AI Use Policy

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are increasingly integrated into research workflows, offering new opportunities for language refinement, data organization, and administrative efficiency. However, their use raises significant concerns regarding authorship integrity, data confidentiality, bias, and accountability. The Celebes Nursing Journal (CNJ) adopts a cautious and transparent approach to AI in scholarly publishing, guided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) position on AI and emerging global standards.
This policy clarifies acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI for authors, reviewers, and editors. AI may support minor tasks such as grammar correction or formatting assistance but must not generate original scientific content, fabricate references, analyze confidential data, or substitute human judgment in any stage of manuscript preparation or peer review. Authors remain fully responsible for verifying all AI-assisted content and must disclose any substantial AI use.
Misuse of AI including undeclared use, reliance on AI-generated scientific claims, or uploading confidential materials into AI systems constitutes academic misconduct. CNJ will investigate such cases following COPE procedures and take corrective actions as needed, including rejection, retraction, or institutional notification.
This policy ensures that technological innovation is balanced with scholarly integrity, human accountability, and ethical research conduct.

1. AI Use Policy
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems, particularly generative AI, have rapidly transformed academic writing and research practices. While these tools offer potential efficiency benefits, they introduce ethical, legal, and scientific risks that require careful governance. The CNJ supports responsible AI use that upholds integrity, transparency, confidentiality, and accountability across all stages of scholarly publishing.
This policy is grounded in the COPE Position Statement on Artificial Intelligence in Publication Ethics and encompasses authors, reviewers, editors, and all individuals involved in manuscript handling. CNJ emphasizes that AI can assist but cannot replace human expertise, critical thinking, or scholarly responsibility.

2. Definitions and Scope
To promote clarity, CNJ defines AI broadly as computational tools that can generate, transform, or analyze text, images, data, or other research outputs. This includes:

This policy applies to:

3. AI and Authorship
Authorship implies accountability for the originality, accuracy, and integrity of scholarly work. AI tools cannot be listed as authors because they lack the ability to take responsibility for research content.

Principles

4. Acceptable Uses of AI for Authors
CNJ allows limited, transparent AI use for non-substantive tasks that do not affect scientific reasoning, originality, or data integrity.

Permitted Uses
Authors may use AI tools for:

These uses are allowed only if:

Disclosure Requirement
If AI is used in a substantive manner (beyond grammar checks), authors must disclose this use in the manuscript (Methods or Acknowledgments).
Example disclosure:
“AI-assisted tools were used for language editing; all content was reviewed and verified by the authors.”

Use solely for grammar editing may be exempted from disclosure, but CNJ encourages transparency whenever possible.

5. Unacceptable Uses of AI for Authors
Certain uses of AI pose risks to research integrity, confidentiality, and ethical compliance. CNJ strictly prohibits the following practices.

Prohibited Uses
Authors may not use AI tools to:

Rationale
These practices threaten:

Violations constitute academic misconduct and may result in rejection or retraction.

6. AI Use in Data Analysis
AI-based analytic tools (e.g., machine-learning systems, automated classifiers) must be used with scientific caution and full methodological transparency.

Requirements:

AI cannot perform unverified statistical analysis or automatically produce conclusions.

7. AI Use in Peer Review
Reviewers play a crucial role in protecting the confidentiality of manuscript content. AI use by reviewers requires strict limitations to avoid privacy breaches.

Reviewers Must Not:

Permitted Limited Uses
Reviewers may use AI locally (not cloud-based) for:

No manuscript text may be entered into AI tools. Violations may result in removal from the reviewer pool.

8. AI Use in Editorial Decision-Making
Editorial judgments require human expertise, contextual understanding, and ethical responsibility. AI may support administrative workflow but cannot influence acceptance decisions.

Prohibited Editorial Uses
Editors may not:

Allowed Administrative Uses
AI may assist with:

Final decisions must always be made by human editors.

9. Disclosure Requirements
Transparency ensures accountability. Authors must disclose any significant AI use, while reviewers and editors must report any auxiliary or administrative AI involvement.

Where to Disclose
Authors must disclose in:

Reviewers disclose in: Confidential comments to the editor
Editors disclose in: Internal editorial records (not published)

10. Misuse, Investigation, and Corrective Actions
Violations of the AI Use Policy may compromise publication integrity. CNJ follows COPE procedures to investigate and remedy misconduct.

Possible Violations

Possible Editorial Actions
CNJ may:

11. Policy Updates
Due to rapid developments in AI technology, CNJ reviews this policy regularly to maintain alignment with ethical standards, privacy regulations, and COPE updates.