AI Policy

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) POLICY

1. Introduction

Wacana Equiliberium recognizes the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in academic research, scholarly writing, data analysis, and scientific publishing. AI technologies offer opportunities to improve research efficiency, enhance language quality, and support the development and communication of scientific knowledge. Nevertheless, their use also raises concerns regarding research integrity, originality, transparency, accountability, confidentiality, and intellectual property rights.

This policy establishes ethical principles and practical requirements governing the use of AI technologies by authors, reviewers, and editors involved in the journal's publication process. It aims to encourage responsible technological innovation while maintaining the reliability, credibility, and integrity of scholarly publications.

The policy applies to research articles, review articles, and other scholarly contributions submitted to Wacana Equiliberium, particularly within accounting, finance, taxation, auditing, management, and related disciplines.

2. General Principles of AI Use

Wacana Equiliberium permits the responsible use of AI-assisted technologies provided that their application complies with established standards of academic integrity and publication ethics.

All parties involved in scholarly publishing must adhere to the following principles:

  • Transparency: The use of AI tools that materially contribute to manuscript preparation, research procedures, data processing, or content generation must be appropriately disclosed.

  • Accountability: Human authors, reviewers, and editors remain fully responsible for their work and decisions, regardless of AI assistance.

  • Accuracy: AI-generated or AI-assisted information must be independently verified to prevent factual errors, misleading interpretations, and fabricated references.

  • Originality: AI tools must not be used to facilitate plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, or other forms of academic misconduct.

  • Confidentiality: Unpublished manuscripts, research data, and confidential editorial information must be protected from unauthorized disclosure.

  • Human Oversight: AI technologies must support, rather than replace, scholarly judgment, critical thinking, and professional editorial responsibility.

The use of AI does not exempt any individual from complying with the journal's existing publication ethics and research integrity requirements.

3. AI Use by Authors

Authors may use AI-assisted tools during manuscript preparation and research activities when such use is appropriate, transparent, and consistent with ethical research practices.

3.1 Permitted Uses

AI tools may assist authors with language editing, grammar correction, spelling, translation, readability improvement, manuscript organization, coding assistance, literature exploration, and other supporting research activities.

AI may also assist with data processing, statistical programming, qualitative analysis, and the development of research visualizations, provided that the methods are scientifically appropriate, properly documented, and independently validated.

Authors must critically evaluate all AI-assisted outputs and ensure that the final manuscript accurately represents their own research contributions, interpretations, and conclusions.

3.2 Prohibited Uses

Authors must not use AI technologies to:

  • Fabricate, falsify, or manipulate research data, statistical results, or empirical findings.

  • Generate fictitious references, quotations, datasets, research participants, or supporting evidence.

  • Present AI-generated interpretations or conclusions as independently verified research findings without appropriate validation.

  • Conceal plagiarism, duplicate publication, or substantial reproduction of existing scholarly works.

  • Create or manipulate figures, images, documents, or other research materials in ways that misrepresent evidence.

  • Upload confidential, personal, financial, institutional, or proprietary information to AI platforms without appropriate authorization and data protection safeguards.

AI-generated content must not substitute for original scientific investigation, methodological rigor, or meaningful intellectual contributions by human researchers.

3.3 Author Responsibility

Authors remain fully accountable for the accuracy, originality, validity, and ethical compliance of their manuscripts.

Before submission, authors must verify all AI-assisted content, including citations, statistical interpretations, analytical procedures, and factual statements. The use of AI tools does not transfer responsibility for errors, omissions, copyright infringement, or research misconduct to the technology provider.

All listed authors must review and approve the final manuscript, including any content developed with AI assistance.

4. AI Authorship and Acknowledgment

AI systems, including generative AI models and large language models, cannot be listed as authors or co-authors of manuscripts submitted to Wacana Equiliberium.

Authorship requires substantial intellectual contributions, responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the work, approval of the final manuscript, and accountability for its publication. AI systems cannot independently fulfill these responsibilities.

Consequently, AI tools must not appear in the author byline or be treated as individuals responsible for scholarly contributions.

When AI tools materially contribute to manuscript development or research activities, their use must be acknowledged through an appropriate disclosure statement.

AI-generated outputs must not be cited as substitutes for original scholarly evidence when verifiable primary or secondary academic sources are available.

5. Disclosure and Transparency of AI Use

Authors must disclose any substantive use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in preparing, developing, or analyzing the research presented in their manuscripts.

The disclosure should identify:

  • The name of the AI tool and, where available, its model or version.

  • The specific purpose for which the tool was used.

  • The sections, procedures, or research activities supported by AI.

  • The procedures undertaken to verify, validate, or review AI-assisted outputs.

The disclosure should be included in a separate section entitled "Declaration of AI Use" before the references. When AI forms part of the research methodology, the relevant procedures must also be described in the Methods section.

Routine use of conventional spelling checkers, reference management software, and standard non-generative editing tools does not ordinarily require a formal declaration. However, the substantive use of generative AI to create, rewrite, interpret, or analyze scholarly content must be disclosed.

Authors who have not used generative AI may include the following statement:

"The authors declare that no generative artificial intelligence tools were used in the preparation of this manuscript."

Authors who have used AI may adopt the following statement:

"During the preparation of this manuscript, the authors used [AI tool and version] for [specific purpose]. All AI-assisted outputs were critically reviewed and verified by the authors, who take full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the final manuscript."

The editorial team reserves the right to request additional information concerning the use of AI when necessary to evaluate research integrity.

6. AI-Generated Data, Images, and Research Materials

The use of AI to generate or modify research data, images, tables, figures, and other scholarly materials requires particular care to preserve accuracy, transparency, and reproducibility.

Authors must clearly distinguish between authentic empirical evidence, simulated data, and AI-generated materials. Synthetic or simulated data may be used when scientifically justified and explicitly identified, but they must never be misrepresented as observations collected from actual research participants, organizations, markets, or institutions.

AI-assisted analytical procedures must be sufficiently documented to enable independent evaluation. Authors are responsible for validating computational outputs, statistical estimates, model assumptions, and analytical interpretations.

AI-generated figures, illustrations, or graphical materials may be considered when their use is scientifically justified, appropriately disclosed, and consistent with copyright and research integrity requirements. Fabricated or misleading visual evidence is strictly prohibited.

For studies involving financial records, business transactions, accounting information, personal data, or other confidential materials, authors must comply with applicable data protection requirements and obtain any necessary permissions before processing such information using external AI services.

The editorial team may request supporting documentation, analytical code, original data, or further methodological explanations when AI-assisted research procedures require verification.

7. AI Use by Peer Reviewers

Wacana Equiliberium maintains a double-blind peer-review process and requires reviewers to preserve the confidentiality, independence, and integrity of manuscript evaluation.

Reviewers must not upload submitted manuscripts, unpublished research findings, supplementary materials, or confidential editorial communications to publicly accessible or third-party AI systems without prior authorization from the editorial team and appropriate confidentiality safeguards.

AI tools must not independently generate peer-review reports or replace the reviewer's professional assessment of a manuscript's originality, methodological quality, scientific contribution, and relevance.

Limited AI assistance for language refinement or administrative support may be permitted only when manuscript confidentiality is fully protected. Reviewers remain personally responsible for the accuracy, fairness, and substance of their reports.

Any authorized substantive use of AI during peer review must be disclosed to the handling editor.

Reviewers must not use confidential manuscript information to train AI systems, support unrelated research, or obtain personal or professional advantages.

8. AI Use by Editors and Editorial Staff

Editors and editorial staff may use AI-assisted technologies to support administrative tasks, improve editorial communication, and facilitate selected stages of manuscript management, provided that confidentiality and data protection requirements are maintained.

AI tools must not replace human editorial judgment in determining manuscript suitability, selecting reviewers, evaluating scientific merit, or making publication decisions.

Editors must not disclose confidential manuscripts, reviewer identities, unpublished findings, or editorial correspondence to external AI platforms without appropriate authorization and safeguards.

Editorial decisions must be based on scholarly quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reviewer assessments, and the journal's established editorial standards.

AI-generated assessments or automated detection systems may serve as supplementary information but must not be treated as conclusive evidence of plagiarism, AI misuse, or research misconduct.

The Editor-in-Chief and designated editors retain full responsibility for editorial decisions and the integrity of the publication process.

9. Compliance, Violations, and Policy Updates

All authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to comply with this policy throughout the manuscript submission, peer-review, publication, and post-publication processes.

Suspected misuse of AI, including undisclosed substantive AI use, fabricated citations, manipulated research materials, confidentiality breaches, or misrepresentation of AI-generated outputs, will be evaluated in accordance with the journal's Publication Ethics policy and relevant guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Depending on the nature and severity of the issue, the editorial team may request clarification, supporting documentation, manuscript revision, or additional verification. Confirmed serious violations may result in manuscript rejection, correction, expression of concern, or retraction, as appropriate.

Any investigation will follow principles of fairness, proportionality, confidentiality, and due process. The use of AI detection software alone will not constitute sufficient evidence of misconduct.

Wacana Equiliberium reserves the right to review and update this policy periodically in response to technological developments, evolving publication ethics standards, and changes in applicable regulations.

By submitting a manuscript or participating in the journal's editorial process, authors, reviewers, and editors acknowledge their responsibility to comply with this policy.

This policy is informed by the principles and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and established standards of responsible scholarly publishing.