Generative AI tools raise questions and concerns around authorship, research integrity, and more. At the same time, among other uses, these tools can ease and accelerate the editing process. Scholarly publishers have released policies and guidance for the use of Generative AI, for authors and sometimes for reviewers. As the technology and its use evolve, publishers will review and adapt their policies.
Policies for Authors
Publisher policies often contain common elements related to the scope of permitted AI use, authorship, recommendations for responsible AI use, and the duty to disclose AI use. Below is a partial, but not fully representative, survey of these elements across several notable publishing associations, publishers, and journals.
| ICMJE | COPE | STM | JAMA | Cambridge University Press | Science | Nature | Lancet | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scope of AI Use | Any | Any | Refining, correcting, formatting, and editing texts only | Any | Any | Any No generation of images without editorial permission |
No generative images | Readability and language only |
| Authorship and Responsibility | Humans | Humans | Humans | Humans | Humans | Humans | Humans | Humans |
| Actions Suggested for Responsible AI Use | Review, edit, ensure no plagiarism, appropriate attribution | Review, guard against bias, ensure no plagiarism, appropriate citations | Review, edit | |||||
| What to Include in Disclosure | Tool name | Tool name, version and extension, manufacturer | Tool name, version | |||||
| How to Disclose | Describe use | Disclose use | Disclosure not necessary if use is within permitted categories | Describe generated content that was included | AI use must be declared and explained | Full prompts | Document use | Disclose use |
| Where to Disclose | Cover letter and appropriate section of manuscript | Materials and Methods (or similar section) | Acknowledgement or Methods | Cover letter, Acknowledgements and Methods) | Methods (if unavailable, a suitable part) | Statement at the end of the article |
Adapted from: Lin, Zhicheng. “Towards an AI Policy Framework in Scholarly Publishing.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2023.12.002.
Policies for Reviewers
Where publishers have explicit policies for reviewers, they usually forbid any submission of the manuscript to a Generative AI tool.
As the Generative AI landscape evolves, so will related policies. For example, over the course of 2023, Science released and then significantly revised its Generative AI policy, moving from something more restrictive to something more permissive. The full impact of Generative AI on scholarly publishing lies ahead.