AI Use Policy

Scope and Purpose

The ICON International Journal of Management (ICON) acknowledges the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in academic research, writing, and publishing. While AI technologies may support certain stages of the research process, their use must remain transparent, ethical, and consistent with the principles of academic integrity and scholarly responsibility.

This policy defines acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in manuscript submissions to ICON IJM.

AI-Generated Content

ICON does not permit the submission of manuscripts that are substantially generated by AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Bard, Claude).

  • Authors must ensure that all intellectual contributions—including conceptualization, theoretical framing, analysis, interpretation, and scholarly argumentation—are primarily human-generated.

  • AI tools must not be listed as authors, as they do not meet authorship criteria established by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

  • Manuscripts containing a substantial amount of AI-generated text, regardless of stated purpose (e.g., drafting, paraphrasing, or rewriting), may be rejected.

  • Excessive reliance on AI tools, even for otherwise permissible purposes, may undermine scholarly rigor, clarity, and originality and may lead to editorial rejection.

AI-Assisted Translation and Language Editing

The use of AI-based tools for language translation and editing is permitted.

  • Examples include translation tools (e.g., DeepL, Google Translate, ChatGPT) and language-editing tools (e.g., Grammarly, QuillBot).

  • Authors must disclose any AI assistance used for translation or language editing in a dedicated disclosure statement within the manuscript (e.g., in the Acknowledgments or Methods section).

  • Authors remain fully responsible for verifying the accuracy, clarity, and academic appropriateness of all AI-assisted language outputs.

  • If AI-assisted language use results in unclear, misleading, or incoherent academic expression, or if AI involvement is deemed excessive, the manuscript may be rejected.

AI in Research Design, Data Analysis, and Modeling

The use of AI-assisted methods in research (e.g., machine learning models, AI-driven text analysis, predictive analytics) is acceptable when methodologically justified and transparently reported.

  • All AI-based tools or models used in research must be clearly described in the Methods section, including the tool name, purpose, parameters (where relevant), and data sources.

  • The use of AI must support reproducibility and methodological rigor.

  • The fabrication or manipulation of data, results, figures, or references using AI tools is strictly prohibited.

AI in Literature Review and Research Discovery

AI-assisted tools for literature exploration and research discovery (e.g., SciSpace, Research Rabbit) may be used.

  • Such tools may assist in identifying, organizing, or summarizing academic literature; however, authors are solely responsible for evaluating the accuracy, relevance, and completeness of all cited sources.

  • AI-generated summaries must not be presented as original scholarly interpretations without critical review and intellectual contribution by the authors.

AI Detection and Ethical Oversight

ICON reserves the right to employ AI-detection or screening tools as part of its editorial and review process.

  • If substantial AI-generated content is detected beyond what has been disclosed, authors may be requested to provide clarification or justification.

  • The use of AI must not compromise research integrity through practices such as plagiarism, excessive paraphrasing, data manipulation, or citation fabrication.

Compliance and Editorial Actions

  • Authors must comply with this AI Use Policy and provide full disclosure of AI assistance where applicable.

  • Failure to disclose AI use, or misuse of AI tools, may result in manuscript rejection, withdrawal, or retraction, in accordance with COPE ethical guidelines.

Disclosure Statement Template

Authors who use AI-assisted tools for translation, language editing, or research analysis must include the following statement in their manuscript:

“The authors acknowledge the use of [name of AI tool] for [specific purpose, e.g., language editing, translation, data analysis]. The final manuscript has been critically reviewed and approved by the authors, who take full responsibility for its content, accuracy, and academic integrity.”