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AI Tools for Academic Literature Research

This guide includes examples of available AI-powered tools to assist with scholarly literature searches and reference management plus ethical considerations and warnings.

Overall Guidance

Journal Policies for AI Use in Preparing Publications

The most important rule is to follow the guidance of the journal or publisher to which you are submitting your work!

 

  • Most journals and book publishers have provided some guidance for how authors may or may not use generative AI in their submissions and what appropriate disclosure entails.
  • When in doubt, contact the publication's editor to check the requirements and expectations.

Additional Guidance

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Statement on Authorship & AI Tools

  • "The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT or Large Language Models in research publications is expanding rapidly. COPE joins organisations, such as WAME and the JAMA Network among others, to state that AI tools cannot be listed as an author of a paper." Read more.
  • Authors are responsible for the accuracy and quality of all content within a submitted work. 

COPE Council. (2024). COPE position - Authorship and AI - English. https://doi.org/10.24318/cCVRZBms

The Scholarly Kitchen Blog: A Trusted Source for Keeping Up with Discussions, Events, and Issues in Scholarly Publishing 

  • On July 1, 2025, the COPE Council hosted a forum on Emerging AI Dilemmas in Scholarly Publishing, which raised questions and discussion centered around four themes, indicative of the the evolving nature of not just the technology, but what constitutes appropriate practice.
    • Responsible and ethical use of AI
    • Transparency and disclosure
    • Detection and editorial standards
    • Impact on peer review, equity, and inclusion

Zhou, H. & Soulière, M. (2025, August 5). From detection to disclosure — Key takeaways on AI ethics from COPE’s forum

Sample Statements

Sample AI Use Policy Statements from Academic Publishers

American Psychological Association (APA) Journal Publishers (from website)

  • When a generative AI model is used in the drafting of a manuscript for an APA publication, the use of AI must be disclosed in the methods section and cited.
  • AI cannot be named as an author on an APA scholarly publication.
  • When AI is cited in an APA scholarly publication, the author must employ the software citation template, which includes specifying in the methods section how, when, and to what extent AI was used. Authors in APA publications are required to upload the full output of the AI as supplemental material. (APA, 2023)

See APA Journals Policy on Generative AI: Additional Guidance for more information.

Nature Portfolio (from website)

Use of an LLM should be properly documented in the Methods section (and if a Methods section is not available, in a suitable alternative part) of the manuscript. The use of an LLM (or other AI-tool) for “AI assisted copy editing” purposes does not need to be declared. In this context, we define the term "AI assisted copy editing" as AI-assisted improvements to human-generated texts for readability and style, and to ensure that the texts are free of errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation and tone. These AI-assisted improvements may include wording and formatting changes to the texts, but do not include generative editorial work and autonomous content creation. (Nature Portfolio, 2025)

See Nature Portfolio's Editorial Policies on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for more information.

Elsevier Books & Commissioned Content (from website)

  • Where authors use generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, these technologies should only be used to improve readability and language of the work and not to replace key authoring tasks such as producing scientific, pedagogic, or medical insights, drawing scientific conclusions, or providing clinical recommendations. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control...
  • Authors should disclose in their manuscript the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies and a statement will appear in the published work. Declaring the use of these technologies supports transparency and trust between authors, readers, reviewers, editors, and contributors and facilitates compliance with the terms of use of the relevant tool or technology...
  • Authors should not list generative AI and AI-assisted technologies as an author or co-author, nor cite AI as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans...

See The use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in writing for Elsevier website for more information.