Using AI Tools in Academic Writing: What Journals Require

If a tool helps prepare your manuscript, you still need to explain and defend the finished work. Start with your target journal's instructions, then identify what the tool actually did. The guidance below draws on ICMJE Recommendations for medical journals and Elsevier's journal policy. Use these as specific examples when planning disclosure, checking references, and protecting unpublished material; apply the requirements of the journal receiving your paper.

Why Journal Guidance Changed

ICMJE's January 2026 update added expanded guidance on artificial intelligence in publishing as Section V, alongside a section on authors' access to data. Elsevier's policy also addresses the adoption of tools for organizing content, improving language, and supporting other research tasks. Its central boundary is that assistance cannot substitute for human critical thinking, expertise, and evaluation. Approach a suggested revision as something to assess, rather than evidence that the passage is ready for submission.

What ICMJE Asks of Authors

Under ICMJE's author guidance, journals should require disclosure at submission of whether authors used assisted technologies such as language models, chatbots, or image creators. Authors should explain how they used them in the cover letter and in the appropriate part of the submitted work, where applicable. Chatbots and other tools should not appear as authors: they cannot take responsibility for accuracy, integrity, and originality.

Human authors remain responsible for material prepared with these tools. ICMJE asks authors to review and edit the output, which can be incorrect, incomplete, or biased, and to ensure appropriate attribution with full citations. Authors should be able to assert that the paper contains no plagiarism, including in generated text and images. Nondisclosure may require corrective action and may be considered misconduct in some circumstances. Treat disclosure as part of preparing the submission.

Disclosure in Practice: The AI Declaration

Elsevier's policy for journals calls for a separate declaration within the manuscript at submission when tools assist manuscript preparation. The statement appears in the published article. It should identify the tool, its purpose, and the extent of human oversight. Keep a working note of those details while editing so that your declaration describes the assistance actually used.

A useful drafting approach is to answer three questions in plain language: Which tool did you use? What did you ask it to help with? How did you review and edit the result? Describe only steps that occurred, and check that your wording matches the journal's requested format. Elsevier distinguishes manuscript preparation from use within the research process: the latter should be described in detail in Methods. A writing declaration should not stand in for that description.

Language Polishing vs. Substantive Rewriting

Elsevier exempts basic checks of grammar, spelling, and punctuation from its declaration requirement. Its policy says substantive changes to sentence structure or organization should be disclosed. This is a distinction about the work performed, so examine the changes themselves before deciding how to describe them. A label such as proofreading is less informative than an account of whether the tool corrected punctuation or reorganized a passage.

Whatever level of intervention you choose, compare the proposed wording with the meaning you intend to convey. Check qualifications, technical terms, and connections between claims. Accept a sentence because you can verify and explain it. If an intervention goes beyond basic corrections, include that role when preparing the disclosure required by your journal.

During that comparison, put your draft and the suggested revision side by side. Ask whether the revision changes who did something, the population described, or the strength of a conclusion. If a sentence is now clearer but says more than the evidence supports, revise it again. Keep the wording you can justify from your own work and sources. This is a practical way to exercise the human oversight described in Elsevier's policy while checking more than grammar.

References and Verification

ICMJE's January 2025 update added guidance on authors' responsibility for the accuracy of cited references. Elsevier explicitly warns that generated references can be incorrect or fabricated. Verify the source itself before relying on a proposed citation, then read the relevant material to check whether it supports the accompanying claim. Formatting a reference correctly does not establish its accuracy.

ICMJE also says generated material is not acceptable as a primary source. Trace a proposed factual statement to the underlying evidence and provide appropriate citations. If you cannot verify the source or its relevance, leave the unsupported statement out until you can check it. Keep this evidence review separate from the final punctuation and layout pass.

Confidentiality and Peer Review

Elsevier asks authors to check tool terms and conditions to ensure privacy and confidentiality of inputs, including unpublished manuscripts. Take particular care with personally identifiable data. Make this check before entering text, rather than after you have obtained a useful result. Decide what material you intend to share and whether the terms protect it.

ICMJE's reviewer guidance requires adherence to the journal's policy or prior permission. Confidentiality may prohibit uploading a manuscript where it cannot be assured, unless the journal explicitly permits that use. Reviewers should disclose tool use to the journal and ensure the resulting content is appropriate and valid. An author's writing workflow therefore does not establish what a reviewer may do with someone else's submission.

A Pre-Submission AI Checklist

• Read the target journal's policy and identify the disclosure it requires.
• Record the tool, its purpose, and the human review performed.
• Distinguish manuscript preparation from research use when deciding where to describe it.
• Verify generated claims, references, quotations, and attribution against the underlying sources.
• Check confidentiality terms before entering unpublished text or personal data.
• Confirm that human authors have reviewed the final material and accept responsibility for it.