GenAI: responsible use in research

Hamza is an editor of a scholarly journal. His publisher has recently introduced a genAI tool to assist with identifying copyright breaches in submitted manuscripts. This is a bespoke, closed system tool endorsed by the publisher with strict terms of use. Hamza identifies a newly submitted manuscript as a suitable topic for his journal.  He runs the manuscript through the genAI detector to determine whether there are any copyright concerns and whether to proceed to peer review. 

Hamza is compliant with Deakin’s guidelines to support the use of generative AI for researchers because the tool is being used ethically. It is a closed system, it does not retain the content uploaded and has strict terms of use agreed to by his publisher and therefore does not breach copyright, confidentiality or privacy. Hamza ensures that he declares his use of the genAI tool to the manuscript authors.

Michaela has recently been asked to provide a peer review of a manuscript in an area closely related to her PhD. She is short on time, and doesn’t want to delay the research paper with a late review. Michaela uploads the manuscript to a genAI tool and prompts it to use a well-known appraisal tool. She uses the output as the starting point for her peer review comments.

Michaela is in breach of Deakin’s guidelines to support the use of generative AI for researchers because she has breached confidentiality in sharing the manuscript with the AI tool. The guidelines explicitly state that genAI must not be used in any peer review or thesis examination.