Artificial Intelligence Usage Policy

Authors remain responsible for every statement, citation, image, dataset and permission in their submission. A generative AI system cannot be listed as an author, approve a manuscript, give consent or accept accountability. Authors should disclose material use of such tools in drafting, translation, coding, analysis or image creation, naming the tool, the task and the human verification performed. Routine spelling correction need not be reported unless a specific call requires it.

Generated text and references must be checked against original sources. Authors must review potential bias, fabricated citations, confidentiality, copyright and data protection. They must not enter confidential research, personal data or third party manuscript material into an external service without the authority and safeguards needed for that transfer.

Editors and reviewers may not upload unpublished submissions or review reports to external AI services without explicit authorization and appropriate protection. An automated similarity or language tool may assist screening but cannot make an acceptance decision. Undisclosed material use can lead to a request for clarification, correction or investigation under the research integrity policy.