Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies Policy

Pakungwati Law Review

Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies Policy

Responsible, transparent, and accountable use of artificial intelligence in research, writing, peer review, and editorial work.

Policy Scope

This policy applies to generative artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies used in preparing, analyzing, translating, reviewing, editing, or producing content submitted to or published by Pakungwati Law Review (PLR). It applies to authors, reviewers, editors, editorial-board members, and other contributors.

PLR recognizes that responsible AI tools may support scholarly work. However, human judgment, authorship, accountability, confidentiality, originality, and research integrity must remain central throughout the publication process.

Core Principle: Human Accountability

AI tools cannot assume responsibility for scholarly claims, give consent, disclose conflicts of interest, respond to ethical concerns, or be held accountable for published content. Every named author remains fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, legality, citations, reasoning, evidence, and integrity of the manuscript.

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Permitted with Care

Language improvement, brainstorming, organization, translation assistance, coding support, or other limited uses may be acceptable when verified by the authors and disclosed where material.

Disclosure Required

Material AI use that contributes to text, analysis, coding, translation, images, data processing, or research design must be described transparently.

Unacceptable Uses

Fabricating sources or data, concealing material AI use, violating confidentiality, replacing scholarly judgment, or submitting unverified AI output is prohibited.

1 Policy for Authors

Authors may use AI tools only as support and must exercise independent scholarly judgment at every stage.
All AI-generated or AI-assisted content must be carefully reviewed, corrected, and verified against reliable primary and scholarly sources.
Authors are responsible for detecting inaccurate statements, invented facts, false quotations, nonexistent authorities, fabricated citations, bias, and inappropriate language.
AI output must not be presented as original evidence, an authoritative legal source, an interviewed participant, or an independent expert opinion.
Personal, confidential, privileged, copyrighted, restricted, or sensitive research material must not be entered into an AI system unless the authors have lawful authority and adequate data-protection safeguards.
Authors must preserve sufficient records of material AI use to explain the tool, purpose, and verification process if requested by the editor.

2 Authorship

Generative-AI tools must not be listed as authors or co-authors. Authorship requires substantial intellectual contribution, approval of the submitted and published versions, disclosure of conflicts, and accountability for the integrity of the work—responsibilities an AI system cannot fulfill.

Human authors may not transfer responsibility for writing, analysis, citations, research decisions, errors, or ethical compliance to an AI provider or tool.

3 Disclosure of AI Use

Material use of generative AI or AI-assisted technology must be disclosed in the manuscript, normally in the Methods, Acknowledgements, or a separate declaration. The disclosure should identify:

Tool
Name and version, if known

Purpose
How and where it was used

Human Oversight
How output was checked and revised

Sample declaration: “During the preparation of this manuscript, the author(s) used [tool and version] for [specific purpose]. The author(s) reviewed, verified, and revised all resulting content and take full responsibility for the final manuscript.”

Routine tools limited to spelling, grammar, reference formatting, or basic word-processing functions generally do not require disclosure unless they materially generate or alter scholarly content.

4 Citations, Sources, and Legal Authorities

Authors must verify every citation against the original source and ensure that the source exists, supports the stated proposition, and is represented accurately.
AI-generated references, case names, legislation, quotations, statistics, URLs, DOIs, or page numbers must never be accepted without direct verification.
Where a source is unavailable to the author, it must not be cited solely because an AI system supplied or summarized it.
AI-generated text does not remove the obligation to cite the underlying human-authored ideas, data, language, or sources appropriately.

5 Images, Figures, Audio, Video, and Data

AI-generated or materially AI-altered visual, audiovisual, or data content must be disclosed clearly and must comply with copyright, privacy, consent, authenticity, and research-integrity requirements. Authors must describe the tool and process in the caption, Methods section, or declaration as appropriate.

AI must not be used to fabricate, deceptively manipulate, or obscure research data or documentary evidence. Adjustments made solely for clarity must not alter the meaning or evidentiary value of the original material.

Policy for Reviewers

Reviewers must not upload manuscripts, figures, supplementary files, review forms, or confidential correspondence to public or external AI systems unless PLR has expressly authorized a secure tool for that purpose.

AI must not replace the reviewer's expert evaluation. Reviewers remain personally responsible for the accuracy, fairness, originality, tone, and confidentiality of their reports and must disclose any authorized material AI assistance.

Policy for Editors

Editors must protect confidential submissions and must not upload unpublished manuscripts or identifying information to external AI systems that may store, reuse, or expose the content.

AI may assist limited administrative tasks only when confidentiality, security, accuracy, human oversight, and journal authorization are assured. Editorial decisions must be made by accountable human editors.

Examples of Acceptable and Unacceptable Practice

Practice	Status	Requirement
Spelling or grammar assistance	Generally permitted	Human review; disclosure normally unnecessary if no substantive content is generated.
Drafting, summarizing, translating, coding, or analyzing	Conditionally permitted	Material use must be disclosed, verified, revised, and supervised by the authors.
Listing an AI system as an author	Prohibited	Only accountable human contributors may be authors.
Using invented citations, cases, data, or quotations	Prohibited	Every claim and source must be independently verified.
Uploading confidential manuscripts to public AI tools	Prohibited	Protect confidentiality, privacy, intellectual property, and peer-review integrity.

AI-Detection Tools

Automated AI-detection scores are not treated as conclusive proof that a manuscript was generated by AI or that misconduct occurred. Any concern will be assessed through human review, contextual evidence, author explanation, and the journal's publication-ethics procedures. Authors will normally have an opportunity to respond before a final adverse decision is made.

Non-Compliance

Undisclosed or irresponsible AI use may result in a request for clarification, correction, additional documentation, revision, rejection, withdrawal, correction of the published article, expression of concern, or retraction, depending on the seriousness and effect of the conduct.

Cases involving fabricated evidence, false citations, plagiarism, confidentiality violations, deceptive image or data manipulation, or systematic misrepresentation may be handled as research or publication misconduct.

Policy Summary

AI authorship: Not permitted • Material AI use: Must be disclosed • Human verification: Required • Confidential manuscript uploads: Prohibited • Responsibility: Remains with human authors, reviewers, and editors

Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies Policy