Artificial Intelligence Policy

The Journal of Political Issues recognizes the potential benefits of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in supporting academic research and scholarly communication. At the same time, the use of these technologies must uphold the principles of transparency, confidentiality, originality, accountability, and research integrity. AI tools must not replace human intellectual responsibility, scholarly judgment, critical analysis, or editorial decision-making. This policy applies to authors, editors, and peer reviewers involved in the journal’s publication process.

Use of AI by Authors

Authors may use generative AI or AI-assisted technologies responsibly to support limited aspects of manuscript preparation, such as improving language, readability, translation, organization of text, or other technical assistance. However, AI-generated output must not replace the authors’ original analysis, interpretation, argumentation, conclusions, or other substantive scholarly contributions. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, citations, and overall content of the submitted manuscript, including any content produced or modified with the assistance of AI. These principles are consistent with current Elsevier and Taylor & Francis policies, which place responsibility for the scholarly content entirely on human authors.

Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies cannot be listed as an author or co-author because authorship requires responsibilities and accountability that can only be assumed by human contributors. Authors must verify any information, references, quotations, interpretations, or other outputs produced with AI and must ensure that the use of such technologies does not infringe copyright, confidentiality, privacy, or other third-party rights.

Authors who use generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in preparing their manuscript must disclose their use transparently. The disclosure should identify the name of the tool or service used and briefly explain how and for what purpose it was used. The declaration must be included in a separate section entitled “Declaration of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies” before the References section. Elsevier similarly requires authors who use such technologies in manuscript preparation to provide a specific declaration describing the tool and the reason for its use, while Taylor & Francis requires disclosure of generative AI use in article submissions.

The following format may be used:

If no generative AI or AI-assisted technology was used, authors may state:

Where AI forms part of the research design, methodology, data collection, data analysis, or another substantive element of the research itself, its use must additionally be described transparently in the relevant methodological section. The description should enable readers to understand the role of the technology in producing the research results. This distinction between AI as a writing aid and AI as part of the research method is also reflected in Elsevier’s current guidance.

Use of AI by Editors

Editors must protect the confidentiality of all submitted manuscripts and associated editorial communications. Editors must not upload an unpublished manuscript, any part of a manuscript, supplementary files, author information, reviewer reports, editorial correspondence, or other confidential material to publicly accessible generative AI systems. This restriction protects authors’ intellectual property, personal data, and the confidentiality of the editorial process. Elsevier and Taylor & Francis apply substantially similar confidentiality restrictions to editors.

Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies must not be used to replace the editor’s scholarly judgment in evaluating manuscripts, determining their academic significance, assessing reviewer reports, or making editorial decisions. Decisions to reject, revise, or accept a manuscript must remain the responsibility of the human editor. Editors remain fully accountable for every editorial decision taken by the journal.

Where an authorized AI-assisted system is used only for administrative, technical, or language-support purposes, its use must not compromise manuscript confidentiality, data protection, intellectual property, or editorial independence. AI must never be treated as an autonomous decision-maker within the editorial process.

Use of AI by Peer Reviewers

Peer reviewers of the Journal of Political Issues are not permitted to use generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in the peer-review process. Reviewers must not upload submitted manuscripts, manuscript excerpts, tables, figures, supplementary materials, reviewer forms, or any confidential information related to a submission into an AI application.

Reviewers must also not use AI to analyze or summarize a manuscript, assess its scientific or scholarly quality, identify strengths or weaknesses, formulate recommendations, or generate peer-review comments. Peer review requires independent expert judgment and intellectual accountability that must remain entirely with the appointed reviewer. This prohibition directly follows the 2026 Indonesian journal accreditation requirements, which prohibit reviewers from using AI to analyze, assess, prepare review comments, or upload manuscripts or portions of manuscripts into AI applications. Elsevier likewise prohibits reviewers from uploading manuscripts into generative AI systems or using such technologies to conduct manuscript evaluation because of confidentiality and accountability concerns.

AI-Generated or AI-Altered Images and Research Materials

Authors must not use generative AI to fabricate, manipulate, obscure, remove, or introduce research data or evidence in a manner that misrepresents the original research record. Where AI-generated or AI-assisted images, figures, datasets, or other materials constitute an explicit part of the research methodology, their use must be transparently described, including the tool used and its role in generating or modifying the material. Elsevier similarly distinguishes prohibited image manipulation from AI use that forms an explicit part of the research design or methodology.

Accountability and Policy Violations

The use of AI does not reduce or transfer the responsibilities of authors, editors, or reviewers. Human contributors remain responsible for ensuring originality, accuracy, confidentiality, ethical compliance, copyright compliance, and the integrity of the scholarly record. Undisclosed, misleading, inappropriate, or unethical use of AI may be investigated as a potential breach of publication ethics and may result in manuscript rejection, withdrawal of the submission, correction or retraction of a published article, or other editorial action in accordance with the journal’s publication ethics policies.

The Journal of Political Issues may revise this policy as generative AI technologies, scholarly publishing standards, and research integrity guidelines continue to evolve.