This policy applies to all contributors to the Journal of Tropical Science and Engineering, including authors, reviewers, and editors.

1. General principles

1. The use of Generative AI (GenAI) must adhere to the following principles: integrity in research, transparency, clear disclosure, and compliance with established ethical standards.
2. GenAI shall be used solely as a supporting tool for enhancing language quality, readability, idea development, and information retrieval. It must not substitute human reasoning, analysis, or conclusions, nor the professional, ethical, or legal responsibilities of authors, peer reviewers, or editors. GenAI shall not be acknowledged as a co-author.
3. All content generated or modified by GenAI must be traceable, transparently disclosed, and remain under the ultimate responsibility of a human. Any citations, data, or images suggested by GenAI shall be accepted only after the author has verified their accuracy and sources.
4. The use of GenAI in publication must comply with the Journal’s policies on confidentiality, privacy, and copyright, adhere to relevant legal regulations, ensure transparency, and avoid any infringement of third-party intellectual property rights.

2. Regulations for Authors

1. Authors are responsible for the originality, validity, and integrity of the manuscript. When using GenAI, authors must oversee and take full responsibility for the content, including verifying the accuracy, completeness, and potential bias of the information or assessments generated by GenAI.
2. GenAI shall not be used to fabricate research data or results, manipulate original data, or generate unverifiable references.
3. Authors must not use GenAI to create, replace, or modify images, figures, maps, tables, equations, or illustrative materials. This prohibition includes any enhancement, obscuring, moving, deleting, or adding of details. Adjustments to brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable only if they do not obscure, remove, or distort any information from the original image.
4. Conceptual or schematic illustrations may be generated with GenAI, provided that:

     (a) The tool and purpose are clearly declared;

     (b) Such illustrations are labeled “AI-generated illustration”;

     (c) They do not replace or simulate experimental data. Authors must retain original drafts and source, and provide them to the Editorial Board upon request.

5. The use of Generative AI (GenAI) must be disclosed in two places: within the dedicated field of the submission system and in the manuscript's “Statement on the Use of Generative AI (GenAI)” section.Note:   The Journal requires that all submitted manuscripts include a declaration on whether generative AI (GenAI) tools were used or not. This declaration must be placed following the “Acknowledgements” section, written in italics.  Authors must select one of the following three statements, in accordance with their actual use:
   * No AI Used: The authors affirm that no generative AI tools were used to create or modify the scientific content of this manuscript. All analyses, interpretations, and conclusions are entirely the work of the authors.
   * Limited AI Use: The authors declare that Generative AI tools were not used to generate or edit the scientific content of this manuscript. Where AI tools were employed (grammar checking/formatting only), the authors have verified all content and take full responsibility for the final version.
   * Language-Editing AI Use: The authors declare that AI tools were used only for language editing/formatting, and not for generating scientific content. All data, analyses, and interpretations were performed and verified by the authors, who take full responsibility for the manuscript.

6. The Editor-in-Chief has the final decision to determine whether the use of GenAI in a submitted or published manuscript is appropriate or permissible. In cases of violation or failure to disclose GenAI use, the Editor-in-Chief may request an explanation or correction or can reject the manuscript, initiate an ethical investigation, or retract the article in accordance with the Journal’s policies.

3. Regulations for Reviewers and Editors

1. Reviewers and editors can use GenAI as a technical support tool, for example, to check or refine the grammar of their own writing, to use licensed plagiarism detection software in accordance with confidentiality principles, or to improve the clarity of their written feedback in review reports, provided that such use does not involve any content from the manuscript under review.
2. Reviewers and editors cannot use GenAI to conduct the manuscript evaluation process, generate review reports automatically, or make decisions regarding the acceptance or rejection of manuscripts.
3. Reviewers and editors must not, under any circumstances, upload a manuscript or any part of it, including images, to a GenAI system, as this may violate data confidentiality, authors’ ownership rights, and cause other potential risks. This restriction also applies to reviewers’ evaluation reports.
4. When detecting any suspected inappropriate use of GenAI in a manuscript, reviewers must report it to the editor.
5. The editor is responsible for identifying potential GenAI policy violations based on author disclosures or reviewer reports. Any such case must be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief, whose decision is final.

4. Policy for handling violations

1. If a violation is suspected, the Editorial Board will require the author(s) to provide a written explanation within 14 working days.
2. If the explanation is not satisfactory, the Editorial Board conducts an internal investigation within 30 days, which may involve independent experts. During this process, the Board may ask the author(s) to provide original drafts, GenAI usage logs (prompt logs), or source files.
3. The investigation report shall be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief, who will determine the appropriate action, which may include:

+ Requesting corrections or additional disclosures;

+ Publishing a corrigendum;

+ Rejecting the manuscript; Retracting a published article.

4. The final decision will be formally notified to the author(s) and their governing institution. Authors retain the right to appeal this decision within 15 calendar days of receiving the formal notification. The Journal may also publish the outcome on its website.

5. Confidentiality, Copyright, and Legal Requirements

Authors must ensure that any GenAI-assisted content complies with all applicable intellectual property and copyright laws. Furthermore, when using third-party GenAI tools, authors are responsible for adhering to the service's terms of use and must not input sensitive or personal information. Any breach of these rules constitutes grounds for the manuscript's rejection or retraction.