Generative AI Policy

Journal of Education and Learning Sciences (JELS) recognizes that generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies can support scholarly research, academic writing, and educational research when used responsibly, transparently, ethically, and under meaningful human oversight. This policy applies to all authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial staff involved in the submission, peer-review, editing, and publication processes of JELS.

1. Use of Generative AI by Authors

Authors may use generative AI or AI-assisted technologies to support limited aspects of manuscript preparation, including:

  • improving grammar, spelling, and academic language;
  • improving readability, clarity, and coherence;
  • translation assistance;
  • formatting and stylistic refinement;
  • identifying language inconsistencies;
  • assisting with technical writing; and
  • other limited editorial or linguistic support that does not replace the author's scholarly judgment.

Generative AI must not be used to replace the author's intellectual contribution, critical thinking, scholarly judgment, interpretation of research findings, development of arguments, or responsibility for the originality and integrity of the manuscript.

Authors remain fully responsible and accountable for all content submitted to JELS, including facts, citations, quotations, data, analyses, interpretations, references, conclusions, and educational or theoretical claims.

Any AI-assisted output must be critically reviewed, edited, fact-checked, verified, and approved by the authors before submission.

2. Disclosure of Generative AI Use

Any substantive use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in preparing a manuscript must be disclosed clearly and transparently.

The disclosure statement should be placed before the reference list under the following heading:

Declaration of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in the Writing Process

Authors may use the following format:

During the preparation of this manuscript, the author(s) used [name of tool/service] for [purpose, e.g., language editing, grammar checking, translation assistance, or improving readability]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed, edited, and verified the content as necessary and take full responsibility for the final content of the manuscript.

If no generative AI or AI-assisted technology was used, authors may state:

The author(s) declare that no generative AI or AI-assisted technologies were used in the writing process of this manuscript.

Authors should disclose the name of the AI tool, its purpose, and the relevant stage of the research or writing process whenever such information is relevant to understanding the preparation of the manuscript.

3. Prohibition of AI Authorship

Generative AI tools, chatbots, large language models (LLMs), and other AI systems cannot be listed as authors or co-authors of manuscripts submitted to JELS.

Authorship is limited to human individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions to the conception, design, execution, analysis, interpretation, writing, or critical revision of the work and who are able to take responsibility for the published research.

AI systems cannot assume responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, originality, or ethical conduct of scholarly research and therefore cannot satisfy the requirements for authorship.

4. Accuracy, Citations, and Research Integrity

Authors must not rely on generative AI systems as authoritative sources for creating, fabricating, or independently verifying scholarly evidence.

Particular care must be exercised when AI tools are used in relation to:

  • academic references and bibliographic information;
  • quotations and page numbers;
  • statistical or research data;
  • educational policies and regulations;
  • theoretical frameworks;
  • historical claims;
  • fieldwork findings;
  • interview data;
  • assessment results;
  • student-related information;
  • educational statistics; and
  • other primary or secondary scholarly sources.

All references, quotations, translations, data, theoretical claims, and factual statements must be independently checked against reliable, traceable, and appropriate sources.

Authors are responsible for identifying and correcting hallucinations, fabricated references, inaccurate quotations, unsupported claims, misleading interpretations, or other errors produced by AI systems.

The use of AI-generated or AI-assisted material that results in fabricated references, false data, plagiarism, inappropriate attribution, misleading claims, or unsupported arguments may constitute a breach of publication ethics and may result in rejection, correction, retraction, or other appropriate editorial action.

5. AI-Generated Images, Tables, Figures, and Visual Materials

Authors should not submit images, figures, tables, diagrams, illustrations, educational models, or other visual materials that are generated or substantially altered by AI unless their use is:

  1. academically or scientifically justified;
  2. relevant to the research;
  3. transparently disclosed;
  4. consistent with applicable copyright and licensing requirements; and
  5. consistent with research ethics.

Where AI has been used to generate or substantially modify visual materials, authors should identify the AI tool used and, where appropriate, explain how the material was produced, reviewed, and verified.

AI-generated visual materials must not be presented as authentic photographs, classroom observations, experimental evidence, field documentation, student work, research findings, or other empirical evidence when they do not represent actual research materials.

6. Use of AI in Educational Research and Data Analysis

When AI-assisted technologies are used as part of the research process rather than merely for language editing, their use must be transparently described in the Methods section or another appropriate section of the manuscript.

This may include:

  • data processing;
  • coding assistance;
  • text mining;
  • classification;
  • translation of interview or observation materials;
  • qualitative data analysis;
  • statistical assistance;
  • data visualization;
  • educational assessment analysis;
  • learning analytics;
  • natural language processing;
  • automated content analysis; or
  • other forms of computational or analytical support.

Where applicable, authors should identify:

  • the AI tool or system used;
  • the version or model, where available;
  • the purpose of its use;
  • the type of data or materials processed;
  • the extent of human supervision;
  • procedures used to verify the AI output; and
  • relevant limitations, risks, or potential biases.

Authors remain responsible for the methodological validity, accuracy, interpretation, reproducibility, and ethical integrity of research results obtained with AI-assisted tools.

7. Protection of Students, Research Participants, and Personal Data

Because JELS publishes research involving education and learning, authors must exercise particular caution when AI systems are used to process information relating to students, teachers, schools, research participants, or educational institutions.

Personally identifiable information, confidential interview transcripts, student records, assessment records, unpublished research data, photographs, institutional documents, or other sensitive research materials must not be entered into external generative AI systems unless appropriate authorization, informed consent where applicable, security safeguards, and relevant ethical requirements have been satisfied.

AI use must not compromise the privacy, dignity, confidentiality, safety, or rights of research participants.

8. Confidentiality in Peer Review and Editorial Processes

JELS applies a double-blind peer-review process, with manuscripts evaluated by at least two experts.

Reviewers, editors, and editorial staff must therefore treat submitted manuscripts and associated materials as strictly confidential.

Reviewers and editors must not upload or disclose manuscripts, unpublished data, reviewer reports, editorial correspondence, author identities, or other confidential submission materials to public or external generative AI systems when such use could compromise confidentiality, intellectual property, privacy, or publication ethics.

Generative AI must not be used to replace the reviewer's or editor's own scholarly judgment, critical assessment, recommendation, or editorial decision.

Reviewers and editors remain personally responsible for the content, reasoning, and recommendations contained in their review reports and editorial decisions.

9. Use of AI for Peer Review

Reviewers may not use generative AI systems to independently generate, substantially draft, or determine the content of a peer-review report when doing so would replace the reviewer's own scholarly assessment.

A reviewer who uses an AI-assisted tool for limited language or formatting support remains responsible for ensuring that:

  • confidential manuscript information is not disclosed;
  • the review accurately reflects the reviewer's own assessment;
  • the AI output does not introduce unsupported criticism;
  • the reviewer's scholarly judgment remains primary; and
  • the final review is independently checked before submission.

10. Editorial Screening and Ethical Actions

JELS reserves the right to request clarification or additional information from authors regarding the use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies during the research, writing, or publication process.

Where there is evidence of undisclosed, inappropriate, misleading, or unethical use of AI, the editorial team may take appropriate action, including:

  • requesting clarification;
  • requesting additional disclosure;
  • requesting manuscript revision;
  • rejecting the manuscript;
  • issuing a correction or editorial notice;
  • retracting a published article where warranted; or
  • taking other appropriate publication-ethics measures.

Potentially serious violations include:

  • presenting AI-generated material as entirely human-authored when disclosure is required;
  • listing an AI system as an author;
  • submitting fabricated or unverifiable references;
  • submitting fabricated or manipulated research data;
  • presenting AI-generated material as empirical evidence;
  • using AI to fabricate student, teacher, classroom, or field research findings;
  • compromising research participant confidentiality;
  • compromising the confidentiality of peer review; and
  • using AI in a manner that undermines academic originality or research integrity.

11. Human Responsibility and Accountability

The use of generative AI does not transfer scholarly, ethical, or editorial responsibility from humans to an AI system.

Authors remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, methodological integrity, and ethical conduct of their research.

Reviewers remain responsible for the quality and integrity of their peer-review reports.

Editors and editorial staff remain responsible for their editorial assessments, recommendations, and decisions.

Generative AI should therefore be regarded as a supporting technology rather than an independent scholarly authority.

12. Policy Updates

JELS may periodically review and update this policy in response to developments in generative AI technology, educational research, publication ethics, copyright and licensing requirements, data-protection regulations, indexing standards, and internationally recognized practices for responsible AI use in scholarly publishing.

Authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial staff are expected to comply with the version of this policy applicable at the time of their submission, review, or editorial activity.