Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use Policy
Generative AI tools may assist with limited, disclosed tasks. They may not be listed as an author, and they may not be used to generate the substantive content, data or conclusions of a submission.
AI cannot be an author
Authorship carries accountability — for the accuracy and integrity of the work, for responding to queries, and for approving the final version. An AI tool cannot hold that accountability, so it cannot be listed as an author or co-author under any circumstances.
For authors
- Permitted, with disclosure: language polishing, grammar and spelling correction, translation assistance, and formatting help. Disclose the tool and what it was used for in the Acknowledgements or a "Declaration of AI use" statement.
- Permitted, with disclosure and full description: AI or machine-learning methods used as part of the research itself (for example a model used for classification or prediction). These belong in the Methods section, described in enough detail to be reproduced — this is research methodology, not writing assistance.
- Not permitted: using generative AI to produce research data, results, images or figures presented as experimental output; to write substantial sections of text presented as the authors' own scholarly work; or to generate references.
- Authors remain fully responsible for everything in the manuscript, regardless of what tools were used. Fabricated citations or fabricated content are the authors' responsibility and are treated as misconduct.
For reviewers
Reviewers must not upload a manuscript, or any part of it, into a public generative AI or language-model tool. Manuscripts are confidential, and uploading one to a third-party service is a breach of that confidence. The intellectual judgement in a review must be the reviewer's own; AI may be used only for checking the language of the reviewer's own written report.
For editors
Editors are likewise prohibited from uploading manuscripts into public AI tools, and may not delegate editorial judgement to an AI system. Decisions on manuscripts are taken by people.