Generative Artificial Intelligence and AI-Assisted Technologies Policy

The journal recognizes that generative artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies can support scholarly work, but their use must preserve human accountability, originality, confidentiality, accuracy, intellectual property, research integrity, and transparent reporting. This policy applies to authors, reviewers, and Editors.

1. Human Responsibility

AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors. Authorship requires human accountability, approval of the final manuscript, responsibility for integrity, and the ability to respond to questions about the work. Human authors remain fully responsible for every claim, citation, analysis, image, table, code fragment, result, and conclusion submitted to the journal, including material prepared with AI assistance.

2. Permitted Support in Manuscript Preparation

Authors may use AI tools as support for tasks such as language improvement, translation, organization, brainstorming, literature exploration, or drafting assistance, provided that the authors critically review and substantially control the final work. AI output must not replace scholarly judgment, domain expertise, source verification, or original analysis.

3. Required Disclosure

Substantive use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools in manuscript preparation must be disclosed in a separate declaration. The declaration should identify the tool or service, its purpose, and the way the authors reviewed, verified, and edited the output. Routine spelling, grammar, or punctuation checks that do not materially rewrite or generate scholarly content do not require a declaration. When a tool makes substantive changes to wording, organization, interpretation, analysis, code, or content, disclosure is required.

Suggested declaration: During the preparation of this work, the author(s) used [NAME OF TOOL/SERVICE, VERSION IF KNOWN] for [PURPOSE]. The author(s) reviewed and edited the resulting material, verified its accuracy and sources, and take full responsibility for the content of the manuscript.

4. AI Used as Part of the Research Method

When AI is part of the research design, data analysis, modeling, classification, image processing, coding, prediction, simulation, or another scientific method, its use must be described in the Methods section in enough detail to permit evaluation and reproducibility. Where applicable, report the model/tool name, version, developer/provider, prompts or settings necessary to understand the procedure, training or fine-tuning information, validation method, and human oversight.

5. Accuracy, Sources, and Fabrication

Authors must independently verify AI-assisted content. AI-generated references, quotations, facts, statistical outputs, code, and summaries can be inaccurate or fabricated. Fabricated citations, invented data, falsified results, synthetic quotations presented as real, or unsupported claims are prohibited. Authors must consult and cite the original sources rather than relying on an AI-generated representation of a source.

6. Privacy, Confidentiality, and Intellectual Property

Authors must review the terms and privacy practices of any AI service before uploading unpublished content, confidential information, personal data, proprietary code, copyrighted material, peer-review correspondence, or sensitive datasets. Material must not be supplied to a tool when doing so would breach confidentiality, informed consent, privacy, contractual obligations, intellectual property rights, or applicable law.

7. Images, Figures, and Visual Material

AI must not be used to fabricate primary research images, measurements, experimental observations, or other evidence that was not actually obtained in the research.
AI-assisted manipulation must not add, remove, obscure, or alter features in a way that changes the scientific meaning of research images.
Data visualizations must be derived from underlying data by documented and reproducible analytical or computational procedures. AI must not invent values or results.
AI-assisted explanatory diagrams or schematic illustrations may be considered when scientifically accurate, legally reusable, and transparently disclosed in the figure caption and AI declaration.
Authors may be asked to provide original images, source files, datasets, prompts, code, or processing documentation when necessary to assess integrity.

8. Translation and Language Assistance

AI-assisted translation may be used as a support tool, but authors must verify scientific meaning, terminology, citations, numerical values, and claims. Substantive AI-assisted translation should be disclosed when it materially generates or transforms the manuscript text.

9. Reviewers

Peer-review manuscripts are confidential. Reviewers must not upload a submitted manuscript, supplementary file, author information, or review correspondence into public AI tools or any service that may retain, share, reuse, or train on the material. An AI tool cannot replace the reviewer's independent scientific judgment. If the journal explicitly authorizes a private AI service for a limited supportive purpose, confidentiality must be protected, the reviewer remains fully responsible, and substantive AI use must be disclosed to the Editor.

10. Editors

Editors are bound by the same confidentiality principles. They must not upload submitted manuscripts or confidential reviewer information to public generative AI systems. AI may not make or determine an editorial decision. The scientific assessment, interpretation of reviewer evidence, handling of conflicts, and final acceptance or rejection decision must remain under human editorial responsibility.

11. Breaches of the AI Policy

Undisclosed or inappropriate AI use is assessed according to its effect on confidentiality, originality, provenance, evidence, authorship, intellectual property, and reliability. The journal may request clarification or underlying materials, require correction, reject a manuscript, issue a post-publication notice, or retract an article when the breach results in loss of confidence in the work.

Generative Artificial Intelligence and AI-Assisted Technologies Policy