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

This policy applies to all journals published by Ptolemy Scientific Research Press (PSR Press). It provides guidance on the responsible, transparent, and ethical use of generative artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies in scholarly writing, research preparation, peer review, editorial work, and publication.

For the purpose of this policy, “AI tools” include generative AI systems, AI-assisted writing tools, chatbots, automated summarization tools, image-generation systems, code-generation tools, translation tools, and other software that can generate, modify, summarize, analyze, or improve text, images, data, code, or other research-related content.

PSR Press recognizes that AI tools may assist researchers and publishing professionals in limited and responsible ways. However, these tools must not replace human expertise, scholarly judgment, ethical responsibility, peer review, authorship accountability, or editorial decision-making. PSR Press will continue to review and update this policy as technologies, publishing standards, and international ethical practices evolve.

Purpose, Scope, and General Principles

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that AI tools are used in a way that protects research integrity, confidentiality, authorship responsibility, originality, accuracy, and trust in the scholarly record. The policy applies to authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, guest editors, editorial assistants, and all persons involved in the submission, review, editing, and publication of manuscripts in PSR Press journals.

The use of AI tools must follow these general principles:

  • AI tools must not replace the author’s own critical thinking, subject expertise, analysis, interpretation, or conclusions.
  • Human authors remain fully responsible for all content submitted to PSR Press journals.
  • AI tools must not be listed as authors, co-authors, reviewers, editors, or decision-makers.
  • AI use must be transparent and disclosed where required.
  • AI-generated or AI-assisted content must be checked carefully for accuracy, originality, bias, citation reliability, and ethical compliance.
  • Confidential or unpublished material must not be uploaded to public AI tools or unsecured third-party platforms.
  • AI tools must not be used in any way that compromises data protection, privacy, intellectual property, copyright, peer-review confidentiality, or publication ethics.
  • Final responsibility for manuscripts, reviews, editorial communications, and publication decisions always remains with qualified human contributors.

AI tools may be helpful for limited support, such as improving grammar, organizing language, checking readability, or assisting with technical formatting. However, they must not be used to create misleading content, fabricate data, invent references, manipulate images, generate unsupported claims, or conceal the true origin of ideas, text, analysis, or results.

Use of AI Tools by Authors

Authors may use AI tools during manuscript preparation only when such use is responsible, transparent, and carefully supervised by the authors. Permitted uses may include:

  • improving grammar, clarity, and readability;
  • organizing text or outlining sections;
  • suggesting alternative wording for author-written text;
  • assisting with formatting or structure;
  • helping summarize literature already read and verified by the authors;
  • supporting code drafting or technical language, where the output is checked and validated by the authors.

Authors must not use AI tools to:

  • generate an entire manuscript with minimal human input;
  • produce unverified factual statements;
  • invent, fabricate, or falsify references;
  • create data, results, proofs, images, or conclusions that are not supported by the research;
  • replace the authors’ own analysis, reasoning, interpretation, or scholarly argument;
  • disguise plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, or inappropriate text reuse;
  • process confidential, sensitive, personal, or proprietary data through unsafe tools;
  • violate copyright, licensing terms, institutional rules, or legal obligations.

By submitting a manuscript to a PSR Press journal, authors confirm that they have reviewed, verified, and approved the entire manuscript. Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy of all statements, references, calculations, citations, data, results, images, tables, conclusions, and declarations, including any content that was assisted by AI tools.

Authors must verify all references and citations. AI tools may generate references that are false, incomplete, inaccurate, or unrelated to the manuscript. Fabricated references, misleading citations, or unsupported claims are unacceptable and may lead to rejection, correction, or other editorial action.

Authors must ensure that AI-assisted text is substantially reviewed and revised so that the manuscript reflects the authors’ own intellectual contribution. AI output should not be used as a substitute for original writing, scholarly analysis, research design, data interpretation, or academic judgment.

If authors use AI tools in manuscript preparation beyond routine spelling, grammar, or punctuation checking, they must include an AI-use declaration in the manuscript. The statement should identify:

  • the name of the AI tool used;
  • the version or provider, where relevant;
  • the purpose of use;
  • the part of the work affected;
  • the extent of human review and revision.

An example statement may be:

The authors used [name of tool] for language editing and readability improvement. All AI-assisted suggestions were reviewed, revised, and approved by the authors, who take full responsibility for the final content of the manuscript.

Routine use of standard spelling checkers, grammar checkers, or reference-formatting tools does not normally require a formal AI declaration, unless the tool has generated substantive content or affected the scholarly interpretation of the work.

If AI tools are used as part of the research method itself, such as in data analysis, machine learning, text mining, image processing, algorithm development, modeling, or computational experimentation, this must be described in the Methods section or equivalent part of the manuscript. The description should be detailed enough to allow evaluation and, where possible, reproducibility.

Authors should report:

  • the name and version of the AI model, software, or system;
  • the purpose for which it was used;
  • input data or training data, where applicable and ethically shareable;
  • parameters, prompts, settings, or procedures, where relevant;
  • validation steps used to check accuracy and reliability;
  • limitations or risks associated with the AI-assisted method.

AI tools cannot be credited as authors or co-authors. Authorship requires human accountability, including the ability to approve the final manuscript, accept responsibility for the work, respond to editorial and post-publication concerns, disclose conflicts of interest, and take responsibility for research integrity. AI tools cannot meet these requirements.

Privacy, Confidentiality, Copyright, and Third-Party Material

Authors must use AI tools with careful attention to privacy, confidentiality, copyright, licensing, and intellectual property rights. Manuscripts, research data, images, patient information, unpublished results, internal reports, proprietary files, confidential communications, and third-party materials should not be uploaded to AI tools unless the authors are certain that the tool provides adequate confidentiality, data security, and rights protection.

Authors must be especially careful when using AI tools with:

  • unpublished manuscripts;
  • confidential research data;
  • personally identifiable information;
  • sensitive personal data;
  • patient records or clinical information;
  • proprietary datasets;
  • copyrighted figures, tables, images, code, or text;
  • third-party material used under permission or license;
  • institutional or commercially restricted information.

Before using an AI tool, authors should review the tool’s terms and conditions and ensure that:

  • the content will not be used to train the model without permission;
  • confidential material will not be stored, reused, disclosed, or shared;
  • no rights are transferred to the AI provider that could conflict with journal publication;
  • use of the tool does not violate institutional, contractual, legal, or ethical obligations;
  • authors have the right to use both the input material and any output included in the manuscript.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that AI-assisted content does not infringe copyright or reproduce protected material without permission. Where third-party material is used, authors must obtain any required permission and provide proper acknowledgment. AI-generated or AI-assisted output may still contain copyrighted, biased, inaccurate, or unverifiable content; therefore, authors must check it carefully before submission.

Figures, Images, Artwork, Data, and Research Outputs

To protect the integrity and reproducibility of research, PSR Press journals do not allow the use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools to create, alter, or manipulate scientific images or data-bearing figures in a way that changes, obscures, invents, or misrepresents research information.

This restriction applies to:

  • microscopy images;
  • radiology images;
  • pathology images;
  • medical or clinical images;
  • gels, blots, photographs, or laboratory images;
  • field photographs or observational images used as evidence;
  • graphs, plots, or visualizations derived from experimental or observational data;
  • figures that represent actual research data, results, specimens, measurements, or observations.

Prohibited uses include:

  • adding, removing, or altering features or objects in an image;
  • changing the meaning of an image or data visualization;
  • enhancing an image in a way that hides, distorts, or exaggerates information;
  • generating artificial research images and presenting them as real observations;
  • modifying figures in a way that affects interpretation;
  • creating graphical content that could mislead readers about the nature or origin of the data.

Permitted image adjustments may include limited technical corrections such as global brightness, contrast, or color-balance adjustments, provided that these adjustments do not hide, remove, distort, or misrepresent any underlying information. Cropping may be acceptable when it improves clarity and does not omit relevant information. Any significant image processing should be described clearly where necessary.

The only exception is when AI use is an explicit part of the research method itself, such as AI-based image segmentation, reconstruction, classification, enhancement, computer vision, medical imaging analysis, or model-based visualization. In such cases, the AI method must be described transparently and reproducibly in the manuscript, and authors should be prepared to provide original, unprocessed data or pre-AI images if requested by editors or reviewers.

Generative AI tools must not be used to create graphical abstracts, diagrams, or artistic illustrations that could be mistaken for genuine research data or that may mislead readers. AI-generated artwork, cover designs, or promotional illustrations may be considered only for non-data-bearing material and only when:

  • prior approval is obtained from the editorial office or publisher;
  • the content does not represent or imitate research data;
  • authors confirm that they have the right to use and publish the artwork;
  • appropriate acknowledgment or attribution is provided where required;
  • the artwork does not infringe copyright, privacy, or third-party rights.

PSR Press may use image-checking, similarity-checking, or forensic tools to examine submitted figures and identify possible irregularities, manipulation, or inappropriate AI-generated content.

Use of AI Tools by Reviewers, Editors, and Editorial Staff

Manuscripts sent for peer review are confidential documents. Reviewers must not upload manuscripts, manuscript sections, supplementary files, figures, tables, data, author responses, or review reports into public AI systems, public chatbots, or other AI tools that are not explicitly authorized and controlled by PSR Press.

Reviewers must not use AI tools to evaluate the scientific quality, novelty, significance, originality, or validity of a manuscript. Peer review requires expert human judgment, critical assessment, ethical responsibility, and subject knowledge. AI-generated summaries, critiques, recommendations, or decision suggestions must not replace the reviewer’s own evaluation.

Reviewers are personally responsible for the content, fairness, accuracy, confidentiality, and integrity of their review reports. If reviewers use language-support tools to improve the clarity of their own review comments, they must ensure that no confidential manuscript content is shared with third-party systems.

Editors and editorial staff must also protect the confidentiality of all submitted and unpublished material. They must not upload, paste, summarize, translate, analyze, or process unpublished manuscript content, reviewer reports, editorial comments, author responses, ethical allegations, editorial decisions, or confidential correspondence through public AI tools or unsecured third-party platforms.

Editors must not use AI tools as a substitute for editorial judgment. AI tools must not decide whether a manuscript should be accepted, rejected, revised, or sent for peer review. Final editorial decisions must be made by qualified human editors and must be based on academic merit, reviewer reports, journal scope, ethical compliance, originality, clarity, and contribution to the field.

Editors, reviewers, and editorial staff must not enter the following into public AI tools:

  • unpublished manuscript text;
  • reviewer reports;
  • author response letters;
  • confidential editorial comments;
  • author identities linked to unpublished submissions, where confidentiality is required;
  • reviewer identities;
  • unpublished data, figures, tables, equations, proofs, or supplementary files;
  • ethical allegations or misconduct concerns;
  • editorial decisions before formal communication;
  • any confidential file received during submission, review, or editorial handling.

AI tools must not be listed as reviewers, editors, editorial board members, or decision-makers. They cannot accept responsibility for confidentiality, conflicts of interest, ethical reasoning, scholarly judgment, or editorial accountability.

PSR Press Use of AI, Policy Enforcement, and Updates

PSR Press may use AI-assisted or automated systems to support limited editorial and publishing operations, provided that such use is controlled, secure, ethical, and subject to human oversight. Such tools may assist with:

  • checking manuscript completeness;
  • detecting possible plagiarism or text similarity;
  • identifying possible ethical or image concerns;
  • supporting technical screening;
  • helping identify potential reviewers by subject area;
  • workflow management;
  • administrative organization.

Any use of AI-assisted systems by PSR Press will be subject to appropriate privacy, data protection, confidentiality, and security standards. These tools will not be used to make final editorial decisions without human oversight. The publisher will seek to ensure that any such tools are evaluated for reliability, bias, accuracy, and compliance with ethical publishing standards.

Failure to comply with this policy may result in editorial action. Depending on the nature and seriousness of the concern, possible actions may include:

  • request for clarification from the authors, reviewers, or editors;
  • request for an AI-use declaration;
  • request for original data, images, or source files;
  • revision of the manuscript;
  • removal or replacement of inappropriate AI-generated content;
  • rejection of the manuscript;
  • correction or editorial notice after publication;
  • retraction where serious misconduct or unreliable content is confirmed.

PSR Press may update this policy as AI technologies, legal requirements, research practices, and scholarly publishing standards develop. Authors, reviewers, and editors are encouraged to consult the latest version of this policy before submission, review, or editorial handling.