AI Use Policy

Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Manuscript Preparation

NG Agricultural Sciences recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including generative AI and AI-assisted writing tools, are increasingly being used in academic work. The journal permits limited and responsible use of such tools in manuscript preparation, but authors remain fully accountable for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and scientific validity of all submitted content.

The use of AI must never compromise research integrity, transparency, authorship standards, or ethical publishing practice.

1. Author Responsibility

Authors are fully responsible for all content submitted to the journal, including any part that has been edited, refined, generated, or assisted by AI tools. Authors must carefully review and verify all AI-assisted output before submission.

AI tools cannot take responsibility for the accuracy, interpretation, originality, or integrity of scholarly work. Therefore, AI tools must not be listed as authors or co-authors of a manuscript.

2. Permissible Use Without Authorship Attribution

Authors may use AI tools for limited support functions such as:

  • grammar correction
  • spelling correction
  • language polishing
  • sentence improvement for readability
  • formatting assistance
  • translation support

Such use does not make the AI tool an author. However, authors remain responsible for ensuring that the final text is accurate, unbiased, and scientifically sound.

3. AI Use Requiring Disclosure

Authors must clearly disclose the use of AI tools if they have been used for any substantive purpose in manuscript preparation, including but not limited to:

  • generating draft text
  • rewriting or expanding sections of the manuscript
  • summarizing literature in a way that materially contributes to the manuscript
  • generating figures, graphical abstracts, diagrams, illustrations, or visual content
  • assisting in coding, analysis presentation, or interpretation for reporting in the manuscript
  • generating tables or structured content for inclusion in the manuscript

Where disclosure is required, authors should provide a brief statement specifying:

  • the name of the AI tool
  • the purpose for which it was used
  • the section or type of content affected

Such disclosure should be included in the manuscript in an appropriate section, or provided at submission as required by the journal.

4. Prohibited Uses

The following uses of AI are not permitted:

  • listing AI tools as authors or co-authors
  • submitting AI-generated content as if it were entirely original human-authored scholarly writing without disclosure
  • generating or fabricating data, results, observations, images, graphs, tables, or experimental findings and presenting them as genuine research output
  • generating fake, non-existent, or unverifiable references
  • using AI in any way that misleads editors, reviewers, or readers about the true origin of the content
  • manipulating images, data, or results in a deceptive manner using AI tools

Any such misuse may lead to rejection of the manuscript, withdrawal of a published article, or other editorial action in accordance with the journal’s ethics policy.

5. Accuracy, Bias, and Verification

AI-generated output may contain factual errors, fabricated citations, misleading interpretations, biased language, or incomplete reasoning. Authors must therefore verify:

  • factual correctness
  • reference accuracy
  • originality of text
  • appropriateness of interpretations
  • absence of plagiarism or fabricated material

The journal will not accept the use of AI as an excuse for errors, ethical breaches, or scientific misconduct.

6. Confidentiality and Sensitive Material

Authors should use caution when entering confidential, unpublished, personal, proprietary, or sensitive research material into AI platforms. The journal is not responsible for any confidentiality, copyright, or data privacy risks arising from the use of third-party AI tools.

Authors are expected to ensure that the use of any AI tool does not violate institutional, legal, ethical, or data protection requirements.

7. Editorial Assessment

The editors of NG Agricultural Sciences reserve the right to:

  • request clarification regarding suspected AI use
  • ask authors to revise or remove AI-generated content
  • require disclosure statements to be added or corrected
  • reject manuscripts where AI use is misleading, excessive, undisclosed, or ethically unacceptable

Use of AI does not reduce editorial expectations regarding originality, clarity, scientific quality, and ethical compliance.

8. Recommended Disclosure Statement

Where applicable, authors may use a statement such as:

“The authors used [name of AI tool] for [state purpose, e.g., language editing / initial drafting assistance / figure preparation] during manuscript preparation. All output was reviewed, revised, and verified by the authors, who take full responsibility for the final content.”

9. Final Principle

AI may be used only as a support tool and not as a substitute for scholarly judgment, scientific reasoning, original analysis, or author responsibility. Authors must ensure full transparency and maintain the highest standards of academic integrity in all submissions to NG Agricultural Sciences.