Scientific Publishing in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: Implications, Strengths, Limits and Challenges for Editorial Process

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative large language models (LLMs), has significantly transformed scientific publishing and the editorial process. AI tools are increasingly used by authors, reviewers, and editors for manuscript preparation, peer review, plagiarism detection, language editing, and preliminary screening, offering notable gains in efficiency and clarity. However, their use also raises critical ethical concerns related to authorship attribution, originality, transparency, accountability, data integrity, and editorial responsibility. This editorial examines the implications of AI in scientific publishing, highlighting its strengths in enhancing writing quality and streamlining editorial workflows, while also addressing its limitations, including the risk of fabricated content, bias, automation-dependency, and loss of critical scholarly skills. The challenges faced by editors in defining acceptable AI use, ensuring disclosure, safeguarding confidentiality, and maintaining human oversight are discussed in the context of existing ethical guidance. The editorial emphasizes that AI should function as a supportive tool rather than a substitute for human intelligence and judgment. Responsible integration of AI, guided by clear editorial policies, transparency, and ethical vigilance, is essential to preserve the integrity, credibility, and quality of scholarly publishing.