Scientia Accounting and Finance Journal (SAFIJ) recognizes that Artificial Intelligence (AI), including Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), may be used as an assistive technology in academic research and manuscript preparation. SAFIJ permits the responsible and transparent use of AI provided that such use does not replace the intellectual contribution, scholarly judgment, or accountability of human authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical compliance of all content submitted to SAFIJ.
Authors may use AI tools for limited basic language assistance, including spelling, grammar, punctuation, formatting, and improvement of language clarity and readability. The use of AI solely for basic proofreading or language correction of the author's own work does not require disclosure, provided that the AI tool does not generate or substantially modify the intellectual content of the manuscript.
AI may also be used as an assistive tool for activities such as literature searching, translation, coding, data analysis, or methodological support. However, authors must independently verify the output and remain responsible for the accuracy, validity, and integrity of any material incorporated into the manuscript.
The use of GenAI to generate or substantially modify the intellectual or scholarly content of a manuscript must be disclosed. This includes the generation or substantial rewriting of the abstract, introduction, literature review, theoretical framework, methodology, analysis, discussion, conclusion, or other substantive sections.
AI-generated content must be critically evaluated, verified, and revised by the authors before submission. Authors must not rely on AI-generated information without independent verification.
AI may be used as part of an appropriate research methodology, including computational analysis, predictive modelling, coding, or other legitimate analytical procedures. Where AI forms part of the research process, its use must be clearly described in the Methods section, including the relevant tool, model or system, its purpose, and the role it played in the research.
AI must not be used to fabricate, falsify, manipulate, or misrepresent research data, results, statistical findings, or conclusions.
AI may assist authors in identifying or organizing relevant literature. However, all references and citations must be independently verified by the authors against the original sources.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that cited sources actually exist, are accurately represented, and genuinely support the claims for which they are cited. Fabricated, inaccurate, or unverifiable AI-generated references are prohibited.
AI-generated or AI-modified images, figures, diagrams, or other visual materials must comply with copyright, intellectual property, research integrity, and publication ethics requirements.
AI must not be used to create, manipulate, or alter images representing primary research data or evidentiary material in a manner that could misrepresent the underlying research.
Where AI-generated or substantially AI-modified illustrative material is permitted, authors must disclose the AI tool and its use.
Authors must disclose substantive use of AI or GenAI in the preparation or research process.
The disclosure should identify:
For AI used as part of the research methodology, disclosure should be included in the Methods section. For AI used in manuscript preparation, the disclosure should be included in a dedicated AI Use Disclosure / Acknowledgement section or another appropriate section specified by SAFIJ.
AI systems, including ChatGPT and other GenAI tools, cannot be listed as an author, co-author, or contributor with authorship responsibility.
Authorship requires intellectual contribution, accountability, and the ability to approve and take responsibility for the final work. These responsibilities must be assumed by human authors.
The use of AI does not transfer responsibility for the manuscript from the authors to the AI system or its developer.
Authors remain fully responsible for:
Authors must critically evaluate AI-generated content for potential fabrication, misinformation, bias, plagiarism, inappropriate attribution, and factual errors.
Authors, reviewers, and editors must protect the confidentiality of unpublished manuscripts and research materials.
Unpublished manuscripts, confidential research data, personal data, peer-review materials, or other protected information must not be uploaded to public or unauthorized AI tools where confidentiality, data protection, intellectual property, or control over submitted information cannot be adequately guaranteed.
Peer reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts received for review.
Reviewers must not use AI or GenAI to evaluate, summarize, generate, or replace their substantive peer-review judgment based on confidential manuscript content.
Limited use of AI for language improvement of a review report may be permitted where confidentiality is adequately protected. Any such use must be disclosed to the journal, and the reviewer remains fully responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and substance of the review.
Editors must not upload submitted manuscripts or confidential editorial materials to public or unauthorized AI systems.
AI must not replace editorial judgment or be used as the sole basis for decisions concerning acceptance, rejection, revision, ethical concerns, or publication.
All editorial decisions remain the responsibility of the human editorial team.
SAFIJ prohibits the following uses of AI:
Failure to disclose substantive AI use, submission of fabricated or falsified AI-generated content, misuse of confidential materials, or other violations of this policy may constitute a breach of SAFIJ's publication ethics. Depending on the nature and severity of the violation, the Editorial Board may request clarification or revision, reject the manuscript, suspend the editorial process, or take appropriate post-publication action, including correction or retraction where necessary.
Authors may use the following statement when disclosing the use of AI in the preparation of their manuscript:
Declaration of AI Use: During the preparation of this manuscript, the author(s) used [Name of AI Tool/Service and Version/Model] for [describe the specific purpose of use]. The author(s) critically reviewed, verified, and revised the AI-assisted output as necessary and take full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and final content of the manuscript.
The following official publisher and scholarly organization policies were consulted as references in developing the SAFIJ AI Use and Generative AI Policy:
