July 20, 2023

The Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Review Process

This policy was triggered by the emergence of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies* and aims to provide greater transparency and guidance to authors, editors, and reviewers. The Revista Brasileira de Meio Ambiente will closely monitor ongoing developments in this area and adjust or refine the policy as appropriate. The following guidance is specifically for reviewers.

When a researcher is invited to review another researcher’s article, the manuscript must be treated as a confidential document. Reviewers must not upload a submitted manuscript or any part of it to a generative AI tool, as doing so may violate the authors' confidentiality and proprietary rights and, where the article contains personally identifiable information, may breach data privacy rights.

This confidentiality requirement extends to the peer review report, as it may contain sensitive information about the manuscript and/or its authors. For this reason, reviewers should not upload their peer review reports to any AI tool, even if only to improve language and readability.

Peer review is at the heart of the scientific ecosystem, and the Revista Brasileira de Meio Ambiente adheres to the highest standards of integrity in this process. Reviewing a scientific manuscript entails responsibilities that can only be assigned to humans.

Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies must not be used by reviewers to aid in the scientific evaluation of an article, as the critical thinking and original assessment required for peer review are beyond the scope of this technology. Additionally, there is a risk that such technology may generate incorrect, incomplete, or biased conclusions about the manuscript. The reviewer is ultimately responsible for the content of the review report.

*Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence technology capable of producing various types of content, including text, images, audio, and synthetic data. Examples include ChatGPT, NovelAI, Jasper AI, Rytr AI, DALL-E, etc.

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