Editorial policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

General Provisions

Any use of artificial intelligence shall be understood as the employment of generative tools to produce, reformulate, reorganise, translate, synthesise, expand, or modify textual, graphic, methodological, or analytical content within a manuscript, even when such outputs have subsequently been edited or reformulated by the author.

The journal árbolQestional acknowledges the value, advancement, and utility of these tools in academic processes; however, it establishes that the authorship of manuscripts corresponds exclusively to human persons.

Under no circumstances shall artificial intelligence be considered a co-author, nor may it appear within the authorship credits.

The use of artificial intelligence must be limited to technical support functions and may not replace the authors’ critical capacity, academic analysis, or scholarly interpretation.

Authors shall be fully responsible for verifying the authenticity, existence, and accuracy of all references, DOIs, citations, data, translations, and statements contained within the manuscript, regardless of whether these were generated or assisted by artificial intelligence tools.

The use of artificial intelligence does not replace the intellectual, critical, methodological, interpretative, or argumentative responsibility of the authors.

Mandatory Declaration

Authors who use artificial intelligence tools during the preparation of a manuscript, or alternatively those who did not use such tools, must explicitly declare this and attach the declaration at the time of submission.

Such declaration must be attached as a PDF document bearing a handwritten signature (digital or image-based signatures shall not be accepted), indicating the following:

• The purpose of the use of artificial intelligence (e.g., stylistic correction or translation).
• The tool used (name and version).
• The scope of use (which stages of the work were assisted by artificial intelligence).
• The exclusive responsibility of the authors regarding the originality, validity, and accuracy of the content.

Declaration Template

• For authors who did not use artificial intelligence tools:
  • "The authors declare that no artificial intelligence tools of any kind were used in the preparation of this manuscript. All ideas, interpretations, results, and conclusions are the sole responsibility of the authors, who guarantee the originality and academic validity of the content."
• For authors who did use artificial intelligence, the details of such use must obligatorily be included as shown below:
  • "The authors declare that during the preparation of this manuscript we used artificial intelligence tools in the following manner:

    TOOL	USE	SECTION
    ChatGPT-5	Stylistic correction	Discussion
    DeepL	Preliminary translation	Abstract
    Grammarly	Grammatical revision	Full text

    Therefore, we assume full responsibility for the use of these tools, as well as for any consequences arising therefrom."

Ethical Responsibility

Authors must guarantee that the use of artificial intelligence has not involved:

• Plagiarism or misappropriation of content.
• Generation of false or manipulated data.
• Disclosure of sensitive or confidential information.
• Reproduction of discriminatory biases.

Permitted Uses

• Stylistic correction.
• Syntax improvement.
• Tone adjustment.
• Standardisation of textual structure.
• Linguistic revision support.
• Abstract translation.

Strictly Prohibited Uses

• Content generation.
• Fabrication of data.
• Simulation of citations.
• Generation of results.
• Simulation of interviews.
• Non-existent analyses.
• Creation of apocryphal citations.
• Replacement of critical thinking.

The use of artificial intelligence tools for spell-checking or minor stylistic adjustments shall be considered acceptable. However, substantial reformulation, comprehensive rewriting, or automated argumentative generation of the manuscript may be considered a significant intellectual intervention and shall be subject to evaluation by the editorial team.

Non-Compliance

The deliberate omission or falsification of information regarding the use of artificial intelligence tools may be considered ethical misconduct and may result in editorial rejection, retraction, or institutional notification.

Manuscript Evaluation and Peer Review

The implementation of artificial intelligence tools during the evaluation of a manuscript is strictly prohibited. Consequently, their use may result in the annulment of the review report, since such use shall be considered a violation of authorial confidentiality.

Document prepared by:
Nicolás Manuel Medina García
Technical Editorial Secretary