The International Journal of Animal and Wildlife Research (IJAWR) allows authors to use generative AI and AI-assisted tools where their use is consistent with research integrity, confidentiality, copyright, data protection, animal welfare, and other applicable ethical and legal requirements.

AI tools may be used to support manuscript preparation and research activities, including wildlife image analysis, species identification, ecological data processing, and scientific communication. However, these tools must not replace the author's scholarly judgment, intellectual contribution, or responsibility for the work.

AI Use and Disclosure

Routine use of AI for basic grammar, spelling, punctuation, formatting, or language improvement does not ordinarily require separate disclosure, provided that the scholarly content and meaning remain the author's own.

Authors must disclose substantive use of AI when it materially contributes to the preparation or development of the manuscript or research. This includes, where applicable, substantial text generation or rewriting, research design, data analysis or interpretation, coding, species identification, ecological modelling, and the generation or substantial modification of figures, images, or other visual content.

Where AI tools are used to analyse animal behaviour, identify species, classify camera-trap images, process acoustic recordings, or interpret ecological and wildlife survey data, authors should describe the relevant tool and its role in the research methods, where appropriate.

Human Responsibility and Authorship

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, citations, data, figures, interpretations, and final content of their manuscripts. AI-generated references, factual claims, data, quotations, species identifications, and other information must be appropriately reviewed and verified by the authors.

Manuscripts must contain meaningful human intellectual contribution and oversight. Authors must not present AI-generated or AI-assisted material as independently produced scholarly work without appropriate human review and responsibility.

When AI tools are used for species identification, animal behaviour classification, wildlife population estimates, habitat assessment, or conservation-related analysis, authors should evaluate the reliability and limitations of the tools and report relevant methods and validation procedures where appropriate. AI-generated interpretations must not be treated as verified scientific findings without adequate supporting evidence.

Authors are also responsible for ensuring that AI-generated or AI-assisted figures, images, maps, and other visual materials comply with applicable copyright and intellectual property requirements. They must not use manipulated or synthetic images in ways that misrepresent actual research observations, animal behaviour, field conditions, or experimental results.

Confidentiality and Responsible Use

Authors should not submit confidential, unpublished, personal, or otherwise restricted information to AI systems where doing so could compromise confidentiality, privacy, copyright, intellectual property, or research ethics.

This requirement also applies to editors and reviewers, who must not submit manuscript content to AI tools in a manner that breaches the confidentiality obligations described in the journal's Peer Review Process policy.

Researchers should exercise particular care when using AI tools with sensitive wildlife information, including precise locations of endangered species, threatened populations, nesting sites, breeding areas, or other vulnerable habitats. Such information should not be disclosed through AI systems where doing so could create conservation risks or violate applicable restrictions.

AI-assisted research must also comply with applicable animal ethics requirements, wildlife research permits, data protection obligations, and relevant conservation regulations.

AI and Editorial Checks

AI-assisted or AI-generated content may be considered as part of IJAWR's editorial and research-integrity checks, where applicable.

AI-content detection results are supporting editorial information only. An AI-detection result or percentage is not, by itself, conclusive evidence of AI authorship, plagiarism, or research misconduct. Where concerns arise, IJAWR will assess the available evidence in accordance with its applicable editorial and publication ethics procedures.

Related Policies

This policy should be read together with the relevant IJAWR policies, including:

IJAWR may review and update this policy as AI technologies and relevant scholarly publishing standards develop.