FOSTER: Journal of English Language Teaching acknowledges the increasing role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and generative AI technologies (e.g., ChatGPT, GrammarlyGO, Bard, etc.) in supporting academic writing and research. To maintain academic integrity and transparency, authors, reviewers, and editors are required to comply with the following policy, adapted from international publishing standards (Elsevier, COPE, and other reputable publishers):

1. Permitted Use
a. Authors may use AI tools only in limited ways, such as:
• Improving grammar, spelling, and language clarity.
• Supporting idea generation or text structuring.
• Data analysis or visualization (if AI is explicitly part of the research design and fully validated).
b. Authors must ensure that all AI-assisted content has been reviewed, verified, and revised by humans before submission.

2. Prohibited Use
a. AI tools must not be listed as authors or co-authors.
b. AI must not generate or replace core intellectual contributions, such as:
• Designing research questions.
• Developing theoretical frameworks.
• Interpreting findings or drawing conclusions.
c. AI-generated references, fabricated data, or unverifiable claims are strictly prohibited.
d. The use of AI to create, edit, or manipulate figures, images, or artwork is not permitted, unless explicitly part of the research methodology and transparently described.

3. Disclosure Requirements
a. Any use of AI must be clearly disclosed in the manuscript.
b. Authors should include a statement in either the Acknowledgments or Methodology section, specifying:
• The AI tool used (including version).
• The purpose (e.g., grammar correction, data analysis support).
• Confirmation that the authors reviewed and approved the final content.
c. Example disclosure:
“During the preparation of this work, the authors used ChatGPT (OpenAI, version March 2025) to improve the English grammar and clarity. After using this tool, the authors carefully reviewed and edited the content, and take full responsibility for the publication’s content.”

4. Responsibilities of Authors
a. Authors are fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, and integrity of their manuscripts, regardless of any AI assistance used.
b. Authors must ensure that all claims, arguments, and data interpretations are their own, and not delegated to AI tools.

5. Reviewers and Editors
Reviewers and editors must not upload manuscripts, data, or confidential content into AI tools during the peer review or editorial process, to protect confidentiality and avoid bias.

6. References and Citations
a. AI tools must not be cited as primary or secondary sources.
b. All references must be verifiable, academic, and credible (preferably journal articles, books, or conference proceedings).
c. Authors are strongly encouraged to use reference managers such as Mendeley or Zotero for citation consistency.

7. References Requirement
a. Manuscripts must cite at least 20 references published within the last 10 years, consisting of both national and international journals.
b. Outdated or non-academic sources (e.g., blogs, AI-generated citations) are not acceptable.

8. Editorial Screening
a. All submissions may be screened using plagiarism detection and AI-detection tools.
b. Manuscripts found to rely excessively on AI-generated content without sufficient scholarly contribution will be desk-rejected.