent the activities undertaken by each individual throughout the research conception, design, implementation, evaluation, and manuscript preparation processes.

Authors may describe their contributions using the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT), provided that the designated roles accurately reflect their actual involvement in the research.

Relevant contributor roles may include Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Visualization, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Review & Editing, and Supervision.

Example of an Author Contributions Statement

First Author: Conceptualization of the research, methodological development, implementation of research activities, analysis of findings, and preparation of the original manuscript draft.

Second Author: Implementation of research activities, data collection and curation, interpretation of research findings, and substantive revision of the manuscript.

Third Author: Research supervision, validation of findings, critical review, and manuscript revision.

All Authors: All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript and agree to be accountable for the integrity of their respective contributions.

The above statement is provided for illustrative purposes only. Authors are required to customize their contribution statements to accurately reflect the actual involvement and responsibilities of each individual in the research and manuscript preparation processes.