Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

1. General Principles

• Artificial Intelligence tools cannot be listed or credited as authors or co-authors of manuscripts published by SIBOOK Journal.
• Authorship requires human responsibility and accountability for the accuracy, originality, integrity, interpretation, and scholarly content of the work.
• AI must not replace the scientific judgment, critical analysis, scholarly interpretation, or intellectual contribution of human authors.
• AI must not replace independent editorial judgment or determine whether a manuscript is accepted, revised, or rejected.
• Human users remain fully responsible for any content produced, modified, suggested, summarized, or assisted by AI tools.
• The use of AI does not reduce or transfer responsibility for originality, confidentiality, accuracy, research integrity, publication ethics, or editorial decisions.

2. Policy for Authors

Authors may use AI-assisted technologies only in ways that do not replace their own scholarly contribution, scientific reasoning, interpretation, critical analysis, or responsibility for the manuscript.

Authors are fully responsible for verifying all AI-assisted content before submission, including its accuracy, originality, citations, factual claims, interpretation, and compliance with research and publication ethics.

Authors must not use AI tools to:

• fabricate, falsify, or invent research data, participants, observations, findings, quotations, evidence, or results;
• create false or misleading scholarly claims;
• fabricate, invent, or provide unverifiable references, citations, DOI identifiers, quotations, or bibliographic information;
• manipulate research findings in a way that misrepresents the original data or analysis;
• conceal plagiarism, duplicate publication, inappropriate text reuse, or other forms of research misconduct;
• replace the author's own scientific interpretation, intellectual contribution, or critical scholarly judgment.

3. AI Use Disclosure by Authors

Authors must transparently disclose the use of generative AI or other AI-assisted technologies when such tools have materially contributed to the preparation, generation, analysis, modification, or presentation of scholarly content in the manuscript.

The disclosure should identify, where applicable:

• the name of the AI tool or system used;
• the provider or developer, where relevant;
• the purpose for which the AI tool was used;
• the part of the manuscript, analysis, image, code, or other content affected by its use;
• confirmation that the authors reviewed and verified the resulting content and accept full responsibility for it.

Where disclosure is required, authors should include an AI Use Disclosure statement in the manuscript.

Example disclosure:

During the preparation of this manuscript, the author(s) used [name of AI tool] for [specific purpose]. The author(s) reviewed, verified, and revised the resulting content as necessary and take full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the final manuscript.

Basic tools used only for conventional spelling, grammar, formatting, or reference-management functions that do not generate substantive scholarly content normally do not require an AI disclosure.

4. AI-Assisted Text and Writing

AI-assisted tools may be used to support language improvement, readability, translation, organization, or drafting assistance, provided that authors maintain control over the scholarly content and verify the resulting text.

Authors must ensure that AI-assisted text:

• accurately represents the authors' own research and arguments;
• does not contain fabricated facts or unsupported statements;
• does not introduce plagiarism or inappropriate text reuse;
• does not contain fabricated or inaccurate citations;
• does not replace substantive analysis, interpretation, or scholarly contribution by the authors.

The authors remain responsible for every statement contained in the submitted and published manuscript, regardless of whether AI tools were used during manuscript preparation.

5. AI-Generated or AI-Modified Images and Figures

AI-generated or AI-modified images must not be presented as original research evidence, photographs, observations, or experimental data when they do not faithfully represent the underlying research.

The use of AI to generate or substantially modify scientific figures, illustrations, photographs, or visual research material must be transparently disclosed when such use is scientifically justified and permitted by applicable ethical, legal, copyright, and research standards.

Where AI-based image processing forms part of the research methodology, authors must clearly describe the relevant tool, procedure, and purpose in the Methods section and preserve the integrity of the underlying research data.

AI must not be used to create, remove, conceal, or alter visual evidence in a manner that could mislead readers about the research findings.

6. Artificial Intelligence and Research Data

AI may be used as an analytical or computational tool where scientifically appropriate, provided that its use is transparent, methodologically justified, and subject to appropriate human validation.

Authors must not use AI to fabricate or substitute original research data. Where AI materially contributes to data processing, classification, modeling, coding, analysis, or interpretation, the relevant method should be described sufficiently to allow readers to understand how the results were produced.

Authors remain responsible for the validity of the methodology, accuracy of the analysis, interpretation of the results, and protection of confidential or sensitive research data.

Confidential, personal, sensitive, or restricted research data must not be uploaded to external AI systems where doing so would violate participant consent, privacy, confidentiality, institutional requirements, or applicable law.

7. Artificial Intelligence and References

AI-generated bibliographic information must not be accepted without verification from the original scholarly source or a reliable bibliographic database.

Authors are responsible for verifying every reference included in the manuscript, including:

• author names;
• article or book titles;
• journal or publisher information;
• publication year;
• volume, issue, and page information;
• DOI or other persistent identifiers;
• the relevance of the cited source to the statement being supported.

Fabricated, hypothetical, non-existent, or materially inaccurate references generated by AI constitute a serious integrity concern and may result in editorial action.

8. Policy for Editors

Editors must maintain independent human judgment throughout the editorial process. AI systems must not replace editors in assessing scientific quality, originality, methodological validity, ethical acceptability, reviewer reports, or final editorial decisions.

Editors must protect the confidentiality of unpublished manuscripts and editorial information.

Editors must not upload unpublished manuscripts, confidential manuscript content, reviewer reports, author correspondence, reviewer identities, or other restricted editorial information to external generative AI systems where confidentiality cannot be assured.

AI-assisted tools may be used for limited non-confidential administrative or technical purposes, provided that:

• confidential manuscript information is not exposed;
• AI does not make or determine editorial decisions;
• the editor independently verifies relevant outputs;
• material AI use affecting editorially published content is transparently disclosed where appropriate;
• responsibility for the editorial process remains entirely with the human editor.

An editor's use of AI does not remove responsibility for confidentiality, fairness, integrity, accuracy, conflict-of-interest management, or editorial decisions.

9. Policy for Peer Reviewers

Because manuscripts submitted for peer review are confidential scholarly documents, peer reviewers are prohibited from using generative AI systems in the substantive peer-review process.

Reviewers must not:

• upload a manuscript, supplementary file, image, table, dataset, abstract, excerpt, or any part of an unpublished manuscript to an AI application;
• use AI to analyze or assess the scientific quality of a manuscript;
• use AI to evaluate methodology, results, arguments, originality, or scholarly contribution;
• use AI to generate, draft, rewrite, or substantially formulate peer-review comments or recommendations;
• use AI to determine whether a manuscript should be accepted, revised, or rejected.

Review reports must represent the reviewer's own independent scholarly assessment, expertise, reasoning, and judgment.

Reviewers remain responsible for maintaining manuscript confidentiality and complying with the journal's Reviewer Guidelines .

10. Editorial Action in Cases of Inappropriate AI Use

Where the Editorial Team identifies credible concerns regarding undisclosed, misleading, inappropriate, or prohibited use of AI, the journal will assess the matter in accordance with its publication ethics and research-integrity procedures.

Depending on the nature, severity, and stage of the publication process, editorial action may include:

• requesting clarification from the author, editor, or reviewer;
• requesting an AI Use Disclosure statement;
• requesting correction or revision of affected content;
• requiring verification of data, citations, images, or other material;
• terminating a reviewer assignment and appointing another reviewer;
• rejecting a manuscript where serious integrity concerns are confirmed;
• issuing a correction, expression of concern, retraction, or other appropriate post-publication notice where necessary.

A determination of inappropriate AI use should be based on the available evidence and editorial assessment. Automated AI-detection results should not, by themselves, be treated as conclusive proof of misconduct.

Authors and other relevant parties should normally be given an appropriate opportunity to explain or respond to significant concerns before a final editorial action is taken.

11. Human Accountability

The fundamental principle of this policy is that responsibility for scholarly communication remains with human participants.

Authors remain responsible for their manuscripts, editors remain responsible for editorial decisions, and reviewers remain responsible for their independent peer-review assessments. Artificial Intelligence cannot assume authorship, accountability, responsibility, or editorial authority.

12. Related Policies

This Artificial Intelligence Policy should be read together with the journal's Publication Ethics and Research Integrity , Peer Review Process , and other applicable editorial policies.