Cited by 167Academic integrity and plagiarismPublishing and Scholarly CommunicationAcademic Writing and Publishing

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 4 of the 4 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 7 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Chatbots, generative AI, and scholarly manuscripts: WAME recommendations on chatbots and generative artificial intelligence in relation to scholarly publications

Open access

Abstract

This statement revises our earlier “WAME Recommendations on ChatGPT and Chatbots in Relation to Scholarly Publications” (January 20, 2023). The revision reflects the proliferation of chatbots and their expanding use in scholarly publishing over the last few months, as well as emerging concerns regarding lack of authenticity of content when using chatbots. These recommendations are intended to inform editors and help them develop policies for the use of chatbots in papers published in their journals. They aim to help authors and reviewers understand how best to attribute the use of chatbots in their work and to address the need for all journal editors to have access to manuscript screening tools. In this rapidly evolving field, we will continue to modify these recommendations as the software and its applications develop.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This WAME statement revises earlier recommendations on chatbots and generative AI in scholarly publishing, adding guidance for authors, editors, and reviewers. It holds that chatbots cannot be authors, that their use must be transparently disclosed, and that humans remain responsible for accuracy, attribution, and confidentiality.

Key findings

  • Chatbots cannot be authors: they do not meet ICMJE authorship criteria, cannot give final approval, cannot understand conflict-of-interest statements, and have no legal standing to sign statements.
  • Authors must disclose chatbot use and provide information about how it was used; for drafting new text, prompts should be specified in acknowledgments, and for analytical work, reporting should appear in the Abstract and Methods with the full prompt, query time/date, AI tool, and version.
  • Authors are responsible for chatbot-generated material, including accuracy, absence of plagiarism, balanced views, and appropriate attribution of all sources.
  • Editors and peer reviewers must specify any chatbot use in manuscript evaluation, reviews, and correspondence; editors also need appropriate AI-detection tools, available regardless of ability to pay.

Methods

  • Design: a consensus/recommendation statement revising the earlier “WAME Recommendations on ChatGPT and Chatbots in Relation to Scholarly Publications” (January 20, 2023).
  • Data or sample: Not stated in the paper; the statement draws on cited literature, ICMJE criteria, and emerging concerns rather than an empirical sample.
  • Main analysis: narrative development of five principal recommendations tailored to different uses of chatbots in scholarly publishing, including word-processing tasks, generation of ideas/text, and substantive research.

Limitations

  • Stated: the field is rapidly evolving, and the authors will continue to modify the recommendations as software and applications develop.
  • Evident from the text: the recommendations are consensus-based and not empirically tested; no data, sample, or formal analysis is reported.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.25100/cm.v54i3.5868

Cites

4 of 4 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

0 of 7 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged

    • It may state two separate claims as one. 6
    • Probably not a substantial claim. 8
    10 of 10
    • The paper relies on this without support.

      No AI tool can understand a conflict-of-interest statement and does not have the legal standing to sign a statement.

      “No AI tool can “understand” a conflict-of-interest statement and does not have the legal standing to sign a statement.”
    • The paper relies on this without support.

      Chatbots have no affiliation independent of their developers.

      “Chatbots have no affiliation independent of their developers.”
    • The paper relies on this without support.

      Journals have begun to publish articles in which chatbots such as Bard, Bing and ChatGPT have been used, with some journals listing chatbots as co-authors.

      “Journals have begun to publish articles in which chatbots such as Bard, Bing and ChatGPT have been used, with some journals listing chatbots as co-authors.”
    • The paper relies on this without support.

      The legal status of an author differs from country to country but under most jurisdictions, an author must be a legal person.

      “The legal status of an author differs from country to country but under most jurisdictions, an author must be a legal person.”
    • The paper relies on this without support.

      Chatbot output currently carries the risk of including biases, distortions, irrelevancies, misrepresentations, and plagiarism, many caused by algorithms and training materials.

      “For example, chatbot output currently carries the risk of including biases, distortions, irrelevancies, misrepresentations, and plagiarism - many of which are caused by the algorithms governing its generation and heavily dependent on the contents of the materials used in its training.”
    • The paper relies on this without support.

      A chatbot may be designed to omit sources that oppose viewpoints expressed in its output.

      “Since a chatbot may be designed to omit sources that oppose viewpoints expressed in its output, it is the authors’ responsibility to find, review and include such counterviews in their articles.”
    • The paper relies on this without support.

      Many medical journal editors use manuscript evaluation approaches that were not designed to deal with AI innovations and industries, including manipulated plagiarized text and images and papermill-generated documents.

      “Many medical journal editors use manuscript evaluation approaches that were not designed to deal with AI innovations and industries, including manipulated plagiarized text and images and papermill-generated documents.”
    • The paper relies on this without support.

      Medical journal editors have already been at a disadvantage when trying to differentiate the legitimate from the fabricated, and chatbots take this challenge to a new level.

      “They have already been at a disadvantage when trying to differentiate the legitimate from the fabricated, and chatbots take this challenge to a new level.”
    • The paper relies on this without support.

      It is of particular importance to editors of medical journals where the adverse consequences of misinformation include potential harms to people.

      “This is of particular importance to editors of medical journals where the adverse consequences of misinformation include potential harms to people.”
    • The paper relies on this without support.

      Currently, individuals in scholarly publishing may use chatbots for simple word-processing tasks, generation of ideas and text, and substantive research.

      “Currently, individuals in scholarly publishing may use chatbots for: 1) simple word-processing tasks (analogous to, and an extension of, word-processing and grammar-checking software), 2) the generation of ideas and text, and 3) substantive research.”
    10 of 10

    Claims other papers make about this one

    Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

    Citations

    Cites

    Flagged first, then by citations

    Show all 4 references

    Research works printed but not linked: 2

    1. Methods. Preparing a Manuscript for Submission to a Medical Journal. ICMJE. https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/manuscript-preparation/preparing-for-submission.html#d Accessed May 27, 2023.
    2. Plagiarism. Oxford Reference, https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100329803;jsessionid=D1759DA0FD79ACB96407CDB4B7BC8FA0 Accessed May 27, 2023. · DOI

    Cited by

    Sorted by citations

    Items 101–131 of 131

    Metadata

    Authors
    Zielinski, C., Winker, M. A., Aggarwal, R., Ferris, L. E., Heinemann, M., Lapeña Jr, J. F., Pai, S. A., Ing, E., Citrome, L., Alam, M., Voight, M., & Habibzadeh, F.
    Affiliations
    • University of Winchester (GB)
    • Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (IN)
    • University of Toronto (CA)
    • University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DE)
    • University of Alberta (CA)
    • New York Medical College (US)
    • Northwestern University (US)
    • Belmont University (US)
    • Lancet Laboratories (ZA)
    Corresponding author
    Zielinski, Chris
    Venue
    Colombia Medica
    Published
    2023-12-01
    Volume
    54
    Issue
    3
    Pages
    e1015868
    ISSN
    • 0120-8322 (ISSN-L)
    • 1657-9534
    OpenAlex
    W4389235056
    Cited by
    167
    References
    4
    Citations by year
    2026: 64 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 21
    Type
    journal article
    Language
    en
    Open access
    Locations
    • Colombia medica (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
    • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
    • PubMed (publishedVersion)
    • Touro Scholar (Touro College) (submittedVersion)
    Topics
    • Social Sciences › Education › Academic integrity and plagiarism
    • Social Sciences › Library and Information Sciences › Publishing and Scholarly Communication
    • Social Sciences › Library and Information Sciences › Academic Writing and Publishing
    Keywords
    chatbots, generative AI, scholarly publishing, ChatGPT, journal editorial policy, content authenticity, peer review
    MeSH terms
    Artificial Intelligence, Humans, Publishing

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    A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-29 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).

    Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

    Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

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