AI Usage Policy

This Policy of the journal "Computer Tools in Education" is based on generally accepted international practices and fundamental principles of regulating the use of artificial intelligence technologies in scholarly publishing, as formulated by leading organizations in the field of publication ethics, including the recommendations of COPE and the classifications of STM. This document regulates the use of artificial intelligence technologies (hereinafter referred to as AI) as an auxiliary tool in the preparation of manuscripts, peer review, and editorial processing of materials.

The purpose of this Policy is to preserve academic integrity and trust in the journal's publications through clear regulation of AI application at all stages of the publishing process.

Policy for Authors

Authors may use AI technologies as a tool in conducting research and preparing articles. However, AI may not be listed as a co-author.

If AI technologies were used as a tool for conducting research and obtaining the presented results (but were not the subject or method of the research itself), their use must be disclosed. Authors must indicate the purposes of AI application, the models and their versions used, the composition of training datasets, as well as any additional information necessary for the reproducibility of results and assessment of their reliability. Information about the AI technologies used should preferably be indicated in the same sections of the article that were written with their application.

Studies in which AI is the subject or method of the research and this is described in the relevant sections of the manuscript (methodology, description of the experiment, data analysis, etc.) do not require additional declaration. However, if the authors of such a study also resort to AI assistance for preparing the text of the manuscript itself (text generation, formulation of conclusions, etc.), such use of AI is subject to regulation in accordance with the sections of this Policy.

If AI technologies were used exclusively as an editorial tool (for spelling and punctuation checking, stylistic text editing, document formatting, formatting of bibliographic references, etc.) and did not affect the content of the research and the results obtained, their use does not require declaration.

The use of AI does not exempt authors from full responsibility for the reliability of research results, the correctness of the presentation of results, and compliance with the principles of scientific ethics. Each of the co-authors of the article bears responsibility for the lawfulness and correctness of AI technologies application, the results obtained, conclusions, and the article as a whole.

Failure to disclose the use of AI in conducting research and preparing an article may be considered a violation of scientific ethics and grounds for rejecting the article from publication, and if the fact of concealment is discovered after publication, grounds for retraction.

Policy for the Editorial Board and Reviewers

The use of AI must not violate the rights of third parties and, in particular, must not lead to unauthorized disclosure of scientific information. It must be remembered that information processed by AI may be subject to uncontrolled dissemination. Such a situation must be excluded during the initial examination of articles, the preparation of reviews of yet unpublished articles, as well as during the editorial preparation of manuscripts for publication. The journal permits the use of secure AI technologies for the above purposes subject to compliance with confidentiality standards.

Checking articles for originality and for signs of AI generation must be carried out by reviewers and the editorial board of the journal only with the help of software products that exclude the possibility of uncontrolled dissemination of scientific information. For this purpose, the editorial board of the journal uses the Antiplagiat system (https://antiplagiat.ru/) within the framework of an agreement on maintaining the confidentiality of manuscript texts.

The presence of signs of AI generation detected by the editorial board at the stage of initial examination does not prevent further consideration of the manuscript. In this case, the editorial board sends the author team a request as to whether AI tools were used in preparing the text and to what extent. Simultaneously, the editorial board informs the reviewers of the presence of technical signs of generation and asks them to pay special attention to the relevant fragments of the text. The final decision on the manuscript is made on the basis of the reviewers' conclusions and the authors' response, and not on the basis of the suspicion itself.

The reviewer's information about the detection or non-detection of signs of AI generation does not exempt the reviewer from full personal responsibility for the prepared review. Responsibility for the content of the review and the conclusion on the lawfulness of the authors' use of AI technologies (if such use has been confirmed) rests entirely with the reviewer.

The final assessment of the correctness of AI application in preparing a scholarly article is given by the editorial board of the journal. A negative assessment of such application may serve as grounds for rejecting the article. The editorial board bears full responsibility for the final decision on the manuscript and for communicating it to the authors.

This policy is brought to the attention of all participants in the editorial and publishing process (authors, reviewers, editors, members of the editorial board) by publication on the official website of the journal, and is also included in the instructions for authors and reviewers. Participants are notified of all changes and additions to the policy by email, as well as by publication of the updated version on the journal's website.