The PCD Journal recognises the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies and their potential to assist academic research. To uphold the highest standards of academic integrity, research ethics, and transparency, we have established the following policy regarding the use of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the publication process.

Authorship and Accountability
Human authors are fully responsible for the entire content of their manuscript, including the accuracy of the data, the validity of the arguments, and the integrity of all citations.

Permitted Uses for Authors

1. Authors are permitted to use AI tools for copy-editing, translation, grammar correction, and formatting to improve the readability of the manuscript.
2. AI may be used to assist in organising data or preliminary coding, provided this process is strictly overseen by the authors and explicitly detailed in the Methodology section.

Strictly Prohibited Uses

1. AI must not be used to generate arguments, substantive text, or the intellectual conclusions of the manuscript.
2. Using AI to generate literature reviews or bibliographies is strictly prohibited due to the high risk of 'hallucinations' (creating fabricated citations or misrepresenting existing literature).
3. AI must not be used to fabricate, manipulate, or falsify data, interview quotes, images, or research findings.
4. Given the nature of political, social, and ethnographical research, authors must not input sensitive, classified, or unanonymised human-subject data (e.g., raw interview transcripts, confidential field notes) into public AI platforms. Doing so is a direct violation of research ethics and respondent confidentiality.

Guidelines for Peer Reviewers and Editors

The peer-review process is strictly confidential. Reviewers and editorial board members are prohibited from uploading submitted, unpublished manuscripts into generative AI tools to evaluate the text or generate peer-review reports. This breaches the author's right to confidentiality and intellectual property.

Mandatory Disclosure and Declaration 

All submitted manuscripts must include an "AI Usage Declaration" section, placed immediately before the Reference list. Authors must use one of the following statements:

"The author(s) declare the use of [Name of AI Tool, e.g., ChatGPT-4] for the purpose of [specify purpose, e.g., language editing and translation]. The tool was not used to generate original ideas, arguments, or citations. The author(s) have reviewed all AI-assisted content and take full and sole responsibility for the final manuscript."

Policy Violations and Editorial Verification

1. The editorial team reserves the right to employ AI detection tools. Authors must be prepared to provide original drafts or raw data to prove the authenticity of their intellectual contribution.
2. Any undisclosed or prohibited use of AI constitutes academic misconduct. Such violations may result in the immediate rejection of the manuscript and retraction of published articles.