AI Policy for Authors

Policy on Generative Artificial Intelligence and Manuscript Submissions

Our journal honors the profound, vulnerable, and lived experiences of professional helping. Because we publish narratives, poetry, and visual art rooted in real-life practice, authenticity is central to our mission.

The core value of our journal lies in the genuine human-to-human connection of helping professionals. Artificial intelligence (AI) cannot hold authorship or co-authorship status in Reflections.

When using AI for any stage of preparation, the author(s) must never input real client, patient, or colleague data (including altered identifiers) into public AI models, as this violates professional confidentiality standards.

 

Permitted AI Usage

Narratives & Poetry: Using standard, non-generative tools for spelling, grammar, and syntax polishing (e.g., MS Word, basic Grammarly).

Photography: Standard digital adjustments like color correction, exposure tuning, and cropping.

Artwork & Illustrations: Utilizing digital drawing tablets and standard software tools for original, human-driven design.

 

Prohibited AI Usage

Narratives & Poetry: Using AI to write prose blocks, invent dialogue, construct poems, or rewrite original reflective text.

Photography: Using generative AI fill, expanding image borders with AI, replacing background elements, or creating synthetic photographic scenes.

Artwork & Illustrations: Submitting entirely AI-generated art or heavily filtered pieces where AI generates the primary composition.

 

Disclosure Requirements

If generative AI tools were used during the early brainstorming or structural outlining phases of the author's written or artistic work, transparency is mandatory. Disclose any generative AI use in a cover letter to the Editor. State the tool used and its specific purpose.

For example: “The author used [Tool Name, e.g., ChatGPT-4] during early brainstorming to help organize the structural outline of this narrative. All prose, clinical reflections, poems, and final text are entirely human-authored. No client information was input into any AI model.”

Reflections reserves the right to utilize AI-detection tools. Submissions found to violate these guidelines, including undisclosed AI text generation or generative AI art/photography modification, will be rejected and excluded from future considerations.