Ethical Guidelines

Ethics and Malpractices Statement
AI & Human Sciences Research is committed to meeting and upholding the highest standards of ethical behavior at all stages of the publication process. Conformance to these standards of ethical conduct is expected of all parties involved: authors, editors, and reviewers.

AI & Human Sciences Research is dedicated to the highest standards of both critical scholarly review and professional publishing judgment. By maintaining rigorous peer review procedures combined with careful editorial assessments, our journal performs an intellectual gatekeeping function, ensuring that only scholarship of the highest quality receives acceptance for publication.

The following publication ethics and malpractice statements set out the specific responsibilities of all parties involved to ensure that AI & Human Sciences Research complies with internationally accepted guidelines for ethical and culturally competent research, with particular attention to the unique ethical considerations at the intersection of AI and human sciences.

Responsibilities of the Editors

The Editors are responsible for examining all submitted articles exclusively based on their academic merit, including significance, timeliness, relevance, originality, methodological rigor, and clarity.

The Editors will not consider the author's race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, language, citizenship, religious beliefs, or institutional affiliation in making editorial decisions.

The Editors will be responsible for the integrity of the published record by issuing corrections and retractions, and pursuing suspected or alleged research and publication misconduct when required.

The Editors and management staff will not disclose any information about a submitted article to anyone other than the corresponding author, editorial reviewers, potential peer reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher as necessary.

Editors will not use unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript in their personal research without the explicit written consent of the author(s).

The Editors are responsible for ensuring the quality of the language used in the article and that the format and all required guidelines are fulfilled by the author(s) before the peer review process begins.

The Editors are responsible for ensuring a fair and appropriate double-blind peer-review process of all submitted articles.

The Editors shall ensure that reviewers are selected according to their expertise relevant to the submitted manuscript, including both technical AI expertise and human sciences domain knowledge when appropriate.

The Editors shall seek to include reviewers with interdisciplinary expertise that spans both AI and the relevant humanities or social sciences fields addressed in the manuscript.

The Editors shall ensure that each manuscript is reviewed by a minimum of two experts of international repute, with appropriate balance between AI technical expertise and human sciences perspectives.

Submissions from authors with any conflict of interest with the Editor(s) concerned will be assessed, evaluated, and processed by another editorial member.

Submissions by an editor(s) will be assigned to another editorial member to ensure a fair and appropriate review process.

The Editors will ask all contributors to disclose relevant competing interests and publish corrections if competing interests are revealed after publication.

The editorial members (editors & advisors) must be experts in the relevant fields and have an international reputation in academic research spanning AI and human sciences.

The Editors shall be responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal will be published based on the validation of the work in question, its importance to researchers, scholars, and readers, the reviewers' comments, and such legal requirements as are currently in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

The Editor-in-Chief shall confer with editors, advisors, and reviewers in making publication decisions.

The Editors shall ensure that articles involving human subjects, data, or AI applications that impact human communities adhere to appropriate ethical standards and have received necessary ethical approvals.

Responsibilities of the Reviewers

Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in an article or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the Editor and excuse themselves from the review process.

Any manuscript received for review shall be treated as a confidential document by the reviewers.

Double-blind peer reviews are conducted objectively. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments that address both technical soundness and ethical implications.

The Reviewers should identify relevant published work that the authors have not cited, especially work that bridges AI and human sciences disciplines.

Reviewers must not use unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript in their personal research without the express written consent of the author(s).

Reviewers should be alert to potential ethical issues in the research, including privacy concerns, potential for harm or discrimination, and appropriate consent procedures for human data.

Reviewers should consider whether manuscripts appropriately address potential biases in AI systems and their implications for human communities.

Responsibilities of the Publisher

In cases of alleged or proven misconduct, fraudulent publication, or plagiarism, the publisher, in close collaboration with the Editors, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and amend the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum, clarification, or the retraction of the affected manuscript in the most severe case.

The publisher is committed to the permanent availability and preservation of scholarly research and strives to ensure accessibility by partnering with organizations and maintaining its digital archive.

If an inaccuracy, misleading text, or wrong explanations are found in the published article, the publisher must correct it promptly.

The publisher will forward all complaints to the Editor-in-Chief, who will be responsible for seriously investigating them regardless of who files the complaint.

Responsibilities of the Authors

It is the authors' responsibility to ensure that the manuscripts are reviewed/edited by a language expert before submission to AI & Human Sciences Research.

The authors shall ensure that the referencing and citation style is maintained according to the APA guidelines (latest edition).

The authors shall ensure an in-text citation style is used with a list of references at the end of the manuscript.

The corresponding author shall ensure that the manuscript is not submitted and/or under review for publication elsewhere.

The corresponding author shall ensure there is no conflict of interest between the principal author & the co-author(s), and shall disclose any potential conflicts of interest related to the research, including funding sources and commercial interests.

The corresponding author shall ensure that there is no plagiarism and/or similarity in the manuscript. Any data or ideas taken from other sources must be cited correctly by international standards.

The international standards of research ethics must be followed and ensured by the authors/co-authors, with particular attention to ethical guidelines for AI research.

Complete affiliation details of author/co-authors, either with one or more institutions, shall be provided during the manuscript submission.

The corresponding author shall ensure that the manuscript, once accepted for peer review, is not submitted/published elsewhere unless rejected by AI & Human Sciences Research.

Author(s) shall provide a signed agreement/undertaking allowing AI & Human Sciences Research to reserve the right to circulate the article and all other derivative works, such as translations.

It is the author's responsibility to carefully read the author guidelines and make sure that all the requirements and conditions of AI & Human Sciences Research are fulfilled before submission of the manuscript.

Authors must provide clear information about the data sources used in their research, including how data was collected, processed, and analyzed, with particular attention to human data privacy concerns.

Authors must disclose the limitations of AI methods and technologies used in their research, including potential biases, limitations in generalizability, and implications for human subjects or communities.

For research involving human subjects or human data, authors must confirm that appropriate informed consent was obtained and ethical review processes were followed.

Authors should address the ethical implications of their research, particularly regarding potential impacts on individuals, communities, and society.

Where applicable, authors should discuss measures taken to ensure that AI applications described in their research adhere to principles of fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics.

Special Considerations for AI and Human Sciences Research

Algorithmic Transparency: Research involving AI algorithms should provide sufficient information about the algorithms used, including their design, training data, and limitations, to enable other researchers to understand and potentially reproduce the work.

Bias and Fairness: Authors should address issues of bias in AI systems and data, particularly when these systems interact with or impact human populations. This includes discussing measures taken to detect, mitigate, or address biases.

Privacy and Data Protection: Research using human data must adhere to applicable privacy laws and ethical standards, with particular attention to the potential for re-identification in AI-based analyses.

Human-AI Interaction: Studies involving human interaction with AI systems must ensure appropriate informed consent, participant privacy, and assessment of potential psychological or social impacts.

Cultural Sensitivity: Research at the intersection of AI and human sciences should demonstrate cultural sensitivity and awareness of diverse perspectives, especially when AI applications impact different cultural contexts.

Sociotechnical Impact: Authors should consider and address the broader sociotechnical implications of their research, including potential unintended consequences for human communities, labor markets, education, and cultural practices.

Interdisciplinary Ethics: Given the interdisciplinary nature of the journal, authors should engage with ethical frameworks from both AI ethics and the relevant human sciences disciplines represented in their research.

AI & Human Sciences Research is committed to fostering responsible research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and human sciences, with attention to both the technical excellence and the ethical implications of this transformative field of study.