Generative AI Policy

International Transactions on Education Technology (ITEE) recognizes that generative AI and AI-assisted technologies ("AI tools") such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, and similar tools are increasingly used in academic writing and research. This policy explains how AI tools may and may not be used by authors, reviewers, and editors involved with ITEE, in order to protect research integrity and transparency.

For Authors

Authors may use AI tools to support tasks such as improving language and readability, organizing content, or conducting preliminary literature searches. However, AI tools must never replace the author's own critical thinking, analysis, and judgment. Authors remain fully responsible and accountable for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of their manuscript, including all data, references, and interpretations.

Disclosure requirement: If AI tools are used in the preparation of a manuscript beyond basic grammar/spelling checks, authors must include a disclosure statement in the manuscript (e.g., in the Acknowledgments or Methods section), stating the name of the tool, its purpose, and confirming that the content was reviewed and edited by the author(s). Suggested wording:

"During the preparation of this work, the author(s) used [NAME OF TOOL] in order to [REASON, e.g., improve language and readability]. After using this tool, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of this article."

Authorship: AI tools must not be listed as an author or co-author. Authorship and its responsibilities can only be attributed to human contributors who can approve the final manuscript and take accountability for its content.

Not permitted: Fabricating or altering data, results, or references using AI; generating entire sections of a manuscript without genuine intellectual input from the author; using AI to create or manipulate figures that represent actual research data (e.g., charts, graphs, experimental images) in a way that misrepresents the underlying findings.

For Figures and Images

AI tools may be used to help create explanatory diagrams (e.g., conceptual flowcharts or schematic illustrations), provided their use is disclosed in the figure caption and in the manuscript's AI declaration. AI tools must not be used to generate or alter images that represent actual research data or results (such as graphs derived from real data, screenshots, or experimental outputs), as this could misrepresent findings.

For Reviewers

Manuscripts submitted for review are confidential documents. Reviewers must not upload a manuscript, or any part of it, into any AI tool, as doing so may breach the authors' confidentiality and data privacy. AI tools may only be used in a limited, supportive way — for example, to help refine the language of a review report — while the scientific assessment and judgment must remain entirely the reviewer's own. Reviewers who use an AI tool for this purpose should note it briefly in their review comments.

For Editors

Editors handling submissions must likewise treat manuscripts as confidential and must not upload manuscript content into AI tools. AI tools may be used to support administrative or language-related tasks (e.g., refining wording in decision letters), but all editorial decisions must be made based on the editor's own independent judgment. AI tools cannot replace the editor's responsibility in the peer review and decision-making process.