Ethics and Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence Policy

Artificial Intelligence (AI), including Large Language Models (LLMs) and other Generative AI technologies are now part of academic research and scholarly activities. The journal welcomes the new opportunities offered by the responsible use of these tools. The editorial policy for this journal on text and image integrity is based on the COPE position on AI tools (COPE, 2024) as follows:

Artificial Intelligence (AI), including large language models (LLMs) and other GenAI tools, such as image creators, do not meet this journal’s criteria for authorship and cannot be listed as authors.
Author(s) using AI-assisted technologies in their research study should present and acknowledge AI use in a letter accompanying their manuscript submission and in the acknowledgement section of the manuscript. Detailed information on AI use should be provided in the manuscript’s methods section or introduction including the dates, versions of the software (e.g.GP-4o) and full prompts used in the production of the work. Authors should also specify how AI tools were used, and the reasons for the use. Editors may decline to move forward with a manuscript if there are concerns that AI is used inappropriately and/or it is not attributed.
The use of Generative AI tools for language improvement does not need to be declared. Language improvement would include AI-assisted proofreading, where AI-assisted tools improve the readability of human-generated texts, such as corrections in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Authors have accountability for the final version of the text and agree that all edits reflect their original work. Please read the Inclusive Language Policy for the JGHE alongside this policy, and rest assured that there is no expectation that authors adhere to any particular standard of language use.
Authors are fully accountable for the originality, validity, and integrity of all content of their submission and ensuring that any use of AI-assisted tools does not breach any copyright laws or other applicable regulations.
AI-generated or edited images and other AI-generated or edited multimedia are not permitted without the consent from the editors. AI-generated images may represent copyright infringement for artists whose work has been scraped without consent. Exceptions may be granted in certain situations and such cases will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The request for exception is to be disclosed at the time of the submission.
Reviewers must not upload manuscripts, or any associated files, into AI tools or use Generative AI in reviewing or writing reviews, as this breaches the confidentiality of the review process.
The journal recognizes the rapidly developing nature of AI technologies and reserves the right to change its position as copyright law and standards on ethical use of AI develop.

Authorship

Authorship is based on all four of the following criteria:

All authors made a significant contribution to the research reported in the article. Examples of significant contribution can be found in the Contributor Role Taxonomy (CRedIT).
All authors made a substantial contribution to the drafting (writing text) of the article, or revising it critically for important intellectual content
All authors have agreed on the final version of the article and its submission to the journal and have reviewed and accepted all subsequent revisions
All authors take accountability for all the content in the article

The first author should be the person who had the primary responsibility for conceptualising and doing the research. Author order, thereafter, should be determined based on who has done the most work. Principal investigators, PhD supervisors, or other managers do not have an automatic right to authorship or first authorship.

One author should be assigned as Corresponding Author, and their role is to act on behalf of all co-authors. Corresponding Authors are tasked with ensuring that any questions regarding the accuracy or integrity of any part of the submitted work are appropriately addressed in a timely manner. The Corresponding Author should:

Ensuring that all listed authors have approved the full text of the manuscript before submission;
Ensuring that all listed authors agree with the names and order of authors;
Arranging and managing all communication between the Journal and all co-authors, before and after publication;
Providing transparency on re-use of material and use of AI in a cover letter to the Editors;
Ensuring all necessary disclosures, declarations, and transparency statements are included in the manuscript as appropriate.

All authors will need to create their own profile on the Journal’s website in order to be attached to the publication.

Ethical Compliance

The research must comply with ethical guidelines, including approval from relevant ethics committees and informed consent for human participants (if applicable). However, we recognise that not all countries practice Institutional Review Boards or University Ethics Committees. In these cases, we ask the authors to state what ethical principles they have followed in the design and conduct of their research.

The manuscript adheres to recognized publication ethics standards, including the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines.

There are a range of globally recognized ethics guidelines that are regularly updated, including (but not limited to):

These organizations may not take sufficient account of colonialist approaches to research and approaches that center indigenous value systems such as ubuntu in research are welcomed (Chilisa, 2011). See also entries in the Collaborative Indigenous Research Digital Garden.

Where specific guidance has been developed by a group of people, researchers publishing in this journal should follow it. Examples include the San Code of Research Ethics, and the ‘6 Rs of Indigenous Research’.

Authors must ensure the privacy and confidentiality of all research participants. The names or any personally identifiable information of participants may only be included if the participant has provided written consent. In the absence of such consent, all identifying details must be omitted or anonymized to protect participant privacy in accordance with ethical research standards.

Honesty, Accuracy, and Avoiding Plagiarism

Originality:

Authors should only submit work that has neither appeared elsewhere for publication, nor is under review for another publication.

JGHE does not accept multiple submissions. Multiple submission is defined as a given manuscript being concurrently under active consideration by two or more publication outlets.

If author(s), within the evolutionary publishing paradigm, have used their own previously published or submitted material as a basis for a new submission, the author(s) must cite the previous work(s) and very clearly indicate how the new submission differs from the previously published work(s). This should be anonymised in the submission as e.g. ‘Author A’. Indications of originality can be explicit e.g. ‘This paper builds on previous publications (reference) by X, Y, Z’, or ‘In Author A (date), we explain X & Y. Here, we develop further conceptualization by Z.’

Honesty and avoiding plagiarism

Part of ethical research involves honesty in the representation of the research process and findings. This requires being factual and accurate in reporting, not distorting, altering, or fabricating the views, contributions, or previous publications of participants, co-authors and previous researchers.

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) defines plagiarism as “When somebody presents the work of others (data, words or theories) as if they were his/her own and without proper acknowledgment.” This includes “appropriating someone else’s idea (e.g., an explanation, a theory, a conclusion, a hypothesis, a metaphor) in whole or in part, or with superficial modifications without giving credit to its originator.”

Substantial unattributed textual copying of another's work means copying, or close paraphrasing, of sentences and paragraphs, without appropriate referencing or quotation, which misleads the ordinary reader regarding the contributions of the author. This does not include the limited use of identical or nearly-identical phrases which describe a commonly-used methodology, theoretical framework, or established background information.

Plagiarism also includes the unauthorized use of ideas or unique methods obtained by privileged communication, such as a grant, manuscript review, conference presentation or review of materials in a teaching or doctoral supervision contexts.

Plagiarism can be avoided by keeping records of reading, notes of ideas learned from others, appropriate referencing and attribution, self-reflection, and careful editing and revision during the writing process.

Any concerns about plagiarism can be raised via the Journal’s retraction processes.

The author agreement indemnifies the Journal against any legal proceedings. Authors should avoid all potentially defamatory statements. Defamation includes both libel and slander, meaning false statements that compromise a person’s reputation, disparage their profession, or expose them to ridicule. See here for more information.

Conflict of Interest Policy

Definition
A conflict of interest exists when a person’s objectivity, professional judgment, or decision-making may be compromised or perceived to be compromised due to personal, institutional, financial, ideological, or relational ties.

We understand that scholars working across diverse geopolitical, international, institutional, and cultural contexts may have complex affiliations.The goal of the journal is not to penalize these relationships but to promote openness about how positionalities may influence the research and publication process.

To keep the transparency of review procedures and publication of the research, authors are required to disclose any conflict of interest which might affect the review process and readers’ judgements of the research findings and contributions to the research literature. Interests might be financial, personal ethical, affiliation with an organization or funding agencies, etc.

Copyright Obligations

If your work includes any copyrighted material, the author will need to obtain and submit a written permission from any third-party owners of copyright to the journal with their manuscript. Copyrighted material can include text, illustrations, graphics, or other material. The same applies to any other rights held by third parties.

Authors publish their work with JGHE under the Creative Commons License BY-NC 4.0. This grant of rights is for the world and for the term of copyright. This means authors can re-use material from this paper for derivative activities, as long as these are not for profit and correctly attribute their work in this journal.

References

COPE Council. (2024) COPE position - Authorship and AI - English.

https://doi.org/10.24318/cCVRZBms

This policy will be reviewed periodically to ensure its relevance. Feedback and suggestions from the academic community are welcome and can be directed to the editorial board.

Please reference as: Nikula, P. T., Yeo, H. J., and Lomer, S. (2025) Ethics and AI Policy. Journal of Global Higher Education.

Version 1, 2025.

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