1. Purpose and Scope

This policy ensures the ethical, transparent, and responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools throughout all stages of manuscript preparation, submission, peer review, and publication within the Indonesian Journal of Educational Management and Leadership (IJEMAL). It applies to all AI-based systems, including generative language models, text and image generators (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, DALL·E, Midjourney), machine translation, and data-analysis assistants.

2. General Principles

• AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors. Only humans who meet the ICMJE authorship criteria can be listed as authors.
• Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of all content in their manuscripts, including sections assisted by AI.
• Any use of AI must be clearly and transparently disclosed.
• AI use must not result in data fabrication, plagiarism, image manipulation, or fake references.
• Editors and reviewers must follow ethical guidelines when using AI during the editorial process.

3. Author Disclosure Requirements

Authors must clearly describe any AI assistance, including:

• Name of the AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT by OpenAI, Gemini by Google, etc.);
• Version or model (if known);
• Date and purpose of use;
• Specific sections or tasks in which AI assistance was applied (e.g., grammar checking, translation, image design, data summarization).

This disclosure must appear in the Acknowledgements section and be mentioned in the cover letter upon submission. The journal may request additional clarification or documentation (e.g., prompts, generated output, or source files) for verification.

4. Responsibility and Verification

• Authors must verify all AI-generated content for accuracy, originality, and factual correctness.
• All AI-generated references or data must be checked against authentic sources.
• AI use does not transfer accountability; authors remain fully responsible for the content.
• AI assistance for language editing is acceptable, but the final review must be performed by humans.

5. Use of AI in Figures, Data, and Visual Materials

• Any figures, tables, or visuals created or modified using AI must be clearly disclosed.
• For visuals involving people or sensitive data, authors must obtain editorial approval before publication.
• The journal may request source files or generation prompts to verify the authenticity of AI-assisted visuals.

6. Use of AI by Reviewers and Editors

• Reviewers and editors are strictly prohibited from uploading manuscripts or parts of manuscripts to public AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot) for evaluation or summarization.
• Reviewers may use AI for limited tasks (grammar checking, note summarization) only if confidentiality is maintained.
• Editors may use AI for language refinement or similarity checks only within secure and authorized systems.

7. Violations and Sanctions

Failure to disclose AI use, misrepresentation of authorship, or evidence of AI-generated fabrication will be considered a serious ethical violation. Possible actions include:

• Rejection before publication;
• Retraction of published articles;
• Notification to the authors’ institution or funding agency.

8. Sample Disclosure Statements

Example 1 (Language Editing):
“Portions of the introduction were refined using ChatGPT (OpenAI, GPT-4, May 2025) to improve grammar and clarity. The authors reviewed and approved the final text.”

Example 2 (Translation):
“The English abstract was translated from Indonesian using Google Translate and subsequently verified manually by the authors.”

Example 3 (Image Generation):
“Figure 2 was created with the assistance of Midjourney v6 based on an author-developed concept prompt. The source file is available upon request.”