WAME Recommendation on Chatbots, Generative AI, and Scholarly Manuscripts

The World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) released its new recommendation on “Chatbots, Generative AI, and Scholarly Manuscripts” on 31st May 2023. It has modified the previous “Recommendations on Chatbots and Generative Artificial Intelligence in Relation to Scholarly Publications” released in January 2023.

In the latest update on using chatbot technology, WAME recognizes the diverse functions that chatbots can fulfill in academic publications. These functions include basic word-processing tasks similar to grammar-checking software, generating ideas and text, as well as conducting research.

Additionally, a new recommendation has been introduced alongside the existing four recommendations. This new recommendation emphasizes the importance for editors and reviewers to specify “to authors and each other, any use of chatbots in the evaluation of the manuscript and generation of reviews and correspondence”. This aligns with the recent ICMJE recommendation, which urges peer reviewers to disclose any employment of AI-powered technology during the preparation of their reports for journals. To explore this topic further, please refer to the relevant article in our Educational Corner.

Furthermore, the new recommendation highlights the necessity of explicitly stating the usage of AI tools when presenting research findings, such as when generating tables or figures. This information should be included in both the Abstract and the Methods section of the manuscript. Additionally, authors should provide the complete prompt used to generate the research results, along with the time and date of the query, and details regarding the AI tool utilized, including its version.