About the Journal

Repository Policy

Survey Research Methods (SRM) allows submitted and published versions of the articles to be deposited in an institutional or another repository of the author’s choice without embargo. SRM reserves the right to publish the accepted version of the article before it is deposited on another repository.

 

SRM’s Policy on the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence in Research, Peer Review, and Editorial Decision-Making

Guidance for Authors

Authors are responsible for the accuracy, integrity, originality, and transparency of all work submitted to Survey Research Methods (SRM). AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors and cannot assume responsibility for the content of a manuscript.

SRM distinguishes between 1) assistive uses of AI, which generally do not require disclosure; 2) generative or substantive uses of AI, which require transparent disclosure and appropriate documentation; and 3) prohibited uses, which are incompatible with research integrity, confidentiality, or the responsibilities of authors, reviewers, and editors.

1) AI uses that do not require disclosure

The use of AI-enabled tools for spelling and grammar checking, and formatting need not to be disclosed. 
The authors are responsible for the correctness of all references and citations.

2) AI uses that require disclosure

The use of generative AI must be disclosed when it has been used for aspects concerning the research process and substantive scientific writing (e.g., support for literature review in terms of writing a summary, etc.).

Given the methodological scope of SRM, disclosure is particularly important when AI forms part of the research process itself. This may include, but is not limited to, its use for:

• Methodological & Data Pipeline AI Uses
  • Developing or substantially modifying questionnaire items, response categories, vignettes, probes, or other survey materials
  • Translating or adapting questionnaires across languages or cultural contexts
  • Conducting or supporting automated interviewing, chatbot-based data collection, or adaptive respondent interaction
  • Coding or classifying open-ended responses, occupations, industries, or other survey information
  • Detecting bots, fraudulent responses, careless responding, or other aspects of data quality
  • Cleaning, editing, imputing, weighting, augmenting, or otherwise processing survey data
  • Generating synthetic data, synthetic respondents, or simulated survey responses
• Vibe Coding & Analytics AI Uses
  • Code enhancing or checking scripts for errors
  • Producing syntax for graphs, plots, and data visualizations
  • Writing program code
  • Suggesting statistical analyses
  • Conducting substantive statistical analyses or producing and interpreting analytical results

Where AI is part of the research methodology, a disclosure statement alone is not sufficient. Authors should report its use in the Methods section with enough information to allow readers to evaluate the procedure, its validity, and, as far as reasonably possible, its reproducibility. Relevant information may include the AI system and provider, model or version where available, date or period of use, purpose, relevant prompts or instructions, settings, validation procedures, and extent of human oversight. We do not require documenting every incidental interaction with an AI-enabled tool, but relevant prompts, code, or other materials that are important for reproducibility should, where possible, be included in supplementary or replication materials.

3)    Prohibited uses

Authors must not use AI in ways that compromise research integrity. Prohibited uses include fabrication, replacement or falsification of data, results, citations, sources, or other research materials; presentation of AI-generated or synthetic observations as data collected from human respondents; the use of AI-generated content. A single fabricated reference will imply the rejection of the paper and an exclusion from further submissions for all authors of the manuscript submitted.

Authors must also respect applicable requirements concerning privacy, confidentiality, informed consent, copyright, and data protection. Confidential, sensitive, identifiable, or otherwise protected research data should not be entered into external AI systems unless their use is compatible with the conditions under which the data were collected, relevant ethical approvals and legal requirements, and the privacy and data-security provisions of the AI service concerned.

Guidance for Reviewers

Peer review relies on confidentiality, independent scientific judgement, and reviewer accountability. Reviewers invited by Survey Research Methods (SRM) are responsible for the content and quality of their reviews and should use artificial intelligence (AI) tools only in ways that are compatible with these principles.

Confidentiality and protection of submitted material

Manuscripts submitted to SRM, including abstracts, tables, figures, questionnaires, data, code, supplementary materials, and other accompanying information, must be treated as confidential. Reviewers must not upload a manuscript, or substantial parts of it, to AI tools.
Reviewers should not use AI systems in ways that could expose, retain, reuse, or otherwise make available confidential manuscript content to third parties.

Appropriate use of AI in peer review

AI tools may be used for limited assistive purposes that do not require the reviewer to disclose manuscript content. The review has to be written by the reviewer. However, reviewers may use AI-enabled tools to improve the grammar, clarity, or readability of their own review comments, provided that no confidential information from the manuscript is disclosed to the AI system.

Guidance for Editors and Associate Editors

Editors and Associate Editors of Survey Research Methods (SRM) are responsible for ensuring that editorial processes uphold the principles of confidentiality, fairness, research integrity, independent scientific judgement, and accountability.

Confidentiality and protection of submitted material

Editors and Associate Editors must treat all submitted manuscripts, reviews, correspondence, and accompanying materials as confidential. Manuscripts or substantial parts of them, including abstracts, tables, figures, questionnaires, data, code, supplementary materials, and reviewer reports, must not be uploaded to AI tools.  

Appropriate use of AI in editorial work

AI tools may be used for limited assistive purposes that do not compromise confidentiality or substitute for editorial judgement. Such uses may include improving the language, clarity, or structure of editorial correspondence or supporting routine administrative tasks, provided that manuscript or review content is not disclosed to a non-local AI system. A non-local AI system (often called a cloud-based AI or remote AI) is an artificial intelligence that runs on external, remote servers instead of directly on your own computer or device.

Protection of intellectual content

Reviewers, Editors and Associate Editors are not permitted to use AI tools to appropriate, develop, exploit, or otherwise make use of unpublished ideas, methods, data, survey instruments, or other intellectual content encountered through their editorial role for purposes unrelated to the evaluation of the submission.

If a Reviewer, Associate Editor, or Editor is uncertain whether a particular use of AI is compatible with this policy, they should refrain from using the tool for that purpose and consult the SRM editorial team.

 

This policy will be reviewed and appropriately updated according to the evolution of AI technologies and their applications.

 

ISSN

1864-3361