AI Policy

LMDAJ publishes research of scientific and educational interest to medical and dental practitioners and researchers, with special focus on medical practice and research in Liberia, West Africa and Africa. Our readers rely on the accuracy and integrity of what we publish. This policy explains how authors, peer reviewers, editors and LMDAJ staff may and may not use artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including generative AI and large language models (LLMs), in connection with manuscripts submitted to and content published by LMDAJ.

The policy applies to all submissions and content types, to every role in our editorial workflow, and to the journal’s website and communications.

Core principles

1. Human accountability cannot be delegated. Authors remain responsible for their work, reviewers for their reports, and editors for their decisions. AI may support these tasks but cannot take responsibility for them.
2. AI supports, but does not replace, scholarly judgement. AI must not determine conclusions, evaluations or editorial decisions.
3. Transparency builds trust. Where AI is used in a way that matters, it must be disclosed.
4. Confidentiality and data protection come first. Unpublished manuscripts, review reports and patient or participant data must never be put into public or unsecured AI tools.
5. Equity. Many LMDAJ authors work in low-resource settings and may write in a second language. This policy permits AI-assisted language support and does not penalise authors for using it, provided it is disclosed where required.

A risk-based approach

Use of AI is judged by how it is used, not only by which tool is used.

Policy for authors

Authorship

• AI tools cannot be authors. They cannot take responsibility for the work, consent to publication, declare competing interests or manage copyright.
• All listed authors are responsible for the entire content of the manuscript, including any text, figures or analysis produced with AI assistance.

Disclosure

• Authors must disclose any use of generative AI in preparing the manuscript or conducting the research, other than basic spelling, grammar or reference-management tools.
• Disclosure should state the tool name and version, the date used and the purpose, and be placed in the Methods or Acknowledgements section (and in the submission form’s AI-disclosure field once available). Suggested wording: “The authors used [tool, version] on [date] to [purpose]. The authors reviewed and edited all output and take full responsibility for the content.”
• If AI is part of the research method (for example image analysis, machine-learning models or data extraction), describe it in the Methods in enough detail to allow reproduction.

Verification and integrity

• Check all AI-generated text, references, calculations and data for accuracy, bias and omissions. AI tools can produce plausible but false statements and references.
• Fabricated or unverifiable citations, data or results are research misconduct.
• AI-generated or AI-altered images, figures, clinical photographs, radiographs, histology or other research data are not acceptable, except where AI is the subject of the research and its use is described and labelled. Do not use AI to enhance, remove or add features to research images.
• Generated content must not infringe copyright or plagiarise others’ work.

Patient and participant privacy

• Do not enter identifiable patient, participant or institutional data into public AI tools. Doing so may breach consent, confidentiality and data-protection obligations.

Language support

• Authors writing in English or French as an additional language may use AI tools to improve language, provided they review the output, ensure it preserves their meaning and disclose as required above.

Policy for peer reviewers

• Reviews must be the reviewer’s own independent expert judgement. Reviewers must not use AI to generate, or substitute for, their assessment, reasoning or recommendation.
• Confidentiality: reviewers must not upload any part of a manuscript, supplementary file or review report into any AI tool, because this may breach authors’ confidentiality and proprietary rights and, where manuscripts contain personal data, privacy rights.
• Limited language-only assistance on the reviewer’s own comments (not the manuscript) is permitted if no confidential material is shared and the use is declared to the editor when submitting the report.
• Reviewers remain fully responsible for the content of their report.
• Reviewers who suspect undisclosed AI use, fabricated content or manipulated images should report this to the handling editor rather than investigating with AI tools.

Policy for editors and the editorial office

• Editors remain accountable for all editorial decisions. AI must not make or recommend acceptance, rejection or revision decisions.
• Editors must not upload unpublished manuscripts, review reports or decision letters to public or unsecured AI tools.
• LMDAJ may use AI tools approved by the Editor-in-Chief that meet confidentiality and data-protection standards for supporting tasks such as plagiarism and similarity checks, reference checks, language screening or formatting. Any such use will be disclosed on this page, and a human will review the outcome before any action is taken.
• AI-generated accessory content published by LMDAJ (for example summaries, key points or translations) will be reviewed by a human editor and labelled as AI-assisted.
• Editors will apply proportionate judgement when assessing undisclosed or inappropriate AI use, and will refer concerns to the Editor-in-Chief.

Content published by LMDAJ

• AI-generated images, audio or video will not be used in LMDAJ articles, covers, multimedia or social media unless clearly labelled and approved by the Editor-in-Chief.
• AI is not used to write or alter editorials, commentary or news without human authorship and disclosure.

Detection, concerns and consequences

• LMDAJ may use technical tools to check for AI-generated text, images or duplicated content. These tools are imperfect and will never be the sole basis for a decision; editors will use human judgement.
• If undisclosed or inappropriate AI use is suspected, the editor will contact the authors or reviewer, request an explanation and apply the journal’s publication ethics procedures (aligned with the Committee on Publication Ethics, COPE). Outcomes may include correction, rejection, retraction, notification of institutions and restrictions on future submissions or reviewing.
• Concerns about AI use in a published article can be reported to the editorial office through the Contact Us page.

Review and updates

AI technologies and expectations are changing quickly. The Editorial Board will review this policy at least annually and update it as standards from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), COPE and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) evolve.

Contact

Questions about this policy: please use the Contact the Editorial Office page.

Appendix A: Author AI-disclosure statement

• Did you use generative AI or AI-assisted tools in preparing this manuscript or conducting the research? ☐ No ☐ Yes
• If yes: tool name and version; date(s) used; purpose; sections affected; confirmation that all output was verified by the authors.
• Confirm: no confidential or identifiable patient data were entered into public AI tools. ☐

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