In the context of Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk, individuals deemed as authors must fulfil all of the following criteria:

1. Substantial contributions: Authors must have made significant contributions to various aspects of the work, including the conception or design, acquisition and analysis of data, interpretation of data, as well as drawing conclusions and formulating recommendations.
2. Drafting and revision: Authors are required to either draft the work or critically revise it for important intellectual content.
3. Approval of the published version: Authors must approve the final version of the manuscript before it is submitted for publication.
4. Accountability: Authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work, taking responsibility for investigating and resolving questions related to the accuracy of any part of the work. All authors bear full responsibility for the originality, validity, and integrity of the manuscript's content, ensuring compliance with research and publishing ethics, as well as the guidelines and policies of Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk.

The determination of authorship and the sequence of author names in the published article should be established by mutual agreement among authors prior to submission. Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk will not mediate disputes regarding authorship among authors.

Authors must designate a corresponding author, who, despite not necessarily being the first author, assumes responsibilities such as:

1. Corresponding with Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk.
2. Ensuring unanimous agreement among all authors on the manuscript's content.
3. Submitting the manuscript.
4. Submitting the Submissions Details Form of the Journal.
5. Adhering to requests and timelines set by the Journal for revisions and resubmissions.
6. Submitting the Publishing Agreement of the Journal.
7. Facilitating settlement of Article Processing Charges, as agreed upon by authors before the initial manuscript submission.

The role and contribution to the production of the article at intellectual, practical, and conceptual levels must be disclosed in the Submission Details Form submitted to the Journal along with the manuscript. It must be specified whether the author(s) conceptualised the study, conducted fieldwork, interpreted findings, supervised the study, wrote or revised the draft article, approved the final version of the manuscript, or had any other relevant roles and contributions. The Editorial Office will include this information in the article during the proofing stage.

In cases where AI tools or large language models are employed in the study's conception, design, data collection, analyses, or revision, their usage must be declared and detailed in the methodology section or acknowledgments of the manuscript. AI tools used for language and technical editing, akin to human language and technical editors, need not be acknowledged.

All authors are required to sign the Journal's Publishing Agreement before publication, in the predetermined order of their names.