AI Usage Policy | Global Scholar Publications

🤖 AI Usage Policy

🎯 Purpose of the AI Usage Policy

The purpose of this AI Usage Policy is to provide clear and consistent guidance on the responsible use of artificial intelligence throughout research and scholarly publishing. Global Scholar Publications supports the appropriate use of AI as an assistance technology while requiring that human researchers and publishing professionals retain responsibility for all scholarly decisions and published content.

This policy aims to:

• 🤖 promote responsible and transparent use of artificial intelligence;
• 🔬 protect research integrity, originality, and scholarly quality;
• 👤 maintain human responsibility and accountability for published work;
• 🔐 protect confidential manuscripts, research data, reviewer information, and proprietary material;
• 📚 prevent fabricated references, data, results, images, software outputs, and scientific claims;
• ⚖️ protect intellectual property, copyright, licensing, and ethical standards;
• 👨‍⚖️ support independent peer review and editorial decision-making;
• 📢 establish appropriate expectations for disclosure of significant AI assistance;
• 🛡️ protect the reliability and integrity of the published scholarly record.

🌍 Scope of the AI Usage Policy

This policy applies to all journals, publication activities, and individuals involved in the scholarly publishing operations of Global Scholar Publications, including:

• authors and co-authors;
• corresponding authors;
• peer reviewers;
• editors and editorial board members;
• guest editors where applicable;
• editorial and publishing staff;
• other individuals participating in manuscript evaluation or publication activities.

The policy applies to AI technologies used before manuscript submission, during research and manuscript preparation, throughout peer review and editorial processing, and after publication where AI-assisted content or activity is relevant to the published scholarly record.

📚 Journal Portfolio Covered by This Policy

This AI Usage Policy applies across the journal portfolio published by Global Scholar Publications. Authors, reviewers, editors, and readers should follow this policy together with the journal-specific editorial and publication requirements applicable to their manuscript.

📘 Definition of Artificial Intelligence

For the purposes of this policy, artificial intelligence refers to computer systems capable of generating, analysing, transforming, summarising, interpreting, predicting, or assisting with text, images, computer code, data, audio, video, software, or other digital content through machine learning, large language models, generative AI, automated systems, or related technologies.

Examples may include AI-assisted writing systems, language editing applications, generative AI platforms, coding assistants, image-generation tools, automated translation services, data-analysis applications, research assistants, and other intelligent software used in research or publishing activities.

⚖️ Guiding Principles for Responsible AI Use

Artificial intelligence should support, rather than replace, responsible human scholarly judgement. The use of AI does not transfer responsibility for research, manuscript content, peer review, editorial decisions, or published conclusions from humans to an automated system.

Global Scholar Publications follows the following core principles:

• 👤 Human Accountability: Human authors, reviewers, and editors remain responsible for their work and decisions.
• 📢 Transparency: Significant AI assistance should be disclosed where relevant.
• 🔬 Research Integrity: AI must not be used to fabricate, falsify, manipulate, or misrepresent research.
• 📚 Originality: AI-assisted content must comply with originality, plagiarism, and attribution requirements.
• 🔐 Confidentiality: Unpublished and confidential information must be appropriately protected.
• ©️ Intellectual Property: Copyright, licensing, attribution, and proprietary rights must be respected.
• 🔍 Verification: AI-generated information must be critically reviewed and independently verified.
• ⚖️ Ethical Compliance: AI use must comply with applicable ethical, legal, institutional, and publication requirements.

✅ Acceptable Uses of Artificial Intelligence by Authors

Global Scholar Publications recognizes that AI may provide legitimate assistance during research and manuscript preparation. Authors may use AI tools for appropriate supporting activities when they maintain meaningful human supervision and verify the resulting content.

Examples of acceptable AI-assisted activities may include:

• ✏️ improving grammar, spelling, punctuation, and language clarity;
• 📝 improving readability and sentence structure;
• 📄 assisting with manuscript formatting and organization;
• 🌐 translating text while preserving the original scholarly meaning;
• 💻 supporting programming, coding, or software debugging;
• 📊 assisting with data visualization under appropriate human supervision;
• 🗂️ generating outlines or organizational suggestions;
• 🔎 assisting with literature exploration or searching where information is independently verified;
• 🧮 supporting statistical programming or computational workflows under human validation;
• 🧠 assisting with brainstorming or research organization without replacing independent scholarly reasoning.

Authors remain responsible for carefully reviewing, correcting, and verifying all AI-assisted content before submission.

👨‍🔬 Human Responsibility for AI-Assisted Content

Artificial intelligence cannot assume responsibility for a scholarly publication. Every listed author remains responsible for the content and integrity of the manuscript regardless of whether AI tools were used during its preparation.

Authors are responsible for:

• the originality of the manuscript;
• the accuracy of factual and technical statements;
• the validity of scientific conclusions;
• proper citation and attribution;
• the authenticity of data, figures, images, software, and research outputs;
• ethical approval and regulatory compliance where applicable;
• the accuracy of AI-assisted calculations and analyses;
• the final version submitted for publication.

AI systems may produce inaccurate information, fabricated references, unsupported conclusions, misleading technical explanations, or other unreliable output. Authors must therefore apply independent scholarly judgement to every AI-assisted contribution.

📝 AI Assistance Does Not Replace Scholarly Contribution

AI may assist with technical or editorial tasks, but it cannot replace genuine scholarly contribution. Research questions, research design, methodology, experimentation, data interpretation, scientific reasoning, technical analysis, and conclusions should represent the intellectual contribution of the human authors.

Authors must not use AI to fabricate research findings, generate false experimental results, invent data, create unsupported conclusions, or otherwise misrepresent work that was not actually performed.

📢 Transparency and Disclosure of AI Use

Where AI tools have made a substantial contribution to manuscript preparation, research analysis, coding, image generation, data processing, or another material part of the scholarly work, authors should disclose the nature of the assistance in the manuscript or during submission where appropriate.

A disclosure may identify:

• the general purpose for which AI was used;
• the stage of research or manuscript preparation in which it was used;
• the type of assistance provided;
• the relevant AI system or software where appropriate;
• the extent of human review and verification.

Routine spelling, grammar, punctuation, or basic language correction using standard editing software generally does not require detailed disclosure unless otherwise required by a specific journal or editorial process.

🚫 Unacceptable Uses of Artificial Intelligence

Global Scholar Publications does not permit the use of artificial intelligence in ways that compromise research integrity, originality, confidentiality, publication ethics, intellectual property, or scholarly accountability.

Examples of unacceptable AI use include:

• fabricating, falsifying, or manipulating research data;
• generating false experimental results or scientific findings;
• creating misleading statistical analyses or calculations;
• inventing references, citations, datasets, or source material;
• presenting AI-generated material as independently performed human research when it is not;
• using AI to conceal plagiarism or duplicate publication;
• submitting substantially AI-generated scholarly work without appropriate human review;
• using AI to bypass peer review, ethical requirements, or editorial standards;
• generating false evidence, images, figures, or research documentation;
• using AI to misrepresent authorship, contribution, qualifications, or research activities.

📄 Artificial Intelligence and Originality

The originality of published research must reflect the intellectual contribution of the human authors. AI tools may assist with drafting, editing, summarising, or language refinement, but authors remain responsible for ensuring that the manuscript contains genuine scholarly contribution and does not improperly reproduce existing work.

Authors should ensure that AI-assisted content:

• accurately represents the research actually performed;
• contains original scholarly interpretation;
• does not reproduce copyrighted material without appropriate authorization;
• does not unintentionally duplicate previously published material;
• does not misappropriate another researcher's ideas or intellectual contribution;
• reflects the authors' own scientific or scholarly conclusions.

📚 Artificial Intelligence and Plagiarism

The use of artificial intelligence does not exempt authors from compliance with applicable plagiarism and originality requirements. AI-generated text may unintentionally reproduce published material, closely paraphrase existing sources, or generate statements without appropriate attribution.

Authors must carefully verify that AI-assisted content:

• does not reproduce published material without attribution;
• contains appropriate and accurate citations;
• does not present another author's ideas as original;
• complies with the originality requirements of the relevant journal.

Responsibility for plagiarism remains with the human authors regardless of the technology used during manuscript preparation.

🖼️ AI-Generated Figures, Images and Visual Content

AI technologies may assist in preparing diagrams, graphical abstracts, illustrations, or other visual material where appropriate. However, AI-generated or AI-assisted visual content must not misrepresent research findings or create false scientific evidence.

Authors should ensure that:

• generated images accurately represent their intended purpose;
• image manipulation does not alter or misrepresent scientific findings;
• AI-generated visual material is identified or disclosed where necessary;
• copyright and licensing requirements are respected;
• all figures and visual content are carefully reviewed before submission.

💻 AI-Assisted Programming, Software and Code

AI tools may assist authors in programming, software development, debugging, code generation, or computational workflows. Authors remain fully responsible for the correctness, security, functionality, reproducibility, licensing, and originality of all code included in or supporting a manuscript.

AI-generated code should be reviewed and tested thoroughly because automated systems may introduce logical errors, security vulnerabilities, unsupported functions, licensing concerns, or inaccurate implementations.

📖 AI-Generated References and Citations

AI systems may generate inaccurate, incomplete, fabricated, or non-existent references. Authors must independently verify every reference before manuscript submission.

Authors should confirm that:

• every cited publication actually exists;
• author names and publication details are accurate;
• journal titles, volume, issue, page, and publication-year information are correct where applicable;
• DOIs and other identifiers are accurate where applicable;
• references genuinely support the statements for which they are cited.

Submission of fabricated or misleading references may result in editorial action.

👥 Artificial Intelligence Cannot Be Listed as an Author

Artificial intelligence systems cannot satisfy human authorship requirements because they cannot accept responsibility for the integrity, originality, ethical compliance, or scientific validity of published research.

AI systems cannot:

• approve a manuscript for publication;
• accept responsibility for published work;
• respond independently to reviewer comments;
• declare conflicts of interest;
• provide informed consent;
• accept ethical or legal accountability for a publication.

Accordingly, AI systems must not be listed as authors or co-authors of manuscripts submitted to journals published by Global Scholar Publications.

🔐 Protection of Confidential Information

Authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial staff must exercise caution before entering unpublished or confidential material into external AI systems. Confidential information should not be submitted to an AI service unless the individual is satisfied that the use complies with applicable institutional policies, contractual obligations, privacy requirements, and the service provider's relevant security and data-handling terms.

Confidential material may include:

• unpublished manuscripts and supplementary files;
• peer review reports;
• author and reviewer information;
• unpublished research data;
• proprietary software and source code;
• commercial research information;
• patent-related information;
• confidential industrial or institutional documentation;
• personal or participant information.

👨‍⚖️ Use of Artificial Intelligence During Peer Review

Peer reviewers appointed by journals published by Global Scholar Publications must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and exercise independent scholarly judgement throughout the review process. Reviewers should not upload unpublished manuscripts, figures, datasets, reviewer comments, author information, source code, or confidential technical information into external AI systems that may retain, process, reuse, or disclose such material.

Artificial intelligence must not replace the reviewer's subject expertise, critical assessment, or professional responsibility. A peer review report must represent the reviewer's own scholarly evaluation.

Reviewers remain responsible for:

• assessing originality, methodology, accuracy, and scholarly significance;
• verifying the accuracy and relevance of reviewer comments;
• identifying potential ethical or research-integrity concerns;
• maintaining manuscript confidentiality;
• disclosing relevant conflicts of interest;
• providing an independent and constructive review.

🚫 Unacceptable AI Use by Reviewers

Reviewers must not use artificial intelligence in ways that compromise confidentiality, independent judgement, or the integrity of peer review.

Unacceptable practices include:

• uploading confidential manuscripts to public or external AI systems;
• submitting an AI-generated review without meaningful human evaluation;
• using AI to fabricate technical concerns, citations, or recommendations;
• allowing AI output alone to determine acceptance or rejection;
• sharing reviewer identities or confidential editorial correspondence with an AI service;
• using confidential manuscript information for personal research, commercial activity, or professional competition.

Suspected misuse of AI during peer review may result in cancellation of the review, removal of the reviewer, reassessment of the manuscript, or further action under applicable publication ethics procedures.

👨‍💼 Use of Artificial Intelligence by Editors and Editorial Staff

Editors and editorial staff may use appropriate and approved digital tools to support administrative, technical, or workflow-related activities. However, AI must not replace editorial independence, professional judgement, or responsibility for publication decisions.

Editors remain responsible for:

• initial manuscript screening;
• selection of appropriate peer reviewers;
• evaluation of reviewer reports;
• management of ethical concerns;
• communication with authors and reviewers;
• final editorial decisions concerning revision, acceptance, or rejection.

Editorial decisions must not be based solely on automated scoring, AI-generated summaries, predictive systems, or machine-generated recommendations.

🔒 Confidentiality Obligations for Editors

Editors and editorial staff should not enter confidential manuscript content into external AI systems unless the technology has been appropriately approved for secure editorial use and complies with applicable privacy, data-protection, contractual, institutional, and security requirements.

Confidential editorial information may include:

• submitted manuscripts and supplementary files;
• author identities and contact information;
• reviewer reports and reviewer identities;
• editorial decisions and internal correspondence;
• unpublished data, methods, algorithms, software, or technical designs;
• ethical complaints and investigation records.

🧠 AI Hallucinations and Factual Verification

Artificial intelligence systems may generate false, misleading, incomplete, outdated, or unsupported information. They may also produce fabricated references, incorrect equations, inaccurate technical explanations, or conclusions that are not supported by evidence.

Authors, reviewers, and editors should independently verify:

• technical claims and factual statements;
• mathematical equations and calculations;
• statistical outputs and interpretations;
• software functions and programming code;
• references, DOIs, and bibliographic information;
• legal, regulatory, or standards-related information;
• scientific and technical conclusions generated or suggested by AI.

AI output must not be treated as an authoritative source without appropriate independent verification.

📊 AI-Assisted Data Analysis and Reproducibility

When artificial intelligence plays a substantial role in data analysis, modelling, classification, prediction, simulation, or decision-support activities, authors should describe the relevant methods sufficiently to allow readers and reviewers to understand how the reported results were produced.

Where applicable, authors should document:

• the AI model, software, or computational tool used;
• the purpose of the AI-assisted analysis;
• input data and preprocessing procedures;
• validation and verification procedures;
• limitations, assumptions, and potential sources of bias;
• the extent of human oversight and interpretation.

Appropriate records should be retained where necessary to support reproducibility and respond to reasonable editorial questions.

⚖️ Bias, Fairness and Responsible Interpretation

AI systems may contain limitations or biases arising from training data, model architecture, software configuration, system design, or user instructions. Researchers should consider whether AI-assisted methods may introduce systematic bias, discrimination, technical distortion, or unreliable conclusions.

AI-generated predictions, classifications, or recommendations should not be presented as universally valid when the available data, model, validation procedures, or research design do not support such claims.

Relevant limitations should be reported transparently, particularly when AI-assisted research may affect engineering safety, healthcare, infrastructure, public systems, education, employment, environmental applications, or other socially significant areas.

🛡️ Security, Safety and High-Risk Applications

Authors should exercise appropriate caution when research involves AI systems connected with critical infrastructure, cybersecurity, autonomous systems, industrial control, surveillance, defence-related technologies, medical technology, transportation, or other high-risk applications.

Manuscripts should not conceal significant safety limitations, security vulnerabilities, harmful failure modes, or foreseeable risks associated with the reported technology.

Where relevant, authors should explain safeguards, testing procedures, limitations, validation processes, and responsible-use considerations.

⚖️ Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property

Authors and other publishing participants must ensure that AI-assisted content complies with applicable copyright, licensing, intellectual property, contractual, and attribution requirements. The use of AI does not remove the obligation to obtain necessary permissions or respect proprietary information.

Any uncertainty concerning ownership, licensing, copyright, permitted reuse, or other intellectual-property considerations should be addressed before manuscript submission or publication.

🔍 Investigation of Suspected AI Misuse

Concerns regarding inappropriate or undisclosed AI use may be raised by authors, reviewers, editors, readers, institutions, funders, or other relevant stakeholders. Concerns should identify the relevant manuscript or article and provide supporting information where available.

When a credible concern is identified, Global Scholar Publications may:

• request an explanation from the authors, reviewers, or editors;
• request original data, drafts, code, images, prompts, or analytical records where relevant;
• compare AI-assisted content with cited or published sources;
• seek independent technical or ethical evaluation;
• contact an author's institution, funder, or research-integrity office where necessary;
• assess whether AI use affected originality, reliability, confidentiality, authorship, or publication ethics.

Each case will be evaluated according to the available evidence, seriousness of the concern, circumstances of the case, and potential effect on the integrity of the manuscript or published record.

📝 Author Cooperation During an AI-Related Inquiry

Authors may be asked to explain how artificial intelligence was used during research, data analysis, writing, coding, image preparation, manuscript revision, or other relevant activities.

Where reasonably necessary, authors may be asked to provide:

• original research data;
• earlier manuscript drafts;
• software or code documentation;
• original image or figure files;
• details of AI-assisted workflows;
• AI-use disclosure information;
• evidence supporting the accuracy of reported findings.

Failure to cooperate with a reasonable editorial or publication-integrity inquiry may influence the editorial or publishing decision.

✏️ Corrections Related to AI Use

A correction may be appropriate when an AI-related issue is identified after publication but the main findings and overall reliability of the article remain unaffected.

Correctable issues may include:

• omitted or incomplete AI-use disclosures;
• incorrect references generated during AI-assisted drafting;
• mislabelled AI-generated illustrations;
• limited errors in AI-assisted analysis;
• incomplete descriptions of AI-assisted methods;
• other correctable AI-related issues that do not invalidate the research.

⚠️ Expressions of Concern

Global Scholar Publications may publish an Expression of Concern when serious questions regarding AI use or research integrity exist but available evidence is incomplete, disputed, or subject to an ongoing institutional or editorial investigation.

An Expression of Concern informs readers that an article or aspect of its publication record is under investigation and may subsequently be followed by a correction, retraction, or other appropriate editorial action.

⛔ Retraction for Serious AI Misuse

Retraction may be considered when inappropriate AI use materially affects the reliability of a published article or constitutes serious publication or research misconduct.

Examples may include:

• fabricated data, results, references, or technical evidence;
• AI-generated content presented as authentic experimental research;
• substantial plagiarism concealed through AI-assisted rewriting;
• manipulated images or figures that misrepresent research findings;
• fraudulent authorship or contributor declarations;
• serious breaches of confidentiality;
• unsupported AI-generated conclusions that materially affect the reliability of the article.

Retraction decisions will consider the seriousness of the concern and its effect on the integrity and reliability of the published scholarly record.

📢 Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, editors, readers, institutions, and other relevant parties may raise concerns regarding the handling of AI-related issues by Global Scholar Publications. Complaints should clearly explain the concern and provide supporting evidence where available.

An appeal may be considered where an affected party believes that:

• the nature or extent of AI use was misunderstood;
• important technical or documentary evidence was overlooked;
• the editorial response was disproportionate to the issue;
• a procedural error affected the outcome;
• unreliable automated conclusions materially influenced the evaluation.

Where appropriate, an appeal may be reviewed by an editor or qualified expert who was not involved in the original decision.

🛠️ Enforcement of the AI Usage Policy

The response to inappropriate AI use will depend on the seriousness of the issue, the stage of publication, the level of disclosure, the effect on research reliability, the potential harm to the scholarly record, and the cooperation of the individuals involved.

Possible actions may include:

• requesting clarification or disclosure;
• requiring manuscript revision;
• requesting verification of references, data, images, or code;
• reassigning a reviewer or editor;
• rejecting or withdrawing a manuscript;
• issuing a correction;
• publishing an Expression of Concern;
• retracting a published article;
• contacting an institution, funder, or research-integrity authority where appropriate;
• restricting future submission, reviewing, or editorial participation in serious or repeated cases.

Editorial and publishing actions are intended to protect scholarly integrity, confidentiality, transparency, and the reliability of the published record.

🌟 Why Responsible AI Use Matters

Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly important across scientific research, medicine, pharmacy, biology, chemistry, life sciences, engineering, technology, multidisciplinary research, and other scholarly fields. Appropriate use of AI can improve research efficiency and support researchers, but irresponsible use can introduce fabricated information, inaccurate references, biased conclusions, confidentiality risks, intellectual-property concerns, and threats to research integrity.

For Global Scholar Publications, responsible AI use therefore means combining technological innovation with strong human oversight, transparent scholarly practices, independent verification, and ethical accountability.

This AI Usage Policy helps Global Scholar Publications:

• 🤖 encourage responsible adoption of emerging AI technologies;
• 👤 ensure human accountability for scholarly work;
• 🔬 protect research originality and integrity;
• 📚 reduce the risk of fabricated references and research content;
• 🔐 protect confidential manuscripts and research information;
• ⚖️ promote responsible treatment of intellectual property;
• 👨‍⚖️ preserve independent peer review and editorial judgement;
• 🔍 encourage independent verification of AI-assisted content;
• 🛡️ protect the accuracy and reliability of the scholarly record.

📑 AI Usage Expectations Across the Global Scholar Publications Portfolio

The principles of this policy apply consistently across all journals published by Global Scholar Publications while allowing individual journals to establish additional requirements appropriate to their subject area, manuscript type, or editorial process.

🚀 Submit Responsible AI-Assisted Research to Global Scholar Publications

🤝 Human Accountability Principle