Policy Statement on the Use of Assistive and Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) by Journal Authors and Reviewers

This policy has been designed to provide authors, editors, and reviewers of the Journal on Excellence in College Teaching with transparency regarding expectations for the use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and assisted-AI technologies. This policy outlines the ethical incorporation of AI technologies in scholarly work submitted to the Journal and requires that integrity be maintained throughout the article’s preparation, submission, and peer review process. This policy applies only to the writing process and does not include the incorporation of AI technologies that support data analysis and/or yield insights from data collected that is otherwise part of the research process. Authors are, however, encouraged to be transparent about their use of such technologies, particularly when used in model development, refinement, implementation, and data analysis, so that results are reproducible and the scholarly community at large may benefit from learning about such approaches. 

The Journal editors acknowledge the ongoing developments pertaining to the use of AI (assistive and generative) in higher education and maintain the right to review and revise this policy at any time, as deemed appropriate. 

Use of assistive Artificial Intelligence (AI) by authors

The use of assistive AI technologies (e.g., Grammarly) in the drafting and editing of articles prior to submission to the Journal is permitted by all authors and their collaborators. The use of assistive AI does not need to be disclosed in the article’s Acknowledgements section or at any point in the article submission, correspondence, review, or acceptance stages. All authors are responsible for the content and accuracy of their work and are responsible for critically reviewing all contributions from assistive AI technologies. 

Use of assistive Artificial Intelligence (AI) by reviewers

Reviewers of articles for the Journal are permitted to use assistive AI (e.g., Grammarly) during the review process in support of language refinement and readability of their review. When an article is shared for peer review, all materials associated with that submission are to be treated as confidential. None of the materials shared with reviewers during the peer review process (article text, tables and figures, data sets, etc.)  are to be uploaded by reviewers into any web-based assistive AI tool—doing so has the potential to breach data integrity and privacy rights and the confidentiality and proprietary rights of the Journal and the authors.

Use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)  by authors

Authors are required to disclose all use of generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT) during the article drafting and editing process. This disclosure must be stated in the article’s Acknowledgements section, where the authors are transparent about AI’s use for specific tasks (e.g., text drafting and/or editing, data analysis). All authors and their collaborators are responsible for the content and accuracy of their work and are, thus, responsible for critically reviewing any and all contributions from generative AI technologies. This includes adhering to ethical standards of publication (e.g., no plagiarism, no data fabrication). When generative AI is used for model development, refinement, implementation, and data analysis, authors are required to ensure that their approach is reproducible. Authors are fully responsible for critically reviewing, evaluating, and validating the results of generative AI in their submission. 

Use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) by reviewers

Reviewers of articles for the Journal are not permitted to use generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT) at any stage during the review process. Reviewers are selected based on their professional expertise and are required to maintain confidentiality. Thus, none of the materials shared with reviewers during the peer review process (article text, tables and figures, data sets, etc.) are to be uploaded by reviewers into any generative AI tool—doing so has the potential to breach data integrity and privacy rights and the confidentiality and proprietary rights of the Journal and the authors. If, during the review process, a reviewer suspects that AI has been used inappropriately (and out of accordance with Journal policy) by the author, this must be reported to the Journal editors.

The Journal editors reserve the right to use AI-detection software to ensure adherence to the policies above.

Upon submitting their manuscript, authors hereby agree that they have adhered to all of the policies stated above.

____________________________________________________________________________

Acknowledgments

The guidelines for the use of assistive and generative AI technologies by Nature, Science, Elsevier, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Journal of Research in Science Teaching (Sadler et al., 2024) supported the development and refinement of this policy. 

ChatGPT 4o mini is acknowledged for reviewing and refining language during the final editing stages of these policies.