Use of artificial intelligence-based technologies in manuscript preparation

In line with the principles of scientific integrity and transparency, the journal requires authors to provide a full and transparent declaration, at the time of submission, of any use of artificial intelligence-based technologies (AI) in the preparation, editing, or publication process of the manuscript. This includes, but is not limited to, large language models (LLMs), chatbots, text or image generators, and similar tools.

AI tools do not qualify as authors and may not be listed as such. Authors remain fully responsible for the content of the manuscript, including the accuracy of its claims, the correctness of citations, the origin of data and figures, and compliance with ethical requirements. This responsibility applies regardless of whether AI tools were used at any stage of the work.

Authors must state in the Methods section of the manuscript if they used an AI-based tool in any of the following processes, or in any other process that substantially contributed to the preparation of the final submitted version of the manuscript:

• drafting, rewriting, summarising, translating, or language-editing the text of the article;
• generating or modifying figures, images, tables, or other graphical elements;
• data analysis, data coding, statistical processing of data, or support for statistical modelling;
• literature searching, keyword generation, or support for reference management.

The declaration should provide, in a level of detail comparable to that used when reporting statistical software, the following information about the tool used:

• the name and type of the tool, for example LLM, chatbot, or image generator;
• its version and/or release, where available;
• the name of the provider and/or developer;
• the purpose and extent of use, including which parts of the work the tool was used for and how;
• where relevant, a brief description of the settings or workflow used, for example “language and style editing”, “figure generation”, or “drafting a code outline”.

With regard to plagiarism and AI hallucination, authors are required to carefully review and edit all AI-generated outputs, as AI may generate content that appears plausible but is inaccurate, incomplete, or biased. Authors must ensure that the manuscript does not contain plagiarism, including in text or visual elements generated with the assistance of AI.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that, in the manuscript:

• all quoted, reproduced, or adapted content is properly cited;
• all visual elements, including figures and illustrations, comply with copyright requirements, source attribution requirements, and applicable licence terms.

In addition to the requirements set out above, any use of AI in manuscript preparation that violates copyright law, licence terms, personality rights, data protection rules, or research ethics standards is not acceptable. It is also prohibited to share confidential information, personal data, or any material related to the review or publication process of a manuscript with any AI service provider without authorisation.

Use of artificial intelligence-based technologies in the review and editorial process

For the editorial office, the confidentiality of information and the preservation of human professional responsibility are key priorities in the peer review and editing of manuscripts. Accordingly, reviewers and editors may use AI tools in their review and editorial work only in ways that do not compromise the confidentiality of manuscripts, reviews, or editorial decision-making materials.

To ensure this, reviewers and editors must follow the principles below when working with submitted manuscripts:

• Reviewers and editors must not use any AI tool that stores input data, uses it for model training, makes it accessible to third parties, or processes it in a way that cannot be controlled by the user. Nor may they use services where such functions cannot be disabled.

• The following must not be uploaded to an AI tool:
  • the full text of the manuscript or substantial parts of it;
  • tables, raw data, images, figures, or supplementary materials;
  • information that could identify authors or reviewers;

• any confidential document related to the review process.
• AI tools must not be used to make review or editorial decisions without human judgement. AI may support human decision-making, but the final assessment and decision always remain a human responsibility.

If a reviewer or editor uses an AI tool in carrying out editorial or review-related tasks, this must be documented for the handling editor or editor-in-chief. The documentation must include:

• the name of the tool used;
• the purpose of use, for example stylistic editing of the final wording of a review;
• the length of any AI-generated text, expressed as the number of words;
• a statement confirming that, during use, any data-sensitive functions of the AI tool were disabled, in particular text storage, use for model training, access by third parties, or any data processing not controlled by the user; or, alternatively, that the system used does not include such functions.