AI Policy for Authors

Guidelines for the responsible use of AI and AI-assisted tools in manuscript preparation and publication with IST Publications.

Back to Author Guidelines

At IST Publications, we recognize that AI tools are increasingly being used in scholarly writing. While we permit the use of AI tools to assist with manuscript preparation, authors bear full responsibility for the content of their submission.

This policy outlines our guidelines for the responsible use of AI tools, disclosure requirements, and restrictions to ensure research integrity.

Policy updated March 2026

Authors who use any AI tools are fully responsible for:

  • Verifying accuracy: Diligently reviewing and verifying the accuracy, comprehensiveness, and impartiality of all AI-generated output, including the validation of sources, as AI-generated references may be inaccurate or fabricated.
  • Original contribution: Editing and thoroughly adapting all material to ensure that the manuscript accurately reflects the author's authentic and original contribution, as well as their own analysis, interpretation, insights, and ideas.
  • Transparency: Ensuring transparency regarding the utilization of any tools or sources, whether AI-based or otherwise. A disclosure statement is required upon submission.
  • Data protection: Ensuring that the manuscript is developed in a manner that safeguards data privacy, intellectual property, and other rights by reviewing the terms and conditions of any AI tool employed.

Authors are required to meticulously review the terms and conditions associated with any AI tool they employ, ensuring:

  • The safeguarding of the privacy and confidentiality of their data and inputs, including unpublished manuscripts
  • Special attention to personally identifiable information
  • Verification of information for factual accuracy
  • Assessment of potential biases in AI-generated content

Important: Authors should verify that the AI tool does not impose restrictions on the use of its outputs that could impede the subsequent publication of the relevant article.

Authors should confirm that no additional rights are granted to the AI tool regarding the input materials, including, but not limited to, the right to train the AI on those materials.

Authors are required to disclose the utilization of AI tools for manuscript preparation in a separate AI declaration statement upon submission, which will be included in the published work.

The disclosure should document:

  • The name of the AI tool employed
  • The purpose of its use
  • The extent of author oversight

Such declarations promote transparency and foster trust among authors, readers, reviewers, editors, and contributors.

Note: Basic checks for grammar, spelling, and punctuation do not necessitate disclosure. However, the employment of AI in the research process must be declared and elaborated upon in detail within the methods section.

Authors must NOT list AI Tools as authors or co-authors, nor cite AI Tools as authors.

Authorship conveys responsibilities and tasks that are exclusively attributable to and executable by humans:

  • Each (co-)author bears the responsibility for ensuring that questions regarding the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are properly investigated and resolved
  • Authorship entails the ability to approve the final version of the work and consent to its submission
  • Authors are accountable for confirming that the work is original and has not been previously published
  • Authors must confirm that the work does not infringe upon third-party rights

Prohibited: The use of Generative AI or AI-assisted tools to create or modify images in submitted manuscripts.

This includes actions like:

  • Enhancing, obscuring, moving, removing, or adding specific features in images or figures
  • Generating images that replicate or reference existing copyrighted images
  • Creating images of individuals or identifiable products and brands
  • Any likeness of an individual's voice

Allowed: Adjustments to brightness, contrast, or color balance are allowed only if they do not hide or alter the original information.

Exception: When AI tools are a fundamental component of the research design (e.g., AI-assisted imaging techniques in biomedical imaging), this must be documented in a reproducible manner within the methods section, including the model name, version, and manufacturer.

Grammar, spelling, and punctuation checks (no disclosure required)

Language improvement and translation assistance (disclosure required)

AI-assisted data analysis as part of methodology (must document in methods)

Brainstorming and outline development (disclosure required)

Listing AI as author or co-author

AI-generated or modified figures without disclosure

Fabricated references from AI tools

Relying solely on AI without author verification

Submitted manuscripts may be analyzed with:

  • Image forensics tools to detect potential image irregularities
  • Specialized software to identify AI-generated content
  • Plagiarism detection tools

Authors may be requested to submit pre-AI-adjusted versions of images and/or the raw composite images used to produce the final submitted versions, for editorial review.

Note: Failure to disclose AI usage or providing misleading information about AI use may result in manuscript rejection or retraction after publication.