Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) POLICY

Policy on the Use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies

Environmental Engineering Journal ITATS recognizes the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI), generative AI, and AI-assisted technologies in environmental engineering research and scholarly communication.

Environmental Engineering Journal ITATS supports the responsible and ethical use of these technologies to improve research efficiency, scientific communication, and analytical capabilities. However, AI tools must support, rather than replace, human intellectual contributions, scientific reasoning, critical analysis, professional judgment, and accountability.

This policy establishes requirements for authors, reviewers, and editors regarding the responsible use of AI in manuscript preparation, research, peer review, and editorial processes.

The policy aims to ensure scientific integrity, transparency, originality, confidentiality, research reproducibility, and compliance with established publication ethics.

1. Use of AI by Authors

Authors may use generative AI and AI-assisted technologies to support the preparation of scientific manuscripts, provided that such use is transparent, appropriate, and subject to meaningful human oversight.

Permitted supporting activities may include:

  • Improving grammar, spelling, clarity, and readability;

  • Assisting with language translation and academic writing quality;

  • Organizing or restructuring manuscript content;

  • Supporting literature discovery and preliminary exploration of research topics;

  • Assisting with programming, coding, and computational tasks;

  • Supporting the preparation of analytical workflows and research documentation; and

  • Assisting with other activities that do not replace the authors' original scientific contributions.

Authors must critically evaluate and verify all AI-generated or AI-assisted content before including it in their manuscripts.

The use of AI does not reduce the authors' responsibility for the originality, scientific accuracy, validity, and integrity of their research.

Authors remain fully responsible for:

  • The authenticity and reliability of research data;

  • The appropriateness of research methods;

  • The validity of scientific analyses and interpretations;

  • The accuracy of calculations, equations, and measurement units;

  • The originality and significance of scientific contributions;

  • The accuracy and authenticity of references and citations;

  • Compliance with research ethics, copyright, and intellectual property requirements; and

  • The accuracy and integrity of the final submitted manuscript.

AI-generated text, interpretations, or recommendations must not be accepted without independent verification by the authors.

2. AI-Generated or Fabricated References

Environmental Engineering Journal ITATS requires all references to be authentic, accurate, relevant, and verifiable.

Authors must ensure that every reference cited in their manuscripts corresponds to an existing scholarly publication or other legitimate source.

The use of generative AI to invent, fabricate, misrepresent, or provide misleading references is strictly prohibited.

Authors must verify:

  • The accuracy of author names and publication years;

  • The correctness of article titles, journal names, and publication details;

  • The validity of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), where applicable;

  • The existence and accessibility of cited publications;

  • The relevance of each reference to the statements it supports; and

  • The accuracy of quotations and interpretations attributed to cited sources.

Authors are encouraged to prioritize relevant, credible, and current scientific literature, including peer-reviewed journal articles and authoritative technical standards.

The editorial team may verify references during initial screening, peer review, and final manuscript preparation.

Manuscripts containing fabricated, nonexistent, or systematically misleading references may be rejected. If serious reference-integrity problems are identified after publication, Environmental Engineering Journal ITATS may initiate an investigation and take appropriate corrective action under its publication ethics policy.

3. Disclosure of AI Use

Authors must transparently disclose the substantive use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies during manuscript preparation.

The disclosure must identify:

  1. The name of the AI tool or service used;

  2. The model or version, where applicable;

  3. The specific purpose for which the technology was used;

  4. The sections or activities supported by the technology; and

  5. Confirmation that the authors independently reviewed and verified the resulting content.

4. Use of AI as an Author or Co-Author

Generative AI systems and AI-assisted technologies cannot be listed as authors or co-authors of manuscripts submitted to Environmental Engineering Journal ITATS.

Authorship requires substantial intellectual contributions, accountability for the research, approval of the final manuscript, responsibility for scientific integrity, and the ability to respond to questions concerning the published work.

These responsibilities can only be fulfilled by human authors.

AI systems must not be credited as authors, assigned authorship positions, or substituted for human responsibility.

5. Use of AI and Machine Learning in Environmental Engineering Research

Environmental Engineering Journal ITATS recognizes that artificial intelligence and machine learning may constitute legitimate scientific methodologies in environmental engineering research.

The use of AI or machine learning as a research methodology is permitted when its application is scientifically justified, transparent, reproducible, and appropriately validated.

Where possible, authors are encouraged to provide access to relevant datasets, analytical codes, model configurations, and supplementary research materials, subject to confidentiality, intellectual property, and applicable data protection requirements.

The use of AI as a research methodology must be distinguished from the use of generative AI to assist manuscript preparation.

6. AI-Generated Images, Figures, and Research Data

Environmental Engineering Journal ITATS strictly prohibits the use of AI to fabricate, falsify, manipulate, or misrepresent scientific data or research findings.

AI-assisted data analysis and visualization may be used when the outputs are faithfully derived from legitimate datasets through scientifically valid and reproducible procedures.

Synthetic or simulated data may be used for legitimate scientific purposes, provided that they are explicitly identified as synthetic or simulated, their generation methods are adequately described, and they are not misrepresented as actual experimental or field observations.

Authors remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, scientific validity, and copyright compliance of all visual materials included in their manuscripts.

7. Use of AI by Peer Reviewers

All manuscripts submitted to Environmental Engineering Journal ITATS must be treated as confidential scholarly documents.

Reviewers must not upload, paste, transmit, or otherwise disclose submitted manuscripts or confidential manuscript materials to external generative AI systems.

This restriction applies to complete manuscripts, abstracts, substantial excerpts, figures, tables, unpublished datasets, supplementary materials, author responses, and confidential editorial correspondence.

All reviewer reports must be based on the reviewer's independent expertise, critical analysis, and professional scholarly judgment.

Reviewers remain personally responsible for the accuracy, fairness, objectivity, and integrity of their assessments.

8. Use of AI by Editors

Environmental Engineering Journal ITATS recognizes that AI-assisted technologies may support certain administrative and technical activities within journal management.

However, editors must use such technologies responsibly and must protect the confidentiality and integrity of submitted manuscripts.

AI tools may only be used for limited non-confidential administrative purposes, such as:

  • Improving the language and clarity of general editorial correspondence;

  • Preparing administrative templates and routine communications;

  • Supporting general technical or editorial workflow planning; and

  • Conducting literature exploration that does not disclose confidential manuscript content.

Editors must not upload confidential manuscripts, unpublished research data, peer-review reports, or private editorial correspondence to external generative AI services.

AI-generated assessments must not replace the independent scientific evaluation performed by editors and reviewers.

AI tools must not independently determine whether a manuscript should be accepted, revised, or rejected.

The final editorial decision remains the responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief or an authorized human editor and must be based on scientific merit, reviewer recommendations, publication ethics, and the journal's editorial standards.

9. Confidentiality, Data Protection, and Intellectual Property

All authors, reviewers, and editors must ensure that the use of AI technologies complies with applicable requirements concerning confidentiality, personal data protection, copyright, intellectual property, and research ethics.

Particular care must be taken when handling:

  • Unpublished research manuscripts;

  • Confidential laboratory or industrial information;

  • Personal information and research participant data;

  • Proprietary environmental monitoring datasets;

  • Restricted institutional or industrial information;

  • Sensitive environmental information; and

  • Confidential peer-review and editorial records.

Users must not disclose confidential or restricted information to unauthorized AI services.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that any research-related information entered into AI systems can lawfully and ethically be processed by those systems.

10. Unacceptable Uses of Generative AI and Policy Violations

Environmental Engineering Journal ITATS considers the following practices unacceptable:

  • Listing generative AI systems as authors or co-authors;

  • Fabricating references, quotations, research data, or scientific findings;

  • Submitting unverified AI-generated scientific content as original research;

  • Using AI to conceal plagiarism or other forms of research misconduct;

  • Manipulating scientific images or results to create misleading evidence;

  • Failing to disclose substantive AI use where disclosure is required;

  • Uploading confidential manuscripts to unauthorized AI services;

  • Using AI to conduct peer-review assessments;

  • Allowing AI to replace independent editorial decisions; and

  • Violating copyright, data protection, or research ethics requirements through the use of AI.

When potential violations are identified, the editorial team may request clarification, relevant documentation, original research data, or other information necessary to evaluate the concern.

Suspected misconduct will be assessed fairly, considering the available evidence and providing the parties concerned with an opportunity to respond.

The results of automated AI-detection tools alone shall not constitute sufficient evidence of research misconduct.

Confirmed serious violations may result in manuscript rejection, withdrawal from the editorial process, publication of a correction, retraction, or other appropriate action consistent with the journal's publication ethics policy.

11. Policy Implementation and Updates

Environmental Engineering Journal ITATS reserves the right to periodically review and revise this policy in response to developments in AI technologies, scholarly publishing standards, research ethics, and applicable regulations.

Authors, reviewers, and editors are responsible for consulting and complying with the current version of this policy.