1. Purpose and Scope

The African Journal of Research in Medical and Health Sciences (AJRMHS) is committed to upholding the highest standards of scientific integrity, transparency, and ethical publishing. This policy outlines the acceptable and prohibited uses of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools—including Large Language Models (LLMs), automated writing assistants, and AI image generators—in the preparation, submission, and peer review of manuscripts.

2. AI and Authorship Criteria

• No AI Authorship: Generative AI tools, LLMs, or related technologies do not meet the criteria for authorship. They cannot take legal, ethical, or scientific responsibility for submitted work, manage conflict-of-interest declarations, or hold copyright.

• Author Accountability: Authors remain fully accountable for all content in their submission, including data integrity, literature accuracy, language clarity, and the prevention of plagiarism or fabrication.

3. Acceptable Uses of Generative AI

Authors may utilize AI technologies only to assist in technical refinement and efficiency, specifically:

• Language and Copyediting: Improving readability, grammar, spelling, and sentence structure for manuscripts written in English.

• Literature Discovery Assistance: Formulating search strings or summarizing broad research topics (provided all referenced source literature is independently read and verified by the authors).

• Code and Scripting Assistance: Writing or debugging data analysis scripts (e.g., Python, R) used for statistical processing.

4. Prohibited Uses of Generative AI

The following uses of Generative AI are strictly prohibited and constitute research misconduct:

• Content Generation: Generating primary text, hypotheses, literature reviews, discussions, or conclusions via AI prompts without direct original contribution by the authors.

• Data and Image Manipulation: Creating synthetic datasets, generating fake biological/clinical images (e.g., Western blots, histopathology slides, radiographs), or altering original scientific data using AI-based tools.

• Fabrication of Citations: Inserting AI-generated references without manual verification of the original source papers.

5. Mandatory Disclosure and Transparency

If any Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies were used during the conceptualization, writing, editing, or data analysis phases of the manuscript, authors must:

1. State the use explicitly in a dedicated section entitled "Declaration of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies" placed before the References section.

2. Include the following details:

   • Name of the tool/model (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Grammarly Premium, Gemini) and version number.

   • Manufacturer/Developer (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, Google).

   • Specific purpose of use (e.g., "Grammar and language polishing of Section 3").

3. Retain raw prompts and output logs, which may be requested by the Editorial Board during peer review.

Sample Statement: Declaration of Generative AI Use: During the preparation of this work, the author(s) used [Tool Name/Version] to [reason for use, e.g., improve readability and language clarity]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the published article.

6. Guidelines for Peer Reviewers and Editors

• Confidentiality and Privacy: Reviewers and editors are strictly prohibited from uploading manuscripts, datasets, abstract submissions, or peer-review reports into third-party AI platforms. Doing so violates author confidentiality, proprietary rights, and data privacy policies.

• Evaluation Integrity: Peer-review reports and editorial evaluations must be authored directly by the assigned peer reviewer or editor, reflecting their independent clinical and scientific expertise.