SUES AI Editorial Policy

Editorial Policy of Studia Universitatis Vasile Goldiș Arad Economics Series regarding the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Writing Scientific Articles

1. Purpose and scope

Studia Universitatis Vasile Goldiș Arad Economics Series publishes original scholarly contributions to economic sciences, including interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary research on economic phenomena. In keeping with its commitment to methodological rigour, the journal requires that the intellectual contribution, economic reasoning, research design, analysis, and conclusions of submitted articles remain the work of the authors.

The journal adopts a restrictive approach to generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), including large language models and applications that generate or transform text, code, or images. Such tools may assist with language, presentation, and the preliminary activities expressly permitted by this policy, but shall not produce the substantive scientific contribution of an article.

This policy applies to theoretical, empirical, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research, review articles, revisions, and supplementary materials. It covers manuscript text, economic models, equations, datasets, statistical tables, figures, research instruments, and computational code.

2. Human authorship and responsibility

AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors. All authors must take responsibility for the originality, accuracy, integrity, and reliability of the manuscript, including any material edited or otherwise assisted by AI.

Authors must review and verify all AI-assisted material before submission. This includes checking factual statements, references, numerical information, translations, figures, and code. Authors remain responsible for identifying and correcting fabricated information, misleading statements, bias, plagiarism, and inappropriate use of third-party material.

Disclosure of AI use does not make an otherwise prohibited use acceptable.

3. Permitted uses of generative AI

Generative AI may be used only for the following purposes, subject to disclosure and verification by the authors:

  • Language editing and translation of author-written text, preserving economic terminology, assumptions, qualifications, and scientific meaning. Translation into English is permitted for the authors’ original, previously unpublished work.

  • Preliminary literature exploration, including suggestions of potentially relevant publications or possible research gaps. Authors shall consult the original sources and independently establish the relevance and originality of their contribution.

  • Preliminary methodological ideation during initial research planning. Authors shall independently select, justify, implement, and describe the final methodology; suggested approaches shall not substitute for their scientific judgement.

  • Presentation of completed analyses, including formatting tables and visualising results already obtained and verified by the authors, without additional calculations, estimation, or interpretation.

  • Descriptive summaries of existing findings for accessibility or data curation, without generating the article’s abstract, discussion, conclusions, or policy recommendations.

  • Explanatory diagrams of an author-developed economic framework or research process, without introducing new concepts, relationships, or causal mechanisms. This permission does not extend to graphical abstracts.

  • Formatting verified references and improving the readability of author-written code without changing its computational operations or introducing new code.

For numerical tables and figures, authors shall verify values, units, currencies, price bases, time periods, labels, and measures of uncertainty against the original analytical output. Relevant source data and the steps used to produce the presentation shall be retained.

4. Prohibited uses of generative AI

Except for the limited assistance expressly permitted in Section 3, generative AI shall not be used to:

  • Write substantive manuscript content, including theoretical arguments, hypotheses, literature syntheses, methodological accounts, interpretations, conclusions, or policy recommendations.

  • Develop the final economic model, derive theoretical results, or supply mathematical proofs forming part of the article’s original contribution.

  • Generate, fabricate, or replace research observations, including household responses, firm records, financial transactions, macroeconomic series, interview statements, or experimental decisions.

  • Clean, impute, transform, classify, or code research data as part of the substantive analysis.

  • Conduct econometric estimation, statistical testing, forecasting, robustness checks, causal inference, or qualitative analysis.

  • Generate or substantively modify research code, including scripts, statistical commands, spreadsheet formulas, or computational procedures used to obtain findings.

  • Interpret coefficients, statistical significance, economic significance, model diagnostics, or relationships between variables.

  • Produce policy, managerial, or investment implications that have not been independently developed by the authors.

  • Invent references, quotations, institutional information, or descriptions of economic policies; conceal plagiarism; or misrepresent how the research was conducted.

  • Create graphical abstracts, cover art, artistic renderings, or design images for submission.

Authors shall not use generative AI to manufacture evidence supporting a preferred hypothesis, present generated material as observed empirical evidence, or portray a relationship as causal without an independently justified research design. Disclosure does not render a prohibited use permissible.

5. Statistical software and computational economic research

The restrictions in this policy concern generative AI assistance. They do not prohibit conventional statistical, econometric, mathematical, or computational methods implemented by the authors through established software or author-written code.

Authors may use such methods for estimation, forecasting, simulation, optimisation, numerical solutions, and other recognised research purposes. Authors remain responsible for the choice of method, underlying assumptions, implementation, validation, and interpretation.

Data produced through an author-specified simulation or Monte Carlo procedure shall be clearly identified as simulated and shall not be presented as observations collected from actual households, firms, markets, or institutions. This provision does not authorise generative AI to manufacture research data.

Non-generative machine learning may be used as an explicitly described research method, provided its purpose, data, procedures, validation, and limitations are reported sufficiently for scientific assessment. Generative features embedded in statistical or other software remain subject to Sections 3 and 4.

Research examining AI as an economic phenomenon, including its relationship with productivity, employment, markets, or organisational behaviour, is not excluded. Where a proposed study requires generating or analysing generative AI outputs, authors shall obtain an editorial determination before submission. Any exceptional permission shall be explicit and confined to the stated research purpose; it shall not authorise generative AI authorship, code generation, or other prohibited assistance in preparing the article.

6. Disclosure of AI use

Authors must include a declaration entitled Declaration of Artificial Intelligence Use immediately before the reference list.

For each generative AI tool used in the research preparation or manuscript development process, the declaration must identify:

  • The tool name, provider, and model or version, where available.

  • The purpose and extent of its use.

  • The manuscript sections or other materials affected.

  • The verification undertaken by the authors.

All generative AI use permitted under Section 3, including editing and translation, shall be disclosed. Conventional non-generative spelling, grammar, and reference-formatting tools are exempt. Authors shall identify the specific permitted activity and shall not describe substantive analytical assistance as language editing or presentation support.

Where AI assistance affects a figure, table, or methodological description, relevant details must also appear in the caption or appropriate manuscript section. Authors must retain sufficient records of material AI use, including relevant prompts and outputs where practicable, to answer editorial questions. Declarations must be updated when AI is used during revision.

Example declaration

During manuscript preparation, the authors used [tool, provider, and model or version] to [permitted purpose] in [sections or materials affected]. The authors verified the affected material, including economic terminology and numerical information where applicable. Generative AI was not used to develop the theoretical contribution, process or analyse research data, generate research code, interpret findings, or formulate policy recommendations. The authors take full responsibility for the manuscript.

Declaration where no generative AI was used

The authors declare that no generative AI tools were used in the research preparation or writing of this manuscript.

7. Confidentiality and protection of research materials

Authors must not upload confidential, personal, proprietary, or restricted research materials to AI tools unless they have the necessary authorisation and appropriate safeguards are in place.

Before using a tool, authors must consider its arrangements for data retention, reuse, and access. AI use must respect participant consent, confidentiality commitments, intellectual property rights, and applicable data protection requirements.

Particular care shall be taken with household and employee microdata, confidential firm information, banking and transaction records, commercially licensed financial datasets, unpublished forecasts, and interview materials. Removing names alone does not establish that a dataset is suitable for upload to an AI service. Authors shall respect the original conditions governing access, confidentiality, and reuse. These safeguards do not authorise any use prohibited by Section 4.

8. Editorial assessment and peer review

Editors and reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and supporting materials. They must not upload these materials, or identifiable extracts, to external generative AI services without explicit journal authorisation and appropriate confidentiality safeguards.

Peer review assessments and editorial decisions must remain the responsibility of human reviewers and editors. Any authorised AI assistance must be disclosed to the responsible editor and independently checked.

AI-detection scores must not, on their own, be treated as proof of misconduct.

9. Non-compliance

The journal may request clarification, supporting records, or revisions when AI use is unclear or appears inconsistent with this policy. Authors will be given an opportunity to explain the circumstances.

Depending on the nature and seriousness of the issue, the journal may require an amended disclosure, removal or revision of affected material, or rejection of the manuscript. Concerns identified after publication may result in a correction, an expression of concern, or retraction, as appropriate under the journal’s publication ethics procedures.

Serious concerns about research integrity may be referred to the relevant institution or other responsible body. Editorial responses will consider the evidence, the authors’ explanation, and the effect on the reliability of the work.

10. Implementation and review

This policy takes effect for submissions received on or after [17th of September 2026], following approval by the Editorial Board. The journal will communicate any transitional arrangements for manuscripts already under review.

The Editorial Board will review the policy periodically in light of technological developments, publishing guidance, and experience in its application. Authors should consult the version in force when submitting their manuscript and contact the Editorial Office where a proposed use is unclear.