Artificial Intelligence (AI) Usage Policy

General Principles

Prism Journals recognizes the growing role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in scientific research and editorial production.
Although such technologies can contribute to improving writing, translation, idea organization, and data analysis, their use must always be transparent, ethical, and under human supervision.

This policy aims to guide authors, reviewers, and editors regarding the responsible use of AI at all stages of the publication process, reinforcing the institutional commitment to academic integrity and the reliability of publications.

Core Ethical Principles

The use of AI in Prism Journals publications must:

  • Be transparent: authors must clearly declare when and how AI was used.

  • Be supervised by humans: AI does not replace human judgment, authorship, or scientific responsibility.

  • Preserve integrity and originality: AI use must not result in plagiarism, data fabrication, false references, or manipulation of results.

  • Ensure traceability: AI use must be identifiable within the manuscript, ensuring reproducibility and confidence in the scientific process.

Acceptable Uses of AI

The following are considered acceptable uses, provided they are explicitly declared and supervised by the authors:

  • Grammatical, spelling, and stylistic revision of texts.

  • Translation of excerpts, titles, or abstracts.

  • Suggestions for clarity, coherence, or conciseness.

  • Support in organizing or visualizing data (e.g., summarizing large textual volumes or generating explanatory graphics).

  • Correction of linguistic inconsistencies or adaptation to style norms (APA, ABNT, etc.).

In all cases, final control must be human, with authors reviewing, approving, and taking full responsibility for the final content.

Unacceptable Uses of AI

The following are considered inappropriate or unethical uses:

  • Generating texts, paragraphs, or analyses without critical human review.

  • Fabricating, manipulating, or inventing data, citations, or results.

  • Creating images, tables, or figures without verifiable empirical basis.

  • Producing automated peer review reports or editorial decisions.

  • Failing to disclose AI use when it has influenced any relevant part of the manuscript.

Mandatory Disclosure of AI Use

Authors who use any AI tool must include an explicit declaration in the manuscript, preferably in the Materials and Methods, Acknowledgments, or a footnote, stating:

  • Which tool was used.

  • The version or model (e.g., ChatGPT 4o, Grammarly, DeepL).

  • The purpose for which it was used (e.g., grammatical review, translation, data summarization).

Example of declaration:

“ChatGPT (OpenAI, version 4o) was used exclusively to improve textual clarity. All ideas, interpretations, and conclusions are the sole responsibility of the authors.”

Reviewers and Editors

Reviewers and editors must also use AI ethically and restrictively:

  • It is forbidden to insert manuscript excerpts into public AI tools that store data, to preserve confidentiality.

  • AI tools may be used only as support for reading and organizing notes, never to generate automated reviews.

  • All analysis and editorial decisions must result from responsible human judgment.

Responsibility and Authorship

  • AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors of articles.

  • Full responsibility for the content lies with human authors, including any portions generated with AI assistance.

  • Non-compliance with this policy may result in manuscript rejection, article retraction, or editorial sanctions, according to COPE guidelines.

Institutional Commitment

Prism Journals reaffirms its commitment to the ethical and transparent use of Artificial Intelligence, recognizing it as a supportive tool — never a substitute for authorship or human scientific reasoning.
This policy helps strengthen integrity, credibility, and trust in the scientific publications linked to the publisher.

Supporting Literature and Fundamental References

This policy is based on leading international editorial ethics guidelines and on recent studies addressing the ethical and responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in scholarly communication.

Institutional Guidelines and Directives

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). (2023). Authorship and AI Tools.
Available at: https://publicationethics.org/guidance/cope-position/authorship-and-ai-tools

World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). (2023). Recommendations on Chatbots, ChatGPT, and Generative AI.
Available at: https://wame.org/page3.php?id=110

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). (2023). Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals.
Available at: https://www.icmje.org/news-and-editorials/updated_recommendations_may2023.html

Scientific Supporting Literature

Cheng, A., Palaganas, J., & Cooper, A. Z. (2025). Artificial intelligence-assisted academic writing: recommendations for ethical use. Advances in Simulation. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41077-025-00350-6

Ganjavi, O., Yin, J., & Zhang, S. (2023). A bibliometric analysis of publisher and journal instructions to authors on generative AI in academic and scientific publishing. Research Integrity and Peer Review, 8(3). https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2307.11918

Lin, Z. (2025). Beyond principlism: Practical strategies for ethical AI use in research practices. AI and Ethics.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-024-00585-5

ACS Nano Editors. (2023). Best practices for using AI when writing scientific manuscripts. ACS Nano, 17(10), 7899–7900. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.3c01544

 

Institutional Note

Prism Journals adopts these references as a living and evolving basis for its editorial policies, recognizing that the field of ethical AI use is rapidly changing. This list will be periodically reviewed to incorporate new scientific publications and updates issued by international organizations on research and publication ethics.