Generative AI Policies

PROVISIONS FOR AUTHORS
Authors may use AI in a limited manner to assist manuscript preparation, for example to improve readability, check terminology consistency, prepare an initial outline, help identify keywords, or review grammar. Such use must remain controlled, verified, and approved by human authors.


Authors must not hand over substantive control of the manuscript to AI. The research problem, theoretical framework, methods, analysis, data interpretation, discussion, conclusions, and recommendations must be the result of the author's scholarly work.
Authors must verify all AI outputs, including possible factual errors, false references, inaccurate data, conceptual bias, gender bias, or language choices that are insensitive to victims, children, survivors of violence, and vulnerable groups.
Authors must not upload unpublished manuscripts, raw data, interview transcripts, respondent identities, photographs, voice recordings, or other personal information to AI tools without adequate data protection guarantees and without considering the applicable ethical approval.


In research involving children, victims of violence, minority groups, or vulnerable communities, authors must ensure that AI use does not create risks of re-identification, data exploitation, harmful labeling, or unfair representation.
Authors must not list AI as an author or co-author. Authorship may only be assigned to human contributors who meet the requirements of academic contribution, take responsibility for the manuscript content, approve the final version, and agree to the submission of the manuscript to PALASTREN.


Authors are responsible for ensuring that the manuscript is original, has not been previously published, is not under consideration by another journal, and does not violate copyright, privacy, or the rights of third parties.


AUTHOR AI USE DECLARATION
Authors must submit an AI use declaration when AI is used to substantively assist manuscript preparation, for example in developing arguments, summarizing literature, conducting extensive translation, analyzing data, interpreting findings, creating tables, or drafting specific parts of an article.


The declaration may be placed at the end of the manuscript before the References section or in the comments to the editor during manuscript submission. At minimum, the declaration must state the name of the AI tool used, the purpose of use, the part of the manuscript assisted by AI, and the form of author supervision and verification.
Basic checking of spelling, punctuation, and grammar does not need to be declared as long as it does not alter the academic substance of the manuscript.
If AI is used as part of the research design, data collection, data processing, analysis, or research methods, such use must be explained in detail in the methods section. The explanation must allow readers to understand how AI was used, what tool or model was used, what outputs were generated, how the authors verified those outputs, and how risks of bias and privacy were controlled.


EXAMPLES OF AI USE DECLARATIONS
Example for language assistance: "The author(s) used [name of AI tool] to help check the grammar and readability of parts of the manuscript. The author(s) reviewed, edited, and take full responsibility for the entire content of the final manuscript."
Example for literature preparation assistance: "The author(s) used [name of AI tool] to help prepare preliminary summaries of selected literature. All summaries, references, and interpretations were rechecked by reading the original sources. AI was not used to make analytical decisions or formulate the research conclusions."
Example for research methods: "This study used [name of AI tool/model, version if available] to assist [for example, preliminary classification of interview themes]. The procedure of use, verification criteria, manual correction, and bias control are explained in the Methods section. The author(s) take full responsibility for the final interpretation.
AI USE IN IMAGES, TABLES, AND VISUAL MATERIALS
Authors are not permitted to use generative AI to create, alter, remove, add, or manipulate specific features in images, photographs, illustrations, charts, or other visual materials submitted as part of the manuscript if such use may obscure data, alter meaning, or mislead readers.


Reasonable technical adjustments, such as brightness, contrast, or color balance, may be made as long as they do not remove or alter the original information. Authors must be able to provide original data or pre-editing versions if requested by the editor.
The use of AI in visual materials may only be considered if AI is the object, instrument, or part of the research method, and if its use is explained transparently and reproducibly in the methods section.


In the context of gender and child studies, images, illustrations, or visual materials must not display faces, bodies, identities, locations, or characteristics that may identify children, survivors of violence, respondents, or vulnerable groups without a valid ethical basis and lawful permission.


PROVISIONS FOR REVIEWERS
Reviewers must treat manuscripts received from PALASTREN as confidential documents. Manuscripts, manuscript sections, data, tables, images, or information about authors must not be uploaded to generative AI tools or other AI tools that are not officially provided and controlled by the journal.


Reviewers must not use AI to replace scholarly judgment, read manuscripts substantively, assess method validity, determine novelty, evaluate academic contribution, or formulate editorial recommendations. Peer review requires human expertise, objectivity, and responsibility.


Reviewers may use non-generative tools or language checkers in a very limited way to tidy personal notes, provided that they do not upload the manuscript, author identities, or confidential information. Reviewers remain fully responsible for the content of their review reports.


Reviewers must maintain objectivity, avoid conflicts of interest, and provide feedback that is clear, reasoned, and respectful to authors.


PROVISIONS FOR EDITORS AND JOURNAL MANAGERS
Editors and journal managers must maintain the confidentiality of all manuscripts, author identities, reviewer identities, editorial notes, review results, and decision letters. Such documents must not be uploaded to AI tools that lack confidentiality protection and are not part of the official editorial system.
Editors must not use AI to replace editorial judgment, determine manuscript acceptance or rejection, assess scientific substance, weigh conflicts of interest, or make final publication decisions.
AI may be used in a limited manner to assist administrative tasks, such as preparing internal checklist formats, refining the language of general announcements, or supporting editorial consistency, as long as such use does not involve confidential manuscripts, the identities of relevant parties, or unpublished information.
Final decisions on manuscripts remain the responsibility of editors based on journal policy, reviewer reports, scope suitability, academic quality, publication ethics, and originality standards.


INTEGRATION WITH PALASTREN PUBLICATION ETHICS
This AI policy supplements, and does not replace, PALASTREN's publication ethics provisions on originality, plagiarism, confidentiality, objectivity, conflicts of interest, author responsibilities, reviewer responsibilities, and editor responsibilities.
Violations of this policy may be considered violations of publication ethics, especially if AI use results in fabricated references, data manipulation, plagiarism, privacy violations, leakage of confidential manuscripts, or editorial decisions that cannot be accounted for.
The editorial board has the right to request additional clarification, request revision of an AI use declaration, request supporting data, reject a manuscript, or take other editorial steps according to the level of violation and journal policy.


RECOMMENDED PLACEMENT IN THE JOURNAL SYSTEM
For the Author Guidelines page, the editorial team may place the sections "Provisions for Authors", "Author AI Use Declaration", and "Examples of AI Use Declarations" after the manuscript originality provisions and before the submission checklist.
For the Publication Ethics page, the editorial team may place the sections "Provisions for Reviewers", "Provisions for Editors and Journal Managers", and "Integration with PALASTREN Publication Ethics" as a new subsection on AI use in the publication process.
For the submission form, the editorial team may add the following checkbox: "I declare that any use of AI, if applicable, has been transparently explained; the entire manuscript has been reviewed by the author(s); and the author(s) take full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the manuscript.


CLOSING STATEMENT
PALASTREN supports the responsible use of technology to improve the quality of scholarly writing and academic communication. At the same time, PALASTREN affirms that academic integrity, gender sensitivity, protection of children and vulnerable groups, manuscript confidentiality, and scientific judgment remain human responsibilities. By submitting a manuscript to PALASTREN, authors are deemed to understand and agree to this policy.