AI Ethics Policy
1. Purpose
The Journal of Global Arts Studies (JGAS) recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies are increasingly used in scholarly research, writing, translation, editing, image production, data processing, and editorial workflows. This AI Ethics Policy establishes the ethical standards for the responsible, transparent, and accountable use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the preparation, submission, peer review, editorial evaluation, and publication of manuscripts submitted to JGAS. The purpose of this policy is to protect research integrity, authorship accountability, originality, confidentiality, intellectual property rights, cultural and artistic rights, peer review integrity, and public trust in scholarly publishing.
2. Scope
This policy applies to all authors, co-authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, guest editors, editorial staff, and any other individuals involved in the submission, review, editing, decision-making, production, and publication processes of JGAS. For the purposes of this policy, “AI and AI-assisted technologies” include, but are not limited to, generative AI systems, large language models, chatbots, machine translation tools, grammar and writing assistants, image-generation tools, audio or video-generation tools, automated coding tools, data-analysis assistants, and other software capable of generating, rewriting, translating, summarizing, analyzing, modifying, or enhancing scholarly content. Examples include, but are not limited to, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, DeepL, Grammarly, Midjourney, DALL·E, Stable Diffusion, and similar tools.
3. General Principles
JGAS does not prohibit the responsible use of AI or AI-assisted technologies. However, such tools must be used in a manner consistent with academic integrity, publication ethics, transparency, confidentiality, and human accountability. AI may assist scholarly work, but it must not replace the intellectual contribution, critical judgment, originality, analysis, interpretation, or ethical responsibility of human authors, reviewers, or editors. All individuals who use AI-assisted technologies in relation to JGAS remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, validity, legality, and ethical integrity of the final work or decision.
4. AI and Authorship
AI tools, chatbots, large language models, or other non-human technologies must not be listed as authors, co-authors, corresponding authors, contributors, or collaborators of any manuscript submitted to JGAS. Authorship is limited to human individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions to the work, approved the final version of the manuscript, and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work. AI tools cannot assume legal or ethical responsibility, cannot approve the final version of a manuscript, cannot respond to questions about research integrity, cannot declare conflicts of interest, and cannot manage copyright or licensing responsibilities. Therefore, AI tools do not meet the requirements for authorship. Authors may acknowledge the use of AI tools where appropriate, but such acknowledgment does not constitute authorship or contributorship.
5. Permitted Uses of AI by Authors
Authors may use AI or AI-assisted technologies for limited supportive purposes, provided that the use is responsible, transparent where necessary, and verified by the authors. Permitted uses may include: a. grammar, spelling, and punctuation correction; b. language polishing and readability improvement; c. translation assistance; d. formatting references or checking citation style; e. organizing notes or research materials; f. summarizing the authors’ own drafts or materials; g. assisting with non-substantive technical editing; h. improving accessibility for non-native speakers or authors with language barriers. When AI is used for these purposes, authors must carefully review and edit the output. The final manuscript must reflect the authors’ own scholarly ideas, arguments, analysis, interpretation, and conclusions.
6. Restricted and Prohibited Uses of AI by Authors
Authors must not use AI or AI-assisted technologies in ways that compromise research integrity, originality, confidentiality, copyright, cultural rights, or ethical standards. The following uses are prohibited or subject to strict ethical scrutiny: a. submitting a manuscript substantially generated by AI without meaningful human intellectual contribution; b. using AI to generate original scholarly arguments, interpretations, findings, or conclusions without human verification and responsibility; c. fabricating, falsifying, or manipulating research data, evidence, quotations, citations, references, images, audio, video, or other materials; d. citing AI-generated references without verifying that the sources actually exist and support the relevant claims; e. using AI to conceal plagiarism, duplicate publication, inappropriate text recycling, or research misconduct; f. uploading confidential, unpublished, copyrighted, personal, sensitive, or third-party materials to AI tools without proper authorization; g. using AI-generated or AI-modified images, artworks, photographs, figures, or audiovisual materials in a misleading manner; h. using AI to imitate, reproduce, appropriate, or modify protected artworks, artistic styles, cultural heritage materials, traditional cultural expressions, or third-party intellectual property in ways that violate legal or ethical standards.
7. Disclosure of AI Use by Authors
Authors must disclose any substantive use of AI or AI-assisted technologies in the preparation, writing, translation, analysis, generation, editing, or revision of a manuscript. Disclosure is required when AI tools are used to: a. draft or rewrite substantial parts of the manuscript; b. translate substantial sections of the manuscript; c. generate summaries, arguments, interpretations, or analytical text; d. generate, modify, enhance, restore, reconstruct, or manipulate images, artworks, figures, tables, diagrams, audio, video, or other media; e. assist with data analysis, coding, classification, or interpretation; f. generate or organize references, bibliographies, or literature summaries. Minor use of AI for spelling correction, grammar checking, or basic formatting does not normally require detailed disclosure, unless the tool substantially changes the meaning, structure, analysis, or scholarly content of the manuscript. Where disclosure is required, authors must include an AI Use Disclosure Statement in the manuscript, preferably before the References section or in a designated declaration section.
8. AI Use Disclosure Statement
Authors may use the following statement: AI Use Disclosure Statement During the preparation of this manuscript, the author(s) used [name of AI tool, version if known] for [specific purpose, e.g., language editing, translation assistance, summarization, formatting, image generation, data organization, or other purpose]. The author(s) reviewed, edited, verified, and approved all AI-assisted content and take full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical compliance of the final manuscript. If no AI tool was used, authors may state: AI Use Disclosure Statement The author(s) declare that no generative AI or AI-assisted technologies were used in the preparation of this manuscript.
9. Responsibility for Accuracy and Verification
Authors are fully responsible for all content in their manuscripts, including any text, data, citation, image, artwork, figure, table, translation, analysis, or interpretation created, edited, translated, summarized, suggested, or influenced by AI tools. Authors must verify: a. factual accuracy; b. accuracy and existence of cited sources; c. relevance of references and quotations; d. originality of text, images, figures, artworks, and other materials; e. reliability of data analysis and interpretation; f. compliance with copyright, privacy, cultural rights, and research ethics; g. absence of plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, and misleading representation. AI-generated citations, quotations, historical facts, legal claims, cultural interpretations, translations, and descriptions of artworks must be independently checked against reliable sources before submission.
10. AI-Generated Images, Artworks, Figures, and Multimedia
Because JGAS publishes research in global arts, visual culture, cultural studies, performance, media, and related fields, special care must be taken when AI tools are used to generate, modify, restore, reconstruct, colorize, enhance, or interpret visual, artistic, audiovisual, or multimedia materials. Authors must clearly disclose the use of AI in the creation or modification of: a. artworks; b. photographs; c. figures; d. diagrams; e. archival images; f. performance documentation; g. audio or video materials; h. digital reconstructions; i. visual evidence or research data. Authors must not present AI-generated or AI-modified materials as authentic historical, archival, ethnographic, documentary, empirical, or artistic evidence unless the AI involvement is clearly disclosed. Where AI-generated or AI-modified media are included, authors must state: a. the name of the AI tool used; b. the purpose of use; c. whether the material was generated, edited, enhanced, restored, reconstructed, colorized, or otherwise modified; d. whether the material is used as research data, illustration, artistic object, or analytical example; e. whether permission, copyright clearance, or ethical approval was required and obtained.
11. Copyright, Intellectual Property, and Cultural Rights
Authors are responsible for ensuring that AI-assisted content does not violate copyright, licensing terms, database rights, image rights, moral rights, privacy rights, publicity rights, cultural heritage rights, Indigenous rights, or other intellectual property and community rights. Authors must not use AI tools to reproduce, imitate, alter, or appropriate protected works, artistic styles, unpublished materials, archival sources, traditional cultural expressions, sacred cultural materials, or third-party content in ways that violate applicable law, ethical standards, or community expectations. When AI tools are used in relation to artworks, performances, museum objects, cultural heritage materials, Indigenous knowledge, traditional cultural expressions, or community-based cultural materials, authors must exercise heightened ethical care and provide appropriate acknowledgment, permission, contextual explanation, and rights clearance where necessary.
12. Confidentiality and Data Protection
Authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, and editorial staff must not upload confidential or sensitive materials to AI tools unless they have explicit authorization and the tool provides appropriate data protection consistent with journal policy and applicable law. Confidential or sensitive materials include, but are not limited to: a. unpublished manuscripts; b. peer review reports; c. editorial correspondence; d. reviewer identities; e. author identities in double-blind peer review; f. personal information; g. interview transcripts; h. research participant data; i. copyrighted images or archival materials; j. restricted cultural heritage materials; k. institutional, contractual, or legally confidential information. Unauthorized disclosure of confidential materials through AI tools may be treated as a serious breach of publication ethics.
13. Use of AI by Reviewers
Reviewers must protect the confidentiality of all manuscripts and review materials. Reviewers must not upload manuscripts, abstracts, figures, tables, images, supplementary materials, review invitations, editorial correspondence, or review reports to external AI tools without explicit permission from JGAS. Reviewers may use AI tools only for limited language editing of their own review comments, provided that no confidential manuscript content is entered into the AI system and the reviewer personally verifies the final review. Reviewers must not rely on AI tools as a substitute for their own scholarly expertise, critical evaluation, judgment, or recommendation. If a reviewer uses AI in any way that assists the evaluation or preparation of a review report, the reviewer must disclose this to the editor.
14. Use of AI by Editors and Editorial Staff
Editors and editorial staff must not upload confidential manuscript materials, reviewer information, author information, editorial discussions, or unpublished decision letters to external AI tools unless expressly authorized by JGAS and compliant with confidentiality and data protection requirements. Editors may use AI-assisted tools for limited administrative or editorial support, such as grammar checking, workflow support, metadata preparation, or non-confidential editorial communication, only where confidentiality, fairness, transparency, and human editorial judgment are preserved. AI tools must not make final editorial decisions. Decisions regarding desk rejection, peer review, revision, acceptance, correction, expression of concern, or retraction must be made by qualified human editors based on scholarly merit, peer review, journal policy, and publication ethics.
15. Peer Review Integrity
JGAS is committed to human-led peer review. AI tools may not replace the independent judgment of qualified reviewers or editors. Any AI-assisted screening, similarity checking, image checking, reference checking, or technical analysis used by the journal will be treated as supplementary. Final editorial responsibility remains with human editors. Reviewers and editors must ensure that AI tools do not compromise confidentiality, fairness, impartiality, academic judgment, or the integrity of peer review.
16. Misconduct Involving AI
The use of AI does not exempt authors, reviewers, or editors from JGAS policies on plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabrication, falsification, image manipulation, inappropriate authorship, citation manipulation, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, corrections, retractions, or other forms of research and publication misconduct. The following may be treated as misconduct: a. undisclosed substantive use of AI; b. submission of AI-generated text as original human-authored scholarship without meaningful human contribution; c. use of AI to fabricate data, references, quotations, sources, evidence, images, or artworks; d. use of AI to manipulate images, artworks, research materials, or cultural evidence deceptively; e. use of AI to conceal plagiarism, duplicate publication, or unethical text recycling; f. unauthorized uploading of confidential manuscript or peer review materials to AI tools; g. use of AI to generate misleading peer review reports, false identities, or manipulated editorial communications.
17. Editorial Handling of Suspected Misuse
When JGAS suspects inappropriate, undisclosed, or unethical use of AI, the editorial office may request clarification, documentation, or revision from the author, reviewer, or editor concerned. Depending on the nature and seriousness of the case, JGAS may take one or more of the following actions: a. request an AI Use Disclosure Statement; b. request correction, revision, verification, or removal of affected content; c. request original data, sources, permissions, prompts, or documentation where relevant; d. reject the manuscript; e. issue a correction, expression of concern, or retraction after publication; f. notify the authors’ institution, funding body, ethics committee, or relevant authority in serious cases; g. suspend or remove reviewers or editorial members who breach confidentiality or ethical standards. All cases will be handled in accordance with JGAS publication ethics policies and relevant international publication ethics principles.
18. Relationship with Other JGAS Policies
This AI Ethics Policy should be read together with the journal’s: a. Journal Regulations; b. Editorial and Peer Review Policy; c. Publication Ethics; d. Authorship and Conflict of Interest Policy; e. Copyright and Open Access Policy; f. Data, Image, and Materials Policy; g. Corrections, Retractions, and Complaints Policy; h. Privacy and Confidentiality Policy. Where this AI Ethics Policy overlaps with other JGAS policies, the stricter ethical standard shall apply.
19. Policy Review
This AI Ethics Policy may be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect changes in AI technologies, international publication standards, research ethics, legal obligations, indexing requirements, and journal operations. The most recent version of this policy shall be made available on the JGAS website.
Last updated: December 1, 2025