Dr. A is an independent researcher. Dr. B and Dr. C are the editors in chief of different journals. Dr. B negotiates with Dr. C that they will accept each other’s research papers by reviewing with their own known reviewers. But the policy of the journal does not match with activities of Dr. B and Dr. C. According to the policy of the journal, none of the editors should communicate beforehand and discuss regarding the research article submission to their corresponding responsible journal. And reviewers should be unknown.Now, Dr. B is asking Dr. A to write a research article and put their name together in the article and give it to him (Dr. B) and he (Dr. B) will manage the paper to be accepted by his own network (maybe through Dr. C). It is noted that Dr. B’s does not have the technical contribution in the research article (the article is written by Dr. A) rather he has connections with the different editor in chief of different journals. The condition of this kind of collaboration (Proposed by Dr. B) is that the reward (money) for this research article will be divided by 50% between Dr. A and Dr. B. The questions are as follows:Is this income Halal for Dr. A?Is this income Halal for Dr. B?

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

This is a complex subject, and we cannot give an authoritative ruling without having a comprehensive conception of it.

Nonetheless, we can say in general that it is not permissible for a researcher to attribute to himself a research or an article that he did not write himself, because this is fraud and forgery, and bragging about something which is not yours; indeed all this is Islamically forbidden. The money that he takes in return for this is also not permissible for him.

Ibn Al-'Uthaymeen said: “Any forbidden item and forbidden benefit, its compensation has been forbidden by the rule established by the Prophet : ‘When Allah forbids something, He forbids its price.’” [End of quote]

The same thing applies to tricking publishing systems; it is forbidden, and what is taken based on it is prohibited.

As for the writer of an article, it is not permissible for him to attribute his article to others or to state that they contributed in writing the article while it is not the case, because this is helping in cheating, and whatever the researcher takes in return for attributing the article to others or in return for treachery on publishing systems is forbidden.

But if the research really deserves a reward without any treachery on the publishing systems, then the reward is permissible for the writer of the article. Including others and attributing the article to them does not appear to make the reward forbidden for the author who authored the article.

Allah knows best.