Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-Assisted Technologies

Biological Diversity and Conservation (BioDiCon) adhere to the guidelines set by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) and WAME regarding the use of AI tools in scholarly publishing.

 1. Authorship and Accountability

 AI Cannot Be an Author: AI tools, large language models (LLMs), or similar technologies do not meet the criteria for authorship. They cannot be listed as authors or co-authors on any manuscript submitted to BioDiCon.

• Human Accountability: Authors are fully responsible and accountable for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the entire content of their manuscript, including any parts generated or assisted by AI tools.

 2. Transparency and Disclosure

• Permitted Use: AI tools may be used to improve the readability and language quality of the manuscript (e.g., grammatical editing). However, AI must not be used to generate core scientific insights, interpret data, or draw conclusions.
• Mandatory Disclosure: If authors utilized AI tools during the writing or research process, they must disclose this in a dedicated "AI Disclosure Statement" before the Acknowledgements section.
• Template: "During the preparation of this manuscript, the authors used [Name of Tool/Service] to [describe how the tool was used, e.g., improve English phrasing and grammar]. The authors reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the framework and validity of the final paper."

 3. Data, Graphics, and Images

AI-Generated Imagery: BioDiCon does not permit the use of AI-generated images, illustrations, maps, or data plots unless the use of AI is the explicit subject of the research itself. In such cases, it must be clearly stated in the Methods section and image captions.

 4. Rules for Peer Reviewers

• Confidentiality Breach: Reviewers are strictly prohibited from uploading submitted manuscripts or associated data into AI platforms (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude). Doing so violates the confidentiality of the peer-review process and authors' intellectual property.
• Review Reports: Reviewers must write their evaluation reports based on their own expertise. Generating peer-review reports using AI tools is not permitted.