Considerations for Disclosing Generative AI Use in Scientific Work

Considerations for Authors

• Be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. AI tools cannot be authors or coauthors and should not be cited as authors or primary sources.
• Fully disclose substantive uses of GenAI in your work, in accordance with requirements of your organization, funder, publisher, and any other collaborating or partner organizations.
  • Content produced in part or in whole by GenAI technology should be clearly labeled (disclosed) in an accessible manner. For manuscripts and other text, provide a written disclosure. For images, videos, or other visual content, provide a visible watermark or label paired with accessible text in the caption, alt text, transcript, or adjacent note. For speech or audio content, provide a verbal disclosure.
  • Disclosure statements should include which AI tool(s)/platform were used, including model type and version, where in the work they were used, and the extent of human oversight (e.g., review and validation).
  • Content submitted for publication consideration by external organizations (e.g., collaborating institutions, scientific journals) is also subject to their AI disclosure requirements.
  • Where possible, authors should use AI tools that embed C2PA metadata as another means of signaling AI-generated content.
  • For analytic or methodological uses, include enough detail on prompts, settings, inputs, and validation steps to support reproducibility, subject to security requirements.
• Avoid research misconduct, which is defined as fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results, in accordance with federal regulations. Be aware that citation inaccuracies can be considered research misconduct.
• Do not enter sensitive, protected, or other non-public data into public AI tools.

Creating a Disclosure Statement

• Disclosure statements should include the following elements: "Content Affected + Action Taken + AI Tool + Purpose of AI Use + Human Oversight."
• From the sections below, select all applicable phrase(s) to draft a disclosure statement appropriate for your work. Authors should choose language that accurately describes how they used AI tools. This is not exhaustive since GenAI can be used in many ways.
• Disclosure statements could be included in the methods section, acknowledgements section, and/or cover letter, consistent with journal requirements.
• Examples of disclosure sentences include:
  • "Portions of the introduction and discussion sections were edited using [Name of AI tool] [model/version, if available] [(manufacturer, location)] for language refinement; authors reviewed and approved all edits."
  • "[Name of AI tool] [model/version, if available] [(manufacturer, location)] was used to generate analytic code used in data processing; authors reviewed, tested, and validated all code."
  • "Figure 1 was created using [Name of AI tool] [model/version, if available] [(manufacturer, location)]; authors checked all results for accuracy."

Table: Suggested Language for Disclosing Generative AI Use in Scientific Work

Instructions from Selected Journals

AI disclosure requirements vary by organization and are subject to change. Before submission, authors should consult the current instructions for authors or editorial policy of the relevant publisher or journal.

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME):

"Editors/publishers, authors, and reviewers should be transparent in their use of AI tools at any stage of the editorial process, including manuscript preparation, editing, and review. When AI is used, users should disclose which tool was used, and for what purpose."

World Association of Medical Editors (WAME):

"Authors should be transparent when chatbots are used and provide information about how they were used. The extent and type of use of chatbots in journal publications should be indicated."

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) instructions for authors:

"In accordance with ICMJE recommendations, authors must state if any artificial intelligence (AI)–assisted technologies (e.g., large language models (LLMs), chatbots, or image creators) were used in the development of their submitted work. In both the cover letter and submitted work, authors should describe their use of this technology. Authors should carefully review and edit the result, because AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete, or biased. Authors should assert that there is no plagiarism in their paper, including in text and images produced by the AI. Humans must confirm that there is appropriate attribution of all quoted material, including full citations."

Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD) journal editorial policy:

"When traditional and generative AI technologies and LLMs are used to create, review, revise, or edit any of the content in a manuscript, authors should report in the Acknowledgments section the following:

• Name of the AI software platform, program, or tool
• Version and extension numbers
• Manufacturer
• Date(s) of use

Authors should provide a brief description of how the AI was used and on what portions of the manuscript or content it was used. Authors should also state that they take responsibility for the integrity of the content generated."

Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) journal author instructions:

"If you use a chatbot's help to write your manuscript, including text or graphics, you should consult and follow current WAME Recommendations on Chatbots and Generative Artificial Intelligence in Relation to Scholarly Publications. Note that EID prefers not to publish figures, graphs, or images created by using artificial intelligence. For EID, this information should be placed in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript. In addition, you must indicate on the EID Author Checklist whether you have used a chatbot to help write your manuscript."

Selected References

HHS Office of Research Integrity (ORI). A Literature Review of Research Integrity Guidance for Researchers Generating Text and Images Using Generative Artificial Intelligence. 2025; 1-49.

Chen Z, Chen C, Yang G, et al. Research integrity in the era of artificial intelligence: Challenges and responses. Medicine (Baltimore). 2024; 103(27):e38811. DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000038811

Kusumegi K, Yang X, Ginsparg P, de Vaan M, Stuart T, and Yin Y. Scientific production in the era of large language models. Science. 2025; 390(6779):1240-1243. DOI: 10.1126/science.adw3000

Resnik DB and Hosseini M. Disclosing artificial intelligence use in scientific research and publication: When should disclosure be mandatory, optional, or unnecessary? Accountability in Research. 2026; 33(2):1-13. DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2025.2481949

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals [Internet]. [cited 2026 Apr 30]. Available from: https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf

World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). Chatbots, generative AI, and scholarly manuscripts: WAME recommendations on chatbots and generative artificial intelligence in relation to scholarly publications [Internet]. May 31, 2023 [cited 2026 Apr 30]. Available from: https://wame.org/page3.php?id=106

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR): instructions for authors [Internet]. Atlanta (GA): CDC; 2026 Jan 12 [cited 2026 Apr 30]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/author_guide.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD): editorial policy [Internet]. Atlanta (GA): CDC; 2024 May 7 [cited 2026 Apr 30]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/about_the_journal/editorial_policy.htm

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID): author instructions [Internet]. Atlanta (GA): CDC; 2023 Dec 15 [cited 2026 Apr 30]. Available from: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/page/authors-resource-instructions