Generative artificial intelligence

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use Policy

Generative AI tools and technologies are currently being used to generate various types of content, including text, images, audio, and synthetic data. Examples of such AI tools include ChatGPT, NovelAI, Jasper AI, Rytr AI, DALL-E, DeepSeek, Gemini, Canva, Copilot, and others.

The journal's policy is aimed to ensure transparency and disclosure of the role of AI, redefine authorship categories, and ensure oversight and verification for all participants in the journal's editorial process, including authors, reviewers, and editors. In this regard, the editorial board's position aligns with the position of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

For Editors and reviewers

  1. Editors and reviewers should not upload a submitted manuscript or any part of it into generative AI tools, as such use may violate authors’ confidentiality and proprietary rights and, where manuscripts contain personally identifiable information, may breach data privacy regulations.
  2. Editors and reviewers must not use generative artificial intelligence tools to produce, draft, or formulate peer review reports, editorial comments, or recommendations related to manuscript evaluation.
  3. The Editorial Board expects authors to familiarize themselves with the journal’s policy on the use of artificial intelligence tools prior to manuscript submission. During the editorial process, editors may additionally draw authors’ attention to the rules established by the Editorial Board regarding the appropriate use of AI tools, as outlined below.
  4. All manuscripts submitted for review are screened for the use of artificial intelligence tools. The initial check is carried out using the Antiplagiat.ru system, which includes functionality for detecting AI-generated content, immediately after submission and prior to publication. The results of this screening are additionally assessed by the editor. Further evaluation may also be conducted by reviewers during the double-blind peer review process. The Editorial Board reserves the right not to provide authors with full or detailed reports on the results of AI-use screening.
  5. In cases where undeclared or improper use of AI tools is detected and does not exceed 25%, authors may be required to provide a formal justification upon request of the Editorial Board.
  6. In case undeclared and/or inappropriate use of AI tools exceeding 25% is identified, the manuscript will be rejected.

For Authors

  1. Any use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools must remain under full human oversight. Authors are responsible for carefully reviewing and editing any AI-assisted output, as such tools may produce content that appears authoritative but may be inaccurate, incomplete, or biased.
  2. Any use of AI tools, including large language models (LLMs), beyond basic grammar and spelling checks must be clearly disclosed in the manuscript in the "Materials and Methods" section, including the AI tool used, the purpose of its use, the part of the study involved, and the extent of human oversight. The use of generative AI should (may) also be briefly discussed in the "Abstract" section. References in the "References" section should include the name of the technology, manufacturer (copyright holder), version, date of access and use, reason and extent (share) of use, and a description of the queries used to obtain the result used in the article.
  3. Authors must not list artificial intelligence tools or AI-enabled technologies as authors or co-authors of a manuscript, nor should AI be cited as an author.
  4. Authors are expected to review the terms of use of any AI tools they choose to employ and ensure that the materials they provide are used solely for the intended purposes. Authors should also confirm that the use of such tools does not grant the AI provider additional rights, including the right to use the content for training. In addition, authors must make sure that any output generated using AI tools may be freely used for open-access publication.
  5. At the time of manuscript submission, authors must ensure that AI tools have not been used to generate substantive parts of the manuscript. Any undeclared, inappropriate, or prohibited use of AI tools identified by the editors at any stage of the review process or after publication will be treated as a breach of publication ethics and may result in rejection of the manuscript or retraction of the published article.
  6. When submitting a manuscript, authors must ensure that the use of AI tools does not exceed 25% of the total content of the article and that such use is limited to the purposes permitted by the Editorial Board.

A table outlining the main permitted and prohibited uses of AI tools is provided below. If authors are uncertain whether a particular method or result obtained with the assistance of AI tools complies with the journal’s policy, they are encouraged to contact the Editorial Board prior to submission. In such cases, authors will be asked to provide a detailed description of how AI tools were used.

THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS EXAMPLE OF THE USE OF AN AI TOOL ALLOWED / NOT ALLOWED
MANUSCRIPT TEXT
Stylistic editing of the manuscript Shortening sentences and adapting the manuscript text to a scientific style NO
Grammar editing Checking grammar, spelling, punctuation without changing the text YES
Translation Translating the manuscript text YES
Presenting AI-generated content as original research data or results Using AI tools to adapt AI-generated text to resemble human-written text NO
STRUCTURED SECTIONS OF THE MANUSCRIPT
Writing an abstract Using AI tools to write, expand, shorten, or otherwise generate all or part of the abstract NO
Generating ideas Using AI tools to create or write the hypothesis, aims, objectives, or research plan NO
Creating an introduction Creating or writing all or part of the Introduction section using AI tools NO
Identifying sources for the literature review Searching for sources based on author-defined keywords and criteria (e.g., open-access publications or sources from the past five years) YES
Creating a bibliography Although the use of AI tools to search for sources for the reference list is permitted, authors remain responsible for carefully checking the final reference list, as AI tools may produce results that appear authoritative but may be inaccurate, incomplete, or biased. NO
Writing a literature review Analyzing sources identified using AI tools or provided by the authors, including identifying research gaps and scientific novelty, and providing partial or complete descriptions of the sources NO
Preliminary development of the methodology Developing methodological approaches or identifying viable models for an initial research proposal to be further tested by the authors. YES
Creating and describing the research methodology Creation or writing of all or part of the Materials and Methods section using AI tools NO
Ethical and social analysis Creation of or monitoring compliance with ethical approvals and/or confidentiality requirements NO
Data generation and management Collection, validation, cleaning, curation, analysis, reproducibility checks, and organization of data NO
Describing research results Creation or writing of all or part of the Research Results section using AI tools NO
Creating a discussion of the results Identifying advantages and disadvantages, comparing results with those of other studies, and creating or writing the study’s limitations, practical significance, and prospects for future research NO
Creating conclusions Creating or writing all or part of the Conclusions section NO
TECHNICAL AND VISUAL COMPONENTS OF THE MANUSCRIPT
Creating code Generating code for the study NO
Editing code Improving author-written code using AI tools YES
Data visualization Visualizing the authors’ original data in the form of figures, graphs, diagrams, or tables YES
Creating images Creating images of actual experimental setups or samples, including microscope images and images of experimental results NO
Editing images Darkening, moving, removing or adding a certain feature to an image or figure NO
Adjusting brightness, contrast, color balance, size of inscriptions YES

This guideline is consistent with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) position statement, which states that authors remain fully responsible for all manuscript content.