Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

Religious · Editorial Policies

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

Religious: Jurnal Studi Agama-Agama dan Lintas Budaya is committed to maintaining academic integrity, confidentiality, transparency, and human accountability in scholarly publishing. This policy governs the use of artificial intelligence (AI), including generative AI and AI-assisted tools, in manuscript preparation, editorial work, and peer review.

AI may support certain activities undertaken by authors and editors, subject to the conditions below. It must not replace scholarly judgment or editorial decision-making. Peer reviewers are prohibited from using AI in the peer-review process.

1. Use of AI by Authors

Authors may use AI to support language editing, grammar correction, translation, and improvements to readability or presentation. All AI-assisted changes must be carefully reviewed and verified by the authors to ensure that they preserve the intended meaning and do not introduce inaccuracies, bias, unsupported claims, or inappropriate borrowing.

Authors must not use AI to:

Fabricate or falsify research data, interview transcripts, quotations, references, findings, or other research evidence.
Generate or manipulate images or other materials in ways that misrepresent research evidence.
Replace the authors’ scholarly judgment, critical interpretation, or responsibility for the research.
Submit AI-generated material as original research or evidence without an appropriate and transparent methodological basis.

Where AI is used as a research tool, authors must describe its role in the Methods section or an equivalent methodological section. The description must identify the tool and explain its purpose, relevant procedures, and how its outputs were checked. Such use remains subject to applicable research ethics, confidentiality, and data protection requirements.

Authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, validity, and integrity of the entire manuscript, including any content produced or modified with AI assistance.

2. Disclosure of AI Use by Authors

Authors must disclose any use of AI in preparing or revising a submitted manuscript. This includes AI-assisted language editing, translation, and other uses described in this policy.

The disclosure must appear in a separate section entitled “Declaration of AI Use”, placed before the References. It must specify:

The name of the AI tool and its provider.
The version or model, where available.
The purpose and extent of its use, including the sections or activities affected.
How the authors reviewed and verified the resulting content.

Example declaration

During the preparation of this manuscript, the authors used ChatGPT (OpenAI, [model/version, where available]) to improve the English grammar and readability of [specify sections]. The authors reviewed and edited all AI-assisted changes, verified their accuracy, and take full responsibility for the final content of the manuscript.

If no AI was used

The authors declare that no AI tools were used in the preparation or revision of this manuscript.

An AI disclosure does not replace a methodological explanation when AI forms part of the research process.

3. AI and Authorship

AI tools must not be listed as authors or co-authors. They cannot assume responsibility for a publication, approve its final version, disclose conflicts of interest, or fulfil the obligations of authorship.

All authorship responsibilities remain with the named human authors. Disclosing AI use does not transfer or reduce those responsibilities.

4. Use of AI by the Editorial Team

Editors may use AI for limited administrative or language-related assistance involving non-confidential material. AI must not replace their assessment of scientific merit, interpretation of reviewer reports, or decisions to accept, reject, or request revisions.

Editors must disclose AI use undertaken in their editorial role. The disclosure must identify the tool, its purpose, the material or activity affected, and the human verification performed.

For manuscript-specific use, the disclosure must be recorded in the manuscript’s editorial record and communicated to the authors. If AI assists with published editorial content, a declaration must accompany that content.

Editors must not enter or upload unpublished manuscripts, manuscript excerpts, reviewer reports, author identities, personal information, or confidential editorial correspondence into AI applications.

Editors remain accountable for the originality and accuracy of editorial content, the confidentiality and integrity of submissions, and every editorial decision.

5. Prohibition of AI Use in Peer Review

Peer reviewers must conduct their reviews independently, using their own expertise and scholarly judgment. The use of AI in any part of the peer-review process is prohibited.

This prohibition includes:

Using AI to analyse, summarise, interpret, or evaluate a manuscript.
Using AI to assess originality, methodology, findings, references, or scholarly contribution.
Using AI to generate, draft, rewrite, translate, or polish review comments or recommendations.
Entering or uploading a manuscript, any part of a manuscript, supplementary material, or review-related confidential information into an AI application.

Reviewers who cannot complete a review without such assistance should notify the handling editor rather than use AI. Any accidental disclosure of confidential material to an AI application must be reported promptly to the editor.

6. Confidentiality and Human Accountability

Authors and editors must protect confidential, personal, sensitive, and third-party material when using AI. They must not disclose material to an AI service without the necessary rights, permissions, and safeguards.

Permitted AI use does not remove responsibility for originality, confidentiality, research integrity, or editorial accountability. All research claims and editorial decisions must remain subject to meaningful human verification and judgment.

7. Non-Compliance

Suspected breaches of this policy will be assessed fairly, with an opportunity for the individuals concerned to provide an explanation.

Depending on the nature and seriousness of the breach, the journal may request clarification or revision, reject a manuscript, commission a new independent review, or take appropriate post-publication action, including correction or retraction. Breaches by reviewers or editors may also result in their removal from the relevant assignment or role.

This policy will be reviewed periodically to reflect developments in AI technology, scholarly publishing, and applicable accreditation requirements.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy