AI Policy

TechReg AI policy v1.0

 

  1. General principles

TechReg acknowledges the potential of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies ("AI Tools") to support researchers when used responsibly, enabling them to work more efficiently, surface critical insights, and achieve stronger outcomes. These tools, including AI agents and deep research applications, are increasingly being used to synthesize complex literature, map fields and research questions, identify gaps in existing knowledge, generate new ideas, and assist with tasks such as structuring content and improving clarity and readability.

AI Tools may be used by authors and reviewers for TechReg only where they support, and do not replace human critical thinking, expertise, and evaluation. Human authors and reviewers remain fully responsible and accountable for the scientific integrity, accuracy, originality, and ethical and legal compliance of all submitted and published work.

  1. Use of AI tools by authors

Authors may use AI Tools to support the preparation of manuscripts, including for language editing (e.g., grammar, style, readability), structuring and organising text, exploring or summarising literature (always with verification),initial brainstorming, furthering already formulated hypotheses, and assisting with coding or data analysis tasks, provided that all outputs are critically reviewed and validated by the authors. Authors who use AI tools remain fully responsible for the impact of that use on the quality of their work. We expect authors to be aware of the risks of deploying AI tools in research, including their potential to skew results, reinforce biases, and, at times, hallucinate

AI Tools must not be used to replace scientific reasoning, interpretation, or evaluation, nor may AI-generated content be presented as independent human intellectual contribution without substantial human review, revision, and integration. Authors must not rely on AI-generated citations, references, or factual claims without independent verification, and must not list or cite AI Tools as authors or co-authors. The input of confidential, sensitive, or third-party data into AI Tools is prohibited where this would violate ethical, contractual, privacy, or data protection obligations.

Human authors remain fully responsible and accountable for the scientific integrity, accuracy, originality, and ethical and legal compliance of all submitted and published work. This includes:

  • Ensuring that all factual statements, citations, and references in the manuscript are accurate and independently verified

  • AI-assisted material is critically reviewed, validated, and appropriately revised. This includes checking for factual errors and potential bias in any AI-generated content.

  • Ensuring that the final manuscript reflects genuine intellectual contribution by the listed authors. 

  • Reviewing the terms and conditions of any AI Tool used, to ensure that the privacy and confidentiality of their data and inputs (including unpublished manuscripts) is maintained. Particular care should be taken with personally identifiable data.

  • Verification that the terms of any AI Tool used limit its rights to their submitted materials to providing the service itself and do not extend to training the tool on those materials or otherwise exploiting them.

  • Ensuring generated images do not duplicate or reference copyrighted material, real individuals, or others’identifiable products or brands, nor replicate any individual’s voice or likeness.

Authors are solely responsible for the content submitted for peer review and publication, regardless of whether AI Tools were used in its preparation.

  1. Use of AI tools by reviewers

Reviewers must treat all submitted manuscripts and peer review materials as strictly confidential. They must not upload, share, or process manuscripts or review materials using external AI Tools or systems that store, reuse, or transmit content outside the reviewer’s control. Therefore, reviewers must not use AI tools to generate peer reviewreports; analyse, summarise, or evaluate manuscripts using external AI systems; process confidential manuscript content through third-party AI services.

Reviewers remain fully responsible for the accuracy, reasoning and content of their review reports.

  1. Disclosure requirements

All use of AI tools beyond basic language correction (e.g., spelling, grammar, readability) must be disclosed at submission in the cover letter to the editorial board.

The disclosure must include:

  • Name(s) of AI Tool(s) used

  • Purpose of use (e.g., language editing, coding assistance, literature summaries, brainstorming)

  • Extent of use and level of author oversight

  • Confirmation that author has controlled the content, veracity, and accuracy of primary sources as much as possible, if relying on literature reviews generated by AI tools.

This statement will be published alongside the article. Transparent disclosure supports trust between authors, readers, reviewers, editors, and contributors, facilitates compliance with the relevant tool's terms of use and enables proper editorial assessment of submitted work.

If AI Tools are used as part of the research process (e.g. data analysis, coding, literature screening, model development), this must be described in the Methods section where appropriate.

  1. Research Misconduct and Ethical Malpractice

Authors remain responsible for ensuring originality and integrity of submissions.

If published work is found to contain serious errors, plagiarism, data falsification, fabricated content, or unreliable AI-generated material (including hallucinated references), TechReg may publish a correction (erratum/corrigendum), or issue a retraction in cases of serious breach. Where necessary, indexing services and other relevant institutions may be notified. 

Authors who intentionally provide false information may be banned from having their work considered for publication in TechReg in the following 2 years.