Gen AI Policy

JHNR Publication Ethics

Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies Policy

The Journal of Health and Nutrition Research (JHNR) permits responsible and transparent use of artificial intelligence while requiring human accountability, scientific accuracy, originality, confidentiality, and respect for intellectual property.

Purpose and Scope

This policy applies to authors, reviewers, and editors. It is aligned with the responsible-use principles in the Pedoman Penyajian Tugas Akhir Institut Pertanian Bogor and harmonized with the JHNR article template. AI may assist human work, but it must not replace scientific reasoning, professional judgment, authorship responsibility, or editorial accountability. If an institution, funder, or applicable law imposes stricter requirements, the stricter requirements apply.

Core Principles

  • Transparency: disclose the AI tool, its purpose, and how its output was reviewed or modified.
  • Human accountability: authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and final content of the work.
  • Verification and validation: critically check AI output for errors, bias, unsupported claims, fabricated references, and methodological problems.
  • Originality and attribution: do not present AI output or another person's work as original human scholarship; verify and cite all sources correctly.
  • Privacy, ethics, and rights: protect confidential or personal data and comply with copyright, licensing, consent, and institutional requirements.

1. Policy for Authors

Permitted Uses with Human Oversight

Authors may use generative AI or AI-assisted tools to support manuscript preparation, provided the use is lawful, ethical, transparent, and subject to substantive human review. Permitted assistance may include:

  • brainstorming research ideas or helping organize an outline;
  • improving grammar, language fluency, clarity, translation, or readability;
  • explaining or summarizing complex concepts for the author's own understanding, followed by verification against reliable sources;
  • assisting with code, preliminary data exploration, or data visualization when the authors understand and validate the methods and outputs; and
  • creating non-data artwork for a graphical abstract or cover image under the conditions stated below.

Prohibited or Unacceptable Uses

Authors must not:

  • ask AI to produce an entire manuscript and submit it without genuine intellectual contribution, critical review, and substantial revision by the authors;
  • use AI as a substitute for scientific reasoning, interpretation, or expert judgment;
  • fabricate, falsify, or misrepresent data, results, citations, references, participants, methods, or ethical approvals;
  • cite an AI-generated reference without independently verifying that the source exists and supports the claim;
  • upload confidential manuscripts, identifiable participant information, sensitive research data, or third-party content without authorization and adequate safeguards; or
  • use AI-generated text or images in ways that infringe copyright, licensing terms, privacy, publicity rights, or research ethics.

Authorship

An AI tool must not be listed or cited as an author or co-author. Authorship requires human responsibilities that AI cannot assume, including approval of the final manuscript and accountability for its accuracy, integrity, originality, and compliance with publication ethics.

Disclosure Requirements

Authors must include a separate section titled DECLARATION OF THE USE OF AI immediately before the References whenever generative AI or an AI-assisted technology has generated, paraphrased, translated, rewritten, summarized, coded, analyzed, or created content used in the submitted article or graphical abstract.
  • State the name of the tool or service, its purpose, and the nature or extent of its contribution.
  • State that the authors critically reviewed, verified, and edited the output and accept full responsibility for the final work.
  • If AI was used as part of the research process - including data analysis, coding, image analysis, prediction, or another methodological procedure - also describe the tool, version where available, parameters or workflow, validation, and human oversight in the Methods section so the work can be evaluated and reproduced.
  • Conventional spelling or grammar checking that does not generate or substantially rewrite content need not be declared. Generative rewriting, paraphrasing, translation, or content creation must be declared. When uncertain, authors should disclose the use.

2. Graphical Abstracts, Figures, Images, and Artwork

AI-assisted graphical abstracts are permitted. Generative AI may be used to create or assist with a base illustration for a graphical abstract or cover artwork only when the visual is non-data artwork and is not presented as raw data, a research result, or primary scientific evidence.

Conditions for Permitted AI-Generated Artwork

  • The authors must direct the concept and prompts and must critically review and, where necessary, manually revise the resulting image.
  • All scientific labels, pathways, symbols, text, numerical values, and relationships must be manually added or carefully verified by the authors.
  • The final visual must accurately represent the article, must not exaggerate or mislead, and must clearly distinguish conceptual illustration from observed data.
  • The visual must not imitate protected artwork, include unauthorized trademarks, or depict an identifiable person without the necessary rights or consent.
  • The tool and its role must be explicitly disclosed in the DECLARATION OF THE USE OF AI.

Scientific Images and Research Data

Generative AI must not be used to create, add, remove, obscure, or alter features in scientific images or research data. This prohibition includes data-bearing photographs and outputs such as microscopy, radiology, pathology, gels, blots, chromatograms, spectra, and instrument-generated figures. Routine adjustments such as brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable only when applied consistently and when they do not conceal, eliminate, or misrepresent original information.

When AI-based image processing or analysis is an integral part of the research method, it must be fully described and validated in the Methods section. Such methodological use does not exempt authors from data provenance, image integrity, reproducibility, or disclosure requirements.

3. Declaration Templates for Authors

Authors should select and adapt the statement that accurately reflects their use. Replace all bracketed text with specific information and remove examples that do not apply.

A. Manuscript preparation using one or more AI tools

“During the preparation of this manuscript, the author(s) used [TOOL/SERVICE NAME(S)] for [SPECIFIC PURPOSE, such as improving clarity, language fluency, organization, or readability]. The author(s) critically reviewed, verified, and edited all AI-assisted output to ensure accuracy, originality, appropriate citation, and academic integrity. The author(s) take full responsibility for the final content of this publication.”

B. Language and grammar assistance only

“The author(s) used [TOOL/SERVICE NAME] solely to improve the English language, grammar, and readability of this manuscript. The tool was not used to generate research data, results, or scientific conclusions. The author(s) reviewed and edited the output and take full responsibility for the final content of the article.”

C. AI-assisted graphical abstract

“During the preparation of this manuscript, the author(s) used [TOOL/SERVICE NAME] to generate or assist with the base illustration for the graphical abstract. The author(s) designed and directed the prompts, manually added or verified all scientific labels, text, numerical values, and relationships, and critically reviewed the final image for scientific accuracy. The illustration does not generate or alter research data and is not presented as primary scientific evidence. The author(s) take full responsibility for the integrity and content of the visual representation.”

D. AI used in research methods, analysis, or coding

“The author(s) used [TOOL/MODEL AND VERSION, IF AVAILABLE] for [SPECIFIC RESEARCH, ANALYSIS, OR CODING PURPOSE], as described in the Methods section. The author(s) verified the inputs, workflow, assumptions, and outputs using [VALIDATION OR HUMAN-REVIEW PROCESS]. No AI-generated or synthetic information was represented as observed research data. The author(s) take full responsibility for the methodology, results, and conclusions.”

E. No generative AI used

“The author(s) declare that no generative AI or AI-assisted technology was used to generate or substantially modify the text, data, analyses, images, or graphical abstract in this manuscript.”

4. Policy for Reviewers

Submitted manuscripts and peer-review reports are confidential. Reviewers must not upload a manuscript, any part of it, associated files, unpublished data, or their review report to a public or third-party generative AI tool, including for language improvement, because doing so may violate confidentiality, privacy, and proprietary rights.

Generative AI must not be used to perform the scientific review, formulate recommendations, or replace the reviewer's critical evaluation. The reviewer remains fully responsible and accountable for the review report.

5. Policy for Editors

Editors must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts, associated files, author information, reviewer identities, reports, and editorial correspondence. These materials must not be uploaded to a public or third-party generative AI tool, including for language improvement.

Generative AI must not be used to conduct editorial evaluation, make acceptance or rejection decisions, select reviewers solely through automated judgment, or replace human editorial reasoning. The editor remains responsible and accountable for every editorial decision.

Editors should check the author declaration immediately before the References and, where relevant, the Methods section. Suspected non-disclosure, fabrication, image manipulation, confidentiality breaches, or other misuse of AI should be handled under JHNR publication-ethics procedures and reported to the publisher when appropriate.
Policy note: AI tools and their capabilities change rapidly. JHNR may request additional information about an AI-assisted workflow when needed to assess scientific integrity, reproducibility, confidentiality, copyright, or ethical compliance.