Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

American Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities 

Introduction

American Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (AJSSH) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of research integrity, transparency, academic responsibility, and ethical publication practices.

With the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in research, writing, reviewing, editing, and publishing, this policy provides clear guidance on the responsible and ethical use of AI-assisted technologies in all stages of scholarly communication.

This policy applies to authors, reviewers, editors, and all individuals involved in the submission, evaluation, and publication process of the journal.

Scope of the Policy

This policy applies to:

• Authors submitting manuscripts to AJSSH;
• Peer reviewers evaluating submitted manuscripts;
• Editors and editorial board members involved in decision-making;
• Any person participating in the journal’s editorial or publication workflow.

Use of AI by Authors

Acceptable Use of AI Tools

Authors may use AI tools for limited support purposes, including language editing, grammar correction, formatting assistance, summarization, image enhancement, data visualization, and improvement of manuscript readability.

Such use is permitted only under the following conditions:

• Disclosure: Authors must clearly disclose the use of AI tools in the manuscript.
• Human Responsibility: Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, validity, and integrity of the submitted work.
• No AI Authorship: AI tools, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude, or similar technologies, must not be listed as authors or co-authors.
• Verification: Authors must verify all AI-assisted content, references, data, figures, and interpretations before submission.

Prohibited Use of AI Tools

The following practices are strictly prohibited:

• Using AI tools to generate substantial manuscript content without disclosure;
• Using AI to fabricate, falsify, or manipulate data, results, references, tables, or figures;
• Submitting AI-generated text as original scholarly work without proper human review;
• Using AI-generated references that are inaccurate, false, or unverifiable;
• Using AI in any way that results in plagiarism, self-plagiarism, misinformation, or academic misconduct.

Use of AI by Reviewers

Reviewers must protect the confidentiality of all manuscripts submitted to AJSSH. Manuscript content, data, tables, figures, or unpublished findings must not be uploaded to public AI platforms or any AI tool that stores, reuses, or trains on user-provided content.

Reviewers may use AI tools only for limited language assistance or organizational support, provided that:

• The confidentiality of the manuscript is fully protected;
• The reviewer does not delegate critical judgment or evaluation to AI;
• The final review report reflects the reviewer’s own expert assessment;
• Any AI assistance used in preparing the review is disclosed to the editor when appropriate.

Use of AI by Editors

Editors and editorial team members may use AI-assisted tools to support editorial workflows, including plagiarism screening, language improvement, initial technical checks, manuscript organization, and administrative efficiency.

However, AI tools must not be used as a substitute for editorial judgment. Decisions regarding acceptance, revision, or rejection of manuscripts must always be made by qualified human editors based on scholarly merit, peer-review reports, ethical standards, and journal policies.

Editors must not use AI tools to:

• Make final editorial decisions without human oversight;
• Generate decision letters without careful review and validation;
• Disclose confidential manuscript information to unsafe or public AI systems;
• Replace the independent judgment of editors or reviewers.

Author Declaration on AI Use

Authors must include a clear statement in the manuscript if AI tools were used during the preparation of the submission.

Ethical and Legal Responsibilities

All authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to use AI tools responsibly and in accordance with recognized standards of research ethics and publication integrity.

AI tools must not be used in ways that introduce bias, discrimination, misinformation, data manipulation, plagiarism, or breach of confidentiality.

AJSSH encourages compliance with ethical principles and guidance issued by recognized organizations, including:

• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE);
• International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE);
• UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence;
• Relevant international standards for responsible research and publishing.

Violations of the AI Policy

Failure to comply with this policy may be treated as a breach of publication ethics. Depending on the nature and severity of the violation, AJSSH may take one or more of the following actions:

• Rejection of the submitted manuscript;
• Request for correction, revision, or clarification;
• Retraction or correction of a published article;
• Notification to the author’s institution, employer, or funding agency;
• Restriction or ban on future submissions to the journal.

Policy Review and Updates

The AI Policy of the American Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities will be reviewed periodically to remain consistent with developments in artificial intelligence, research ethics, publishing standards, and international best practices.

AJSSH reserves the right to update this policy whenever necessary to ensure transparency, accountability, and ethical integrity in scholarly publishing.

Commitment to Responsible AI Use

AJSSH supports the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence as a tool for improving scholarly communication, while ensuring that human accountability, academic integrity, transparency, and ethical responsibility remain central to the publication process.