Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy
Policy Purpose
This policy explains how artificial intelligence tools may be used in manuscripts, peer review, editorial handling, and publication workflows for Advances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems Journal (ASTESJ). The policy applies to generative AI systems, large language models, chatbots, image-generation tools, code assistants, automated translation tools, grammar tools, reference tools, data-analysis tools, and software that produces or changes scholarly content.
ASTESJ permits responsible use of AI-assisted tools when the use is transparent, checked by humans, and consistent with research integrity, confidentiality, copyright, authorship, data protection, and peer-review requirements.
Scope of the Policy
This policy applies to all authors, reviewers, editors, Guest Editors, Editorial Board Members, editorial office staff, production staff, and other persons involved in ASTESJ editorial or publication work.
| Group | Policy requirement |
|---|---|
| Authors | Must disclose AI-assisted use that contributed to writing, editing, coding, image generation, data processing, data analysis, literature screening, or manuscript content. |
| Reviewers | Must protect manuscript confidentiality and must not upload unpublished manuscript content to public or third-party AI tools unless ASTESJ has given explicit permission and confidentiality is protected. |
| Editors and Editorial Staff | May use tools for administrative support, screening support, and workflow checks, but AI tools cannot replace academic judgment or editorial decisions. |
| Guest Editors | Must follow the same confidentiality, conflict-of-interest, and editorial independence requirements as regular editors. |
Use of AI Tools by Authors
Permitted Author Use
Authors may use AI-assisted tools for limited support when the authors check and approve the final manuscript content. Permitted uses may include language editing, grammar correction, formatting support, reference checking support, code drafting support, statistical workflow support, figure preparation support, or literature-screening support.
AI-assisted use must be disclosed when it affects manuscript content, analysis, interpretation, figures, tables, images, code, data processing, or literature selection.
Prohibited Author Use
Authors must not use AI tools to fabricate data, generate false results, create misleading citations, alter images in a deceptive way, hide research limitations, produce unsupported claims, manipulate peer review, or create text copied from other sources without proper citation.
- AI tools must not be listed as authors or co-authors.
- AI tools must not be cited as authors of scholarly claims.
- AI-generated references must be checked against real source records before submission.
- AI-generated images, graphs, code, tables, or analysis outputs must be checked and disclosed where relevant.
- Confidential, private, sensitive, proprietary, or restricted data must not be entered into public AI systems unless permission and protection are in place.
Author Responsibility
Authors remain fully responsible for all submitted material, including any content produced or modified with AI-assisted tools. Responsibility includes accuracy, originality, citation integrity, data handling, image integrity, copyright permission, privacy, ethical approval, consent, and compliance with ASTESJ policies.
Use of AI Tools by Reviewers
Confidentiality
Manuscripts under review are confidential. Reviewers must not upload manuscript files, abstracts, figures, tables, data, supplementary files, code, review invitations, review reports, or editorial correspondence to public or third-party AI tools unless ASTESJ has provided explicit permission and confidentiality is protected.
Reviewer Responsibility
AI tools cannot replace expert reviewer judgment. Reviewers remain responsible for the accuracy, fairness, confidentiality, and integrity of their review reports. Reviewers must personally assess the manuscript and must not submit an AI-generated review without expert verification.
- Reviewers must declare any AI-assisted tool use that materially affected the review report.
- Reviewers must not use AI tools to identify authors in a double-blind review process.
- Reviewers must not use confidential manuscript content for personal, professional, financial, or competitive advantage.
- Reviewers must report suspected AI-related misconduct through confidential comments to the editor.
Use of AI Tools by Editors and Editorial Staff
Editorial Assessment
Editors and editorial staff may use software tools to support file checks, plagiarism screening, reference checks, language checks, metadata checks, image checks, and workflow administration. These tools support editorial work but do not make publication decisions.
Editors must interpret AI-assisted or automated screening outputs carefully. Similarity scores, image alerts, reference alerts, or AI-detection outputs are screening signals only and must not be used as automatic reasons for acceptance or rejection.
Editorial Decisions
AI tools cannot replace editorial judgment, peer review, conflict-of-interest assessment, research-integrity assessment, or final editorial decisions. Final editorial decisions are made by authorized academic editors after considering scope fit, reviewer reports, author responses, research integrity, ethical compliance, and technical quality.
- Editors must not upload confidential manuscripts or review reports to public AI systems without explicit permission and confidentiality protection.
- Editors must not use AI tools to make automatic acceptance or rejection decisions.
- Editors must handle AI-related concerns under the same research-integrity process used for plagiarism, image manipulation, data fabrication, and peer-review manipulation.
- Guest Editors must follow the same AI, confidentiality, and conflict-of-interest rules as regular editors.
Confidentiality, Privacy and Data Protection
Authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial staff must protect confidential and restricted information. This includes unpublished manuscripts, personal data, participant data, patient data, private images, institutional data, proprietary datasets, source code, reviewer identities, review reports, editorial correspondence, and special issue handling records.
Public AI systems should not be used with confidential content unless the person has permission to use the content in that system and can confirm that privacy, confidentiality, copyright, and data-protection requirements are satisfied.
Data, Images, Code and Figures
Authors must clearly report how AI-assisted tools were used for data processing, statistical analysis, coding, image generation, image enhancement, figure preparation, or literature screening. Any AI-assisted output that affects the scientific record must be checked by the authors before submission.
- AI-assisted data processing must not change, remove, fabricate, or misrepresent data.
- AI-assisted image processing must not hide, move, add, remove, or exaggerate image features.
- AI-assisted code must be tested, documented, and checked for correctness.
- AI-generated or AI-modified figures must be disclosed when they form part of the manuscript content.
- Data, code, prompts, model settings, or workflow details should be provided where needed for assessment and verification.
AI Screening and Editorial Checks
ASTESJ may use software tools to support editorial screening, similarity checks, reference checks, image-integrity checks, metadata checks, and workflow management. These checks are used to support human editorial assessment.
AI-detection tools and automated screening systems can produce false positives and false negatives. ASTESJ does not use AI-detection results as automatic evidence of misconduct. Editors may request clarification, original files, data, code, analysis records, ethics approvals, consent records, or author explanations where concerns arise.
Disclosure Examples
Authors should add an AI-use statement in the manuscript where applicable. The statement should be placed in the acknowledgments, methods, data availability statement, or a separate “Use of AI Tools” section, depending on the type of use.
| Use case | Suggested disclosure wording |
|---|---|
| No AI-assisted tool used | The authors declare that no AI-assisted tools were used to prepare, analyze, or revise the manuscript content. |
| Language editing only | The authors used [tool name, version] for grammar and language editing. The authors reviewed and approved all edited text and remain responsible for the manuscript content. |
| Code support | The authors used [tool name, version] to assist with code drafting or debugging. The final code was checked, tested, and approved by the authors. |
| Data analysis support | The authors used [tool name, version] to support [describe analysis step]. The authors verified the analysis workflow, outputs, and interpretation. |
| Image or figure generation | The authors used [tool name, version] to generate or modify [figure/table/image]. The figure was checked by the authors and is disclosed as AI-assisted content. |
| Literature screening | The authors used [tool name, version] to support literature screening. Final source selection, reading, interpretation, and citation decisions were made by the authors. |
Non-Compliance
Failure to disclose material AI-assisted use may lead to editorial queries, correction requests, manuscript return, rejection, correction, expression of concern, or retraction, depending on the stage, severity, and effect on the scholarly record.
Serious AI-related misconduct includes fabricated data, false citations, manipulated images, undisclosed automated peer-review content, breach of manuscript confidentiality, plagiarism, privacy violation, and attempts to manipulate editorial or peer-review processes.
Editorial Contact
Questions about AI-assisted tools, AI-use disclosure, manuscript confidentiality, reviewer use of AI, editor use of AI, or possible AI-related misconduct may be sent to the ASTESJ Editorial Office at m-editor@astesj.com. General contact information is available on the Contact ASTESJ page.