We have developed these guidelines to support authors publishing books with Sage or Corwin or authors commissioned to create content for our Learning Resources products. It explains what counts as AI assistance, what counts as AI-generated content, what you must disclose, and what is not permitted. Many of our products have specific guidelines for Generative AI use. Please speak to your editor for more information.

Sage recognizes the transformative potential of AI-powered writing assistants and tools such as ChatGPT. Generative AI tools and large language models (LLMs) are now part of many research and writing workflows. They can help you generate ideas, alleviate writer's block, and optimize editing tasks, but it's important to understand their limitations and use them in ways that adhere to principles of academic and scientific integrity. Because generative AI is rapidly evolving, we may update this guidance. Take a moment to re-check this page before you submit.

As a publisher, Sage supports and values human creativity and authorship. LLMs cannot be credited as authors or take responsibility for their outputs. As such, human oversight, intervention, and accountability are essential to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the content we publish. You remain accountable for the accuracy and integrity of your submission.

Submitting to a Sage Journal?

Please follow our Journals policy, which sets out requirements for researchers, editors, and reviewers.

What to disclose 

AI tools (such as Microsoft Outlook and Word) that make suggestions, corrections, and improvements to content you’ve authored yourself, for example, spelling/grammar checks, clarity and phrasing suggestions. Content refined this way is considered “AI‑assisted”. 
AI tools such as ChatGPT or DALL·E that produce content (text, images, or translations). If an AI tool was the primary creator of content, it is considered “AI‑generated,” even if you make changes afterwards.
Do not use generative AI to artificially create or modify core research data. Do not share sensitive personal or proprietary information in generative AI tools, and do not enter confidential peer‑review materials into generative AI tools.

Disclosure 

You are not required to disclose the use of AI-assisted tools in your submission, but all content, including AI-assisted content, must undergo rigorous human review prior to submission. This is to ensure that the content aligns with our quality and authenticity standards.

You are required to inform us of any AI-generated content appearing in your work when you submit any form of content to Sage or Corwin. If any part of your submission includes AI-generated content (text, images, or translations), tell us what tool you used, how you used it, and your rationale for use. This will allow the editorial team to make an informed publishing decision regarding your submission. Where we identify content that has used generative AI tools without disclosure, we will take appropriate corrective action.

Guidance on using generative AI tools

If you do decide to use AI to generate content or images, you must follow these guidelines prior to submitting your work to Sage or Corwin. 

  • Disclosure: As outlined above, you must clearly reveal any AI-generated content within your submission. Detail where the AI-generated content appears and provide this disclosure along with your proposal.  
  • Carefully verify the accuracy, validity, and appropriateness of AI-generated content or AI-produced citations: LLMs can sometimes "hallucinate" – producing incorrect or misleading information, especially when used outside of the domain of their training data or when dealing with complex or ambiguous topics. While their outputs may appear linguistically sound, they may not be scientifically accurate or correct, and LLMs may produce nonexistent citations. Remember, some LLMs might only have been trained on data up to a specific year, potentially resulting in incorrect or incomplete knowledge of a topic.  
  • Carefully check sources and citations: Offer a comprehensive list of resources utilized for content and citations, including those produced by AI. Meticulously cross-check citations for their accuracy to ensure proper referencing. 
  • Appropriately cite AI-generated content: When you are including content generated by AI, an appropriate citation should be included following the appropriate referencing convention. (For example, in Harvard style ChatGPT. 2023. San Francisco: OpenAI. ChatGPT: Microsoft Windows). 
  • Avoid plagiarism and copyright infringement: LLMs may inadvertently reproduce significant chunks of text from existing sources without proper citation, infringing others' intellectual property. As the author of the work, you bear responsibility for confirming that there is no plagiarized content in your proposal. 
  • Be aware of bias: Because LLMs have been trained on text that includes biases, and because there is inherent bias in AI tools because of human programming, AI-generated text may reproduce these biases, such as racism or sexism, or may overlook perspectives of populations that have been historically marginalized. Relying on LLMs to generate text or images can inadvertently propagate these biases, so you should carefully review all AI-generated content to ensure it is inclusive, impartial, and appeals to a broad readership. 
  • Acknowledge limitations: If you have included AI-generated content, you should appropriately acknowledge the constraints of LLMs, including the potential for bias, inaccuracies, and knowledge gaps. 
  • Take responsibility: AI tools like ChatGPT cannot be recognized as a co-author in your submission. As the author, you (and any co-authors) are entirely responsible for the work you submit.  
  • Stay updated: Follow the latest developments in the debates around AI-generated content to ensure you understand the possible ramifications and ethical challenges of using AI-generated content in your submission. We'll keep this guidance under review as AI develops. Please review before you submit work to your Sage or Corwin editor.

Who this page is for

  • Book and Corwin authors and Learning Resource contributors: please follow this policy or speak to your editor if you require more information.
  • Journals authors, editors, and reviewers, please follow the Journals AI policy.
These guidelines were last updated on May 12, 2026.