Ethical Use of AI Tools

Acceptable Uses

Authors may use AI tools in a limited, assistive capacity, such as:

• Grammar or style correction (e.g., Grammarly, Hemingway)

• Language translation (e.g., DeepL, Google Translate)

• Summarization or note generation

• Outline suggestion or idea refinement

• Drafting supporting materials such as abstracts or tables of contents

• Brainstorming keywords or search strategies

• Generating datasets or code (with human oversight and validation)

When used, these tools should assist the author—not replace the author’s own reasoning, interpretation, or original argumentation.

Unacceptable Uses

Authors may not use AI in ways that misrepresent authorship or compromise the scholarly nature of their work. The following are not permitted:

• Submitting manuscripts entirely or primarily written by AI without meaningful human intellectual contribution

• Generating fabricated references, citations, or data

• Using AI to manipulate or obscure authorship, plagiarism, or peer review integrity

• Delegating critical interpretation, theological analysis, or scriptural application to AI systems

Any use of AI must be verifiable and accountable to the human author(s).

Disclosure Requirements

Authors who use AI tools in any stage of manuscript preparation must disclose their use in one of the following ways:

1. In the Methodology section, if AI tools were used as part of research, data analysis, or writing assistance relevant to the study design or results.

2. As a short AI disclaimer, placed either at the end of the manuscript or in a footnote on the title page. For example:

“The author used ChatGPT (OpenAI, GPT-4, 2025) for language refinement and outline suggestions. All content, interpretation, and conclusions are the author’s own.”

Failure to disclose the use of AI where it materially shaped the work may be considered a breach of publication ethics.