Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

Pakistan Journal of Medical and Biological Sciences (PJMBS)

The Pakistan Journal of Medical and Biological Sciences (PJMBS) recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI), including generative AI and AI-assisted technologies, can support authors, reviewers, editors, and other scholarly activities. However, the use of AI must not compromise research integrity, originality, transparency, confidentiality, authorship, or accountability.

PJMBS therefore adopts the following policy for the responsible and transparent use of artificial intelligence in scholarly publishing.

  1. Scope of the Policy

This policy applies to:

  • Authors and co-authors
  • Peer reviewers
  • Editors and editorial board members
  • Editorial and technical staff
  • Any person involved in the preparation, evaluation, processing, or publication of manuscripts submitted to PJMBS

The policy applies to generative AI tools, large language models (LLMs), AI-based writing tools, AI-assisted image-generation or image-processing tools, translation tools, grammar-enhancement systems, coding assistants, data-analysis tools, and other AI-based technologies.

  1. AI Tools Cannot Be Authors

AI tools, including ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, or other generative AI systems, cannot be listed as an author, co-author, corresponding author, or contributor of a manuscript.

Authorship requires human responsibility and accountability for the work. Human authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical compliance of the submitted manuscript, including any content produced or modified with the assistance of AI.

  1. Permitted Use of AI by Authors

Authors may use AI-assisted tools for limited purposes such as:

  • Improving grammar, spelling, punctuation, and language;
  • Improving clarity and readability;
  • Translation between languages;
  • Assisting with manuscript structure or organization;
  • Generating preliminary ideas or keywords;
  • Assisting with coding or computational tasks;
  • Assisting with data analysis, where the methodology and results are independently verified by the authors.

The use of AI must not replace the authors' scientific judgment, critical interpretation, or responsibility for the manuscript.

Authors must carefully verify all AI-assisted content because AI systems may generate inaccurate, fabricated, biased, or inappropriate information.

  1. Disclosure of Generative AI Use

Authors must disclose the use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies when such tools have been used substantially in the preparation of the manuscript.

The disclosure should identify:

  1. The name of the AI tool;
  2. The version, where available;
  3. The purpose for which it was used; and
  4. The section or aspect of the manuscript affected.

A suitable disclosure statement may be placed in the Acknowledgements or AI Use/Declaration section of the manuscript.

Example:

Artificial Intelligence Disclosure: The authors used [name of AI tool] for language editing and improving the readability of the manuscript. All scientific content, interpretations, references, and final text were critically reviewed and verified by the authors, who take full responsibility for the final manuscript.

If no AI tool was used, authors may state:

Artificial Intelligence Disclosure: The authors declare that no generative artificial intelligence or AI-assisted technologies were used in the preparation of this manuscript.

  1. AI-Generated Scientific Content

Authors must not rely on AI-generated text as an authoritative scientific source.

AI-generated:

  • scientific facts,
  • references,
  • citations,
  • statistical interpretations,
  • clinical recommendations,
  • experimental findings,
  • quotations, or
  • bibliographic information

must be independently verified by the authors.

Fabricated, non-existent, inaccurate, or unverifiable references generated by AI are strictly prohibited.

Authors remain responsible for ensuring that every reference cited in the manuscript actually exists and supports the relevant statement.

  1. AI and Research Data

AI tools must not be used to fabricate, manipulate, selectively alter, or falsify research data.

The following are strictly prohibited:

  • Fabricating experimental results using AI;
  • Generating artificial data and presenting it as real experimental data;
  • Altering research findings using AI without disclosure;
  • Manipulating scientific images in a manner that changes or misrepresents the underlying data;
  • Generating false statistical results;
  • Creating fictitious participants, samples, observations, or experimental outcomes.

Any such practice may constitute research misconduct and may result in rejection or retraction of the manuscript.

  1. AI-Generated Images and Figures

AI-generated or AI-modified images, figures, graphs, photographs, microscopy images, radiological images, or other visual material must be transparently disclosed.

AI must not be used to alter scientific images in a way that changes, removes, adds, or misrepresents experimental evidence.

Authors must retain the original data and images and should be able to provide them to the journal if requested.

Where AI-generated images are permitted, authors must disclose:

  • The AI tool used;
  • The purpose of its use; and
  • Which figure or image was affected.

PJMBS reserves the right to reject AI-generated images when their use could compromise scientific integrity, copyright, transparency, or interpretation of the research.

  1. AI and References

AI tools must not be used as a substitute for literature searching and scholarly verification.

Authors are responsible for:

  • verifying every cited reference;
  • ensuring that references are relevant to the claims made;
  • checking bibliographic details;
  • ensuring that citations are not fabricated; and
  • using appropriate primary and authoritative sources wherever possible.

The use of AI-generated references without verification constitutes a serious breach of publication ethics.

  1. AI Use in Peer Review

Peer reviewers must maintain strict confidentiality.

Reviewers must not upload or paste manuscripts, unpublished data, figures, tables, supplementary files, or confidential information into publicly available AI tools unless the journal has expressly authorized the relevant system and appropriate confidentiality and data-protection safeguards are in place.

AI tools must not be used to independently generate or replace a peer-review report.

Reviewers may use limited AI assistance for language or organizational purposes only where confidentiality is fully protected and the reviewer remains responsible for the final assessment.

Reviewers must independently evaluate:

  • scientific validity;
  • methodology;
  • originality;
  • interpretation;
  • ethical compliance; and
  • overall quality of the manuscript.
  1. AI Use by Editors

Editors and editorial staff must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts.

Manuscript content, reviewer reports, unpublished data, author information, or other confidential material must not be entered into external AI systems unless the system has been approved by the journal and appropriate confidentiality and data-protection safeguards are available.

AI tools may assist editors with administrative or language-related tasks, but editorial decisions must remain the responsibility of human editors.

AI must not independently determine:

  • acceptance or rejection;
  • scientific validity;
  • ethical compliance;
  • reviewer selection;
  • allegations of misconduct; or
  • editorial sanctions.
  1. Human Accountability

The use of AI does not transfer responsibility from the authors, reviewers, or editors to the AI system.

Human users remain responsible for:

  • accuracy;
  • originality;
  • ethical compliance;
  • confidentiality;
  • appropriate attribution;
  • intellectual property;
  • research integrity; and
  • the final content or decision.
  1. Plagiarism and AI-Assisted Writing

AI-assisted writing does not exempt authors from PJMBS's plagiarism and originality requirements.

Authors must ensure that the submitted manuscript is original and appropriately cites the work of others.

AI-generated text that reproduces or closely paraphrases copyrighted or previously published material without appropriate attribution may be treated as plagiarism or a copyright concern.

PJMBS may use appropriate similarity-detection and editorial screening tools as part of its quality-control process.

  1. Undisclosed or Misleading AI Use

PJMBS may request authors to provide additional information regarding the use of AI during manuscript preparation.

Failure to disclose substantial AI use, deliberate misrepresentation of AI-generated content, fabricated references, fabricated data, or inappropriate AI-assisted manipulation may result in:

  • manuscript rejection;
  • correction or clarification;
  • investigation under the journal's publication-ethics procedures;
  • notification of the author's institution where appropriate; or
  • retraction of a published article when warranted.

The action taken will depend on the nature and seriousness of the violation.

  1. AI Detection Tools

PJMBS may use AI-detection or other technological tools as part of its editorial screening process. However, AI-detection results will not, by themselves, be considered definitive evidence of misconduct.

Where concerns arise, the journal may request clarification or additional information from the authors and assess the matter using human editorial judgment and appropriate publication-ethics procedures.

  1. AI and Patient/Personal Information

Authors, reviewers, and editors must not enter identifiable patient information, personal data, confidential institutional information, or other sensitive information into publicly accessible AI systems.

All patient confidentiality and applicable ethical and data-protection requirements must be maintained.

  1. AI and Copyright

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their use of AI tools does not infringe copyright, licensing, privacy, confidentiality, or other intellectual-property rights.

Where an AI tool generates content that is incorporated into a manuscript, authors must ensure that its use is legally and ethically appropriate.

  1. Changes to this Policy

AI technology and publishing practices are rapidly evolving. PJMBS may periodically revise this policy to reflect developments in:

  • scholarly publishing;
  • research ethics;
  • artificial intelligence;
  • copyright;
  • privacy and data protection; and
  • recommendations from recognized publishing-ethics organizations.

Authors, reviewers, and editors are responsible for complying with the version of the policy applicable at the time of their submission or editorial activity.

  1. Final Responsibility

PJMBS considers AI to be an assistive technology rather than an independent scholarly author, reviewer, or decision-maker.

The use of AI does not reduce or replace human scientific responsibility. The authors, reviewers, and editors remain accountable for the work and decisions associated with the publication process.

Pakistan Journal of Medical and Biological Sciences (PJMBS)
Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan