Artificial Intelligence and Questionable Research Practices in Academic Publishing: An Incubation Project

This incubation project provides scientists with a platform to develop best practices for the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in research. The project will identify Questionable Research Practices (QRPs) as they pertain to the use of GenAI with the aim of enabling researchers to avoid these problematic practices. The project will inform policies and training on the use of AI in academic publishing. The project also contributes to the development of training approaches for graduate students and early career researchers on responsible research practices pertaining to GenAI. The project examines how GenAI is being used in academic publishing with a focus on QRPs that researchers may confront. The project will generate a taxonomy of AI-related QRPs in academic publishing. The project team will develop the taxonomy by conducting a Delphi study, which is equivalent to an iterative asynchronous focus group that involves building systematic group consensus. Delphi study participants include editors, editorial board members, and contributing authors from behavioral and cognitive science journals. In addition to these perspectives, the taxonomy will be informed by a linguistic analysis of publisher policy documents and ethical guidelines, and a comprehensive review of AI-related literature across the social sciences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.