IBFD Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Content Creation

Last updated: June 2025

The use of generative AI tools and AI-assisted technologies by content creators has been rapidly increasing in recent times. Although no substitute for human intelligence and creativity, AI can reduce the time and effort spent during the creative process. However, the use of AI comes with certain considerations, including legal and ethical concerns:

  • Generative AI tools such as Large Language Models (LLMs) are often trained on datasets containing content that could be protected by copyright and privacy rights, increasing risks of potential infringement on third party rights.
  • Output generated by AI tools raises copyright concerns, including not meeting the requirements to be eligible for protection and authorship.
  • AI is not always 100% accurate: it can provide false information and make it sound correct and coherent, deliver incomplete results and propagate biases that exist in the training data.
  • AI tools lack understanding of publishing integrity or research transparency principles, as these concepts require human involvement to ensure responsible AI use: the tools can be used to fabricate research, generate texts and images for malicious use, and create synthetic data for fraudulent purposes.

This policy sets out IBFD’s ground rules for ethical and responsible use of AI by its authors (including correspondents and developers), editors and reviewers. In light of further developments in the area of AI, the policy may be continuously updated.

Important notice: IBFD uses AI detection tools to identify the use of AI writing or paraphrasing tools in submitted work. 

To ensure compliance with copyright laws and best practices in publishing ethics and content integrity, the following general conditions apply to the use of AI by our authors, editors and reviewers:

  • The use of AI should take place under human supervision at all times.
  • You should not load the body text of a work, in whole or in part, into any open or free AI tool that may store the work and/or use the work to train its dataset.
    You should not upload or share confidential, personal, private or proprietary information with a generative AI tool, unless you have secured permission from the rightful owner of such information.
  • You must carefully examine, fact-check and edit the results generated by AI, and rewrite them in your own voice where necessary.
  • AI should not be used to copy or mimic the unique style, tone of voice, or other distinctive attributes of the works of others.
  • Any use of AI for the creation of content should be declared transparently to IBFD, and the process should be clearly documented.
  • You are fully and ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents, originality, accuracy and integrity of the material that you submit to IBFD.

In addition to these general conditions, the conditions established below apply to the use of AI by different content contributor types.

In order for a work to be eligible for copyright protection, it must possess an original character and reflect the personal stamp of its creator. AI-generated works do not meet the copyright requirements for originality and creativity. AI also does not satisfy the established criteria for authorship, which involves a level of responsibility and accountability that can only be attributed to humans.

In addition to the general conditions listed above, the following conditions apply to the use of AI in the creative process carried out by authors:

  • AI may only be used to assist the author during the research process, for example, for brainstorming, refinement of ideas, data analysis and literature review.
  • During the creative writing process, AI may only be used as an auxiliary tool to refine the language or readability of the author’s own work (e.g. check spelling or improve grammar), paraphrase or summarize the author’s own written content (e.g. generate an abstract of the work or convert references to the relevant citation style). AI should not be used to write or produce a new work, nor to fully rewrite an existing IBFD work.
  • AI must not be used to substitute the intellectual activities of the author, such as argumentation, reasoning, conclusions and recommendations.
  • AI tools cannot be listed as (co-)authors.
  • The author must disclose the use of AI on content submitted to IBFD in accordance with IBFD’s Instructions to Authors.
  • The author cannot use AI on content published by IBFD, unless IBFD has requested the author to update the work or provide a subsequent edition, in which case the conditions of this policy apply.
  • The author should not use AI on the work of others and pass off any generated output as the author’s own original work (see IBFD’s Plagiarism Policy).

Images, graphs and artwork
The author may use AI to generate graphs displaying text-based and numerical data, such as tables, charts and other basic graphs that do not contain images. We do not permit the use of AI for the creation or alteration of images, figures, illustrations, photographs, or artwork in materials that are submitted for publication. Simple enhancements such as adjusting brightness, contrast or colour sharpness are acceptable, provided that no part of the original is obscured or removed.

Audio and video
Generative AI should not be used to generate, alter or enhance audiovisual material, such as videos (including video stills), animations, interviews and audiobooks. Voice-over or narration in audiographic and audiovisual material should not be created using AI voice generator tools, unless previously agreed in writing.

Translations
We do not support the use of AI tools for the translation of full works intended for submission to IBFD. We encourage authors to work with human translators, instead of relying on AI tools.

Managing the evaluation and decision-making process requires skills and expertise that can only be attributed to humans. AI is not capable of critical thinking and argumentation, and may produce inaccurate conclusions or recommendations.

In addition to the general conditions listed above, the following conditions apply to the use of AI in the editorial process carried out by editors and editorial staff:

  • The editor should not upload (any part of) a submitted work into any AI tool, as this may infringe on the intellectual property rights of the author(s).
  • The editor should not upload correspondence or documentation related to a submitted work into a generative AI tool. This constitutes a breach of the data privacy rights of the author(s) or reviewer, as such documents may contain personal data or information that is confidential or privileged.
  • The editor should not use AI to create confidential communications, such as notifications and decision letters.
  • The editor should not use AI tools or technologies to assist in the evaluation or decision-making process, except for such tools that were created or licensed by IBFD to support the assessment of submitted material, such as tools to detect plagiarism or to identify suitable reviewers.
  • In case of a suspected violation of our AI policies by an author or reviewer, the editor should inform the publisher.
  • The editor is ultimately responsible and accountable for the editorial process, the final decision and the communication thereof to the author(s).

The assessment of the value and merit of a submitted work requires skills and expertise that can only be attributed to humans. AI is not capable of critical thinking and argumentation, lacks up-to-date knowledge of the subject matter and may produce information that is non-sensical, false or biased.

In addition to the general conditions listed above, the following conditions apply to the use of AI in the review process carried out by reviewers:

  • The reviewer should not upload (any part of) a submitted work into any AI tool, as this may infringe on the intellectual property rights of the author(s).
  • The reviewer should not upload correspondence or documentation related to a submitted work into a generative AI tool. This constitutes a breach of the author’s data privacy rights, as such documents may contain personal data or information that is confidential or privileged.
  • The reviewer should not use AI to create confidential communications, such as review reports or questionnaires.
  • Reviewers should not use AI tools or technologies to assist them with the evaluation of submitted material.
  • In case of a suspected violation of our AI policies by an author, the reviewer should inform the editor.
  • The reviewer is responsible and accountable for the views and recommendations expressed in the review report.