Use of AI Policy

1. General Principles & Scope

Jurnal Ekonomi & Pembangunan recognize the growing role of Artificial intelligence (AI), generative AI, and AI-assisted technologies are changing the landscape of research and publishing. When used responsibly, these tools can support scholarly work. However, their use must preserve scientific integrity, originality, confidentiality, transparency, and human accountability.

This policy is guided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). For the purposes of this policy, “AI tools” refer to digital systems (e.g., large language models, machine learning, AI agents) capable of generating, translating, analyzing, or materially modifying text, code, images, data, or audio.

  • Human Accountability: AI tools must not replace human critical thinking, scientific judgment, or intellectual contribution. Human authors, reviewers, and editors remain fully accountable for their respective contributions and decisions.

2. Guidelines for Authors

A. Authorship & Citation

  • No AI Authorship: AI tools cannot be listed as authors, co-authors, or cited as authors. Authorship requires human accountability, the ability to manage conflicts of interest, and the capacity to approve final manuscripts.
  • Collective Responsibility: Human authors remain collectively responsible for the originality, validity, and ethical compliance of the entire work, including any AI-assisted content.

B. Acceptable vs. Prohibited Uses of AI

  • Permissible Use (No Disclosure Required): Routine tools used strictly for basic spelling, grammar, punctuation, readability improvements, or reference formatting, provided they do not alter the scholarly meaning.
  • Permissible Use (Disclosure Required): Substantive AI assistance, including synthesizing literature, structuring ideas, heavy translation, or supporting coding and statistical analysis. Authors must independently verify all AI-generated factual claims, calculations, and citations.
  • Strictly Prohibited:
  1. Generating an entire manuscript or substantial portions of original analysis.
  2. Fabricating, falsifying, or manipulating data, results, images, or citations (hallucinations).
  3. Summarizing published works in a way that constitutes plagiarism.

C. Data Privacy & Confidentiality

Before entering unpublished manuscripts, research data, or personal information into an AI tool, authors must review the tool’s privacy practices. Authors must not feed sensitive, proprietary, or confidential data into third-party AI systems unless adequate legal protections are in place.

D. Use of AI in Research Methods & Design

If AI, machine learning, or deep-learning technologies are used as part of the legitimate research design (e.g., coding, data processing, modeling), it must be thoroughly documented in the Methods section to ensure reproducibility. Authors must report:

  • The name, version, and provider of the tool/model.
  • Data inputs, outputs, and training data sources.
  • Parameters, prompts, and validation procedures.
  • The extent of human oversight.

E. AI in Figures, Images, and Artwork

The permitted use of AI for visual assets depends strictly on the evidentiary status of the image:

  1. Primary Research Images (Strictly Prohibited): AI cannot be used to create, alter, enhance, obscure, or remove features in primary data (e.g., microscopy, histology, radiology scans, gels). Standard adjustments to brightness/contrast are acceptable only if applied uniformly and if they do not obscure original data.
  2. Data Visualizations (Conditional): AI may support the creation of charts, graphs, and heatmaps only if the visualization is faithfully derived from underlying research data. The statistical workflow must be reproducible.
  3. Explanatory Images (Allowed with Disclosure): AI can be used to create flowcharts, schematic illustrations, or conceptual diagrams, provided the author verifies scientific accuracy and discloses the AI tool in the image caption.
  4. Graphical Abstracts & Cover Art: General-purpose generative AI is prohibited for graphical abstracts. Specialized scientific design tools are allowed if licensing permits. Cover art requires prior written permission from the editorial board.

F. Disclosure Formatting

If AI is used substantively, authors must include a section titled "Declaration of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies" placed immediately before the References.

  • Example Template: “While preparing this manuscript, the author(s) used [NAME OF TOOL, VERSION] for [PURPOSE]. The author(s) critically reviewed, verified, and revised the resulting output and take full responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and content of the published article.”

3. Guidelines for Reviewers

  • Strict Confidentiality: Submitted manuscripts are highly confidential. Reviewers are strictly prohibited from uploading the manuscript, excerpts, figures, or editorial correspondence into external generative AI tools (like ChatGPT or Claude). Doing so violates author copyright and data privacy.
  • Evaluation Integrity: Reviewers must not use AI tools to evaluate the scientific merit, methodology, or intellectual contribution of a manuscript.
  • Report Drafting: Reviewers must not use AI to draft or edit their peer-review reports if doing so requires feeding any confidential manuscript content into the prompt. Reviewers remain fully responsible for the quality and critical thought of their evaluations.

4. Guidelines for Editors

  • Administrative and Technical Support: Editors may use AI as a supporting tool to streamline administrative workflows. Acceptable uses include format checking, plagiarism detection, data integrity screening, and reviewer matching.
  • Human Oversight: Any AI-assisted editorial process must remain under strict human oversight. The final editorial decision (accept, reject, or revise) and the publication responsibility rest solely with the human editorial board.

5. Enforcement and Compliance

  • AI Writing Detection Threshold: Manuscripts will be subjected to AI writing detection software (e.g., Turnitin). Submissions exceeding a 25% AI-generation threshold will be returned to the authors for adjustment or rejected.
  • Violations: Submissions that fail to disclose AI use, fabricate data, or violate image manipulation rules will be subject to rejection and investigation according to COPE ethical standards.
  • Continuous Adjustment: Because AI technologies evolve rapidly, the editorial board will continuously monitor advancements and update this policy to align with legal standards and ethical best practices in scholarly publishing.