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AI: Tips & Tools from Your Librarians

Using and Citing AI

This page outlines how to cite AI tools and points to consider, especially for research articles.  For students, we recommend the same citation and disclosure tips, but be sure to check with your instructor about AI policies for your class!

Note: Citation and journal policies are constantly evolving - be sure to check before start your research and before you submit!

Guidelines for Using Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Overall publishers and institutions are still setting policies around citing and disclosing use of AI, but you will need to do one or both in your publications (and it is good practice to do so).  See the other tabs and this guide on citation styles for more information too!

Virginia Tech does provide some guidance (see "Authorship, Plagiarism, and Reproducibility" under "Ethical and compliance dimensions":

  • Transparency and complete reporting for your research are essential just like anything else in your research
  • Report clearly when AI is used for writing, data analysis, image generation and more
  • Disclosures or citations should describe the tools used and how they were used to support the research
  • AI cannot be listed as an author per the current consensus among journals and research communities - as (legally) AI cannot be responsible/accountable for the work (see COPE's position statement for details and others such as the World Association of Medical Editors and JAMA Network)

 

How to cite and include use of GenAI and other tools in your publications and projects:

Example citation via asking ChatGPT about citing itself ("How should I cite this conversation?") provides the response:

Since this conversation is informal and doesn't adhere to a specific citation style like MLA or APA, you can cite it in a way that includes the essential information for your context. For example:

In-text citation: (ChatGPT, 2024)

If you need a reference list entry, you could include the date of the conversation and a brief description:

ChatGPT. (2024, February 16). Conversation with [Your Name] about citation formatting.

Or you might use the following text as a disclosure of ChatGPT's use:

The author generated this text in part with GPT-3, OpenAI’s large-scale language-generation model. Upon generating draft language, the author reviewed, edited, and revised the language to their own liking and takes ultimate responsibility for the content of this publication (OpenAI Publication Policy, 2022)

Last, where possible, it is recommended to include prompts and responses in your appendices as you would for any code or other tool:

Prompt: (what you ask the GenAI tool)

Response: (what the GenAI tool gives you)

 

Overall, it is recommended to save and track your use of any GenAI tool - you will be able to adhere to any publishing requirements and keep yourself organized!

MLA recommendations:

  • Acknowledging use
  • Citing whenever paraphrasing, quoting or using any content created by GenAI
  • And checking what the GenAI tool is citing
  • Not treating the tool as an author (as it cannot be responsible for its own work)
  • References format:
    • “Your prompt” prompt. Name of tool, Version date. version, Publisher/Company, date used, website for tool.
    • Ex: "Use my CV to create a professional bio of 100 words or less" prompt. ChatGPT, 6 Nov. 2023 version, OpenAI, 10 Oct. 2024, chat.openai.com/chat.

APA recommendations:

  • Describe how used GenAI in any section of paper that it was used for the research
  • Provide the prompt and any relevant part of the output
  • Place the entire prompt and response in an appendix for other researchers since GenAI typically produce different responses every time
  • References format:
    • Publisher/owner of tool. (2023). Name of tool (Date version) [type of tool (i.e. LLM)]. website for tool.

Chicago recommendations:

  • Must credit GenAI when reproducing it within your own word
  • Use a note or include in the text to credit your GenAI tool
  • References formats:
    • Footnote/endnote: Text generated by (name of tool), Prompt, Company, Date used, website for tool. (Prompt is optional if already included in text.)
    • Can cite in a similar format, but only if can include a publicly available link (try ShareGPT for example)

(IEEE has no specific recommendations yet for citing, but see the "Publishing Considerations" tab for what they do recommend.)

Some journals may require explicit disclosure of AI or even restrict its use, so be sure to check before you submit to avoid lengthy submission time and/or possible retractions.  For students, be sure to ask your instructor if there is not a policy in the syllabus - they may even encourage use for editorial purposes!

For researchers, here is an example policy statement from IEEE regarding AI use in submissions.  We recommend looking for this type of statement from your journal and/or publisher of choice:

"Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Generated Text

The use of content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) in an article (including but not limited to text, figures, images, and code) shall be disclosed in the acknowledgments section of any article submitted to an IEEE publication. The AI system used shall be identified, and specific sections of the article that use AI-generated content shall be identified and accompanied by a brief explanation regarding the level at which the AI system was used to generate the content.

The use of AI systems for editing and grammar enhancement is common practice and, as such, is generally outside the intent of the above policy. In this case, disclosure as noted above is recommended."

Here are some links to a few others as well:

 

*** Note that with the rapid pace of AI development, these policies are likely to change frequently, so be sure to check when starting your research, when performing data analysis, and before submission to a journal. Also, journals generally forbid using AI as part of reviews, so be sure to only use when allowed.

Coming soon!  Here are some small bits to get started: