Introduction

The Urban Tourism Quarterly acknowledges the potential of AI tools to serve as powerful adjuncts in scholarly work. However, it is a foundational principle that these technologies must complement, not supplant, the researcher's critical thinking, inherent expertise, and scholarly judgment. The ultimate responsibility for the originality, accuracy, scientific validity, and ethical integrity of any submitted manuscript rests unequivocally with the author(s). This policy aims to provide a clear structure for the legitimate and transparent use of AI, ensuring that its benefits are harnessed while safeguarding the integrity and credibility of published scholarship.

To ensure adherence to these principles and to assess the use of AI in submitted manuscripts, the journal employs detection tools, including but not limited to GPTZero, as part of its screening and review process to verify that manuscripts are not substantively reliant on AI-generated content.

Core Principles and Guidelines

1. AI as a Research Assistant and Editorial Aid
Researchers may utilize AI models for linguistic enhancement, editing, proofreading, improving clarity, and organizing manuscript structure. Their use in preliminary writing stages—such as idea generation, brainstorming, initial outlining, and rapid conceptual or literature searches—is permissible as a facilitative tool.

2. Prohibition on Use for Core Research Generation and Analysis
The generation of research data, simulation of results, execution of scientific analyses, and formulation of final conclusions must be performed exclusively by the researcher using validated scientific methods. Employing AI to produce hypothetical data, distort or fabricate results, interpret findings, or conduct independent analysis is strictly prohibited and constitutes a clear violation of research ethics. Should AI assist in generating abstracts, images, figures, or preliminary data processing, full transparency is mandated in the "Methods" section.

3. Mandate for Transparency and Disclosure
Authors are required to declare transparently any use of AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot) in the manuscript's preparation. This disclosure should be made in a dedicated section, such as a "Statement on AI Tool Use." This statement must concisely specify the tool name, version, purpose of use (e.g., for linguistic editing, sentence rewriting, structuring), and the affected manuscript sections.
Authors bear the final responsibility for validating all AI-assisted or modified content, verifying citations, and ensuring the absence of error or contradiction.

4. Use in Literature Search and Screening
Employing AI as an aid for preliminary literature searches and source screening is permitted. However, the final validation, qualitative assessment, and selection of sources must be conducted by the researcher, referencing authoritative databases. Authors are responsible for avoiding citations to non-credible or AI-generated sources.

5. Preservation of Research Autonomy and Originality
The core intellectual contribution—encompassing problem formulation, study design, fieldwork/lab data collection, in-depth analysis, and final conclusions—must originate from the researcher's knowledge and expert judgment. AI should not diminish the researcher's active and critical role in the knowledge production process.

6. Absolute Authorial Accountability
Authors retain complete and unconditional responsibility for all manuscript content, including portions developed or refined with AI assistance, regarding its accuracy, originality, adherence to research ethics, and intellectual property rights. The journal does not recognize AI tools as authors, co-authors, or contributors. In line with authoritative statements such as those from COPE, these tools lack the ethical and legal capacity for authorship.

Conclusion

The Urban Tourism Quarterly, affiliated with the University of Tehran and grounded in a belief in science's role in fostering sustainable and balanced urban development, welcomes the thoughtful and responsible application of emerging technologies. We maintain that artificial intelligence can be strategically leveraged to enhance complex urban analyses, model tourism impacts, enrich theoretical foundations, and facilitate global scholarly dialogue.

We respectfully invite all authors and researchers to adhere rigorously to these guidelines. By doing so, they can utilize these technologies advantageously while upholding the principles of research originality, scientific integrity, and professional accountability. This conscientious approach is essential for advancing Iran's scholarly standing in the field of urban tourism studies and for contributing to a robust corpus of sustainable, applicable, and reliable knowledge.