Use of Artificial Intelligence

AI cannot be an author or co-author: humans are accountable. This policy draws on COPE’s Authorship and AI Tools, 2023 (https://publicationethics.org/guidance/cope-position/authorship-and-ai-tools), ICMJE, January 2026 (https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/), and WAME’s recommendations, 2023 (https://wame.org/pdf/Chatbots-Generative-AI-and-Scholarly-Manuscripts.pdf). An additional reference is the Code of Ethics for AI (https://ethics.a-ai.ru). AI disclosure is an editorial-policy requirement.

AI may assist work subject to human verification. At submission, authors disclose the tool, version where available, purpose and manner of use: writing assistance in acknowledgements or a separate statement, research applications in sufficient detail in the methods. Ordinary spelling checks without substantive content generation need no separate statement. A tool may be described and cited as software or an object of study, but not as an author.

Authors remain responsible for accuracy, originality, rights, confidentiality and the existence of sources. Generated data or images must not be presented as real observations, nor transformations altering scientific meaning concealed. Synthetic data and generative methods are permissible as an explicitly identified and described part of the research. Sending confidential data to an external service requires a lawful basis and necessary permissions. AI detector output alone does not prove a breach.

Editors and reviewers must not upload unpublished manuscripts, excerpts or confidential correspondence to external AI systems. Other AI assistance with a review requires prior editorial consent, exclusion of confidential material and disclosure of use. Humans perform assessments and make decisions. Concealed substantive AI use or unreliable content is addressed under the ethics and corrections policies according to the breach, rather than the mere use of a tool.