AI POLICY

USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND GENERATIVE AI IN MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Current Pharmaceutical Research (CPR) recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI), generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), and AI-assisted technologies can support researchers in certain aspects of manuscript preparation and scientific research. Such technologies may provide useful assistance with literature organization, content structure, language improvement, data analysis, and other research-related activities. However, their use must remain transparent, responsible, and subject to meaningful human oversight. AI tools must not replace the authors’ scientific judgment, intellectual contribution, critical evaluation, or responsibility for the published work.

Permitted and Responsible Use of AI

Authors may use AI or AI-assisted technologies in a limited and responsible manner to support manuscript preparation, including improving language and readability, organizing or structuring author-generated content, assisting with literature searches, identifying relevant research areas, and supporting other non-substantive aspects of manuscript development.

AI tools may also be used as part of legitimate research activities, including study design, computational analysis, coding, data analysis, predictive modelling, or other methodological applications where scientifically appropriate. When AI is used as part of the research methodology, its use must be described adequately in the Methods or another appropriate section of the manuscript to ensure transparency and reproducibility.

AI-assisted tools must always be used under appropriate human oversight. Authors must independently assess the output generated by such tools and ensure that the final manuscript reflects their own scientific reasoning, interpretation, analysis, and intellectual contribution.

Disclosure of AI-Assisted Content

Authors must transparently disclose the use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies when such tools have made substantive contributions to the preparation of the manuscript. The disclosure should identify the AI tool or service used, the purpose for which it was used, and the extent of human review and oversight.

Basic tools used solely for spelling, punctuation, or routine grammar correction generally do not require disclosure. However, if an AI tool makes substantive changes to sentence structure, organization, interpretation, or other manuscript content, its use should be disclosed.

Where AI is used as part of the research methodology, the use should be reported in sufficient detail within the Methods section rather than being described only in the general AI declaration.

AI and Authorship

AI tools, generative AI systems, AI agents, or other non-human technologies cannot be listed as authors or co-authors of manuscripts submitted to CPR. Authorship requires intellectual responsibility, accountability for the integrity of the work, approval of the final manuscript, and agreement to its submission, responsibilities that can only be attributed to human authors.

All listed authors remain fully responsible for the content of the manuscript, including any material produced or assisted by AI tools. The use of AI does not transfer or reduce the responsibility of the authors for the accuracy, originality, integrity, ethical compliance, and scientific validity of the work.

AI-Generated Text and Scientific Content

Authors must not use AI-generated content as a substitute for their own scientific reasoning, analysis, interpretation, or intellectual contribution. AI-generated text may be used only as a supportive input where permitted under this policy and must be critically reviewed, substantially assessed, and appropriately edited by the authors before inclusion in the manuscript.

Authors must independently verify all factual statements, scientific claims, interpretations, quotations, and references generated or suggested by AI tools. AI systems may produce inaccurate, incomplete, biased, outdated, or fabricated information, including non-existent or incorrectly described references. Authors remain responsible for ensuring that every citation is authentic, relevant, verifiable, and accurately represents the source.

AI-generated content must not be used to fabricate research findings, invent experimental observations, create fictitious references, manipulate scientific conclusions, or misrepresent the underlying research.

AI-Generated or AI-Assisted Figures and Images

AI-generated or AI-assisted figures and images must be used responsibly and transparently. Where permitted, AI may be used to assist in the preparation of explanatory or conceptual illustrations, schematic diagrams, workflows, or similar non-primary scientific visual materials, provided that the resulting content is scientifically accurate, appropriately disclosed, and does not infringe third-party rights.

The use of AI in explanatory figures should be disclosed in the relevant figure caption and in the manuscript’s general AI disclosure statement. The caption should identify the AI tool or service used and briefly describe how it contributed to the figure.

AI tools must not be used to fabricate, invent, selectively alter, obscure, remove, introduce, or otherwise manipulate primary research images or experimental data in a manner that could misrepresent the underlying research. This includes, where applicable, microscopy images, histological images, western blots, gels, radiological images, patient images, experimental photographs, or other images representing primary research observations.

AI-assisted data visualizations may be permitted when they are generated directly from authentic underlying data using reproducible analytical or computational methods. Such use must be appropriately described in the Methods section, including sufficient information about the relevant tool or method to support transparency and reproducibility.

Authors remain responsible for ensuring that all submitted figures and images are accurate, original, appropriately licensed, and compliant with applicable copyright and publication requirements.

AI Use in Data Analysis and Research

The use of AI or machine-learning technologies as part of legitimate scientific research is not prohibited. Where AI is used to analyze data, develop computational models, identify patterns, generate predictions, process images, or perform other research functions, the use should be described in the appropriate methodological section of the manuscript.

Authors should provide sufficient information about the AI or computational approach, including the relevant tool, model, version where applicable, analytical procedure, training or input data where appropriate, and other information necessary to understand and reproduce the research.

AI-assisted analysis must not be used to fabricate, falsify, selectively manipulate, or misrepresent research data or results. Authors remain responsible for validating AI-generated outputs and demonstrating that the conclusions drawn from AI-assisted analyses are scientifically justified.

Accuracy, Verification and Author Responsibility

Authors are fully responsible for all content submitted to and published by CPR, regardless of whether that content was generated, modified, analyzed, or supported by an AI tool.

Before submission, authors must carefully review and verify AI-assisted material for factual accuracy, scientific validity, completeness, appropriate attribution, unintended bias, and consistency with the underlying research. Authors should independently verify references and supporting evidence rather than relying solely on AI-generated information.

Authors should also review the terms of use, privacy policies, data-handling practices, and intellectual-property provisions of any AI tool used. Confidential, unpublished, proprietary, personal, or otherwise sensitive information should not be entered into an AI system unless the authors have confirmed that appropriate privacy, confidentiality, security, and rights protections are in place.

Authors should retain appropriate records of substantive AI use, including the tool or service used, its purpose, and relevant outputs or documentation, where reasonably practicable. Such information may be requested by the Editorial Office when necessary to assess transparency, reproducibility, or compliance with this policy.

Prohibited Uses of AI

The following uses of AI and generative AI are not permitted in manuscripts submitted to CPR:

i) Fabrication or invention of research data, experimental results, observations, participants, samples, or other scientific information.

ii) Falsification, selective alteration, or misleading manipulation of research data or results.

iii) Generation or manipulation of primary research images in a manner that misrepresents the underlying observations or experimental data.

iv) Generation of fictitious, fabricated, or unverifiable references or citations.

v) Use of AI-generated content to misrepresent the authors’ own scientific contribution or intellectual work.

vi) Listing an AI system, AI agent, or generative AI tool as an author or co-author.

vii) Submission of substantially AI-generated scientific content without appropriate human evaluation, authorship, and disclosure where disclosure is required.

viii) Uploading confidential, unpublished, personal, proprietary, or restricted research information into AI tools where adequate privacy and confidentiality protections have not been established.

ix) Use of AI to circumvent plagiarism screening, research-integrity checks, peer review, authorship requirements, or other editorial safeguards.

x) Any use of AI that infringes copyright, intellectual-property rights, privacy rights, confidentiality obligations, or other third-party rights.

Suspected inappropriate or undisclosed use of AI may be investigated by the Editorial Office in accordance with the research-integrity and publication-ethics policies of CPR.

AI Disclosure Statement

Where disclosure is required under this policy, authors should include a separate statement in the manuscript immediately before the References section under the heading “Declaration of Generative AI Use”. The statement should identify the AI tool or service used, describe its purpose, and confirm that the authors reviewed and edited the output and remain fully responsible for the final content.

The following format is recommended:

“During the preparation of this work, the author(s) used [NAME OF AI TOOL/SERVICE] for [SPECIFIC PURPOSE]. Following the use of this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the generated content as necessary and take full responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, originality, and final content of the published article.”

Where AI tools have been used in the research process rather than solely for manuscript preparation, the relevant use should additionally be described in the Methods section.

AI disclosure is intended to promote transparency and does not, by itself, imply that the manuscript is scientifically inappropriate or that the use of AI constitutes misconduct. The Editorial Office of CPR reserves the right to request additional information regarding the use of AI where necessary to assess compliance with this policy.

CPR may periodically update this policy in response to developments in AI technologies, research practices, data-protection requirements, intellectual-property considerations, and recognized standards of responsible scholarly publishing.