The journal has adopted strict policies regarding the use of generative AI and related AI tools in the preparation of manuscripts. These policies focus on human accountability, critical oversight, and transparency.
AI and Authorship
AI tools cannot be listed as an author or co‑author of a manuscript. Authorship requires accepting responsibility for the originality and validity of the work, which can only be done by humans, as an author must be able to approve the final version and agree to its submission.
Permitted Uses (Literary Editing with AI Assistance)
The use of AI tools to improve existing work is permitted, provided it is done responsibly and with human oversight:
Text Editing: Using AI to improve language clarity, grammar, spelling, punctuation, structure, or readability of the author's original text (including straightforward translation of existing text) is permitted.
Idea Generation: Using AI in the manner of traditional search engines to identify methodological approaches or research gaps (at the proposal stage) is permitted.
Data Visualisation: Using AI to generate charts, tables, or infographics that display the author's own analysed, existing data is allowed.
Prohibited Uses (Content Generation by AI)
AI tools must not be used to create or draft original content or to replace human critical thinking.
Content Generation: Using AI to write or draft any essential section of the manuscript (abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology, or conclusions) is prohibited.
Data Fabrication: Generating, manipulating, or reporting research data, results, or in‑text statistics using generative AI is absolutely not permitted.
Image Creation: Using AI to create or alter images and figures in submitted manuscripts is not permitted, unless such use is part of the research design or methodology, described reproducibly in the methods section. Creating artistic images, cover artwork, or graphical abstracts using AI is also prohibited.
Source Verification: Authors are responsible for carefully verifying AI outputs, as sources generated by these tools may be incorrect or fabricated.
Disclosure Requirements
Authors are required to declare any use of generative AI in the preparation of their manuscript at the time of submission. This declaration must be included in a separate section at the end of the article (before the reference list) and must include the following:
Name of the AI tool/service used.
Version of the tool (if available).
Reason for use (purpose).
Confirmation that the authors have reviewed and edited the content and take full responsibility for the published work.
(Note: Basic spelling and grammar checkers that do not use generative AI typically do not require this declaration.)
Use of AI in Peer Review (Reviewers and Editors)
To protect the confidentiality of submitted works and the integrity of the review process, uploading submitted manuscripts or any part thereof into generative AI tools or large language models by reviewers and editors is absolutely prohibited. AI must not replace human expertise and critical thinking in scientific evaluation or decision‑making. If a reviewer uses AI solely to improve the language quality of their own review report, they must inform the editorial team of this fact.
Prior Publication
The journal expects all submitted works to be original and unpublished, and not under consideration for publication by any other journal simultaneously. Simultaneous submission of the same manuscript, or manuscripts with substantially similar content, to multiple journals is considered unethical and unacceptable. However, certain forms of prior public presentation are generally permitted and do not preclude acceptance, provided that the author maintains full transparency and discloses such prior instances at the time of submission.
Permitted Forms of Prior Publication
The following forms of prior publication are generally acceptable, provided that transparency and proper citation are maintained:
Preprints: Posting a manuscript on preprint servers before or concurrently with submission to the journal is permitted and does not constitute prior publication. Upon acceptance, the author must update the preprint record by linking to the final version, including the DOI and a citation to the journal.
University Theses and Dissertations: Works that were previously part of a thesis or dissertation are acceptable. If the thesis has been placed in a public online institutional repository, the author must declare this at the time of submission. The journal does not require that access to the thesis be embargoed until the publication of articles derived from it.
Conference Papers and Abstracts: Presenting an abstract or poster at a conference generally does not affect a manuscript's eligibility for publication. Similarly, the publication of a working paper or a conference paper is generally permitted, provided that the author has not transferred copyright or signed an exclusive publication license with the conference organizers. When submitting a conference paper, the author is expected to have substantially expanded the content prior to submission to the journal.
Transparency Requirements
Authors must disclose details of any related works they have previously published, or that are in press or under review, through clear citation and referencing at the time of submission. This disclosure ensures that the full history of the work is documented and prevents issues such as redundant publication (publishing the same research more than once) or self‑plagiarism (reusing one's own text without proper attribution), both of which are unethical.
The journal uses similarity detection tools, such as Samim Noor (https://www.samimnoor.ir) or the IranDoc similarity check system (https://tik.irandoc.ac.ir), to verify compliance with these policies and to ensure the originality of the work.
Article Sharing
Authors may share and promote their published works to increase visibility and impact within the scholarly community. Sharing policies vary depending on which version of the article is being distributed. As the journal uses the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en), authors have extensive rights to publicly share their content.
Preprint Version: Authors may share their preprint at any time and anywhere. Sharing preprints on public servers, such as institutional repositories or preprint servers (e.g., arXiv), will not be considered prior publication. Upon final acceptance and publication in the journal, authors must link the preprint to the final published article using its DOI.
