JOURNAL POLICY ON THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS

1. Accountability and Authorship

  • Human Accountability Only: Authors bear full responsibility for the content, accuracy, originality, and ethical compliance of the manuscript, including any material generated or refined with AI assistance.
  • Authorship: AI tools (Large Language Models, generative software, etc.) cannot be listed as authors or co-authors. Authorship is restricted to humans who can assume accountability for the work, approve the final version, and comply with all publication ethical standards.

2. Permitted Use of AI (Supportive Purposes)

The use of AI tools is permitted strictly as an aid to enhance the quality of the manuscript, but not to replace core intellectual work:

  • Language and Style Improvement: For grammar correction, stylistic refinement, translation, and enhancing the readability of the text.
  • Analysis and Systematization: For searching and systematizing literature, or data analysis (where declared as part of the methodology).
  • Formatting: For creating or formatting tables, graphs, and charts, provided the data and interpretations originate from the authors' work.

3. Substantive Limitations and Prohibitions

  • Prohibition on Core Content Generation: AI tools must not be used to generate the main intellectual components of the manuscript, such as: formulating scientific hypotheses, conclusions, original results, data interpretation, or writing key sections (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion/Conclusions) without significant human revision and verification.
  • Prohibition on Data/Image Generation: It is strictly prohibited to use AI to fabricate, simulate, or generate research data, statistical metrics, or to create or manipulate images or figures that are not an integral part of the research, as detailed in the methodology.

4. Disclosure Requirements (Transparency)

  • Mandatory Declaration: Authors are obliged to clearly disclose the use of any AI tools in the manuscript preparation process.
  • Detailing the Disclosure: The disclosure must include:
  • The name of the tool and its version (e.g., ChatGPT-4, Grammarly Premium, AlphaFold 2).
  • The specific purpose of use (e.g., "text editing to improve grammar and style," "literature classification").
  • Section for Disclosure: It is recommended to include this statement in the "Methods" section (if AI was used as part of the research) or the "Acknowledgements" section (if used for language/style editing).

5. Ethical and Legal Considerations

  • Verification of Accuracy and Bias: Authors must rigorously check any AI-generated content for factual errors ("hallucinations"), inaccuracies, plagiarism, and potential bias.
  • Confidentiality: Authors should not upload confidential, unpublished, or personally identifiable data into AI tools, as this may violate intellectual property rights and confidentiality.