AI Usage Policy

This policy defines the principles, rules, and limitations for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-supported technologies in the preparation, submission, peer review, and editing of scholarly manuscripts.

1. General Provisions

This policy aims to ensure:

• academic integrity;
• transparency of scholarly activity;
• compliance with international ethical standards;
• reproducibility and reliability of research results.

2. Legal and Ethical Framework

This policy is based on:

• Ukrainian legislation on academic integrity;
• the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE);
• Elsevier and Springer Nature policies on the use of AI.

Improper or undisclosed use of AI may be considered a violation of academic integrity, including improper authorship, plagiarism, or manipulation of research results.

3. Core Principles for AI Use

The use of AI is permitted only if the following principles are observed:

1. Transparency — the fact and nature of AI use must be disclosed.
2. Responsibility — authors bear full responsibility for the content of the manuscript.
3. Verification — all results generated or processed with the assistance of AI must be verified by the authors.
4. Justification — the use of AI must be methodologically justified.
5. Reproducibility — research results must be verifiable and reproducible.

4. Use of AI by Authors

Authors may use AI only as an auxiliary tool for:

• language editing;
• text structuring;
• preliminary information analysis;
• processing large datasets, provided that the results are verified by the authors.

Prohibited practices:

• presenting AI-generated text as one’s own without proper disclosure;
• formulating scientific conclusions using AI without author verification;
• listing AI or an AI tool as a co-author of the manuscript.

5. AI Disclosure Statement

Each manuscript must include an AI Disclosure Statement.

Additional requirements for complex studies:

• description of prompt logic, where methodologically relevant;
• description of the verification procedure;
• statement of limitations related to the use of AI.

6. Levels of AI Involvement

Level	Examples of Use	Requirements
Low involvement	language editing, translation, technical text checking	brief disclosure where appropriate
Moderate involvement	text structuring, preliminary literature review, auxiliary analysis	detailed disclosure and author verification
High involvement	text generation, data analysis, modelling	full methodological description, reproducibility, additional editorial review where necessary

7. Use of AI by Reviewers

• the use of generative AI to write or formulate the content of peer reviews is prohibited;
• reviewers bear personal responsibility for the content, reasoning, and objectivity of their reviews.

8. Use of AI by Editors

• editors are prohibited from uploading manuscripts or peer review materials to generative AI systems;
• if a violation of this policy is suspected, the editor initiates a review procedure.

9. Policy Violations

Violations of this policy include:

• undisclosed use of AI;
• generation or substantial modification of text without author verification;
• use of AI in peer review;
• manipulation of research results using AI.

10. Procedure for Investigating Violations

1. Identification — by an editor, reviewer, or technical system.
2. Initial assessment — preliminary analysis of signs of a possible violation.
3. Request to the author — obtaining explanations and additional materials.
4. Expert review — assessment of the nature and scale of the violation.
5. Decision — determination of editorial actions.
6. Documentation — recording the results of the review.

Possible decisions:

• request for manuscript revision;
• rejection of the manuscript;
• retraction of the article;
• notification of the author’s institution or organization.

Assessment principle: decisions are made on the basis of the balance of probabilities and the available evidence.

11. Responsibility

• Authors are responsible for the content, reliability, originality, and methodological correctness of the manuscript.
• Reviewers are responsible for the objectivity, integrity, and confidentiality of peer review.
• Editors are responsible for compliance with this policy and proper editorial procedures.

12. Permitted and Prohibited Practices

Permitted	Prohibited
technical use of AI for language editing;	concealed use of AI;
auxiliary analysis with author verification;	automatic generation of scientific conclusions;
idea generation as an auxiliary stage;	use of AI without verification, disclosure, and author responsibility.

13. Sanctions

In case of violation of this policy, the following editorial measures may be applied:

• return of the manuscript for revision;
• rejection of the manuscript;
• retraction of the published article;
• notification of the author’s institution;
• restriction of future submissions to the Journal.

14. International Standards

This policy is aligned with the approaches and recommendations of:

• COPE — guidance on AI tools and publication ethics;
• Elsevier — policy on AI-assisted writing;
• Springer Nature — policy on generative AI and authorship.

Key provisions:

• AI cannot be listed as an author or co-author;
• human authors are responsible for the manuscript;
• AI use must be transparent, justified, and controlled.

15. Critical Limitations of the Policy

1. It is not possible to precisely determine the proportion of AI-generated content using automated tools alone.
2. AI detectors have limited reliability and cannot serve as the sole basis for an editorial decision.
3. Assessment of AI use may involve a degree of subjectivity.
4. AI technologies are rapidly evolving; therefore, this policy may be updated.

16. Final Provisions

AI is considered a tool to support scholarly activity, not a substitute for it.

Compliance with this policy is a mandatory condition for publication in the Journal.

Note: authors, reviewers, and editors are responsible for the ethical, transparent, and controlled use of artificial intelligence tools.