Ethics and AI Policy

Duties / Responsibilities of Authors:

• All manuscripts must be the original work of authors and not evidence plagiarism.
• Authorship of a manuscript should be limited to authors who have made significant contributions.
• Authors must not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently.
• Authors must properly and accurately acknowledge the work of others.
• Authors should disclose any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript and acknowledge individuals or organisations that have provided financial support for research.
• Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with manuscripts for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data if possible.

Duties / Responsibilities of Editors:

• Editors are responsible for deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the journal should be reviewed or published.
• Editors should ensure the integrity of the publication review process. As such, editors should not reveal either the identity of authors of manuscripts to the reviewers, or the identity of reviewers to authors.
• Editors must treat received manuscripts for review as confidential documents and must not disclose any information about submitted manuscripts to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher.
• Editors and any editorial staff must not use materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript (published or unpublished) for their own research without the author’s written authorization.
• Editors shall conduct proper and fair investigation into ethical complaints.

Responsibility of Reviewers:

• Reviewers should keep all information regarding papers confidential and treat them as privileged information.
• Reviews should be conducted objectively, with no personal criticism of the author.
• Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
• Reviewers should complete their reviews within a specified timeframe.
• Reviewers should not review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

AI Policy for the International Journal of Creative Media Research 
1. Author Guidelines – Use of Artificial Intelligence
1.1 Permitted AI Use
Authors may use AI tools for:
• Grammar, spelling, and readability improvement
• Translation assistance
• Routine code generation or data cleaning
• Clearly labelled illustrative examples
All AI use must be fully disclosed at submission, including:
• Tool name and version
• Purpose of use
• Which parts of the manuscript were affected
Authors remain responsible for verifying accuracy, removing bias, and ensuring the integrity of all content.
1.2 Prohibited AI Use
Authors may not use AI tools to:
• Generate substantive scholarly content, claims, arguments, or creative material
• Fabricate or manipulate data, analysis, or research findings
• Produce images, figures, visualisations, or outputs that simulate research data
• Replace original research or creative practice
AI tools cannot be credited as authors and cannot be cited as primary sources.
1.3 Cultural and Ethical Considerations
For any submission involving Indigenous or culturally sensitive data:
• Authors must ensure responsible and respectful handling of such material.
• When research involves Māori data, AUT’s Te Aronui – Te Tiriti Framework applies, including expectations of responsible data stewardship.
• These requirements apply only where such data are used.

2. Editorial Policies – AI Use by Editors
2.1 Prohibited AI Use
Editors will not use generative AI tools to:
• Assess or evaluate manuscripts
• Summarise or analyse unpublished work
• Upload manuscript content into systems that store or reuse data
2.2 Permitted AI Use
Editors may use non-generative AI tools for workflow efficiency (e.g., formatting checks) provided:
• No manuscript content is stored externally
• Confidentiality is preserved
• Author disclosures are verified manually

3. Peer Review Policies – AI Use by Reviewers
3.1 Prohibited AI Use
Reviewers must not:
• Upload any part of a manuscript into AI tools
• Use generative AI to evaluate, summarise, or critique submissions
3.2 Permitted AI Use
Reviewers may use AI tools solely to:
• Improve clarity of their written report
• Check general or background factual information
Any AI use must be stated in the reviewer comments section.

4. Ethics & Privacy
• Uploading manuscript content into external AI systems is considered a breach of confidentiality.
• All authors, editors, and reviewers are accountable for ensuring AI tools do not store, learn from, or repurpose submitted materials.
• AI use that compromises originality, ethical practice, or privacy may result in rejection.

5. Journal-Specific Provisions
• IJCMR may request clarification of any AI use at any point in the submission process.
• Submissions may be returned or declined if AI involvement undermines scholarly rigour, transparency, or ethical standards.
• Authors working with culturally specific, community-held, or Indigenous materials must respect relevant cultural protocols and data sovereignty expectations.