Skip to main content
v2026.1714 entries · CC-BY 4.0
Dictionary termTrack AStablev2026.2

AI in peer review

The use of generative AI tools by peer reviewers to assist in evaluating manuscripts — including summarisation, language editing of the review, or generation of review text — which is restricted or prohibited by many publishers due to confidentiality and originality concerns.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board
· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

  • Is an instance

    A reviewer using a local LLM (not cloud-hosted) only to check grammar in their own already-written review

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

  • Not an instance

    A reviewer pasting a manuscript into ChatGPT and asking for a review (prohibited by NIH and most major publishers)

Editorial commentary

The principal risks are confidentiality breach (uploading an unpublished manuscript to a third-party AI service violates the trust relationship between editor, reviewer, and authors) and abdication of the reviewer’s intellectual responsibility. NIH (2023) and several major publishers have banned uploading manuscripts to AI systems for review.

References

  • NIH Notice NOT-OD-23-149 on Generative AI in Peer Review (2023)
  • Elsevier Reviewer AI Policy (2023)

Also known as

AI-assisted peer review · LLM peer review

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element
xml
<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="AI in peer review"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/ai-in-peer-review" />
Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)
json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "name": "AI in peer review",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/ai-in-peer-review",
  "description": "The use of generative AI tools by peer reviewers to assist in evaluating manuscripts — including summarisation, language editing of the review, or generation of review text — which is restricted or prohibited by many publishers due to confidentiality and originality concerns.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/generative-ai-use-and-disclosure/",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/ai-in-peer-review",
  "sameAs": [
    "AI-assisted peer review",
    "LLM peer review"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}

Adopted by research universities worldwide

University of Cambridge logoColumbia University logoUniversity of Edinburgh logoHarvard University logoMassachusetts Institute of Technology logoUniversity of Oxford logoPrinceton University logoStanford School of Medicine logoUniversity College London logoUniversity of Cambridge logoColumbia University logoUniversity of Edinburgh logoHarvard University logoMassachusetts Institute of Technology logoUniversity of Oxford logoPrinceton University logoStanford School of Medicine logoUniversity College London logo
  • University of Cambridge logo
  • Columbia University logo
  • University of Edinburgh logo
  • Harvard University logo
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology logo
  • University of Oxford logo
  • Princeton University logo
  • Stanford School of Medicine logo
  • University College London logo

View CASRAI adoption →