Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

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

The Journal of Mechanical Engineering, Science, and Innovation recognizes the increasing use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in engineering research and scholarly communication. The journal permits the responsible use of such technologies where they support, rather than replace, human intellectual contribution, critical thinking, scholarly judgment, and accountability.

This policy applies to authors, reviewers, and editors and is intended to promote transparency, research integrity, confidentiality, and responsible scholarly practice.

1. Use of AI by Authors

Authors may use generative AI and AI-assisted technologies to support manuscript preparation, including for:

  • improving language, grammar, and readability;
  • organizing or restructuring text;
  • supporting literature exploration and information discovery;
  • assisting with idea generation or preliminary synthesis;
  • supporting coding, computational, or analytical tasks where appropriately verified; and
  • other supporting activities that remain under meaningful human oversight.

However, AI tools must not substitute for the authors' own scholarly reasoning, analysis, interpretation, or intellectual contribution.

Authors remain fully responsible and accountable for every part of the submitted manuscript, regardless of whether AI tools were used during its preparation. This includes verifying the accuracy, completeness, impartiality, and originality of AI-assisted content. Particular attention must be given to AI-generated references because such references may be inaccurate, nonexistent, or fabricated.

Authors must therefore:

  • critically review and verify all AI-generated or AI-assisted content;
  • ensure that all references and citations correspond to genuine and verifiable scholarly sources;
  • verify all factual statements, numerical information, equations, units, quotations, and interpretations;
  • ensure that the manuscript reflects the authors' own intellectual contribution and scholarly judgment;
  • protect confidential, personal, proprietary, and unpublished information when using AI tools; and
  • comply with applicable copyright, intellectual property, data protection, and research ethics requirements.

The authors, not the AI tool, bear full responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the submitted manuscript.

2. AI-Generated or Fabricated References

The journal places particular emphasis on the integrity and verifiability of references.

Authors must personally verify that every reference cited in the manuscript exists, accurately represents the cited work, and is appropriately relevant to the statement it supports.

The submission of fabricated, nonexistent, substantially inaccurate, or misleading references generated by AI may constitute a serious breach of publication ethics.

Where appropriate, authors are strongly encouraged to provide accurate and active DOIs or other persistent identifiers for references for which such identifiers are available.

The Editorial Office reserves the right to verify references during editorial screening, peer review, or production. Manuscripts containing fabricated or systematically unverifiable references may be rejected or withdrawn from the editorial process. If such problems are discovered after publication, the journal may take appropriate post-publication action in accordance with its publication ethics policies.

3. Disclosure of AI Use

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

The disclosure should identify:

  • the name of the AI tool or service;
  • the purpose for which it was used; and
  • confirmation that the authors reviewed and verified the resulting content and accept full responsibility for the manuscript.

The disclosure should be placed in a separate statement before the References section, using the following wording:

Declaration of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies

During the preparation of this manuscript, the author(s) used [NAME OF TOOL/SERVICE] for [PURPOSE]. The author(s) subsequently reviewed, verified, and edited the resulting content and take full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and final content of the manuscript.

If generative AI was not substantively used, no declaration is required.

4. Use of AI as an Author

Generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors and cannot satisfy the criteria for authorship.

Authorship requires accountability, approval of the final manuscript, responsibility for research integrity, and the ability to respond to questions concerning the work, responsibilities that can only be undertaken by humans.

5. Use of AI and Machine Learning in Research Methods

Where AI or machine learning forms part of the research methodology itself, rather than merely assisting manuscript preparation, its use must be clearly and reproducibly described in the Methods section. This includes, for example, machine learning models used for prediction, optimization, surrogate modeling, fault diagnosis, or data-driven analysis of experimental or numerical results.

Authors should report, where applicable:

  • the name of the AI model/tool, its version, and its developer or provider;
  • the purpose of use;
  • the dataset used, including its source, size, and preprocessing;
  • the training, validation, and testing procedures (for example, data split and cross-validation), together with key model settings and hyperparameters;
  • performance metrics and comparison with appropriate baselines;
  • relevant procedures or prompts where necessary for reproducibility;
  • human validation or verification procedures, including physical consistency checks against experimental or theoretical results; and
  • any other information necessary to reproduce or critically evaluate the method.

Authors are encouraged to make code and data available, where possible, in a public repository or on reasonable request.

This distinction is important: using AI as a research method is not prohibited, but it must be methodologically transparent and reproducible.

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

AI must never be used to fabricate, manipulate, invent, or misrepresent research data or empirical results, including experimental measurements, micrographs, photographs, simulation outputs, and test results.

AI-assisted data visualizations may be acceptable only when they are faithfully derived from genuine underlying data through reproducible analytical or computational procedures.

Where AI is substantively used to produce explanatory figures, conceptual diagrams, schematics, workflows, or similar illustrations, its use must be transparently disclosed.

Authors remain responsible for ensuring the accuracy, originality, copyright compliance, and integrity of all visual materials.

7. Use of AI by Reviewers

All manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Mechanical Engineering, Science, and Innovation must be treated as confidential documents.

Reviewers must not upload, paste, transmit, or otherwise provide a submitted manuscript, or any confidential part of it, to a public or non-private generative AI tool.

This restriction applies to:

  • the complete manuscript;
  • abstracts or substantial excerpts;
  • tables and figures;
  • unpublished datasets;
  • supplementary materials; and
  • any confidential information obtained through the peer-review process.

This requirement protects authors' confidentiality, intellectual property, and data privacy.

AI must not replace peer-review judgment. Reviewers remain personally responsible for:

  • evaluating scientific and technical quality;
  • assessing originality and contribution;
  • evaluating methodology;
  • identifying strengths and weaknesses;
  • formulating recommendations; and
  • ensuring the accuracy, fairness, and professionalism of their review reports.

AI-generated assessments must never substitute for the reviewer's independent scholarly judgment.

AI may be used only in a limited supportive capacity where confidentiality is fully protected, for example for basic language improvement of a review written by the reviewer or background literature exploration that does not disclose confidential manuscript content.

8. Use of AI by Editors

The same confidentiality principle applies to editors of the Journal of Mechanical Engineering, Science, and Innovation.

Editors must not upload or disclose submitted manuscripts or confidential manuscript content to public or non-private generative AI tools.

Editorial assessment and publication decisions must remain under human responsibility and judgment.

AI may support limited administrative or editorial activities, such as:

  • improving the language or structure of editorial correspondence;
  • assisting with non-confidential background literature searches;
  • supporting technical checks;
  • assisting with reviewer identification where appropriate safeguards exist; and
  • other administrative functions that do not compromise manuscript confidentiality.

However, AI must never make or replace the final editorial decision.

9. Confidentiality and Data Protection

Authors, reviewers, and editors are responsible for ensuring that their use of AI tools complies with applicable requirements concerning:

  • confidentiality;
  • personal data protection;
  • intellectual property;
  • copyright;
  • unpublished research;
  • proprietary and industrial information; and
  • research participant data.

Users should review the privacy policy and terms of service of any AI tool before entering research-related information.

10. Unacceptable Uses of Generative AI

The journal considers the following practices unacceptable:

  • generating substantial scholarly content without meaningful human intellectual contribution or verification;
  • submitting AI-generated analysis or interpretation as if it represented the authors' own scholarly reasoning;
  • fabricating or inventing references, quotations, data, results, or evidence;
  • manipulating research data or results using AI;
  • using AI to conceal plagiarism or other forms of research misconduct;
  • listing an AI system as an author;
  • failing to disclose substantive AI use where disclosure is required;
  • uploading confidential manuscripts to non-private AI systems during peer review or editorial assessment; and
  • using AI as a substitute for independent reviewer or editor judgment.

Serious or repeated violations may result in rejection, withdrawal, retraction, or other actions consistent with the journal's publication ethics policy.

11. Policy Updates

Because generative AI technologies and scholarly publishing standards continue to evolve, the journal reserves the right to periodically review and update this policy.

Authors, reviewers, and editors are responsible for consulting the most recent version of the policy available on the journal website.