Generative AI Policy

Generative AI Policy

Vision: Journal for Language and Foreign Language Learning adopts this policy to guide the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) at every stage of scholarly publishing. The journal recognizes that AI tools are now part of language research and language teaching. They may support the quality of a manuscript, but they cannot take the place of the critical thinking, linguistic expertise, and pedagogical judgment expected of researchers in language and foreign language learning. The policy protects research integrity, transparency, data confidentiality, and publication ethics. It follows the Indonesian technical guidelines for scholarly journal accreditation and draws on the publication ethics guidance of the American Psychological Association (APA) and Elsevier.

A. General Principles

  1. Human judgment comes first. Writing, evaluating, and deciding on manuscripts must rest on human critical reasoning. AI does not replace it.
  2. Transparency is required. Any use of AI in preparing a manuscript or in editorial work must be disclosed according to the role of the person involved. Every published article carries a statement on whether AI was used.
  3. Confidentiality and ethics must be protected. Unpublished manuscripts, confidential research data (including learner data, interview transcripts, classroom recordings, and test results), and information obtained during peer review must not be uploaded to external AI services unless proper authorization, data safeguards, and a lawful basis are in place. Reviewers may not use AI at any point in the peer-review process.
  4. Accountability stays with people. Authors, reviewers, editors, and copyeditors are fully responsible for their own work and decisions.

B. Definitions

AI tools are software applications that use AI technologies, such as machine learning and large language models (LLMs), to produce, process, or change content automatically or semi-automatically.

For this policy, AI tools include, among others:

  • text-generating tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini;
  • AI-based language editing and paraphrasing tools such as advanced versions of Grammarly and QuillBot;
  • AI-based machine translation tools such as DeepL and Google Translate;
  • any other tool that automatically generates or changes text, summaries, paraphrases, code, images, audio, or similar outputs.

The journal treats AI as a tool to support efficiency and readability. All AI use must remain under human control and verification and must respect ethical standards, transparency, and scholarly integrity.

C. Role-Based Policy

For Authors

1. Permitted uses

  • Improving grammar, spelling, and readability
  • Translating the manuscript or abstract (for example, between Indonesian, English, and Arabic), provided the author checks the translation manually for accuracy of meaning and terminology
  • Limited paraphrasing that adds no new ideas or analysis
  • Help in drafting an initial outline of the article

2. Prohibited uses

  • Naming AI as an author or co-author
  • Generating the scholarly substance of the article automatically, including arguments, literature syntheses, interpretations, or pedagogical implications
  • Fabricating or manipulating data, learner responses, corpus samples, test scores, results, analyses, tables, figures, references, or visuals

3. Disclosure and responsibility

  • Authors must declare their use of AI at submission and in the AI-use statement of the published article, including when no AI was used.
  • When AI was used, authors must name the tool, explain its purpose, and state the sections or stages in which it was used.
  • Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of their manuscript.

4. AI as part of the research
Studies that examine AI itself, such as the use of AI chatbots in EFL writing, AI-assisted feedback, or machine translation in language classrooms, are welcome. In such studies, AI use that forms part of the research design must be described clearly in the methodology section, including the tool, version, prompts where relevant, and how outputs were collected and analyzed. This methodological use is separate from, and does not replace, the AI-use statement.

For Editors

1. Permitted uses

  • Language editing of editorial correspondence
  • Polishing the style of decision letters, without letting AI shape the substance of the decision

2. Prohibited uses

  • Uploading manuscripts or editorial correspondence to public AI tools
  • Using AI to judge scholarly quality or to make editorial decisions

3. Disclosure and responsibility

  • Disclose and record any use of AI in editorial work according to journal procedures; all editorial decisions are made by people.
  • Keep manuscripts confidential.
  • Apply this policy and handle violations fairly.

For Reviewers

1. Permitted uses

  • None. AI may not be used during peer review.

2. Prohibited uses

  • Uploading manuscripts to public AI platforms
  • Using AI to assess manuscripts, write comments, or form recommendations
  • Submitting review reports produced by AI

3. Disclosure and responsibility

  • Give independent assessments, comments, and recommendations based on your own expertise.
  • Keep every manuscript strictly confidential.

D. Additional Provisions

  1. Authorship. AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors, since they cannot carry the ethical and legal responsibilities that authorship requires.
  2. Images and illustrations. Images, illustrations, or other visuals generated or altered by AI are not accepted, except when AI is an essential part of the research method and is explicitly described in the manuscript.
  3. AI-use statement in published articles. Each published article includes a separate statement declaring whether AI was used in its preparation. Where AI was used, the statement names the tool and its purpose. This statement appears in the published galley/PDF and must match the information on the article's webpage.
  4. Editorial disclosure and documentation. The Editorial Team discloses and records any AI use in editorial work. AI may not replace human scholarly or editorial judgment, and it may not put manuscript confidentiality at risk.
  5. Handling violations. The journal examines suspected breaches of this policy proportionately, through clarification with the parties involved and documentation of the evidence. Depending on the nature and seriousness of the breach, the journal may:
    • request revisions;
    • reject the manuscript;
    • publish a correction; or
    • retract the published article.

E. Closing Statement

This policy provides a shared ethical framework for responsible AI use in Vision: Journal for Language and Foreign Language Learning. Everyone involved in the publication process is expected to follow it and to keep human critical judgment at the center of scholarly decisions. The journal will review and update the policy regularly to keep pace with technological change, national accreditation requirements, and publication ethics standards. Any infographic accompanying this policy is only a summary; if the two differ, this policy text prevails.

Sample AI-use statement

  • No AI used: "The authors declare that no generative AI tools were used in the preparation of this article."
  • AI used: "The authors used [tool name, version] to [purpose, e.g., improve the grammar and readability of the English text] in [sections]. The authors reviewed and edited all output and take full responsibility for the content of this article."

References

American Psychological Association. (2025). APA journals policy on generative AI: Additional guidance. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/resources/publishing-tips/policy-generative-ai

Elsevier. (2025). Generative AI policies for journals. https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies-and-standards/generative-ai-policies-for-journals