Can law reviews require AI disclosures for Scholastica pool submissions?
Starting in 2027 — yes!
To simplify AI disclosure reporting for authors and editors, we’re introducing the option for law reviews to collect AI disclosures through the Scholastica pool submission form by adopting a set of Common Law Review Generative AI Disclosure Guidelines.
Participating law reviews will be required to state their journal’s AI use policies (permitted and prohibited AI use), which Scholastica will provide to authors to review and determine whether their article complies with those policies before completing pool submissions.
Here’s what you need to know to prepare for this forthcoming feature release.
How will law reviews collect AI disclosures via Scholastica?
We understand law reviews increasingly want authors to disclose whether and how they used AI in their manuscript to ensure submissions comply with their journal’s ethical AI use policies. Starting in 2027, law reviews will have the option to require AI disclosures via the Scholastica pool submission form by adopting the Common Law Review Generative AI Disclosure Guidelines, listed below. The Common guidelines provide a standard set of disclosure instructions for authors making group submissions to simplify that process.
The Common Law Review Generative AI Disclosure Guidelines
Law reviews that have adopted these common guidelines require authors to disclose the use of generative AI in the preparation of their submission for the following activities:
- Developing manuscript ideas or arguments, including researching or synthesizing information, brainstorming, framing, and analysis
- Substantively writing, arranging, or editing any portion of the submission, excluding basic spelling, grammar, and copyediting assistance
- Generating, formatting, or summarizing citations, quotations, or parentheticals
- Processing or analyzing empirical datasets, translating foreign-language sources, or creating or modifying figures, charts, or images
For each required disclosure in the above categories, you must input the AI tool(s) you used, the version of each tool if known, an explanation of what you used each tool for, and how you verified and built on the output.
When submitting to one or more law reviews that have opted to collect AI disclosures via Scholastica, authors will be required to respond to the Common Guidelines and also attest that they have independently reviewed and verified the accuracy and authenticity of all of their citations, that no AI tools were listed as authors on their submission, and that they (and co-authors) take full responsibility for the contents of their article.
Participating law reviews will also have the option to require authors to provide the AI prompts, inputs, and outputs they used. If any law review in an author’s pool submission selects that option, the author will be prompted to provide those details to complete their submission.
Law reviews that opt to require AI disclosures will see disclosure details in the Manuscript Work Area and Manuscripts Table for all submissions they receive after implementing the feature.
Why are we introducing the Common Law Review Generative AI Disclosure Guidelines?
Scholastica developed the Common Law Review Generative AI Disclosure Guidelines to establish shared conventions law reviews can adopt to limit the number of disclosure criteria authors must review and respond to when making group submissions. When law reviews collect AI disclosures via the pool submission form using the Common Guidelines, they can also be sure all submissions they receive will include disclosures because the fields are required.
The Common Guidelines are based on an analysis of existing law review AI disclosure requirements, which found significant overlap in disclosure expectations among law reviews, indicating that a shared template would be valuable for editors and authors to limit redundancy.
How will law reviews communicate their AI use policies to authors and what should they include?
Law reviews that opt to collect AI disclosures through the Scholastica submission form will be prompted to input their AI use policies for authors during the feature setup process. When an author adds one or more law reviews that require AI disclosures to a pool submission, they will be provided with a list of “Journal AI Use Policies” for those law reviews, so they can review the policies to determine whether their paper is appropriate for each journal before submitting.
Your law review’s AI use policies are where you explain your editorial standards for AI use. This is separate from the Common Guidelines, which solely cover what AI use authors need to disclose. Your AI use policies should clearly explain which types of AI use your law review permits and prohibits. Keep in mind that AI use policies should go both ways. Be sure to communicate whether your law review allows editors to use AI tools to support article review and, if so, how, so authors are aware of that.
Important: If your law review has a policy that authors must disclose AI use within the body of published articles (e.g., in a footnote), ask authors to add that information to their article only if/after you accept it. Authors often submit to multiple law reviews at once, so it is not reasonable to expect them to format their paper to your publication specifications.
What if my law review prohibits ANY AI use?
If your law review does not allow authors to use AI in the preparation of their manuscripts in any capacity (e.g., even for basic grammar/copyediting), your admin will have the option to prohibit authors from submitting to your journal if they affirm generative AI use in the pool submission form.
If your law review chooses this option and an author affirms they used AI when preparing their manuscript, the author will be required to remove your journal from their pool submission so they don’t submit in error.
Timeline and how to prepare
The new law review AI disclosure functionality will be added to the Scholastica pool submission form in early 2027 in time for the spring submission season — stay tuned for further details!
In the meantime, your e-board should decide whether you’ll require AI disclosures in the new year and prepare your “Journal AI Use Policies” if you plan to do so.
Have a question? Contact us. We’re here to help!
