AI Usage Policy
To maintain transparency and research integrity, Journal of Sustainable Finance and Development (JSFD) require authors to declare any use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) or AI-assisted tools during manuscript preparation.
Authors are fully responsible for the content of the manuscript, including any text, figures, codes, or analyses produced or assisted by AI tools. AI tools must not be used for core scientific tasks such as formulating the main scientific conclusions, interpreting results in place of the authors’ own reasoning, and performing peer review on behalf of another person. AI tools may be used in a limited and responsible way, for example: language editing, grammar correction, or style improvement, formatting assistance, and generating code snippets that are then checked and validated by the authors.
All submitted manuscripts must be completed with a statement regarding the use or non-use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process. The AI Writing Statement must be submitted as an attachment to the submitted manuscript. It is one of the requirements for editors to carry out the pre-review process. If any generative AI or AI-assisted tools were used, authors must specify which tool, for what purpose, and confirm that all content has been checked and approved by the authors. For example: “During the preparation of this manuscript, the authors used [NAME OF TOOL, VERSION] for [brief description, e.g. ‘language editing and grammar checking’/‘code formatting’]. After using this tool, the authors carefully reviewed, verified, and edited all generated or modified content and accept full responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the manuscript.” Authors should adapt the bracketed parts to reflect their actual use. If no generative AI or AI-assisted tools were used in preparing the manuscript, please include a statement such as: “The authors confirm that no generative AI or AI-assisted tools were used in the writing or preparation of this manuscript.”
If AI tools are used to generate or substantially transform images, maps, diagrams, or figures (including satellite/remote-sensing visualizations or environmental maps), this must be clearly described in the Materials and Methods and/or figure captions. If AI tools are used to generate or assist in writing code or scripts (e.g. for spatial analysis, modelling, statistics), authors must: validate the code and its outputs, clearly describe the methods used, take full responsibility for any errors or biases introduced. Synthetic or AI-generated data that are not based on real observations must be explicitly identified as such and clearly separated from empirical data.
AI tools must not be used to fabricate data, references, citations, or images. Any such behaviour constitutes scientific misconduct. Authors must ensure that AI-generated text does not introduce plagiarism (including paraphrased plagiarism) and that all ideas and wording from other sources are properly cited. If the Editorial Team suspects undisclosed or inappropriate use of AI, JSFD may request additional clarifications, original data, or earlier drafts and may follow standard procedures for suspected misconduct.
Peer reviewers engaged by JSFD must not upload or share submitted manuscripts (or any part thereof) with public AI tools or external services that store or reuse the content. Editors and reviewers may use AI tools privately (e.g. for language support or to structure their own comments), but they remain fully responsible for the confidentiality of the manuscript and for the content of their evaluations.
