AI policy

Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technologies by Authors

The Pakistan Journal of Occupational Therapy and Health (PJOTH), as a journal committed to upholding the ethical standards established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), adopts the current recommendations regarding the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), including Large Language Models (LLMs), chatbots (e.g., ChatGPT), and generative AI tools in scholarly work.

Disclosure Requirements

Authors are required to disclose at the time of submission whether AI-assisted technologies were used in any phase of the development of the submitted manuscript. This disclosure must be included in both the cover letter and the manuscript itself. The explanation should specify how AI tools were used—e.g., in literature organization, grammar correction, language refinement, image enhancement, or other editorial support.

Authorship and Accountability

In accordance with ICMJE and COPE guidelines:

  • AI tools must not be listed as authors or co-authors under any circumstances, as they cannot take responsibility for the integrity, originality, or accuracy of the submitted work.
  • Human authors bear full responsibility for any content generated with the assistance of AI tools.
  • Authors must ensure that all content is factually accurate, ethically sound, and free from bias. Since AI tools may produce content that is misleading or incorrect despite sounding authoritative, all AI-generated material must be thoroughly reviewed, verified, and edited by the authors.

Plagiarism and Attribution

Authors are accountable for ensuring that:

  • The final submitted manuscript is free from plagiarism, including text and images produced or modified by AI technologies.
  • Proper attribution and full citations are provided for all sourced or quoted material.
  • AI tools must not be cited as authors, nor should they be referenced as creators of scholarly content.

Updated ICMJE Guidance (January 2024)

PJOTH follows the updated ICMJE Recommendations (January 2024), which require:

  • All use of AI in the creation, drafting, editing, or visualization of research articles must be transparently acknowledged (Sections II.A.3, II.A.4, and IV.A.3.d).
  • The use of AI in peer review or editorial decision-making must also be declared (Sections II.C.2.a and II.C.3).

For further reference, authors are encouraged to consult: