Publication Ethics

The Journal of Digital Communication Psychology is committed to upholding the principles of academic integrity, transparency, originality, and responsible scholarship in scientific publishing. The journal recognizes the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies to support research and scholarly communication while emphasizing that their use must remain ethical, transparent, and accountable.

Authors are required to disclose the use of AI tools in manuscript preparation, language editing, data analysis, literature synthesis, or content generation, where applicable. Such disclosure should identify the tools used and briefly explain their purpose and contribution to the research process. The use of AI must not be presented as a substitute for the authors' intellectual contribution, critical analysis, or scholarly judgment.

Authors bear full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, validity, and integrity of their submitted manuscripts, including any content produced or modified with AI assistance. They must verify AI-generated information, references, interpretations, and analytical outputs to prevent factual errors, fabricated citations, plagiarism, misleading conclusions, and the reproduction of harmful biases. Authors must also ensure that the use of AI complies with applicable research ethics, data protection requirements, confidentiality standards, and the rights of research participants.

AI tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the content, integrity, and accountability of a scholarly publication. Human authors remain responsible for all aspects of their work, including the appropriate interpretation and reporting of research findings.

To preserve the quality and originality of scholarly publications, the journal may use appropriate screening tools, including similarity-checking and AI-detection software, as part of its editorial assessment. AI-detection results are treated as indicators for further evaluation rather than definitive proof of inappropriate AI use. Any editorial decision will consider the manuscript's originality, transparency of disclosure, quality of scholarly contribution, and compliance with publication ethics.

The journal does not permit the use of AI to fabricate or manipulate research data, falsify results, generate misleading evidence, or misrepresent authorship and scholarly contributions. Undisclosed or unethical AI use may result in requests for clarification, manuscript revision, rejection, or other appropriate editorial action in accordance with the journal's publication ethics policies.

Through this policy, the Journal of Digital Communication Psychology seeks to promote the responsible integration of AI technologies into scientific research while safeguarding academic integrity, human accountability, research quality, and public trust in scholarly communication.