Scientific Works «Adult Education: Theory, Experience, Prospects» follows the principles of responsible authorship, transparency of scholarly contribution, academic integrity, and personal responsibility for the content of published materials.

This Policy has been developed with due regard to the recommendations of COPE, WAME, and international approaches to the transparent definition of authorship and author contributions in scholarly publications. The journal supports a clear distinction between authorship, contribution, responsibility for the manuscript content, and honest declaration of author roles.

This Policy defines the journal’s approach to:

• authorship;
• description of each author’s contribution;
• prevention of improper authorship practices;
• changes in the list of authors;
• use of the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy).

1. General Principles

1.1. Authorship must reflect a real, substantial, and intellectual contribution made by a person to the preparation of a scholarly publication.

1.2. Each author bears public responsibility for the part of the work to which they directly contributed and shares responsibility for the integrity of the publication as a whole.

1.3. All persons listed as authors must:

• approve the final version of the manuscript;
• agree to its submission to the journal;
• agree on the order of authors;
• agree on the description of their contribution.

1.4. Persons who do not meet the criteria for authorship but have provided organisational, technical, advisory, language, financial, or other support must not be listed as authors. If necessary, their support may be mentioned in the Acknowledgements section.

2. Criteria for Authorship

2.1. An author is a person who has made a substantial contribution to one or more key parts of the research or manuscript preparation, including:

• development of the concept or idea of the study;
• development of the methodology;
• collection, preparation, organisation, or verification of materials / data;
• analysis and interpretation of results;
• writing the first draft of the manuscript;
• substantial scholarly revision and improvement of the text;
• preparation of the final version for submission.

2.2. The following actions alone are not enough for authorship:

• general administrative supervision;
• formal headship of a department or unit;
• technical assistance without intellectual contribution;
• language editing;
• financial support;
• formal consultation without real participation in the research.

3. Improper Authorship Practices

3.1. The journal does not allow the following practices:

• gift authorship - including as an author a person who has not made a proper scholarly contribution;
• ghost authorship - not including as an author a person who has in fact made a substantial contribution;
• forced authorship - adding a person as an author because of administrative, status, or other pressure;
• manipulation of the order of authors without agreement among all co-authors.

3.2. If the editorial office finds signs of improper authorship, it may ask for explanations, clarification of contributions, written confirmation from all authors, and, if necessary, reject the manuscript or begin a post-publication review.

4. CRediT Taxonomy

4.1. To ensure transparency of author contributions, the journal uses the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) or another compatible standard for describing contributions.

4.2. The CRediT taxonomy is used to clarify the role of each author, but it does not replace the criteria for authorship.

4.3. The following roles may be used within this taxonomy:

• conceptualisation;
• methodology;
• software;
• validation;
• formal analysis;
• investigation;
• resources;
• data curation;
• writing – original draft;
• writing – review and editing;
• visualisation;
• supervision;
• project administration;
• funding acquisition.

4.4. In humanities, education, and social science papers, not all roles may be used. One author may perform several roles, and one role may be shared by several authors.

4.5. The Editorial Board does not limit authors only to the standard CRediT roles and, where necessary, allows additional textual clarification of each author’s contribution if this is justified by the specific nature of the study.

5. Submission of Author Contribution Information

5.1. When submitting a manuscript, authors must provide clear information on the contribution of each author.

5.2. Information on author contributions must be given:

• in the manuscript in a separate section “Author Contributions”;
• if necessary, in an additional author declaration or supporting documents.

5.3. The description of contributions must be specific, accurate, and agreed by all co-authors.

6. Responsibility of the Corresponding Author

6.1. The corresponding author confirms that:

• all listed persons truly meet the criteria for authorship;
• no person who has the right to authorship has been left out;
• all co-authors have seen the final version of the article;
• all co-authors have agreed to the submission of the manuscript to the journal;
• the information about author contributions is accurate and agreed.

7. Changes in the List of Authors

7.1. Any changes in the list of authors, the order of authors, or the description of contributions after submission are allowed only if there is:

• a written explanation;
• written agreement from all authors, including those to be added or removed.

7.2. After acceptance of the article for publication, changes in authorship are allowed only in exceptional cases and after separate editorial consideration.

7.3. After publication, such changes are considered under the journal’s post-publication changes policy.

8. Editorial Control and Response

8.1. The editorial office has the right to check the validity of declared authorship and contributions.

8.2. If there are doubts about the correctness of authorship or the description of contributions, the editorial office may:

• ask the authors for clarification;
• require written confirmation from all co-authors;
• suspend consideration of the manuscript;
• reject the manuscript;
• begin an ethical review or post-publication action.

9. Relation to Other Journal Policies

9.1. This Policy is applied together with other editorial policies of the journal.

10. Final Provisions

10.1. Submission of a manuscript to the journal means the authors agree with this Policy.

10.2. The editorial office may update this Policy in line with the development of international standards of scholarly publishing and the editorial practice of the journal.

10.3. This Policy takes effect from 2026 and applies to new manuscripts submitted to the journal after the date of its approval. Its provisions apply to previously published materials only in cases that require editorial or ethical review.