Generative AI Policy

The Journal of Community Engagement is committed to upholding academic integrity, originality, and scholarly accountability throughout the publication process. In response to the development of generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI) technologies, the editorial board has established the following policy to guide authors, editors, and peer reviewers.

1. Use of Generative AI in Manuscript Preparation

The use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude, and similar technologies is permitted only as an assistive tool for the following purposes:

• improving linguistic clarity without altering scientific content,
• grammar checking and editing,
• summarizing or organizing non-scientific text,
• supporting technical translation tasks.

The use of Generative AI is not permitted for:

• generating core scientific content, ideas, methodologies, analyses, or conclusions,
• producing unverifiable data, findings, or citations,
• writing substantive manuscript sections such as abstract, methodology, results, and discussion,
• replacing the intellectual contribution of the authors in developing the manuscript.

2. Disclosure Requirement

If authors employ Generative AI during manuscript preparation, such use must be transparently disclosed in the Acknowledgements section, including:

• the name of the AI tool used,
• the type of assistance provided,
• the scope and limitations of AI involvement.

Example disclosure statement:

“The authors used ChatGPT (OpenAI) to assist with grammatical editing in the Introduction section. The tool was not used to generate scientific content or research data.”

3. Ethical Responsibility and Accuracy

Authors retain full responsibility for:

• the originality of the manuscript and authenticity of its content,
• the accuracy of data and references,
• avoidance of plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, or AI-generated manipulation.

Any manuscript found to include undisclosed AI-generated content, fabricated data or references, or manipulative AI usage will be rejected or retracted by the editorial board.

4. Use of AI in Data Processing and Visualization

• AI-based visualization must originate from verifiable original data.
• Images or illustrations generated entirely by AI without real data support are not permitted.
• Authors must provide raw data for verification upon request.

5. Policy for Reviewers and Editors

• Reviewers and editors are prohibited from using Generative AI to read, evaluate, or store unpublished manuscript content due to the risk of breaching scholarly confidentiality.
• AI-assisted language checking may be used only after anonymization of the manuscript text.

6. Sanctions for Policy Violations

Violations of this policy may result in:

• manuscript rejection during desk or peer review,
• post-publication retraction if violations are discovered later,
• notification to the authors’ affiliated institutions in accordance with COPE ethical standards.

Closing Statement

This policy ensures that the use of generative AI improves manuscript quality without compromising academic integrity or scientific values in community engagement scholarship. The policy will be periodically reviewed in alignment with technological developments and international publication standards.