Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use Policy

Sinnun Maxillofacial Journal (SMJ) recognizes the increasing application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in scientific research, academic writing, and scholarly publishing. While these technologies may contribute to improving the efficiency and quality of scientific communication, their use must adhere to the principles of transparency, accountability, confidentiality, originality, and research integrity.

This policy is established in accordance with the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), and internationally recognized standards of publication ethics.

The following provisions regulate the use of AI-assisted technologies by authors, editorial board members, and peer reviewers involved in the publication process of Sinnun Maxillofacial Journal.

1. Disclosure of AI Use by Authors

Sinnun Maxillofacial Journal permits the responsible use of AI-assisted technologies in manuscript preparation, provided that authors maintain complete responsibility for the accuracy, originality, scientific validity, and integrity of the submitted work.

Authors may use AI-assisted technologies, including large language models, generative AI applications, and automated writing assistance tools, for language refinement, grammatical correction, translation, and improving the clarity and readability of manuscripts. However, AI-generated content must be carefully reviewed, verified, and revised by the authors before submission.

Authors are required to comply with the following provisions:

  1. Mandatory disclosure: Authors must explicitly disclose the use of AI-assisted technologies during manuscript preparation, including the name of the AI tool, its purpose, and the extent of its contribution. Such disclosure must be provided during manuscript submission and included in an appropriate section of the manuscript.

  2. Authorship restrictions: AI tools, chatbots, and other AI-assisted technologies cannot be listed as authors or co-authors because they cannot fulfill the responsibilities and accountability required for scientific authorship.

  3. Scientific responsibility: Authors retain full responsibility for all manuscript content, including AI-assisted text, references, figures, tables, statistical interpretations, and conclusions. All information generated or modified using AI must be independently verified.

  4. Research integrity: The use of AI to fabricate or falsify research data, manipulate findings, generate fictitious references, or produce misleading scientific information is strictly prohibited.

  5. Transparency in research methods: When AI technologies are directly involved in research methodology, data processing, statistical analysis, image analysis, or interpretation of results, their application must be clearly described in the Methods section, including sufficient information to support scientific reproducibility.

  6. Confidentiality and intellectual property: Authors must ensure that AI-assisted technologies are used without violating participant confidentiality, personal data protection requirements, copyright regulations, or intellectual property rights.

  7. Editorial verification: The editorial team reserves the right to request additional clarification regarding AI use and to take appropriate editorial action when undisclosed or inappropriate use of AI is identified.

AI Use Disclosure Statement

Authors who use AI-assisted technologies during manuscript preparation must include a statement under the heading “Declaration of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in the Writing Process” before the References section.

Example of disclosure:

During the preparation of this manuscript, the authors used [name of AI tool] for [specific purpose, such as language editing, grammatical correction, or improving manuscript readability]. All AI-assisted content was carefully reviewed and verified by the authors, who take full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the final manuscript.

When no AI-assisted technology has been used, authors may include the following statement:

The authors declare that no generative AI or AI-assisted technologies were used in the preparation of this manuscript.

2. Disclosure of AI Use by the Editorial Team

The editorial team of Sinnun Maxillofacial Journal is committed to maintaining transparency, independence, confidentiality, and accountability throughout the editorial and publication processes.

AI-assisted technologies may be used for limited administrative, technical, and editorial support, provided that their application does not compromise manuscript confidentiality, editorial independence, or the integrity of scientific evaluation.

The following principles apply to all editorial board members and editorial staff:

  1. Editorial transparency: Any substantive use of AI-assisted technologies during manuscript processing, language editing, copyediting, or publication preparation must be appropriately disclosed when relevant.

  2. Editorial independence: AI-generated recommendations must not replace the professional judgment of editors. Decisions regarding manuscript acceptance, revision, or rejection must remain under the exclusive responsibility of authorized human editors.

  3. Confidentiality protection: Editors are prohibited from uploading submitted manuscripts, unpublished research data, reviewer reports, or confidential editorial correspondence into external AI platforms unless explicit authorization has been obtained and appropriate confidentiality safeguards are established.

  4. Permitted applications: AI-assisted technologies may be employed for administrative assistance, language refinement, formatting, and routine editorial tasks that do not involve unauthorized disclosure of confidential manuscript content.

  5. Human oversight: All AI-assisted editorial outputs must be reviewed and verified by authorized editorial personnel before being incorporated into editorial communications or publication materials.

  6. Accountability: The Editor-in-Chief and designated editorial team members remain fully responsible for editorial decisions and for ensuring that the use of AI does not compromise fairness, scientific integrity, or publication ethics.

Editorial AI Disclosure Statement

When AI-assisted technologies are used in the editorial or production process, Sinnun Maxillofacial Journal may provide an appropriate disclosure statement.

Example of disclosure:

The editorial team utilized [name of AI tool] for [specific editorial or production purpose]. All AI-assisted outputs were reviewed and verified by authorized editorial personnel. Editorial decisions and responsibility for the publication process remained entirely under human supervision.

3. Prohibition of AI Use by Peer Reviewers

Sinnun Maxillofacial Journal strictly prohibits the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies by peer reviewers in evaluating submitted manuscripts, preparing reviewer comments, generating scientific assessments, or formulating recommendations regarding publication decisions.

This restriction is established to protect manuscript confidentiality, preserve the independence of peer review, and ensure that scientific evaluations are conducted through the professional expertise and critical judgment of qualified reviewers.

All peer reviewers must comply with the following requirements:

  1. Prohibition of AI-assisted reviewing: Reviewers are not permitted to use generative AI tools, including ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or similar technologies, to analyze manuscripts, assess research quality, identify methodological weaknesses, or generate reviewer reports.

  2. Protection of manuscript confidentiality: Reviewers must not upload, copy, reproduce, or share any part of a submitted manuscript, including its text, tables, figures, supplementary materials, or unpublished findings, with external AI platforms.

  3. Independent scientific assessment: Reviewer comments, recommendations, and evaluations must be based exclusively on the reviewer's own scientific knowledge, professional expertise, and independent critical assessment.

  4. Prohibition of AI-generated reviewer reports: The use of AI to draft, rewrite, summarize, translate, or substantially modify reviewer comments or recommendations is not permitted.

  5. Ethical responsibility: Reviewers are personally responsible for maintaining the confidentiality, objectivity, accuracy, and integrity of their assessments throughout the peer-review process.

  6. Consequences of violations: Any identified violation of this policy may result in the termination of the review assignment, exclusion from future reviewing activities, or other appropriate editorial measures.

Peer Reviewer Declaration

By accepting an invitation to review a manuscript submitted to Sinnun Maxillofacial Journal, reviewers acknowledge and agree to comply with this policy.

Reviewer declaration:

I declare that I will conduct the peer-review process independently without using generative AI or AI-assisted technologies to evaluate the manuscript or prepare my reviewer report. I further agree to maintain the confidentiality of all manuscript materials and to refrain from uploading or sharing any unpublished content with external AI platforms.

4. Policy Compliance and Editorial Actions

Sinnun Maxillofacial Journal reserves the right to evaluate compliance with this policy at any stage of manuscript submission, peer review, editorial processing, or post-publication assessment.

Suspected violations will be assessed fairly and may require clarification from the individuals concerned. Depending on the nature and severity of the violation, appropriate actions may include requesting additional disclosure, manuscript revision, rejection, correction, retraction, or restrictions on future participation in the journal's publication process.

The use of AI-detection software may support editorial screening; however, automated detection results alone will not be considered conclusive evidence of misconduct. Editorial decisions will be based on appropriate verification and human assessment.

This policy may be periodically reviewed and updated to reflect developments in AI technologies, international publication ethics standards, and scholarly publishing practices.

Sinnun Maxillofacial Journal maintains that AI technologies should support, rather than replace, human scientific judgment, academic responsibility, and ethical accountability.