Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence

Revista UGC adopts the principles and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) regarding the responsible use of artificial intelligence tools in research and scientific publishing.

Revista UGC recognizes the opportunities offered by these technologies to support research, manuscript preparation, and the communication of scientific knowledge. Nevertheless, their use must be governed by the principles of transparency, academic integrity, originality, intellectual responsibility, confidentiality, traceability, and human oversight.

Authorship and Intellectual Responsibility

• Artificial intelligence tools, including language models, chatbots, and image generators, may not be listed as authors or co-authors of scientific articles because they cannot assume scientific, ethical, or legal responsibility for published content.

• Authors shall be fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, integrity, and reliability of their manuscripts, including texts, images, tables, data, and other materials produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence. The use of these technologies does not exempt authors from verifying information, checking bibliographic sources, or ensuring compliance with copyright requirements.

• The formulation of the research problem, methodological decisions, interpretation of results, scientific discussion, and conclusions must remain under the intellectual responsibility of the authors.

Permitted Uses

• Artificial intelligence tools may be used to support spelling and grammar correction, language editing, translation, information organization, programming, data processing, and the creation of graphical representations, provided that human oversight is maintained and the validity of the content is ensured.

• The use of these technologies to generate or substantially reformulate academic content must be explicitly disclosed and shall be subject to editorial evaluation. Authors must verify the accuracy, relevance, and originality of the resulting content.

• When artificial intelligence tools form part of research procedures, their use must be methodologically justified and described in sufficient detail to allow scientific evaluation, traceability, and, where applicable, reproducibility of the results.

Disclosure of Artificial Intelligence Use

• Authors must disclose, during the manuscript submission process, whether they used artificial intelligence tools in its preparation. Where applicable, they must identify the tools used, their versions when relevant, the activities performed, and the extent of their involvement.

• When these technologies have been used to generate or substantially reformulate content, a specific disclosure statement must be included in the manuscript, indicating the purpose and nature of the assistance received.

• If artificial intelligence tools were used in methodological procedures, data processing or analysis, generation of results, or activities directly related to the research, their use must be described in the Methods section, specifying the procedures applied, verification mechanisms, and parameters relevant to scientific evaluation.

• Authors shall not be required to specify percentages of artificial intelligence-generated content, given the limitations involved in objectively determining and verifying such proportions.

Prohibited Uses

• Content generated by artificial intelligence that has not been critically examined, substantiated, and validated by the authors may not be presented as their own intellectual contribution.

• The use of these tools to fabricate, falsify, or improperly manipulate data, results, bibliographic references, scientific evidence, images, or any other material that compromises academic integrity is prohibited.

• Authors must verify the existence, accuracy, and relevance of all bibliographic references, as well as the correspondence between citations and original sources. The inclusion of nonexistent references, fabricated bibliographic information, or content incorrectly attributed to other publications is not permitted.

• The unauthorized submission of personal, confidential, or third-party rights-protected information to artificial intelligence systems that do not provide adequate protection is prohibited.

Use of Artificial Intelligence in Images and Figures

• Images, illustrations, and graphical representations generated or substantially modified using artificial intelligence must be identified, specifying the tool used and the nature of its involvement.

• The generation or manipulation of images that alter, fabricate, conceal, or distort scientific evidence is prohibited. Authors must ensure the authenticity of the materials, compliance with applicable licenses, and the availability of original files when required for editorial evaluation.

• Minor technical adjustments that do not modify scientific content or alter the interpretation of images may be considered auxiliary activities, provided that they comply with scientific integrity standards.

Use of Artificial Intelligence by Reviewers and Editors

• Reviewers and editors must preserve the confidentiality of manuscripts submitted for evaluation. They may not upload unpublished articles, peer-review reports, confidential data, or information about authors to external artificial intelligence tools without explicit institutional authorization and adequate data protection safeguards.

• Artificial intelligence may be used to support certain editorial tasks, provided that its use is transparent, does not compromise confidentiality, and does not replace the academic judgment of those responsible for evaluation.

• Reviewers and editors who use artificial intelligence tools in authorized editorial activities must disclose such use when these technologies make a substantial contribution to the analysis or preparation of documents related to the evaluation process.

• Reviewers must base their recommendations on critical analysis of the manuscript, methodological relevance, consistency of results, and the quality of the scientific contributions.

• Decisions regarding acceptance, revision, or rejection shall be made exclusively by the human individuals responsible for the editorial process.

Verification and Compliance

• Revista UGC may request clarifications, supplementary declarations, and evidence concerning the use of artificial intelligence when there are substantiated concerns regarding the originality, authenticity, or scientific integrity of a manuscript.

• Evaluation shall be based on verifiable editorial and scientific criteria. The results of automated tools designed to detect artificial intelligence-generated content shall not, by themselves, constitute conclusive evidence of noncompliance.

• Failure to disclose relevant information, improper use of these technologies, or identification of practices contrary to scientific ethics may result in requests for correction, suspension of the evaluation process, or rejection of the manuscript, while ensuring that authors have the opportunity to provide the corresponding explanations.

Corrections and Post-Publication Measures

• When irregularities related to the use of artificial intelligence are identified after an article has been published, Revista UGC shall assess the circumstances in accordance with its editorial ethics and integrity policies.

• Depending on the nature and severity of the irregularities, measures may include the publication of corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions, in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

• These procedures shall be conducted with transparency, proportionality, and respect for due editorial process, ensuring that authors have the opportunity to provide the corresponding explanations.

Revista UGC shall promote the responsible, ethical, and transparent use of artificial intelligence to strengthen the quality, reliability, and dissemination of scientific publications, without replacing human creativity, critical thinking, originality, or intellectual responsibility.