Generative AI Policy

Journal Policy on the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI and Authorship (Standard COPE/ICMJE Compliance)

In strict agreement with international standards set by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the Journal of Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies for Low- and Middle-Income Countries (BEST-LMIC) enforces the following authorship rules:

  • No Authorship Rights: Generative AI tools (such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot) do not meet the criteria for authorship. They cannot be listed as authors or co-authors on any manuscript submitted to the journal.
  • Accountability & Legal Obligations: Authorship requires the capacity to take legal and ethical responsibility for the submitted work, manage conflicts of interest, and provide final approval of the version to be published. AI tools cannot meet these human obligations.
  • Ultimate Liability: Human authors remain entirely accountable for the accuracy, completeness, and original validity of all content generated, modified, or polished by AI tools.

Permissible vs. Prohibited Uses of AI

To support and empower global researchers—particularly non-native English speakers—while preventing scientific misconduct, we distinguish clearly between linguistic writing assistance and direct content creation:

Permissible Uses (Writing & Technical Support)

  • Language and Translation Polishing: Authors may use AI to improve grammatical readability, refine translation layers, and edit spelling errors. This is highly encouraged for non-native English speakers across LMICs.
  • Code and Script Formatting: Using AI to format structural software code, clean script architecture, or organize basic data layout elements is permitted.
  • Mechanical Editing: Reformatting references, checking layout spacing, or adjusting generic tables according to the journal’s style is allowed.

Prohibited Uses (Content Generation)

  • Scientific Synthesis: Authors are strictly prohibited from using generative AI to write core sections of the manuscript, including the literature review, hypothesis development, results analysis, or discussion points.
  • Data and Image Generation: Generating, modifying, or altering empirical validation datasets, clinical images, 3D CAD modeling curves, or validation graphs using AI is considered scientific fraud and will result in immediate rejection.
  • Literature Hallucinations: Using AI to fabricate or falsely attribute academic citations is prohibited and will be flagged during desk screening.

Mandatory AI Disclosure Protocol

Transparency is essential for maintaining academic credibility. If any generative AI tool has been used in the preparation of a manuscript, authors must disclose its use before the paper can proceed to peer review:

  • Disclosure Location: Authors must insert a dedicated 'Declaration of Generative AI Assistance' section directly above the references list. This entry is a mandatory gatekeeping checkpoint on our templates.
  • Form of Disclosure: Authors must copy and complete the formatted block below inside their manuscript document:

Negative Affirmation: If no AI assistance was used during the writing process, authors must state: 'The authors declare that no generative artificial intelligence tools were used during the creation or structural formatting of this manuscript.'

Editorial Screening & Plagiarism Gates

BEST-LMIC utilizes plagiarism and AI text-matching software during the initial 3-day technical screening phase:

  • Unedited Model Footprints: Drafts containing unparaphrased, generic AI linguistic structures or style footprints will fail pre-screening.
  • Desk Rejection Gate: If unedited AI text is identified, the paper will be immediately desk-rejected and returned to the authors for manual editing and a complete rewrite.
  • Post-Publication Discovery: If uncredited or prohibited AI generation is discovered after publication, the editorial board reserves the right to issue a formal retraction to protect the journal's indexing and citation visibility.