AI Policy

1. Introduction

TARBIYA: Journal of Education in Muslim Society is committed to maintaining the highest standards of research integrity, transparency, and ethical publishing. The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies has created new opportunities as well as new ethical considerations for authors, reviewers, and editors.

This policy provides comprehensive guidance for the responsible, ethical, and transparent use of AI technologies at every stage of manuscript preparation, peer review, and editorial decision-making. TARBIYA affirms that AI is a tool that may support academic work, but it cannot replace human critical thinking, originality, or accountability.

2. Scope

This policy applies to all parties involved in the publication process in TARBIYA: authors, peer reviewers, editors, and editorial board members. It covers all forms of AI or AI-assisted technologies, including large language models, text or image generators, grammar and style checkers, translation systems, data visualization tools, and similar applications.

3. Disclosure of AI Use

Transparency is a fundamental ethical requirement. Authors must disclose any use of AI tools or AI-assisted technologies during manuscript preparation. The disclosure must clearly state the name of the tool used, the purpose of its use, and the extent of human oversight over the AI-generated content.

The disclosure must be included in the cover letter submitted with the manuscript and also in the manuscript itself. It should be placed in the Acknowledgments section if AI was used for language-related tasks or in the Methods section if AI was used for data-related or substantive tasks.

When appropriate, authors are encouraged to submit a supplementary document describing the prompts or instructions given to the AI system, the output generated, and the extent to which the authors reviewed and revised that output.

4. Permitted and Prohibited Uses of AI

4.1 Permitted Uses

Authors may use AI tools for supportive purposes provided that their use is disclosed. Examples of permitted use include improving grammar and spelling, translating text with human supervision, creating illustrative or non-scientific images, generating visualizations of verified data, formatting references, and refining the readability of computer code without changing its functionality.

4.2 Prohibited Uses

The following practices are not allowed in manuscripts submitted to TARBIYA:

Listing AI systems as authors or co-authors.

Transferring intellectual responsibility or accountability to AI tools.

Using AI to fabricate, falsify, or manipulate data, figures, results, or references.

Generating substantial parts of the manuscript through AI without disclosure and without human verification.

Uploading confidential manuscripts or reviewer comments to public AI systems that store user data or use it for model training.

Producing content that introduces bias, misinformation, or discriminatory statements.

Only human contributors who meet the authorship and ethical standards established by TARBIYA: Journal of Education in Muslim Society and who accept full responsibility for the content may be listed as authors.

5. Responsibilities of Authors

Human authors retain full accountability for their submissions, including any content supported or generated by AI tools. Authors must ensure that the final manuscript reflects genuine scholarly contribution and complies with the journal’s ethical standards.

Authors are required to review, verify, and revise AI-assisted content to confirm factual accuracy, originality, and appropriateness. Manuscripts must be free from plagiarism, including inadvertent reuse of AI-generated text or images. All cited sources must be accurate and must genuinely support the arguments made in the manuscript.

Authors must include one of the following statements in their manuscript:

If AI tools were used:

“The authors used [Tool Name and Version] for [specific purpose, for example language editing or data visualization]. All outputs were reviewed and verified by the authors, who take full responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the content.”

If no AI tools were used:

“No generative or AI-assisted technologies were used in the preparation of this manuscript.”

6. Peer Reviewers

Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of all manuscripts they evaluate. Manuscript content must not be uploaded to public AI systems. Reviewers may use AI tools to improve the clarity or language of their review comments, but not to make evaluative judgments about the manuscript. If a reviewer uses an AI tool to support the drafting of their review, the reviewer must inform the handling editor.

7. Editors and Editorial Board Members

Editors and editorial staff may use AI tools in limited and transparent ways to support workflow efficiency, such as for plagiarism detection, similarity checking, metadata verification, and internal communication.

All editorial judgments, assessments, and publication decisions must be made by human editors. Editors must verify any AI-assisted output before using it in correspondence or decision letters. Manuscripts, reviewer reports, and confidential author information must not be uploaded to external AI platforms that retain user data.

8. Ethical Standards and Alignment

This policy is consistent with international good practices on AI and publishing ethics. TARBIYA follows guidance and recommendations issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the STM Association regarding classification of AI use in academic manuscript preparation, and the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence.

TARBIYA upholds the principles that AI may assist academic work but cannot replace human responsibility for research integrity, intellectual rigor, or moral accountability. Every author, reviewer, and editor must ensure that the use of AI is transparent, necessary, and aligned with the scholarly and ethical values of TARBIYA.

9. Violations and Consequences

Any misuse of AI or violation of this policy is considered unethical conduct. The editorial board may impose one or more of the following actions:

Immediate rejection of the manuscript.

Retraction of the published article if the violation is discovered after publication.

Notification to the author’s institution, employer, or funding body.

Temporary or permanent prohibition from submitting to TARBIYA.

Publication of a correction or retraction statement in accordance with COPE procedures.

10. Policy Review and Updates

This AI Policy will be reviewed annually, or whenever necessary, to reflect advancements in AI technologies, evolving international ethical standards, and best practices in scholarly publishing. Any updates will be published on the official website of TARBIYA: Journal of Education in Muslim Society.