Artificial Intelligence Policy

The Critical Patient Journal (RDC) recognizes the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support research and scholarly communication, demanding, however, their responsible, transparent, ethical use and in accordance with the principles of scientific integrity, data protection and applicable international recommendations.

 

⮚      Use by Authors

Generative AI tools can be used to support writing, translation, linguistic revision, improving text clarity or supporting the organisation of scientific information, provided that:

●        Full responsibility for the scientific content, its accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical compliance remains exclusively with the authors;

●        The use of these tools is declared in a transparent manner in the manuscript, indicating, whenever relevant, the tool used, the version, the purpose of its use and the way in which it contributed to the preparation of the work;

●        Artificial intelligence tools are not identified as authors or co-authors of the manuscript;

●        The authors critically verify all information produced or modified using AI, including data, bibliographic references, interpretations, citations, images and other scientific content;

●        the use of AI is not used to fabricate, falsify, manipulate or misrepresent data, images, results or any scientific elements that could compromise the integrity of the research;

●        The applicable ethical, legal, confidentiality and data protection principles are respected.

Artificial intelligence tools do not meet the authorship criteria defined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and cannot assume responsibility for the published content, approve the final version of the manuscript, declare conflicts of interest, or be responsible for the integrity of the scientific work.

 

⮚      Use by Reviewers and Editors

Reviewers and editors must safeguard the confidentiality of manuscripts and information to which they have access in the exercise of their duties.

They must not introduce complete manuscripts, substantial excerpts, unpublished data or any confidential information on public platforms or artificial intelligence services that may use such content for model training or other unauthorized purposes, except with the express authorization of the Journal and provided that there are adequate guarantees of confidentiality, information security and data protection.

Any use of AI tools in the context of peer review or editorial activity must respect the principles of confidentiality, data protection, independence, impartiality, transparency and integrity of the editorial process, and cannot replace critical evaluation and human decision.

 

 ⮚      Use by the Journal

The RDC may use artificial intelligence tools to support certain administrative or technical tasks of the editorial process, namely in the detection of similarity, support for the formal verification of manuscripts or other activities of an operational nature.

The use of these tools does not replace, under any circumstances, scientific appreciation, peer review or editorial decision-making, which remain the sole responsibility of the Editorial Team.

 

⮚      Transparency and Monitoring

RDC reserves the right to request additional clarification from authors, reviewers or editors regarding the use of artificial intelligence tools whenever it deems necessary to ensure transparency, scientific integrity and compliance with its editorial policies.

The deliberate omission of the use of AI tools, when its statement is considered relevant to the evaluation of the integrity of the manuscript or the editorial process, may constitute a violation of the Journal's editorial policies and give rise to the adoption of the measures provided for in the Scientific Misconduct Policy.

This policy will be subject to periodic review, following the technological evolution and the recommendations issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and other international reference entities in scientific publishing.