REGULATIONS

COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER

Copyright of articles published in the “Suid-Afrikaanse Tydskrif vir Natuurwetenskap en Tegnologie” or in the South African Journal of Sciences and Technology (both hereafter referred to as the SATNT) is retained by the authors, but grant the SATNT and the “Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns” (hereafter referred to as the SAAWK) permission to publish their work under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CCBY-NC-SA 4.0) license. On submission of a manuscript, authors warrant that its content does not violate any existing common law or statutory copyrights. The opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors, and do not reflect the opinions or views of the SATNT or the SAAWK or its members.

Link to license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

PLAGIARISM POLICY

Plagiarism takes place when someone else’s work (book, article, website, etc.) or their idea is used without acknowledging them as the source of the work, whether it be copied verbatim or paraphrased. Manuscripts submitted online will be screened for potential plagiarism before peer review using similarity detection software. All forms of plagiarism are considered in a serious light.

SUBMITTED MANUSCRIPTS

 Suspected plagiarism in a submitted manuscript, either through the similarity report of a plagiarism detection scan or through a reviewer of the manuscript, must be brought to the attention of the Editor or the Journal Manager.

  • When suspected plagiarism is reported to the Editor or the Journal Manger, the report will be acknowledged and all relevant documentation/evidence will be retrieved and examined by the Editor, in conjunction with the Journal Manger, to determine whether material has been plagiarised and, if so, the extent of plagiarism will be determent.
  • If material has been plagiarised, the lead author of the manuscript will be informed by the Editor that the manuscript is rejected.
  • If the extent of the plagiarism is minor and the Editor determines that the author(s) did not intend to plagiarise, no further action will be taken. If the plagiarism is extensive, the author(s)’ institution(s) and funding bodies will be informed of the offence by the Editor (the submitted and plagiarised material will be sent to them). Authors will be notified by the Editor that their institution(s) will be informed and that they will be banned from submitting any material to the South African Journal of Science and Technologyin the future.
  • The reader or reviewer reporting the suspected plagiarism will be informed of the outcome of the investigation.

PUBLISHED ARTICLES

 When suspected plagiarism is reported to the Editor of Journal Manger, the report will be acknowledged and all relevant documentation/evidence will be retrieved and examined by the Editor, in conjunction with the Journal Manager, to determine whether material has been plagiarised and, if so, the extent of the plagiarism.

  • If material has been plagiarised, the lead author will be informed by the Editor and questioned.
  • If the extent of the plagiarism is minor and the Editor determines that the author(s) did not intend to plagiarise, a statement indicating the plagiarised material and appropriate reference will be published online and the article online will be linked to the statement and vice versa.
  • If the plagiarism is extensive, the article will be retracted (see ARTICLE RETRACTION POLICY) and a statement published acknowledging the original owner(s) of the content in consideration.
  • The author(s)’ institution(s) and funding bodies will be informed of the offence by the Editor (submitted and plagiarised material will be sent to them). Authors will be notified by the Editor that the relevant institution(s) will be informed and that they will be banned from submitting any material to the South African Journal of Science and Technologyin the future.
  • The original author(s) and publisher of the work in consideration will also be informed of the offence.
  • The reader or Reviewer reporting the suspected plagiarism will also be informed of the outcome of the investigation.
ARTICLE RETRACTION POLICY

For scientific referencing scientific papers should be available in their original published format. However, under exceptional circumstances due to, for example, plagiarism and content errors, redundant publication or data error, articles may need to be retracted, removed or replaced to protect the integrity of the scientific literature. The need for a retraction will be determined by the Editor, but may be initiated, in cases of flawed data or conclusions, at the request of the author(s). To retract an article, a notice of retraction will be published in the next issue of the journal. This notice of retraction will:

  • include the title and authors of the article, the reason for the retraction and who is retracting the article;
  • be linked to the article online; and
  • be indicated on all the article landing pages and downloaded documentation.
GUIDELINES FOR THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Although the availability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Model (LLM) tools have created new possibilities in the publication of scientific research, they also pose challenges for maintaining transparency, credibility and accountability. These guidelines provide standards and practices for authors (and reviewers) regarding the application of AI tools and resources in the preparation (and review) of scientific papers for the South African Journal of Science and Technology.

The guidelines are based on the ASSAf and SciELO Guidelines for the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and resources in research communication, endorsed by the ASSAf Council on 17 September 2024.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR AUTHORS

Authors are solely responsible for ensuring the authenticity, validity, and integrity of the content in their manuscripts. Because it is not the work of the authors, any use of content generated by an AI application must be acknowledged by an appropriate reference. Not acknowledging such use could amount to plagiarism. 

Authors are called upon to avoid misinformation generated by an AI application, as this could have adverse consequences for them personally and impact the quality of future research and global knowledge. 

Authors may use tools and resources that aid in the preparation, methodology, data analysis, writing support, review, and translation of their articles. AI applications offer many of these tools and resources, for example, grammatical and punctuation error detection tools that are permissible as long as their use maintains ethical and scientific integrity.

However, it is important to note that only humans can be considered authors, in accordance with the following rules and practices:

  • The sources of materials used in research and manuscript writing are referenced (see below). Any use of content generated by an AI application should be mentioned in the body of the manuscript and could also be mentioned under various sections.
  • All cited material should be properly attributed, including full citations and the cited sources need to support the claims made by the AI application, as it is not uncommon for AI to generate references to non-existent works, i.e., all citations need to be checked.
  • Commonly used AI tools such as spelling and grammar checks, do not need to be disclosed. However, authors in fields that use specialised terminology, such as legal and technical fields, should exercise discretion when using these tools. It is important to carefully scrutinise the suggestions provided by AI tools to avoid the misinterpretation of the context or terminology.
  • The authors must assume responsibility for their work as authors. Concealing the use of AI tools is unethical and violates the principles of transparency and honesty in research.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR REVIEWERS

Reviewers are responsible for evaluating manuscripts of articles fairly and objectively, with a focus on quality and originality. Experience and knowledge are crucial in this process, supported by various tools such as plagiarism detection programs, statistical analysis software, and academic search engines, many of which are provided by AI applications. Reviewers for fields that use specialised terminology, such as legal and technical fields, should carefully check the content for incorrect terminology that may have been created by spelling and editing tools. 

Reviewers must consider the impact and implications of AI-generated content in publication when it is employed to conduct analysis or report results such as generating misleading or biased content, (which is expected to be indicated by the author in the methods section or the acknowledgement, depending on the journal’s guidelines). They need to be aware of the tools and resources that facilitate the detection of AI-generated or modified content. Reviewers are called upon to avoid misinformation as this can have adverse consequences.

All submitted manuscripts and correspondence with the Editorial Office should be treated as confidential and not shared in any way.

Reviewers using AI applications and content must adhere to ethical standards and best practices and document their use of AI tools in the review reports. Hiding the use of AI tools is unethical and undermines transparency in peer review. The review process is confidential, and using AI tools on the manuscript makes it public, violating the confidentiality principle, disclosing confidential information in public, and compromising transparency.

If the submitted manuscript is not a preprint, the reviewer should not submit it to a similaritychecking service that may disclose identities and content inappropriately.

HOW TO REFERENCE AND CITE AI CONTENT

Content generated by AI tools should be cited and referenced as an unrecoverable source, similar to personal communication. When referencing the use of AI tools such as ChatGPT in scholarly work, it is important to adhere to the citation standards of the specific academic field or journal you are writing for. Here are some general guidelines on how to reference and cite AI tools:

  • Specific Journal Guidelines: This should follow the guidelines for citing this type of resource in the chosen reference style of the relevant journal. The journal should provide an example in its Guidelines to Authors section. Just as personal communications are cited to provide attribution and context, citing AI-generated content ensures transparency and accountability in scholarly discourse.
  • Referencing and citing AI Tools: Any substantial use or content generated by an AI application must be mentioned in the methods section or the acknowledgement section (depending on the journal’s guidelines). The declaration of such use should include the name, version, and manufacturer of the tool used and the date on which it was accessed, for example: (Chat GTP 3.5, Version 28 August 2023, Open AI, accessed 16 September 2023).

If the journal has specific guidelines or follows a specific referencing style for citing software or tools, authors should adhere to those guidelines. If such guidelines are not provided, a general format for software citation can be used.

Journals should encourage authors to mention the use of AI tools in the methodology or acknowledgements section of a manuscript (depending on the journal’s guidelines) when such tools have been used. The ‘prompt’ or plain-language instruction used in the tool should also be included in the methods section of the manuscript or provided as supplementary material (depending on the journal’s guidelines). 

Where AI tools or LLMs have been used (for example, in the design of a study, editing of non-data images, editing or revising the writing) such contributions do not meet the criteria of authorship in scholarly research.