APA and WAME set different AI disclosure rules for papers

The writer's problem

A researcher drafting a manuscript with help from a chatbot faces a specific procedural question a copyright ruling cannot answer: what a journal's own style guidance requires to be disclosed, and where. APA's journals policy on generative AI, created in November 2023 and last updated in August 2025 according to the page itself, and WAME's Recommendations on Chatbots and Generative AI, revised 31 May 2023, both address the same question with different specifics.

What the documents show

APA's policy states that when a generative AI model is used in the drafting of a manuscript for an APA publication, the use of AI must be disclosed in the methods section and cited, and that AI cannot be named as an author. Its disclosure guidance table gives examples, including that translating text or extensive copyediting should be noted in a general note in the author note, including the tool used. WAME's recommendations go further on specificity: a paper using a chatbot to draft new text should note the use in the acknowledgment, and all prompts used to generate new text should be specified; where a chatbot generates or helps report analytical results, WAME's recommendation calls for stating the tool, its version, and the time and date of query in the Abstract and Methods. Both documents agree a chatbot cannot be listed as an author, citing accountability requirements no tool can meet. Where they diverge is granularity: APA's table names sections to disclose in, while WAME's Recommendation 2.1 and 2.2 ask for the actual prompt text and query timestamps.

The editorial choice

A journal or author following APA's guidance alone could satisfy that policy without preserving prompts, while WAME's stricter recommendation would not be satisfied by a general note. An editor advising authors across venues needs to check which guidance a specific journal has adopted, since the two are not interchangeable despite addressing the same underlying question.

What stays with the author

Both documents place responsibility for accuracy on the author regardless of disclosure format. APA states authors must verify any information and citations provided to them by an AI tool, and WAME's Recommendation 3 holds authors responsible for a chatbot's material, including plagiarism and misattributed sources.

• Which specific style guidance has the target journal adopted, APA's, WAME's, or its own variant?
• Has the prompt text been preserved, in case the more detailed of the two standards applies?
• Does the disclosure sit in the section the guidance actually specifies, such as the methods or author note?

Neither document is a copyright ruling; each is a procedural instruction about manuscript preparation, and the two are worth citing separately rather than as one shared academic standard.