AI Governance Policy

1. Purpose

This policy governs the responsible, transparent and secure use of artificial intelligence tools in authorship, manuscript preparation, editorial management, peer review and publishing operations at Ho Chi Minh City Open University Journal of Science (HCMCOUJS).

2. General Principle

AI cannot be listed as an author. AI tools may support human work but must not replace human responsibility, scholarly judgment, authorship accountability, editorial decision-making or peer review expertise.

3. Author AI Use

Authors may use AI for limited support, such as:

  • language polishing;
  • grammar checking;
  • translation support;
  • coding assistance;
  • data visualization support;
  • formatting assistance;
  • literature organization support.

Authors must disclose AI use when AI materially assists in writing, analysis, coding, image generation, data processing or interpretation.

Authors remain fully responsible for:

  • accuracy;
  • originality;
  • citations;
  • data integrity;
  • ethical compliance;
  • absence of fabricated content;
  • absence of hallucinated references.

4. Prohibited AI Practices

HCMCOUJS prohibits:

  • generating fake data;
  • generating fake images;
  • generating fake references;
  • fabricating evidence;
  • concealing plagiarism;
  • using AI to manipulate peer review;
  • submitting AI-generated text without verification;
  • using AI to create fraudulent authorship or reviewer identities;
  • uploading confidential manuscripts to unauthorized AI tools;
  • presenting AI-generated analysis as verified human analysis without disclosure.

The current ethics draft already identifies AI misuse as a misconduct category, including fake data, fake references, confidentiality violations and manipulation of peer review.

5. Editor AI Use

Editors may use approved tools for administrative or technical support only where confidentiality, data protection and human oversight are ensured.

Editors must not:

  • upload confidential manuscripts to unauthorized AI tools;
  • allow AI to make editorial decisions;
  • rely on AI-generated assessments without human review;
  • disclose confidential author or reviewer information;
  • use AI in ways inconsistent with HCMCOUJS policies.

6. Reviewer AI Use

Reviewers must not upload manuscripts, data, tables, figures, code or confidential review materials to public AI tools or unauthorized systems.

AI may not replace reviewer expertise.

7. AI Disclosure

AI disclosure should include:

  • name of the AI tool;
  • version where available;
  • purpose of use;
  • section of manuscript affected;
  • extent of human review;
  • confirmation of author responsibility.

Example:

“The authors used [tool name] to support language editing. The authors reviewed and verified all AI-assisted outputs and take full responsibility for the content of the manuscript.”

8. Synthetic Data and AI-generated Images

Synthetic data or AI-generated images may be used only when:

  1. methodologically justified;
  2. clearly disclosed;
  3. legally and ethically permissible;
  4. not misleading;
  5. reproducible or verifiable where applicable;
  6. approved by editors where necessary.

9. AI Vendor and Data Governance

HCMCOUJS shall assess AI or digital tools based on:

  1. confidentiality;
  2. data retention;
  3. data transfer;
  4. privacy protection;
  5. vendor reliability;
  6. human oversight;
  7. cybersecurity;
  8. compliance with journal policies.

Policy Information

Item

Content

Policy Owner

HCMCOUJS Editorial Council

Approved by

Editor-in-Chief and HCMCOUJS Editorial Council

Version

3.0

Effective Date

May 2026

Review Cycle

Annual