Generative AI Policies

Al-Waarits Journal recognizes that Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and AI-assisted technologies can support scholarly communication and research when used ethically, transparently, and responsibly. Such technologies may include, but are not limited to, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek, Perplexity AI, and other comparable AI-based systems.

This policy establishes the principles governing the responsible use of GenAI and AI-assisted technologies throughout the manuscript preparation, submission, peer-review, and editorial processes of Al-Waarits Journal. It applies to authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial staff.

The policy is particularly relevant to research published by Al-Waarits Journal concerning Islam, technology, Muslim societies, social issues, multidisciplinary Islamic studies, religion and social policy, and the interaction between Islam and global culture.

1. Purpose

The objectives of this policy are to:

• Protect the integrity, originality, and reliability of scholarly publications.

• Promote transparency regarding the use of GenAI and AI-assisted technologies.

• Ensure that human authors retain intellectual responsibility for their research and publications.

• Protect the confidentiality of manuscripts and peer-review materials.

• Prevent fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, citation manipulation, and other forms of research misconduct involving AI.

• Support internationally recognized principles of responsible scholarly publishing.

2. Policy for Authors

2.1 Permitted Uses

Authors may use GenAI and AI-assisted technologies as supportive tools during manuscript preparation, provided that meaningful human oversight remains throughout the process.

Permitted uses may include:

• Improving grammar, spelling, punctuation, and language clarity.

• Improving readability and academic expression.

• Supporting the organization of ideas and manuscript structure.

• Assisting with formatting and presentation.

• Supporting the development of non-substantive text when the authors critically evaluate and substantially control the final content.

• Assisting with coding or other technical research tasks when the use of AI is properly verified and reported as part of the research methodology, where applicable.

The use of GenAI must not replace the authors' independent scholarly reasoning, theoretical interpretation, methodological decisions, critical analysis, or conclusions.

AI-generated output must be treated as an assistive input rather than an authoritative scholarly source. Authors must independently verify factual claims, interpretations, citations, quotations, and other substantive information generated or assisted by AI.

2.2 Author Responsibility

Authors remain fully responsible for the entire content of their manuscripts, regardless of whether any part of the work was produced or assisted by AI.

Authors are responsible for:

• The originality and academic integrity of the manuscript.

• The accuracy of statements, arguments, data, interpretations, and citations.

• The appropriate use and attribution of sources.

• Compliance with research ethics and publication ethics.

• Verification of AI-assisted content before submission.

• Ensuring that AI use does not infringe copyright, confidentiality, privacy, or other third-party rights.

• Ensuring that the final manuscript reflects the authors' own scholarly contribution.

The use of GenAI does not transfer academic, ethical, legal, or intellectual responsibility from the authors to the AI system.

2.3 Disclosure of GenAI Use

Authors must disclose the use of GenAI or AI-assisted technologies when such tools contribute substantively to manuscript preparation or to the research process.

Basic spelling, grammar, punctuation, or conventional reference-management functions do not require disclosure when they do not generate substantive content.

When disclosure is required, authors should provide:

• The name of the AI tool or service.

• The purpose for which it was used.

• The stage of the research or manuscript preparation in which it was used.

• A statement confirming that the authors reviewed, verified, and edited the resulting material.

• A statement confirming that the authors retain full responsibility for the final published work.

The declaration should normally be placed at the end of the manuscript, immediately before the References section, under the heading "Declaration of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies." This approach is consistent with current publisher guidance that emphasizes transparent disclosure of substantive AI use.

If AI is used as part of the formal research process, such as data analysis, coding, research design, classification, or other methodological procedures, the use of AI should also be described appropriately in the Methods section.

2.4 Prohibited Uses

Authors must not:

• List any AI system as an author or co-author.

• Attribute academic authorship or copyright ownership to an AI system.

• Submit AI-generated material as original scholarly work without appropriate human review and disclosure.

• Fabricate, falsify, manipulate, or selectively alter research findings using AI.

• Generate fictitious references, citations, quotations, datasets, research participants, images, or experimental results.

• Use AI to conceal plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct.

• Manipulate citations or scholarly evidence through AI-generated content.

• Upload confidential, unpublished, personal, or restricted research materials to external AI systems without appropriate authorization and data protection safeguards.

• Use AI output without checking its accuracy, relevance, and scholarly reliability.

3. AI-Generated Images, Figures, and Multimedia

Authors must ensure that all images, figures, illustrations, tables, diagrams, graphical abstracts, and multimedia materials accurately represent the underlying research.

If GenAI or AI-assisted technologies are used to create, modify, enhance, or substantially transform visual materials, authors must disclose such use when it is relevant to the interpretation or presentation of the research.

Authors are responsible for:

• Ensuring the authenticity and accuracy of visual materials.

• Confirming that the material can legally be published.

• Respecting copyright, licensing, privacy, and intellectual property rights.

• Clearly distinguishing generated or substantially modified materials where necessary.

• Retaining original files or source materials when requested by the Editorial Board.

AI must not be used to fabricate or manipulate research images, evidence, or visual data in a manner that misrepresents the research.

The Editorial Board may request original image files, raw data, source files, or additional documentation when necessary to assess research integrity.

4. Policy for Reviewers

Peer review at Al-Waarits Journal is a confidential scholarly process. Reviewers must protect the confidentiality of manuscripts and all related materials.

Reviewers must not upload submitted manuscripts or any portion of them into public or external GenAI systems. This prohibition includes:

• Manuscript files.

• Tables and figures.

• Supplementary materials.

• Unpublished research findings.

• Reviewer forms.

• Confidential correspondence.

• Personal or identifying information.

• Other information obtained through the peer-review process.

Submitted manuscripts constitute confidential intellectual property. Uploading such materials to external AI systems may create risks involving confidentiality, privacy, intellectual property, and unauthorized disclosure. Current publisher guidance similarly prohibits reviewers from submitting confidential manuscripts to external AI tools.

Reviewers must not use GenAI to replace their independent scholarly assessment or to generate substantive peer-review judgments.

Reviewers remain fully responsible for:

• The accuracy of their review.

• Their assessment of the manuscript.

• Their recommendations.

• The confidentiality of the review process.

If the journal permits limited AI assistance for language refinement of a review report, reviewers must ensure that no confidential manuscript information is disclosed and that the final assessment remains their own.

5. Policy for Editors

Editors must maintain confidentiality, independence, and impartiality throughout the editorial process.

Editors must not upload submitted manuscripts, reviewer reports, author correspondence, or other confidential editorial materials into external GenAI systems.

Editors must not use GenAI to:

• Determine whether a manuscript should be accepted or rejected.

• Replace independent editorial assessment.

• Evaluate the scholarly quality of a manuscript.

• Generate substantive editorial decisions.

• Replace human judgment regarding research ethics or publication integrity.

Editors may use appropriate AI-assisted technologies for limited administrative or language-related activities when confidentiality is adequately protected.

All editorial decisions must be made by qualified human editors based on independent scholarly judgment.

The editor remains accountable for the editorial process and the final decision communicated to authors. This principle is consistent with current international publisher guidance concerning human responsibility in editorial decision-making.

6. Confidentiality and Data Protection

All unpublished manuscripts submitted to Al-Waarits Journal are confidential.

Authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial staff must protect confidential information obtained during the editorial and peer-review processes.

Users of AI-assisted technologies must consider:

• Confidentiality requirements.

• Data protection obligations.

• Copyright and intellectual property rights.

• Personal data protection.

• The terms and conditions of the AI service.

• Whether submitted information may be retained, reused, or used for model training.

Confidential manuscripts, unpublished research findings, personal information, and restricted data must not be submitted to external AI services unless the use is explicitly authorized and appropriate safeguards are in place.

7. AI Use in Research

Al-Waarits Journal does not prohibit the responsible use of AI-assisted technologies as research tools.

AI may be used in research activities such as:

• Data processing.

• Statistical or computational analysis.

• Coding assistance.

• Data classification.

• Text analysis.

• Translation or language processing.

• Research design support.

When AI contributes materially to the research methodology, authors must describe its use transparently in the Methods section or another appropriate section of the manuscript.

Authors must explain the role of the technology sufficiently to allow readers and reviewers to understand its contribution and assess the reliability and reproducibility of the research.

The use of AI in research does not reduce the authors' responsibility for methodological validity, data integrity, interpretation, or conclusions. Current publishing guidance similarly distinguishes AI used in research methods from AI used for manuscript preparation.

8. Ethical Compliance

The use of GenAI does not exempt authors, reviewers, editors, or editorial staff from compliance with applicable publication and research ethics.

All parties must comply with:

• Publication ethics.

• Research integrity standards.

• Plagiarism policies.

• Copyright regulations.

• Data protection requirements.

• Research ethics requirements.

• Citation and referencing standards.

• Journal policies concerning corrections and retractions.

Misuse of GenAI that results in fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, inappropriate image manipulation, citation manipulation, undisclosed substantive AI-generated content, or other forms of research misconduct may result in editorial action.

Cases of suspected misconduct will be handled according to the publication ethics and retraction procedures of Al-Waarits Journal.

9. Editorial Authority

Al-Waarits Journal reserves the right to:

• Request additional information concerning the use of GenAI.

• Request clarification or disclosure of AI-assisted content.

• Request original data, source files, or documentation when necessary.

• Require authors to revise AI-assisted content that does not meet the journal's standards.

• Reject manuscripts that violate this policy.

• Investigate suspected misuse of AI.

• Take corrective or editorial action when AI use contributes to research misconduct or publication ethics violations.

The Editorial Board may update this policy in response to developments in AI technology, research integrity standards, privacy regulations, copyright requirements, and scholarly publishing practices.

10. Policy Review

AI technologies and scholarly publishing practices continue to develop rapidly. Al-Waarits Journal will periodically review this policy to ensure that it remains consistent with responsible research practices and internationally recognized standards.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to revise this policy whenever necessary.

The current version of the policy applies to manuscripts submitted after its effective date.

References

This policy has been developed with consideration of internationally recognized guidance on responsible AI use and research integrity, including:

• STM Association. Recommendations for a Classification of AI Use in Academic Manuscript Preparation. 2025.
• Elsevier. Generative AI Policies for Journals.
• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Guidance and principles concerning artificial intelligence, authorship, and publication ethics.

The policy is intended to complement the journal's existing policies on publication ethics, research integrity, plagiarism, copyright, peer review, corrections, and retractions.