(22 Sept 2025) Publishers often provide guidelines for authors to transparently declare any human assistance in manuscript preparation (for example, professional language editing services).
However, recent developments in AI – particularly generative AI – have led to rapid expansion in the capabilities of machine tools to assist with writing, editing, and even enhancing research manuscripts with images and diagrams. Publisher guidelines have not kept pace with these technological developments, leading to uncertainty amongst:
- Authors, about their obligations to declare their use of AI assistance;
- Peer reviewers, about acceptable AI use and declarations in manuscripts; and
- Readers, about AI- vs. human-generated content in publications.
This uncertainty, especially the lack of transparency around AI contributions to publications, poses a risk to the integrity of academic publishing. Clear definitions and terminologies are needed to facilitate the development of guidance regarding the declaration and use of various kinds of AI assistance in manuscript preparation.
This document presents a classification of various ways that artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to assist in the preparation of academic manuscripts. It is intended to serve as a framework for publishers to individually develop policies on how AI may be used and should be declared by authors.
Download the report here.
