1. General Principles

The use of GenAI tools must comply with the principles of academic integrity, transparency, accountability, originality, and responsible research practices. AI-generated content must not replace the intellectual contribution, critical thinking, scholarly judgment, or responsibility of human authors. Authors are responsible for ensuring that all information presented in their manuscripts is accurate, relevant, and properly supported by reliable sources.

2. Permitted Use of GenAI

Authors may use GenAI tools as supporting instruments for appropriate purposes, including:

• Improving grammar, spelling, punctuation, and language clarity.
• Assisting with language translation and editing.
• Supporting the organization of ideas and manuscript structure.
• Providing assistance in summarizing or exploring research materials, subject to verification.
• Supporting preliminary data exploration or coding assistance, where appropriate and transparently disclosed.
• Assisting with other routine writing or research tasks, provided that authors retain full responsibility for the final work.

3. Unacceptable Use of GenAI

The following practices are considered unacceptable:

• Presenting AI-generated text, ideas, or outputs as entirely one's own original intellectual contribution without appropriate disclosure.
• Generating, fabricating, or manipulating research data, results, images, references, or citations.
• Using AI-generated references without verifying that the cited sources actually exist and accurately support the claims.
• Using GenAI to produce misleading, inaccurate, or unsupported research findings.
• Uploading confidential information, unpublished manuscripts, personal data, or sensitive research materials to AI platforms without appropriate authorization and safeguards.
• Using GenAI in ways that violate research ethics, copyright, privacy, or applicable institutional policies.

4. Disclosure of GenAI Use

Authors must disclose the use of GenAI tools when such tools have made a substantive contribution to the preparation, development, analysis, or presentation of the manuscript. The disclosure should identify the tool used and explain its purpose. Routine spelling, grammar, and punctuation assistance generally does not require a separate disclosure.

Suggested disclosure statement:

5. Authors' Responsibility

Authors remain fully responsible for all content submitted to GEE, regardless of whether GenAI tools have been used. They must:

• Verify the accuracy and reliability of AI-assisted content.
• Check all references, citations, quotations, and factual statements.
• Ensure that the manuscript represents a genuine scholarly contribution.
• Disclose substantive use of GenAI tools transparently.
• Ensure that the use of GenAI does not violate confidentiality, copyright, research ethics, or publication policies.

6. Use of GenAI by Editors

Editors must maintain confidentiality and exercise independent editorial judgment. Unpublished manuscripts and confidential submission information must not be uploaded to public GenAI tools without appropriate authorization and safeguards. Editorial decisions must remain the responsibility of human editors and must not be delegated to AI systems.

7. Use of GenAI by Reviewers

Reviewers must not upload unpublished manuscripts, confidential research data, or identifiable author information to public GenAI tools without explicit authorization and appropriate safeguards. Reviewers must conduct their evaluations independently and remain responsible for the accuracy, fairness, and confidentiality of their review reports. GenAI tools must not replace reviewers' expert judgment or determine editorial recommendations.

8. AI Authorship

GenAI tools and other AI systems cannot be listed as authors or co-authors of manuscripts submitted to GEE. Authorship requires human accountability, intellectual contribution, and the ability to take responsibility for the work. Any assistance provided by AI tools must be disclosed in accordance with this policy when applicable.

9. Ethical Compliance and Editorial Actions

Any suspected misuse of GenAI, including undisclosed substantive AI-generated content, fabricated references, manipulated data, or violations of confidentiality, may be investigated by the editorial team. Appropriate action may include requesting clarification, requiring manuscript revisions, rejecting the submission, or taking post-publication action when necessary. All cases will be assessed fairly and in accordance with the journal's publication ethics policies.

10. Policy Review

GEE recognizes that GenAI technologies and their applications continue to evolve. Therefore, this policy may be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect developments in technology, research ethics, and scholarly publishing standards.