Artificial Intelligence (AI) Usage Policy

Authors may use generative AI or AI-assisted technologies to support activities such as language improvement, literature organization, idea development, transcription support, translation assistance, qualitative coding support, thematic organization, health-literacy data exploration, or manuscript preparation. AI tools must not replace the authors' critical thinking, scholarly judgment, qualitative interpretation, reflexivity, contextual understanding, or original contribution.

Authors are responsible for:

• verifying factual accuracy and checking references generated by AI;
• reviewing and substantially editing AI-assisted content;
• checking for bias, hallucination, fabricated citations, invented quotations, or misleading health information;
• protecting confidential participant information, interview transcripts, field notes, patient or community data, audio/video files, personal narratives, copyrighted materials, and unpublished information;
• independently verifying AI-assisted transcription, translation, coding, categorization, thematic analysis, summarization, or interpretation; and
• ensuring that the final manuscript represents the authors' own scholarly work.

Meaningful use of generative AI in manuscript preparation must be disclosed in a separate AI Declaration. The declaration should identify the tool used, its purpose, and the extent of human review and oversight.

Basic spelling, grammar, or punctuation checks do not normally require disclosure. If AI forms part of the research method, transcription, translation, qualitative coding, thematic analysis, content analysis, health-literacy assessment, data classification, mixed-method analysis, or other analytical procedures, its use must be described in sufficient detail in the Methods section.

AI tools, chatbots, and language models must not be listed as authors or co-authors. Authorship requires human responsibility for the integrity of the work, approval of the final manuscript, accountability for its content, and the ability to respond to questions regarding participant recruitment, qualitative data, health-literacy interpretation, methods, and conclusions.

Generative AI must not be used to create, manipulate, obscure, remove, or introduce features in research photographs, participant images, screenshots, interview evidence, figures, diagrams, or other visual materials in a manner that misrepresents participants, contexts, findings, or the underlying research evidence.

An exception may apply when AI-assisted imaging, visualization, image analysis, or synthetic-media evaluation is itself part of the research design or methodology. In such cases, authors must describe the tool, model/version, procedure, inputs, validation, ethical safeguards, and its role in generating or interpreting research data in the Methods section.

Submitted manuscripts are confidential documents. Reviewers must not upload manuscripts, manuscript excerpts, interview transcripts, participant quotations, field notes, health information, audio/video materials, supporting files, or review reports into public generative AI systems.

Peer review is a human scholarly responsibility. AI tools must not be used to generate scientific assessments, independently interpret qualitative findings, assess participant narratives, evaluate methodological trustworthiness, or determine review recommendations. Reviewers remain personally responsible for the content, accuracy, fairness, sensitivity, and integrity of their reports.

Editors must not upload submitted manuscripts, confidential correspondence, reviewer reports, author responses, participant information, interview transcripts, unpublished health data, qualitative datasets, or editorial decision letters into public generative AI systems.

AI must not replace human editorial judgment or be used to determine acceptance, revision, or rejection. Editors remain fully responsible for editorial evaluation, reviewer selection, confidentiality management, ethical assessment, communication, conflict-of-interest management, and final publication decisions.