Generative AI Policies

Policy on the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies

Vietnam Journal of Science, Technology and Engineering (VJSTE) permits the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in scholarly publishing, provided that such use is transparent, verifiable, ethical, and does not replace human scholarly judgment.

This policy applies to authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, editorial staff, and all parties involved in the submission, peer-review, editorial decision-making, and publication processes of VJSTE.

AI tools, including but not limited to large language models, chatbots, image generators, coding assistants, translation tools, and other generative systems, must be used in a manner consistent with research integrity, publication ethics, confidentiality, copyright, data protection, and academic accountability.

AI systems must not be listed as authors, co-authors, contributors, reviewers, editors, or decision-makers. Human authors, reviewers, and editors remain fully responsible for their respective roles in the publication process.

1. Policy for Authors

Authors may use AI and AI-assisted technologies to support manuscript preparation, such as language editing, translation, grammar checking, formatting, coding assistance, data visualization, or technical improvement of presentation. However, AI must not replace the authors’ intellectual contribution, scientific reasoning, data interpretation, or responsibility for the final manuscript.

Authors are not required to disclose the use of basic spelling, grammar, formatting, reference-management, or accessibility tools, provided that these tools do not affect the scientific content of the manuscript.

Authors must disclose the use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies when such tools have contributed to any substantive part of the manuscript, including but not limited to:

  • drafting, rewriting, summarizing, translating, or editing scientific text;
  • preparing the title, abstract, keywords, highlights, or graphical abstract;
  • assisting with literature search, literature summary, or reference organization;
  • generating, checking, or revising statistical code or computer code;
  • supporting data analysis, modelling, data visualization, or figure preparation;
  • creating conceptual illustrations, diagrams, tables, or supplementary materials;
  • assisting with interpretation, discussion, or presentation of findings.

When AI is used as part of the research methodology, authors must describe its use in the Methods section. The description should include the name of the tool or model, version where available, provider, purpose of use, input and output data, key parameters or prompts where appropriate, validation procedures, and the role of human authors in checking and interpreting the results.

AI-generated or AI-assisted content must be carefully reviewed, edited, verified, and approved by the authors before submission. Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, validity, and reliability of all content in the final manuscript, including any content generated or assisted by AI.

Authors must not use AI to fabricate data, generate false references, manipulate images, create misleading results, conceal plagiarism, produce hidden prompts, or interfere with the editorial or peer-review process.

Authors must not upload unpublished data, confidential information, personal data, sensitive data, patient data, manuscript files, figures, tables, or supplementary materials to public AI platforms or third-party tools unless they have appropriate permission and the use complies with applicable legal, ethical, and confidentiality requirements.

Authors must include a separate statement before the References section entitled:

Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted Technologies

Where AI has been used, authors should use the following format:

Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted Technologies

During the preparation of this manuscript, the author(s) used [name of tool/service, version if available] for [specific purpose, e.g., language editing, translation, coding assistance, statistical code checking, data visualization, or figure preparation]. The author(s) reviewed, edited, and verified all AI-assisted outputs and take full responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, originality, and validity of the final manuscript.

Where no generative AI or AI-assisted technologies have been used, authors may state:

Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted Technologies

The author(s) declare that no generative AI or AI-assisted technologies were used in the preparation, analysis, writing, or editing of this manuscript, except for basic spelling, grammar, formatting, or accessibility tools that do not affect the scientific content.

Failure to disclose the use of AI where disclosure is required may result in a request for correction, revision, rejection of the manuscript, notification to relevant institutions, publication of an editorial notice, or retraction, depending on the severity of the case.

2. Policy for Reviewers

Peer review is a confidential and expert-led process. Reviewers invited by VJSTE must treat all manuscripts, supplementary files, data, figures, tables, reviewer forms, and editorial correspondence as strictly confidential.

Reviewers must not upload unpublished manuscripts, figures, tables, data, supplementary materials, author information, reviewer forms, or editorial correspondence to public AI tools, chatbots, large language models, or third-party platforms unless VJSTE has explicitly approved such use under secure and confidential conditions.

Reviewers must not use AI to replace their own expert assessment. AI must not be used to generate a peer-review report automatically, determine the scientific quality of a manuscript, assess novelty, evaluate methodology, interpret results, or recommend acceptance or rejection in place of the reviewer’s independent judgment.

Reviewers may use basic spelling, grammar, or language-editing tools to improve the clarity of their own review comments, provided that no confidential manuscript content is uploaded to the tool.

If reviewers use AI-assisted tools to improve the language, grammar, or translation of their own review comments, they must disclose this to VJSTE in the reviewer form.

Reviewers who use AI-assisted tools must ensure that:

  • the manuscript and related files are not uploaded to public AI platforms;
  • confidential information is not disclosed;
  • the review reflects the reviewer’s own expert judgment;
  • all comments are accurate, fair, constructive, and professionally expressed;
  • any AI-assisted wording is checked and approved by the reviewer.

Suggested disclosure statement for reviewers:

I used [name of tool/service] only to improve the language, grammar, or translation of my own review comments. I did not upload the manuscript, figures, tables, data, supplementary files, or confidential editorial information to any AI tool. I confirm that this review reflects my own expert assessment.

If no AI has been used, reviewers may state:

I confirm that I did not use generative AI or AI-assisted tools in preparing this review, except for basic spelling or grammar checks that did not involve uploading manuscript content.

Any breach of confidentiality, inappropriate use of AI, failure to disclose AI use where required, or use of AI to generate a review without genuine expert assessment may lead VJSTE to disregard the review, remove the reviewer from the reviewer database, notify relevant institutions, or take other appropriate action in accordance with publication ethics standards.

3. Policy for Editors and Editorial Staff

Editors, editorial board members, managing editors, editorial assistants, and editorial staff of VJSTE are responsible for maintaining the integrity, confidentiality, fairness, and transparency of the editorial and peer-review process.

AI must not be used to replace editorial judgment. Editorial decisions, including desk rejection, selection of reviewers, requests for revision, acceptance, rejection, correction, expression of concern, or retraction, must always be made by qualified human editors based on evidence, expert assessment, journal policy, and publication ethics.

Editors and editorial staff must not upload unpublished manuscripts, supplementary files, figures, tables, research data, reviewer comments, author information, reviewer information, editorial correspondence, or confidential internal records to public AI tools or third-party platforms unless such use has been formally approved by VJSTE under secure, confidential, and legally compliant conditions.

VJSTE may use approved AI-assisted or automated tools to support technical and administrative checks, including but not limited to:

  • similarity and plagiarism screening;
  • reference and metadata checking;
  • image integrity screening;
  • detection of hidden text or hidden prompts;
  • language and formatting checks;
  • identification of possible ethical or technical concerns;
  • support in finding suitable reviewer expertise;
  • preparation of administrative correspondence.

The outputs of AI-assisted tools are advisory only. They must not be treated as conclusive evidence of misconduct, scientific quality, plagiarism, AI authorship, or publication suitability. Editors must assess such outputs critically and, where appropriate, seek clarification from authors, reviewers, or independent experts.

AI detection tools must not be used as the sole basis for rejecting a manuscript or making an allegation of misconduct. Any concern related to AI use must be evaluated through human review, specific evidence, author explanation, and due process.

Editors and editorial staff must ensure that any use of AI in the editorial workflow complies with VJSTE’s policies on confidentiality, data protection, copyright, conflicts of interest, research integrity, and publication ethics.

Where AI is used internally by VJSTE, the journal should maintain a record of approved tools, purposes of use, permitted users, data allowed for processing, data prohibited from processing, security conditions, approval date, and review schedule.

4. Prohibited uses of AI

For all parties involved in the publication process, the following uses of AI are prohibited:

  • listing AI as an author, co-author, contributor, reviewer, editor, or decision-maker;
  • using AI to fabricate research data, results, images, tables, references, citations, or reviewer identities;
  • using AI to manipulate, falsify, or misrepresent research images, figures, or datasets;
  • using AI to conceal plagiarism, duplicate publication, inappropriate text reuse, or research misconduct;
  • using AI to create hidden prompts, hidden instructions, invisible text, or machine-directed content intended to manipulate peer review or editorial assessment;
  • uploading confidential manuscripts, reviewer reports, personal data, sensitive data, or unpublished research data to public AI tools without authorization;
  • using AI to replace human authorship, expert peer review, or editorial decision-making.

5. Handling suspected misuse of AI

When VJSTE identifies possible inappropriate or undisclosed use of AI, the journal may request an explanation from the author, reviewer, or editor concerned. Additional materials may be requested, including original data, source files, code, image files, revision history, reference sources, or an updated AI declaration.

Depending on the nature and severity of the case, VJSTE may take one or more of the following actions:

  • request correction or clarification of the AI declaration;
  • request revision of the manuscript;
  • seek additional peer review or expert assessment;
  • reject the manuscript;
  • disregard a peer-review report;
  • remove a reviewer from the reviewer database;
  • publish a correction, editorial note, expression of concern, or retraction;
  • notify the relevant institution, funding body, or authority where appropriate.

VJSTE will not rely solely on AI detection tools to determine misconduct. All decisions will be made through human assessment, evidence-based review, and appropriate editorial procedures.

6. Policy review

This policy will be reviewed periodically to reflect developments in AI technologies, international publication ethics standards, legal requirements, and best practices in scholarly publishing.

VJSTE reserves the right to update this policy and apply the revised version to future submissions, reviews, and editorial processes.