Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use Policy

Resonance: Journal of Global Music Studies recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies may support scholarly work when used responsibly, transparently, and ethically. This policy applies to authors, reviewers, editors, guest editors, translators, interviewers, and all contributors involved in the journal’s editorial and publication process.

The journal upholds the principles of academic integrity, human accountability, transparency, confidentiality, originality, and respect for cultural, musical, archival, and fieldwork-based materials.

2. AI Tools Cannot Be Authors

AI tools, chatbots, large language models, image generators, transcription systems, translation engines, and other automated technologies cannot be credited as authors. Authorship requires human intellectual contribution, approval of the final version, and accountability for the integrity of the work.

All named authors must be human individuals. Authors are responsible for any content produced, edited, translated, summarized, analyzed, or otherwise assisted by AI tools.

3. Permitted Uses by Authors

Authors may use AI-assisted technologies in limited and responsible ways, provided that such use does not compromise originality, accuracy, confidentiality, authorship, copyright, or research ethics.

Permitted uses may include:

• grammar correction, language polishing, or stylistic editing;
• translation assistance, provided that the author verifies the accuracy of the translation;
• formatting support, keyword suggestions, title suggestions, or abstract refinement;
• technical assistance with coding, data organization, or reference formatting;
• transcription support for interviews, lectures, or audio materials, where permitted by consent and privacy conditions.

Authors must carefully review and verify all AI-assisted output. AI-generated content may be inaccurate, incomplete, biased, culturally insensitive, or unsupported by reliable evidence.

4. Prohibited Uses by Authors

The following uses of AI are not permitted:

• generating substantial scholarly arguments without human intellectual authorship;
• creating, inventing, or altering citations, references, quotations, archival sources, interviews, fieldnotes, musical examples, or research data;
• fabricating or manipulating images, musical scores, audio files, ethnographic evidence, survey results, or analytical findings;
• using AI to impersonate a real person, participant, reviewer, editor, composer, performer, or interviewee;
• uploading confidential fieldwork materials, interview transcripts, unpublished compositions, restricted cultural materials, or private correspondence to AI systems without appropriate permission;
• using AI to obscure plagiarism, self-plagiarism, citation misuse, or unattributed borrowing;
• inserting hidden prompts, invisible text, metadata instructions, or other machine-readable commands intended to influence AI-assisted screening, editorial assessment, or peer review.

5. Disclosure Requirements for Authors

Authors must disclose any substantive use of AI or AI-assisted technologies at the time of submission. Disclosure is required when AI tools have contributed to the preparation, translation, editing, analysis, visualization, transcription, summarization, or organization of the manuscript in a way that may affect its scholarly content.

Minor uses, such as basic spelling correction or standard grammar checking, do not normally require disclosure unless the tool substantially changes the wording, interpretation, translation, structure, or presentation of the work.

6. AI Use in Music, Fieldwork, Interviews, and Audio-Visual Materials

Because Resonance publishes research in musicology, ethnomusicology, sound studies, performance studies, translation, interviews, and fieldwork-based scholarship, authors must exercise particular care when using AI tools with culturally sensitive, confidential, or rights-protected materials.

Authors must not upload the following materials to AI systems unless they have explicit permission and the platform provides appropriate confidentiality and data-protection safeguards:

• unpublished interviews, oral histories, or participant statements;
• private fieldnotes, ethnographic records, or community-restricted knowledge;
• audio or video recordings of performers, rituals, rehearsals, lessons, ceremonies, or private events;
• unpublished scores, compositions, arrangements, translations, or archival documents;
• materials involving minors, vulnerable participants, Indigenous communities, religious practices, or culturally sensitive traditions.

AI-assisted transcription, translation, classification, or analysis of such materials must comply with consent agreements, copyright restrictions, privacy expectations, and applicable research ethics requirements.

7. Use of AI by Reviewers

Reviewers must treat all manuscripts and related materials as strictly confidential. Reviewers must not upload manuscripts, figures, musical examples, tables, supplementary files, audio-visual materials, or review-related correspondence to public or third-party AI systems unless the journal has explicitly approved such use and confidentiality can be guaranteed.

Reviewers may use AI tools only for limited personal assistance, such as improving the grammar or clarity of their own review comments, provided that no confidential manuscript content is entered into the AI system.

AI tools must not be used as a substitute for the reviewer’s own expert reading, scholarly evaluation, or recommendation. Peer review must remain a human scholarly judgment.

8. Use of AI by Editors and Editorial Staff

Editors and editorial staff may use AI-assisted technologies only for limited administrative or technical support, such as formatting checks, language polishing of editorial notices, workflow organization, or metadata preparation.

Editors must not rely on AI tools as the sole basis for editorial decisions. Decisions regarding desk rejection, peer review, revision, acceptance, correction, or retraction must be made by responsible human editors.

Editors and editorial staff must not upload unpublished manuscripts, reviewer identities, confidential correspondence, author data, or editorial records to AI systems that do not provide appropriate confidentiality, privacy, and data-protection safeguards.

9. AI Detection and Editorial Assessment

The journal may use editorial judgment, plagiarism screening, technical checks, and other integrity tools to assess possible violations of this policy. However, AI-detection tools are not considered definitive evidence of misconduct on their own.

When concerns arise, the Editorial Office may request clarification, disclosure, supporting documentation, source verification, data access, or revision from the author(s). Authors will normally be given an opportunity to respond before a final editorial decision is made, unless the case involves clear fabrication, plagiarism, identity misuse, or serious breach of ethics.

10. Consequences of Non-Compliance

Failure to comply with this policy may result in one or more of the following actions:

• request for clarification or additional disclosure;
• request for revision before peer review or publication;
• return of the manuscript to the author(s);
• rejection of the manuscript;
• notification of relevant institutions or parties in serious cases;
• correction, expression of concern, or retraction after publication, where warranted.

11. Policy Review

This policy may be revised periodically in response to developments in AI technologies, scholarly publishing standards, research ethics, copyright law, data protection, and disciplinary expectations in musicology, ethnomusicology, sound studies, and related fields.

Effective date: May 28, 2026

Last updated: May 28, 2026