USAGE OF AI

Prosperitas recognizes that artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies may support research and manuscript preparation. However, such technologies must be used as supportive instruments and must not replace human scholarly judgement, critical thinking, authorship or accountability.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOVING TWO KEY OBLIGATIONS OF AUTHORS:

1. Transparency and Disclosure

Authors must clearly indicate the use of AI tools, specifying their purpose and version. AI use related to research methods, data processing or analysis should be described in the Methods / Methodology section, while AI used during manuscript preparation may be disclosed in an Acknowledgements section or in a separate AI-use statement. Basic spelling and grammar correction does not normally require disclosure.

2. Accountability

Full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the manuscript rests with the human author(s). Authors must therefore review and verify all AI-assisted content, including facts, references, quotations, data and analytical results.

PERMITTED USES of AI 

Idea Development and Conceptualisation: Researchers may use AI to generate preliminary ideas, develop structured outlines, and refine research questions. Authors remain responsible for independently evaluating the relevance and originality of the suggestions.

Literature Identification and Overview: AI-based tools (such as Elicit, Consensus, and Semantic Scholar) can assist in locating relevant studies, producing concise summaries, and visualising citation relationships. Authors must consult and verify the original publications before citing or relying on them. AI-generated summaries must not replace the critical reading of the original sources.

Language Refinement and Formatting: Tools like Grammarly and others can be used to enhance linguistic quality, coherence, and compliance with formatting requirements.

Data Preparation and Analytical Support: Machine-learning and AI-assisted techniques can be applied to process and analyse data, provided that the procedures are transparent, methodologically justified and reproducible.

AI-Generated Visuals: AI-generated figures and illustrations are permitted if clearly disclosed.

NON-PERMITTED or HIGH-RISK USES

Attribution of Authorship: AI systems cannot assume accountability and therefore must not be listed as authors or co-authors.

Complete Paper Generation: Submitting work that has been entirely generated by AI is typically classified as academic misconduct, comparable to plagiarism or ghost-writing.

Invention of References or Data: Generative AI tools may produce inaccurate or fabricated information; including such content can seriously compromise a manuscript. Authors must verify all references, facts, data and results against reliable original sources. The fabrication or falsification of references, data or research findings is prohibited. Cases of hallucinated references will cast doubt on the credibility of the literature review, if not the study as a whole.