Artificial intelligence policy and disclosure requirements

The policy of the Ukrainian Journal of Remote Sensing regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) is based on the provisions of the Law of Ukraine No. 4742-IX "On Academic Integrity" and the current recommendations of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) and WAME (World Association of Medical Editors). The editorial board of the Ukrainian Journal of Remote Sensing recognizes the potential of generative artificial intelligence in scientific activity. Still, it emphasizes the importance of transparency, authorial responsibility, and compliance with ethical norms.

  1. Status of AI as an author
    • Artificial intelligence tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.) cannot be listed as authors of a manuscript.
    • AI does not have legal entity status, cannot take responsibility for the content of the work, and does not hold intellectual property rights.
  2. Permissible use of AI The use of AI is permitted for:
    • Language and style editing: correcting grammatical and spelling errors, improving sentence structure, and translation (provided that the author thoroughly proofreads the text).
    • Data analysis aids: using specialized scripts or algorithms to process large datasets (e.g., satellite imagery), which is standard practice in remote sensing.
    • Literature searches: using AI tools to find sources (provided that manual fact-checking and proper citation are mandatory).
  3. Unacceptable uses of AI. The following are strictly prohibited:
    • Generating substantive text: creating hypotheses, interpreting results, writing conclusions, or generating any parts of the manuscript "from scratch" using AI without the direct involvement of the author.
    • Creating manipulative images: using AI to generate or modify scientific data, graphs, and images, which leads to the distortion of scientific truth (data falsification).
    • Citing non-existent sources: responsibility for any AI "hallucinations" (fictional facts or references) lies solely with the author.
  4. Disclosure requirements: If AI technologies were used in the preparation of the manuscript (beyond basic spell checking), authors are required to:
    • Note this in the cover letter.
    • Add a separate section titled "Use of AI" at the end of the article (before the reference list), indicating:
      • Which tool was used (name, version).
      • For what specific purpose (e.g., "DeepL was used to translate the abstract; ChatGPT-4 was used to improve the style of the introduction").
  5. Author’s responsibility
    • Authors bear full responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the submitted manuscript.
    • Any detected undisclosed use of AI to generate scientific content may result in the immediate rejection of the manuscript or its subsequent retraction.
  6. Use of AI by Reviewers and Editors
    • Reviewers are prohibited from uploading manuscripts to generative AI systems (e.g., to generate a review report).
    • Doing so violates the author’s right to confidentiality and intellectual property rights to unpublished material.

This AI policy is particularly important for the Journal because remote sensing frequently employs complex data-processing algorithms (e.g., machine learning) that must be clearly distinguished from generative AI.