Authorship and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools
The European Journal of Therapeutics has adopted the following statements as reported by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) 1, World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) 2, and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) 3.
Authors are required to submit an AI usage declaration at the submission stage (on the title page). The European Journal of Therapeutics screens submitted manuscripts using Turnitin's AI detection tool; to avoid false positives, minor matches (below 20% similarity) are excluded. Following the scan during the technical evaluation phase, if the AI writing report indicates 40% or greater AI usage, it is considered a significant detection of AI use.
Authors are required to disclose any use of AI-assisted technologies, such as Large Language Models, chatbots, or image generators, during the article preparation process; if AI tools were employed for writing assistance, such as drafting or editing text, this must be explicitly stated in the acknowledgements section on the Title Page. In contrast, detailed information about the tools used and their application methods must be provided in the methods section if AI technologies were utilized for data collection, analysis, or figure generation.
AI technologies must not be listed as authors, as authorship implies responsibility and accountability that AI tools cannot assume; consequently, all authors must ensure that any content created or modified using AI tools is thoroughly reviewed and edited to meet the journal's academic writing standards. Authors take full responsibility for the integrity, originality, and accuracy of the entire manuscript, including any sections influenced or generated by AI-assisted technologies.
Authors also hold the responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of research data, particularly sensitive patient information, ensuring that the use of AI technologies does not compromise patient privacy, as sharing confidential patient data with AI tools can lead to significant ethical and legal issues, including privacy breaches and misuse of information.
For comprehensive information on authorship roles and the ethical use of AI technologies, authors are advised to consult the recommendations provided by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) regarding the definition of authors and contributors.
1 COPE Council. COPE position - Authorship and AI - English.
https://doi.org/10.24318/cCVRZBms
© 2024 Committee on Publication Ethics (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) https://publicationethics.org
2 Zielinski C, Winker MA, Aggarwal R, Ferris LE, Heinemann M, Lapeña JF, Pai SA, Ing E, Citrome L, Alam M, Voight M, Habibzadeh F, for the WAME Board. Chatbots, Generative AI, and Scholarly Manuscripts. WAME Recommendations on Chatbots and Generative Artificial Intelligence in Relation to Scholarly Publications. WAME. May 31, 2023. https://wame.org/page3.php?id=106
3 ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals.
Access URL: https://www.icmje.org/news-and-editorials/icmje-recommendations_annotated_jan24.pdf
Access Date: 21.07.2025
Last Revised on August 2025
