Generative AI Guidance for Authors and Reviewers

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Guidance for Authors

These guidelines are designed to help you use AI (Artificial Intelligence) tools responsibly while ensuring that your work meets academic, ethical, and professional standards. As an author, you are always responsible for the originality, accuracy, and integrity of your work. Any use of Generative AI (GenAI) and/or AI-assisted technologies should be acknowledged explicitly and documented appropriately in a Disclosure section of the manuscript.

What is Generative AI (GenAI)?

Generative AI (GenAI) refers to tools that can create or produce content, such as text, images, or data, based on input you give them. Examples of GenAI include language tools like ChatGPT (which can write or suggest text) or tools that generate images like DALL-E. It's important to be careful with how you use these tools to make sure the work stays original and reflects your own ideas and research.

 

When You Can Use AI Tools (With Permission and Citation)

What You’re Doing

When It’s Okay to Use AI (with Permission and Citation)

When It’s Not Okay to Use AI

Proofreading and Editing

AI can help with checking spelling, grammar, or suggesting improvements in writing style. For example, using tools like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor.

AI cannot be used to rewrite important sections of your manuscript, such as the introduction or argument. The core academic work should be your own.

Organizing References and Citations

You can use AI tools for organizing references, creating citations, or formatting your bibliography (e.g., Zotero, EndNote).

AI should not be used to decide which sources to include or to assess the quality of references. You are responsible for ensuring your references are relevant and accurate.

Generating Ideas and Inspiration

AI can help you brainstorm ideas or give prompts to start a paragraph or section (e.g., ChatGPT, Jasper).

Remember to disclose: If you use AI for ideas or prompts, make sure to explain which tool you used and how you used it.

AI should not be used to create the main ideas, arguments, or analysis in your manuscript. Those should be based on your own research and thinking.

Creating Visuals and Graphics

AI can help you create visuals like charts, diagrams, or illustrations if they are supplementary to your work (e.g., Canva, DALL-E).

Remember to disclose: Clearly state if AI was used to generate visuals, and describe what it contributed.

AI cannot be used to generate or interpret data or research findings. Visuals should not replace the essential work of the research or analysis you have done.

Data Collection and Analysis

AI tools can help you with organizing or automating basic tasks in data collection or sorting through large amounts of data (e.g., AI data mining tools).

Remember to disclose: You must explain how the AI helped you collect or analyze data.

AI cannot interpret your research findings or replace your role in analyzing or making sense of the data. You are responsible for making conclusions from your research.

Writing the Content

Not Allowed: AI cannot be used to write substantial parts of your manuscript, such as the introduction, research argument, or conclusions.

Do not use AI to write or generate important sections of your academic manuscript. You must provide the core content, analysis, and ideas.

 

General Guidelines for Using AI Tools

  1. Be Transparent: Always tell readers what AI tools you used and how they helped you. If you used an AI tool for generating ideas, creating visuals, or anything else, it must be clearly stated in the Disclosure section of your manuscript.
  2. Disclosure Section: When you use AI tools, you need to explain:
    • Which AI tools you used (e.g., ChatGPT, DALL-E).
    • What you used them for (e.g., "AI helped with organizing references" or "AI provided writing suggestions").
    • Make it clear that AI did not create the core content or research in your manuscript.
  3. Academic Integrity: AI tools cannot replace your responsibility to produce original academic content. If you use an AI tool, make sure that the main arguments, research, and conclusions come from your own work and are not generated by AI.
  4. AI and Authorship: AI cannot be listed as an author on your manuscript. AI tools do not have the ability to take responsibility for the content or its academic rigor. Only humans who contributed directly to the manuscript’s intellectual work can be listed as authors.
  5. Ethical Use of AI: Make sure that you use AI tools ethically. This means not using AI to create fake or misleading content, plagiarize, or misrepresent data. AI should only assist you with tasks that enhance the research or manuscript development process, not replace your own intellectual contributions.

Author Responsibility

You, as the author, are responsible for ensuring that all work submitted is original, accurate, and free from ethical issues. This means you must:

  • Be transparent about how AI was used in the creation of your manuscript.
  • Make sure the AI did not generate the core academic work (e.g., arguments, research, analysis).
  • Follow these guidelines to ensure your work meets the highest standards of academic integrity.

For More Information: You may refer to the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines for more details on the use of AI tools in research publications.

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Guidance for Reviewers

While Gen AI has potential benefits, TLI’s expectation is that reviewers will offer their own (human) feedback on manuscripts and protect the intellectual property of authors by not uploading manuscripts into AI tools. We value the perspectives and experiences our reviewers bring to the peer review process.