1. Purpose and Principles

Jurnal Sanitasi Lingkungan recognizes authorship as both scholarly credit and responsibility. Authorship must accurately identify individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to research in environmental sanitation, environmental health, and related public health disciplines and who accept responsibility for the integrity of the published work.

This policy aims to:

• ensure appropriate recognition of scholarly contributions;
• prevent honorary, gift, guest, coercive, purchased, fictitious, and ghost authorship;
• distinguish authors from non-author contributors;
• promote transparency in individual contributions;
• establish the responsibilities of corresponding authors and co-authors; and
• provide procedures for authorship changes and disputes.

Authors are responsible for determining authorship eligibility and order before submission. The journal may request supporting documentation when potential authorship irregularities are identified.

2. Criteria for Authorship

All listed authors must meet all four authorship criteria:

Substantial Contribution

Authors must make substantial intellectual contributions to study conception or design, data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation.

In environmental sanitation and health research, qualifying contributions may include designing environmental assessments, developing sampling strategies, planning laboratory investigations, analyzing environmental health data, interpreting exposure assessments, or conducting substantive evidence synthesis.

Intellectual Contribution to the Manuscript

Authors must participate in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content.

Approval of the Final Version

All authors must review and approve the final manuscript before publication.

Accountability

Authors must accept responsibility for their contributions and cooperate in addressing questions concerning the accuracy, validity, or integrity of the research.

All individuals meeting these criteria should be recognized as authors.

Academic position, institutional authority, general supervision, provision of laboratory facilities, equipment, research funding, or routine technical assistance alone does not qualify an individual for authorship.

3. Author Responsibilities

Each author is responsible for the accuracy, scientific validity, and integrity of their contributions.

All authors should:

• understand the research objectives, methodology, findings, and conclusions;
• recognize the contributions of their co-authors;
• have reasonable confidence in the integrity of the research;
• cooperate with requests for research data, ethical documentation, corrections, or clarification; and
• assist in resolving concerns about research accuracy or scientific misconduct.

In environmental sanitation and health research, these responsibilities include accurate reporting of environmental sampling, laboratory testing, field observations, sanitation assessments, exposure measurements, and statistical analyses.

Authors must ensure that data collection, laboratory procedures, analytical methods, and interpretation are scientifically appropriate and transparently reported.

Fabrication, falsification, selective reporting, misrepresentation of environmental measurements, and unauthorized disclosure of confidential information are prohibited.

4. Author Contribution Statement

Jurnal Sanitasi Lingkungan requires an Author Contribution Statement describing each author's contribution to the manuscript.

Authors are encouraged to use the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT), where applicable. Recognized roles include:

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

An author may perform multiple roles, and each role may be assigned to more than one author.

For environmental sanitation and health studies, contributions may include environmental sampling, laboratory analysis, sanitation inspections, environmental monitoring, risk assessment, epidemiological investigation, statistical analysis, and development of environmental health interventions.

All authors must review and approve the contribution statement before submission.

Assignment of CRediT roles does not automatically establish authorship eligibility. Every listed author must satisfy the journal's authorship criteria.

5. Non-Author Contributors and Acknowledgements

Individuals who contribute to the research but do not meet all authorship criteria should be acknowledged appropriately.

Such contributions may include:

• routine environmental sampling or data collection;
• laboratory or field technical assistance;
• provision of laboratory equipment and research facilities;
• administrative and logistical support;
• language editing, proofreading, or translation;
• manuscript formatting and illustration preparation;
• assistance in accessing research locations or environmental monitoring sites;
• general supervision; and
• funding acquisition without substantial intellectual involvement.

Contributions should be clearly described, and permission must be obtained before identifying individuals by name.

Research participants, laboratory technicians, environmental health officers, community representatives, and institutional collaborators do not automatically qualify for authorship unless they meet the required criteria.

Acknowledgements must respect confidentiality and applicable ethical requirements.

6. Unacceptable Authorship Practices

Jurnal Sanitasi Lingkungan prohibits authorship manipulation, including:

Honorary or Gift Authorship

Listing individuals based on academic position, reputation, institutional authority, personal relationships, or reciprocal arrangements without qualifying intellectual contributions.

Guest Authorship

Including prominent individuals primarily to increase the manuscript's perceived credibility or likelihood of acceptance.

Coercive Authorship

Using academic, supervisory, employment, financial, or institutional authority to demand authorship without a qualifying scholarly contribution.

Ghost Authorship

Omitting individuals who meet authorship criteria or concealing substantial intellectual or writing contributions.

Purchased or Sold Authorship

Buying, selling, exchanging, transferring, or commercially trading authorship positions.

Fictitious or Fraudulent Authorship

Using fabricated identities, impersonating researchers, or listing individuals without authorization.

Authorship Without Consent

Including individuals as authors without their knowledge, approval of the manuscript, or agreement to accept authorship responsibilities.

Suspected authorship misconduct may result in suspension of editorial processing, rejection, correction, retraction, or notification of relevant institutions following appropriate investigation.

7. Author Order

Authors are collectively responsible for determining the order of authorship.

Jurnal Sanitasi Lingkungan does not determine author order or automatically interpret authorship position as indicating a particular level of contribution.

All authors must agree on authorship order before initial submission, considering their intellectual contributions and relevant academic conventions.

Equal-contribution statements may be included when accurately documented and approved by all authors.

8. Corresponding Author

The Corresponding Author serves as the primary contact between the author group and Jurnal Sanitasi Lingkungan throughout manuscript submission, peer review, publication, and post-publication communication.

The Corresponding Author is responsible for:

• verifying that all listed authors meet authorship criteria;
• ensuring that eligible contributors are not omitted;
• obtaining agreement on authorship order;
• ensuring accurate author names, affiliations, ORCID identifiers, and contact information;
• confirming approval of the manuscript by all authors;
• coordinating author contribution, funding, and conflict-of-interest statements;
• communicating editorial decisions and revision requests;
• ensuring compliance with research ethics and relevant environmental regulations;
• coordinating access to appropriate supporting research documentation; and
• responding to legitimate questions concerning published research.

Requests involving confidential environmental monitoring data, sensitive institutional information, or protected participant records must comply with applicable ethical, legal, and data protection requirements.

The Corresponding Author's responsibilities do not diminish the accountability of other authors.

9. Use of Artificial Intelligence and Authorship

Generative artificial intelligence systems and AI-assisted tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors in Jurnal Sanitasi Lingkungan.

AI systems cannot meet authorship requirements because they cannot approve manuscripts, accept accountability, declare conflicts of interest, or independently address research integrity concerns.

Human authors remain fully responsible for AI-assisted content, including writing, editing, translation, data processing, statistical analysis, and interpretation.

Substantive AI use must be transparently disclosed, identifying the tools used and their specific purposes.

When AI-assisted methods are incorporated into environmental monitoring, pollution assessment, laboratory data interpretation, environmental modeling, or health risk analysis, authors must provide sufficient methodological information to support scientific evaluation and reproducibility.

Authors must verify AI-generated outputs and ensure that AI use does not compromise research accuracy, data confidentiality, or scientific integrity.

10. Finalization of the Author List

The complete author list must be finalized before initial submission and remain consistent with the manuscript and submission metadata.

All authors must agree on:

• inclusion and order of authorship;
• designation of the Corresponding Author;
• institutional affiliations;
• the Author Contribution Statement;
• funding and conflict-of-interest declarations; and
• the final manuscript submitted for editorial consideration.

Affiliations must accurately represent institutional relationships. Authors must not misrepresent institutional support or claim unauthorized affiliations.

Jurnal Sanitasi Lingkungan may request ORCID identifiers, contribution records, authorship declarations, or other documentation to verify authorship.

11. Changes to Authorship Before Acceptance

Requests to add, remove, replace, or reorder authors after submission will be considered only when supported by legitimate and clearly documented reasons.

The Corresponding Author must provide:

1. A description of the proposed change;
2. A clear justification;
3. An updated Author Contribution Statement; and
4. Written agreement from all existing authors and individuals being added or removed.

New authors must confirm their eligibility, approve the manuscript, and accept authorship responsibilities.

When agreement cannot be obtained, the matter will be addressed through the journal's authorship dispute procedures.

Editorial processing may be suspended while the request is evaluated. Final approval rests with the Editor.

12. Changes to Authorship After Acceptance

Following manuscript acceptance, authorship changes will be considered only under exceptional circumstances.

Authors must provide the documentation required for pre-acceptance changes and explain why the issue was not resolved earlier.

Publication may be suspended during evaluation.

The journal may decline or defer requests involving inadequate justification, inconsistent contribution records, unresolved disputes, coercion, or suspected authorship manipulation.

13. Changes to Authorship After Publication

Authorship information in published articles will not be changed without transparent editorial documentation.

When an authorship change is justified and approved, Jurnal Sanitasi Lingkungan will normally publish a formal Correction linked to the original article and update the relevant publication metadata.

Supporting documentation may include written agreement, revised contribution statements, institutional verification, and explanations of the original authorship error.

An authorship dispute alone does not automatically justify retraction. Editorial action will depend on the available evidence and its implications for publication integrity.

14. Authorship Disputes

Jurnal Sanitasi Lingkungan does not normally adjudicate unresolved disputes concerning authorship eligibility or author order.

The journal may:

• request documented resolution among the authors;
• suspend editorial processing or publication;
• request evidence of individual scholarly contributions;
• refer unresolved concerns to relevant institutions or research integrity bodies; and
• take appropriate editorial action when misconduct is established.

Decisions will be guided by documented evidence, applicable publication ethics principles, and institutional findings where appropriate.

All parties must be treated fairly, with reasonable opportunities to respond and appropriate protection of confidential information.

15. Submissions from Editors and Editorial Board Members

Editors and Editorial Board members submitting manuscripts to Jurnal Sanitasi Lingkungan must comply with the same authorship, scientific, and ethical requirements as all other authors.

Editors who are authors of submitted manuscripts must not participate in the editorial assessment, reviewer selection, peer review discussions, or publication decisions concerning their own work.

Such manuscripts must be handled by another qualified editor without a relevant conflict of interest.

Editorial membership does not provide preferential treatment or guarantee manuscript acceptance.

16. Policy Review

Jurnal Sanitasi Lingkungan may periodically review and update this policy in response to developments in scholarly publishing, publication ethics, contributor attribution standards, and research integrity practices.

This policy supports fair authorship attribution, transparent scholarly contributions, accountability, and scientific integrity across original research, methodological studies, theoretical contributions, and review articles in environmental sanitation, environmental health, and related public health disciplines.