Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence in Journal Publishing

Abstract

Responsibility in Academic Publishing Recently, a screenshot of an academic article shared on the platform ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter) caused heated debates about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in academic publishing. A high impact journal published by Elsevier, namely Surfaces and Interfaces, included an article in its Volume 46, March 2024 issue which contained a sentence that was inadvertently published at the beginning of its introduction: ‘Certainly, here is a possible introduction for your topic’. This sentence suggested that the authors used AI in the writing process of their article, but the matter was undetected during the journal’s manuscript screening and evaluation process. The scandal prompted the publishing house to initiate an internal investigation, followed by retraction of the article from the journal as non-disclosure of the use of AI was said to represent a breach of the journal’s policies. The publisher also posted an apology to its readers for its failure to detect the use of generative AI during the evaluation of the article.

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