AI Ethics & Procedure

Editorial Integrity & Responsible AI

AI Ethics & Procedure

Ethical and transparent use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in manuscript preparation, peer review, editorial decision-making, and scholarly publishing.

1. Policy Statement

Journal of Information Technology and Systems Engineering (JITSE) recognizes the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, and AI-assisted technologies in scholarly research and manuscript preparation. JITSE supports responsible and transparent use of such technologies while maintaining the principles of research integrity, academic accountability, originality, transparency, and human responsibility.

The use of AI tools must not compromise the accuracy, originality, confidentiality, authorship, ethical standards, or scholarly quality of a manuscript. Authors, reviewers, and editors remain fully responsible for their respective contributions and decisions.

2. Core Principles

Human Accountability

Humans remain responsible for the content, accuracy, interpretation, and integrity of scholarly work.

Transparency

Material use of generative AI in manuscript preparation should be appropriately disclosed.

Originality

AI-assisted writing must not be used to fabricate, manipulate, or misrepresent scholarly work.

Confidentiality

Confidential manuscripts, reviewer materials, and unpublished information must be protected from unauthorized disclosure.

3. Use of AI by Authors

Authors may use AI-assisted tools for appropriate purposes such as language improvement, grammar correction, translation assistance, formatting support, coding assistance, or other limited technical tasks, provided that the use does not compromise scholarly integrity.

Authors must:

  • Verify all AI-generated or AI-assisted content before submission.
  • Ensure that factual statements, references, citations, data, equations, and technical information are accurate.
  • Remain responsible for the originality and intellectual content of the manuscript.
  • Disclose substantive use of generative AI where appropriate.
  • Ensure that AI tools do not introduce fabricated references, unsupported claims, or misleading information.
  • Comply with applicable research ethics, copyright, privacy, and confidentiality requirements.
Recommended disclosure:

“During the preparation of this manuscript, the authors used [name of AI tool] for [describe purpose]. The authors reviewed and verified all AI-assisted content and take full responsibility for the final content of the manuscript.”

4. AI and Authorship

AI systems, generative AI tools, chatbots, or other automated systems cannot be listed as authors or co-authors of manuscripts submitted to JITSE.

Authorship requires human responsibility for the scholarly work, including responsibility for the content, integrity, interpretation, and final approval of the manuscript.

Important: AI-generated content does not transfer accountability from the authors to the AI system.

5. Prohibited or Unethical Uses of AI

AI must not be used to:

Fabricate Data

Generate or invent research data, experimental results, participants, observations, or other evidence.

Fabricate References

Create nonexistent articles, authors, DOI numbers, citations, or bibliographic information.

Manipulate Results

Alter or misrepresent research findings, statistical results, images, figures, or conclusions.

Misrepresent Authorship

Present AI-generated intellectual contributions as solely human scholarly work without appropriate disclosure.

6. AI Use by Reviewers

Reviewers must maintain strict confidentiality regarding manuscripts received for peer review.

Reviewers should not upload or disclose unpublished manuscripts, research data, reviewer reports, author information, or other confidential material to public or third-party generative AI systems where such use could compromise confidentiality or intellectual property.

AI tools must not replace the reviewer's independent scholarly judgment. Reviewers remain responsible for the accuracy, fairness, and confidentiality of their review.

7. AI Use by Editors

Editors may use appropriate AI-assisted technologies for limited administrative or technical purposes where permitted, but editorial decisions must remain under qualified human oversight.

  • AI must not independently make final publication decisions.
  • Editors must protect confidential manuscript and reviewer information.
  • AI-assisted outputs must be critically evaluated before use.
  • Editorial decisions must be based on scholarly merit and established journal policies.
  • Potential conflicts of interest must continue to be managed by human editors.

8. AI Ethics Procedure

01

Disclosure

Authors disclose substantive use of AI-assisted technologies when applicable.

02

Verification

Authors verify factual accuracy, citations, originality, and scholarly claims.

03

Editorial Assessment

Editors may assess disclosed or suspected inappropriate AI use.

04

Action

Appropriate editorial action may be taken when AI use violates journal policies or research integrity.

9. Suspected Misuse of AI

Where there are reasonable concerns regarding inappropriate or undisclosed AI use, JITSE may request clarification or additional information from the authors.

Depending on the circumstances, the manuscript may be returned for revision, subjected to additional editorial assessment, rejected, or investigated in accordance with the journal's publication ethics procedures.

If concerns arise after publication, JITSE may consider appropriate post-publication action, including correction, expression of concern, or retraction, where warranted.

10. AI Detection and Editorial Judgment

AI-detection technologies may produce indicators of possible AI-generated or AI-assisted text, but such indicators should not be treated as definitive proof of misconduct.

JITSE therefore relies on editorial assessment, manuscript evidence, author clarification, and applicable publication-ethics procedures rather than relying solely on an automated AI-detection score.

Editorial principle: Automated tools are supporting instruments. Final ethical and editorial judgments remain the responsibility of qualified human editors.

11. Confidentiality and Data Protection

Authors, reviewers, editors, and journal staff must exercise caution when using external AI systems. Confidential manuscripts, personal data, unpublished research findings, reviewer identities, and proprietary information should not be submitted to AI services when doing so would violate confidentiality, privacy, intellectual-property, or contractual obligations.

12. Editorial Commitment

JITSE is committed to responsible adoption of emerging technologies while protecting the principles of scholarly integrity, transparency, accountability, confidentiality, and human oversight.

AI-assisted technologies may support scholarly communication and publishing workflows, but they do not replace the intellectual, ethical, and editorial responsibilities of authors, reviewers, editors, or the publisher.

JITSE — Journal of Information Technology and Systems Engineering
AI Ethics & Procedure • Editorial Integrity • Responsible AI Use