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Citing Your Work

Learn how to cite your work, and discover tool to help you write and cite most efficiently.

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Using & Citing AI Tools

Authors and students should follow institutional and classroom guidelines when using AI technologies. Here are some best practices for using AI while conducting research, writing papers, or completing class assignments. 

  • Check with the journal or instructor before using AI technologies in your work. Specific instructions for acknowledging the use of AI and citing AI content should also be sought directly from a journal or course instructor.

  • Cite or acknowledge the use of AI technologies in your work. Consult well-known style guides or professional recommendations for guidance on the proper use and reporting of AI technologies in research and writing projects.

  • Check AI content for accuracy and reliability. Generative AI tools are known to provide incorrect, incomplete, and made-up information and citations. The generation of biased information is also a noted issue. Review the content and references generated by an AI technologies before using it in your work. 


ICMJE Recommendations (Updated January 2024)

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) produces guidelines for standardizing how authors prepare and format manuscripts for submission to biomedical journals for publication. Compliance with these recommendations is required by most leading biomedical journals.

  • "Referencing AI-generated material as the primary source if not acceptable."

  • "Chatbots (such as ChatGPT) should not be listed as authors because they cannot be responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the work, and these responsibilities are required for authorship."

  • "At submission, the journal should require authors to disclose whether they used artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies (such as Large Language Models [LLMs], chatbots, or image creators) in the production of submitted work. Authors who use such technology should describe, in both the cover letter and the submitted work in the appropriate section if applicable, how they used it."

  • "Authors should be able to assert that there is no plagiarism in their paper, including in text and images produced by the AI."

  • "Humans must ensure there is appropriate attribution of all quoted material, including full citations."

Publisher Policies: AI Technologies

This is a select list of publishers with AI policies. To review the AI policies of a publisher not listed, visit the publisher's website and review its instructions for authors.

BMJ

BMJ. AI use. https://www.bmj.com/content/ai-us

Journal of Clinical Oncology

Kathy Miller et al. Use of Large Language Models and Artificial Intelligence Tools in Works Submitted to Journal of Clinical Oncology. JCO 41, 3480-3481(2023). DOI:10.1200/JCO.23.00819

Elsevier

Elsevier. The use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in writing for Elsevier. https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies-and-standards/the-use-of-generative-ai-and-ai-assisted-technologies-in-writing-for-elsevier

JAMA

*JAMA Network. Instructions for Authors. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/pages/instructions-for-authors

Springer

Springer. Artificial Intelligence (AI). https://www.springer.com/gp/editorial-policies/artificial-intelligence--ai-/25428500

* Use the Ctrl+F keyboard shortcut to search the instructions for the keyword "artificial intelligence"

Specific rules for citing AI tools are not yet available from the American Medical Association (AMA). However, some sections of the style guide have been updated to provide general guidance for authors. A JAMA Editorial also provides guidance for authors and peer reviewers. Highlights of these resources are outlined below. 

AMA Manual of Style, Updated Sections

Section 5.1.12

  • "Nonhuman artificial intelligence, language models, machine learning, or similar technologies cannot be listed as authors..."

  • "Authors should report the use of artificial intelligence, language models, machine learning, or similar technologies to create content or assist with writing or editing of manuscripts in the Acknowledgment section or Methods section if this is part of formal research design or methods."

Section 5.2.1.1

  • Authors are required to "include a description of the content that was created or edited and the name of the language model or tool, version and extension numbers, and manufacturer."

Section 14.5.2

  • "For AI tools, including large language models (LLMs), machine learning, generative AI such as chatbots, and related technologies, use a nonproprietary descriptive term. In research articles, at first mention in the abstract and in the text, provide the brand name in parentheses along with the version or extension number, manufacturer or owner, and date(s) used.

    • Example: "On June 12, 2023, the original full text of the question was put into a fresh chatbot session (ChatGPT, model GPT-4, OpenAI) and the generated responses were saved."


JAMA Editorial

  • "[JAMA] policies preclude the inclusion of nonhuman AI tools as authors and require the transparent reporting of use of such tools in preparing manuscripts and other content and when used in research submitted for publication.

  • "...submission and publication of clinical images created by AI tools is discouraged, unless part of formal research design or methods."

Authors are required to respond to the following question when submitting their work to JAMA Network journals.

  • Did you use AI, a language model, machine learning, or similar technologies to create or assist with creation or editing of any of the content in this submission (eg, text, tables, figures, video)?

If authors respond yes to the question, they are required to provide a description of the AI-generated content and confirm that they are responsible for the integrity of the content. 

  • "Please provide a description of the AI-generated content that is included in this submission and the name of the model or tool used, version and extension numbers, and manufacturer..."

  • "Please confirm that you take responsibility for the integrity of the content generated by these tools and that you have provided a description of such generated content and the name of the model or tool used, version and extension numbers, and manufacturer in the Acknowledgment or Methods section of the manuscript."

APA Style Rules

Reporting the Use of AI Technologies 

If you use a generative AI tool (e.g., a chatbot) to facilitate your research, APA style rules require you to describe how you used the tool. The description should be included in the Methods section. For Review papers, describe your use of the tool in the Introduction section. Your description should include the prompt(s) and generated response(s). Because each conversation with a chatbot is unique, even when the same prompt is used, you must provide the exact prompt(s) and generated response(s). Lengthy conversations can be shared in an appendix of the paper.

In-Text Citations & References

If you use AI-generated content in a paper (summarize, paraphrase, or quote it), APA style rules require you to provide an in-text citation at the point of use and a corresponding reference in the "References" list. 

Formatting Conventions

In-Text

(Author, Year of model version)

(OpenAI, 2024)

Reference

Author. (Year of model version). Title (Model version number) [Brief description of model]. Source. URL

OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT (GPT-3.5) [Large multimodal model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat 

  • In the case of AI tools, the creator or developer serves as the author and the name of the model serves as the title.
  • The goal of the bracketed text is to briefly describe the kind of model to your reader. These bracketed descriptions are typically required for sources outside the standard peer-review system (e.g., journal articles, book chapters, etc.)

  • When the source name and the author name are the same, do not repeat the source name at the end of the reference, move directly to the URL.

  • For URLs, use the most direct URL for accessing the tool.