Board members of the publishing house do not allow editors or reviewers to use generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools to analyze a manuscript, write comments, or check for compliance with the journal's requirements. The does not use any programs or AI tools that may violate the confidentiality of authors or the manuscript under review.

All manuscripts sent to the Scientific Route OÜ® are checked for the use of AI tools in several stages. The first stage is a check during the editor's evaluation of the manuscript for compliance with the requirements for manuscript design. The check is carried out using the Pangram  and the Turnitin program. The results of the check provided by the program are additionally checked by the editor. The second stage is a check during the double-blind review stage, which is carried out by reviewers without using software. Given that during the review of the manuscript it may be changed taking into account the comments of the editors and reviewers, the procedure for checking for the use of AI tools also includes a third stage - pre-publication check using the Pangram and the Turnitin program. The journal reserves the right not to provide detailed reports on the check for the use of AI tools,

If the use of AI tools exceeding 25% is detected, contradicts the editorial policy or is undeclared, and depending on the extent of the violation, the publisher may contact the authors with a request to provide additional explanation, retract the manuscript at any stage of review or withdraw the published article.

If AI tools were used by the authors in the course of conducting research or compiling the manuscript, this must be properly declared in the appropriate section of the article. The declaration should include all detailed information, such as the name and version number of the AI tool, in which part of the study or manuscript and how the AI tool was used, how the verification was performed by the authors, and how the use of the AI tool affected the conclusions of the study.

The authors bear full responsibility for the use of AI tools and for the results obtained with their help. AI and technologies supported by AI cannot act as an author or co-author of the manuscript. It is also prohibited to refer to AI as an author.

In case of use, authors should check all the terms of the AI tools to ensure that the information provided by the authors will not be used beyond the author’s purposes and will not violate the confidentiality of the unpublished research.

By submitting a manuscript to the Scientific Route OÜ®, the authors confirm, among other things, that:

– the use of AI tools has been properly declared;

– the use of AI tools does not exceed the 25% volume allowed by the editors;

– the use of AI tools was used only to solve problems permitted by the editorial policy.

The fact of concealing the use of AI tools may be regarded as manipulation of the manuscript review process with the aim of accepting it for publication. If the fact of concealing the use of AI tools is discovered after publication, the article will be retracted.

PROHIBITIONS AND PERMISSIONS FOR THE USE OF AI TOOLS

Content of the manuscript

The editorial policy prohibits the use of AI tools to generate or write any of the content of the manuscript, including the abstract, literature review, research purpose and methodology, results, interpretation or analysis of the results obtained, identification of practical significance, limitations of the study, or formulation of conclusions.

Creation or monitoring of compliance with ethical permits and/or confidentiality cannot be performed using AI tools.

Regarding citation sources, authors can use AI tools to search for them. However, the result obtained using AI tools must be carefully checked by the authors. Often, AI tools provide sources that at first glance seem correct, but in fact they do not exist. Sources collected using AI tools must be checked by the authors for correctness, as well as independently analyzed for the purpose of writing a literature review for the article or comparing the results obtained.

The use of AI tools for the purpose of translation, stylistic correction or adaptation of the text of the manuscript to the scientific style is prohibited by the editorial policy.

However, AI tools can be used to check spelling, grammar or punctuation – such use of AI tools is not declared.

Figures

Visualization of original author data can be performed using AI tools. An example of such use can be the creation of diagrams, graphs, research schemes based on already analyzed author data.

Image corrections such as changing the size of inscriptions, changing contrast, color balance or brightness can be performed using AI tools only in cases where this cannot in any way affect the meaningful display of figure elements.

The use of AI tools to generate, create or correct original images such as setups, images from a microscope, photos of actual research objects is prohibited.

Tables

The use of AI tools is permitted only for the purpose of summarizing (visualizing) the original author's data that has already been analyzed in a table. Any other use of AI tools is prohibited.

Software code

Creating or generating software code using AI tools is prohibited. However, editing and improving the original author's code is permitted.

Graphical annotation

The use of AI tools is permitted for the visualization of the original author's data. An example of such use could be combining multiple images or presenting data from a table in the form of a chart.

Generating a graphic annotation using AI tools based on an author's query consisting only of keywords is prohibited.