Policies

Plagiarism

All submissions to AJIC are screened for plagiarism via the online Turnitin detection service. AJIC rejects all submissions found to contain clear evidence of plagiarism and does not consider future submissions from the author(s) in question.

Protection of Personal Information

Submissions to AJIC that draw on research with human subjects are received with the understanding that research subjects' personal information was managed in accordance with laws and regulations on the protection of personal information, e.g., research conducted in South Africa must comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

Authorship

AJIC does not allow author credits to be provided to individuals who have not contributed substantively to a submission.

Licensing, Copyrights, Publishing Rights

All AJIC articles are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Contributors whose submissions are published in AJIC are thus required to grant AJIC's publisher— the LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa — a non-exclusive licence to publish their contributions in AJIC under a CC BY 4.0.

Contributors retain the copyrights and publishing rights in their contributions without restriction. 

Open Access

AJIC's open access approach corresponds to the objectives of the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities and the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) Statement on Open Access to Research Publications.

Author Fees

AJIC does not impose article processing charges (APCs) or article submission charges on its authors.

Language

All AJIC abstracts and articles are published in English.

Digital Preservation

This journal utilises the Portico and the PKP Preservation Network (PN) systems to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. Click here to view AJIC in the Portico Keeper's Registry.

Selection and Refereeing of Submissions

Research Article and Review Article submissions that are found, via internal review by the Corresponding Editor and Publishing Editor (with assistance where necessary from additional internal reviewers, including members of the Editorial Advisory Board), to be potentially suitable for publication, are sent out for review, on a double-blind basis, to at least two reviewers. The reviewers are subject-matter experts selected by the Corresponding Editor and Publishing Editor with guidance where necessary from the Editorial Advisory Board. Based on the peer reviewers’ recommendations and inputs, and revisions made by the author(s) in response to the peer reviews, the Corresponding Editor and Publishing Editor make the final determination as to whether the submission is to be published. Their determination is contingent upon, inter alia, support for publication from at least one of the double-blind peer reviews; and satisfactory effort by the author(s) to make revisions based on inputs received from the double-blind peer review process.

Publication Review, Critical Intervention, Correspondence, News and Obituary submissions that are found, by the Corresponding Editor and Publishing Editor, to be potentially suitable for publication, are peer-reviewed on an internal, non-blind basis by at least one internal reviewer, with the Corresponding Editor and Publishing Editor among the potential internal reviewers. Based on the internal review recommendations and inputs, and revisions made by the author(s) in response, the Corresponding Editor and Publishing Editor make the final determination as to whether the submission is to be published. Their determination is contingent upon, inter alia, support for publication from at least one internal reviewer; and satisfactory effort by the author(s) to make revisions based on inputs received from the internal review process.

Use of AI and Large Language Models (LLMs)

Most of the wording of the AJIC Policy on Use of AI and Large Language Models (LLMs), as set out below, is taken directly from the corresponding policy developed by the South African Journal of Science (SAJS), which is the journal of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf). That SAJS policy is available here.

The introduction and availability of AI- and large language model (LLM)-based tools have created opportunities in the scholarly research and publishing environments, but have also presented challenges with respect to transparency, credibility, and accountability. AJIC recognises the benefits of these tools that relate to efficiencies, but advocates for the responsible use thereof. Authors are urged to be aware of the limitations and possible biases of these tools. Irrespective of the tool used or the context thereof, authors alone remain fully responsible for the scientific integrity of their submissions, including for any breach in publishing ethics, such as copyright infringements. This policy guides the use of such tools pertaining to submissions to the AJIC. This policy is informed by the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Authors
All authors are fully responsible for the originality, validity, and integrity of the content of their manuscript. In terms of the AJIC Submission Guidelines, submitting must ensure, inter alia, that the manuscript is their original work and does not contain any unlawful content and does not infringe any existing third-party copyright, moral right or other intellectual property rights; and that the work of others has been appropriately attributed. As such, AI-generated content will not be considered for publication. Any submission found to include AI-generated content will be declined.

The above mandate notwithstanding, AI and LLMs may be used to edit descriptive (non-data) images, revise and edit writing, and seek and summate existing literature. Where AI tools and/or LLMs have been used, for example, in the conception and design of a study, editing of non-data images, or in editing or revising the writing, such contributions are acceptable as they do not meet the criteria for authorship. Such use and the extent thereof must be declared at the time of submission in the AI Declaration section of the Author Document. The declaration of such use should include the name, version, and manufacturer of the tool used. The core prompt(s) entered into the tool(s) must also be provided in the AI Declaration. When using such tools, authors must ensure that they are using trusted models that adhere to accepted standards for the handling of personal and confidential information.

The use of tools specifically for spelling and grammar checks, similarity checking, and reference management is fully permitted and does not need to be disclosed.  See "Examples of unacceptable and acceptable uses of AI/LLM by authors" below.

Reviewers
Reviewers are responsible for the content of their review reports, and AI-generated review reports will not be considered. All manuscripts provided to a reviewer for review purposes must be treated as confidential and not shared in any way. Uploading any part of a manuscript into a LLM or similar tool is not permitted. Reviewers who use an AI tool as a resource for peer review (in a manner that does not go against the restrictions just) must disclose and detail this use in the “Reviewer’s note” section at the end of the AJIC Peer Review Form and provide the name, version, and manufacturer of the tool used as well as the core prompt(s) provided.

Editors
A Turnitin similarity check is performed by on all submitted manuscripts as part of AJIC’s internal-review process. AJIC’s internal editors do not use AI-based tools in making internal-review decisions or in writing the internal-review feedback communicated to authors.

Examples of unacceptable and acceptable uses of AI/LLM by authors

Unacceptable uses

  • Writing/generating any part of a manuscript, e.g., using prompts such as "write 3000 words on [specific topic], covering key concepts, recent developments, methodologies, and potential future directions" or “write an Introduction to the text below and add key references”.
  • Creating images.
  • Modifying data images, e.g., gel images, micrographs.

Acceptable uses (use must be disclosed)

  • Conception and design of a study, e.g., using a prompt such as “evaluate this study protocol to identify possible confounding factors”.
  • Editing large sections of writing, e.g., using a prompt such as “provide recommendations to improve readability of the text”.
  • Editing non-data images.

Acceptable uses (disclosure of use not required)

  • Use of grammar-checking and copyediting tools.
  • Use of similarity-checking tools.
  • Use of reference-management tools.

Go to Article Types.

Go to Content Areas.

Go to Submission Guidelines.