Guidelines for the use of AI and AI Tools

Scientia Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies follows the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) Guidelines for the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools and Resources in Research Communication, endorsed by the ASSAf Council on 17 September 2024.

The notes below set out how those guidelines are applied by this journal. The editorial team is committed to original scholarship in defence, security and military studies. These checks exist to protect that scholarship, and to treat authors fairly.

Authors

These guidelines apply to research articles, review articles and book reviews.

Only humans may be listed as authors. An AI tool cannot take responsibility for a manuscript and cannot be named as an author or co-author.

Generative AI may not be used to draft, rewrite, paraphrase or structure a submission. The argument, analysis, evidence and wording must be the author’s own.

After acceptance, Scientia Militaria provides professional language editing at no cost to authors. Generative AI is therefore not required for grammar or style.

Declaring the use of generative AI does not make that use acceptable.

Routine spelling and grammar checkers need not be declared.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality and integrity of the work, including quotations, citations and any material drawn from interviews or archives.

The editorial team welcomes carefully researched work written in the author’s own voice. Authors who write from their sources, notes and analysis have no cause for concern.

Screening

All submissions are screened in iThenticate for text similarity and for indicators of generative AI. Where needed, the editorial team may use additional screening tools or seek specialist advice. These reports are read by the editorial team. They are not an automatic accept or reject decision.

Substantial generative AI content will be returned without peer review.

Reviewers and the editorial team

Manuscripts under review are unpublished and confidential.

Reviewers and members of the editorial team must not upload a submission, or any part of it, into a public generative AI tool. Such tools may store or reuse the text and would breach the confidentiality of peer-review.

AI-generated review reports are not accepted. A reviewer may use a spelling or grammar checker on their own report. That does not need to be declared.

The journal depends on reviewers who bring independent, human judgement to work in this field. Book reviewers are expected to have read the book they are reviewing.

Further reading

Enquiries may be directed to the editorial team at scientiamilitaria@sun.ac.za.