University of Thi-Qar Journal for Engineering Sciences (UTJES) recognizes the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in scientific research and academic writing. To maintain transparency, integrity, and accountability in scholarly publishing, the journal has adopted the following policy regarding the use of AI tools in manuscript preparation and review, in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

1. Use of AI in Manuscript Preparation Authors may use AI and AI-assisted technologies (e.g., large language models, chatbots, or text-generation tools) solely to improve the readability, language, and grammar of their manuscripts. These tools must not be used to generate original scientific content, data, analysis, conclusions, or citations.

2. Authorship AI tools cannot be credited as authors or co-authors, as authorship requires accountability for the work, which cannot be attributed to non-human entities. Authors are fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, and integrity of the entire manuscript, including any content produced with AI assistance.

3. Disclosure Requirement Authors must disclose the use of any AI tools in the preparation of their manuscript, including the name of the tool, version, and the specific purpose for which it was used (e.g., language editing, grammar correction). This disclosure should be included in the Acknowledgments or Methods section of the manuscript.

4. Prohibited Uses The use of AI to fabricate data, generate fake citations, produce plagiarized content, or manipulate research results is strictly prohibited and will be treated as a serious breach of research and publication ethics.

5. AI in Peer Review Reviewers and editors are prohibited from uploading manuscripts or any part of their content into AI tools or external platforms, as this may violate the confidentiality of the peer-review process and compromise the intellectual property rights of the authors.

6. Image and Figure Integrity AI-generated or AI-manipulated images, figures, or illustrations are not permitted unless explicitly part of the study's methodology (e.g., AI-generated diagnostic images in a validated research context) and must be clearly disclosed and justified.

7. Responsibility and Compliance Any violation of this policy may result in manuscript rejection, retraction of published work, or other appropriate editorial actions, in accordance with COPE guidelines on research misconduct.