Artificial Intelligence Policy

MUJAD’s artificial intelligence (AI) policy is in accordance with the Ethical Guidelines for the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Scientific Research and Publication Activities at Higher Education Institutions (2024), issued by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) of Turkey. AManuscripts submitted to our journal are expected to adhere to the ethical values related to the use of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) in addition to the COPE guidelines. This guide should be carefully reviewed by the Editorial Board, reviewers, and authors to address potential ethical risks, and appropriate measures should be taken:

https://eski.yok.gov.tr/Documents/2024/yapay-zeka-kullanimina-dair-etik-rehber.pdf

Transparency
Transparency refers to clearly stating which functions of AI are used in which stages of the research and to what extent. The transparency approach, which can also be defined as the principle of openness, is valuable in terms of maintaining trust in science as a requirement of scientific integrity. Furthermore, transparency enables the implementation of measures to address potential issues such as bias, factual and interpretive errors, privacy, confidentiality, and data reliability associated with GAI hallucinations in stages involving GAI.

Honesty
Honesty is a value that encompasses transparency but also has a broader meaning. As one of the cornerstones of science, honesty binds not only scientists but also all institutions involved in the production and use of scientific knowledge. It encompasses principles such as science being for the benefit of humanity, the information produced being used for purposes that benefit all of humanity, removing barriers to access to scientific information, and ensuring that the process of scientific information production and publication is free from bias and deliberate errors. Integrity is the fundamental ethical value in the planning, conduct, evaluation, and reporting of research in this context. The use of GAI has the potential to threaten these principles in many ways.

Care
Care is a duty that includes transparency and honesty. Care can be defined as all individuals and institutions that produce science being aware of their responsibilities throughout the entire process of scientific knowledge production and publication writing, and demonstrating the seriousness and ethical sensitivity required by this responsibility in all their attitudes. In this context, the principle of care is effective in a wide range of areas, from careless research classified as unintentional scientific misrepresentation to intentional ethical violations such as plagiarism, data fraud or manipulation, conflicts of interest, split publication, and multiple publication of the same work, as well as in the protection of the rights and interests of research volunteers in terms of authorship contributions and ranking. The increasing use of GAI further increases the duty of care of scientists and individuals and institutions involved in any stage of scientific production. Within the scope of this responsibility, researchers should aim to benefit individuals, society, and all of humanity. In addition, care should be taken to ensure that research processes and results do not harm people, the environment, or other living beings.

Justice and respect
It is an ethical responsibility to be fair and respectful to other stakeholders in the scientific research and publication process, to the individuals/communities from whom research data is obtained, to other living beings, and to the environment. It is imperative to cite the sources of information obtained from GAI outputs, primarily out of a sense of honesty and respect for the work of other scientists. The use of bioethics in scientific research and publication writing must be explained in the methods section. Failure to do so will result in disciplinary action within the framework of the conditions.

Protection of privacy and confidentiality
The protection of data privacy has both ethical and legal dimensions. It is important to protect the privacy of data providers, respect their autonomy regarding the use of the data they provide, carefully carry out the legally and ethically required informed consent process, anticipate and take precautions against possible violations during data collection, storage, and transfer, and submit all these stages to the ethics committee for approval when necessary.

Accountability and responsibility
In the scientific research and publication process, researchers should be aware of their legal and ethical responsibility when using content developed by GAI. The fact that GAI's decision-making/reasoning process is unknown does not eliminate the researcher's legal and ethical responsibility. The researcher is not responsible for the reasoning process of GAI, which is inherently unpredictable, but is responsible for using the results produced by that process and must be accountable for those results. Testing the impartiality, reliability, and accuracy of the outputs provided by GAI is among the legal and ethical responsibilities of the researcher.

Contributing to the ethical climate
It is the responsibility of all scientists to identify, report, and plan steps to resolve potential ethical issues related to the use of technologies with advanced cognitive abilities such as GAI in scientific research and publishing. It is necessary to create an institutional climate that develops and supports the necessary ethical sensitivity and facilitates ethical decision-making. Developing a human-centered approach to the use of GAI in scientific research and publication is extremely important, and ensuring that the use of GAI advances for the benefit of humanity, in accordance with the principles of equality and fairness, without deepening existing inequalities, is among the priority elements of the aforementioned ethical climate. In order to raise awareness and ensure that the right steps are taken regarding the ethical use of GAI in scientific research and publication, relevant institutions should organize training and workshops, provide online access to informative visuals, developing an institutional culture that makes ethically correct choices the easiest choices, and creating ethical guidelines and ethical compliance checklists that are updated in line with technological developments are among the important steps that contribute to the ethical climate in question.

The main situations that may give rise to potential ethical issues (plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, data tampering, violation of privacy and confidentiality, etc.) in the use of AI in scientific research and publications are as follows:

1. Failure to disclose the use of GAI in content production
2. Unauthorized use of content produced by others
3. Inappropriate use of existing information in the literature without proper citation
4. Use of GAI to produce false or misleading data and use of this data by researchers
5. Data and results produced using research methods that cannot be replicated or explained entering the academic literature
6. Deepening of discrimination against vulnerable groups due to biased and limited data
7. Collection, storage, transfer, use, and reuse of personal data in violation of regulations