AI Use Guidelines

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use Guidelines

These guidelines are intended to help ACA book authors and editors understand and apply the ACA Publications Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy for Book Authors when preparing proposals, manuscripts, and related publication materials.

AI tools and AI-enabled features are increasingly incorporated into software used for research, writing, editing, transcription, data analysis, and other publishing activities. ACA does not prohibit the responsible use of these tools. However, AI may support an author's work; it may not substitute for human authorship, scholarly judgment, or professional responsibility.

Authors remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and appropriate attribution of all material submitted to ACA, regardless of whether an AI tool was used.

If you are uncertain whether a particular use of AI is permitted or requires disclosure, contact ACA Publications staff at publications@counseling.org.

Understanding the Three Categories of AI Use

ACA's AI Policy distinguishes among three categories of AI use: routine assistive use, generative or transformative use, and prohibited use.

Routine Assistive Use: Disclosure Not Required

AI-enabled tools may be used without disclosure when they perform routine mechanical or assistive functions and do not generate substantive content or materially alter the author's ideas, analysis, organization, interpretation, or voice.

Examples may include:

• Transcribing the author's own recorded speech or conversation
• Correcting spelling, punctuation, or basic grammatical errors
• Formatting or converting files
• Using accessibility features
• Using other routine software functions that incorporate AI without generating or substantially rewriting content.

The distinction is based on what the tool does, not simply whether the software incorporates AI. For example, using an AI-enabled tool to identify a grammatical error is routine assistance. Asking an AI tool to rewrite a paragraph for clarity, tone, organization, or style is generative or transformative use and must be disclosed.

Authors are responsible for reviewing the results of routine assistive tools for accuracy.

Routine Proofreading and Grammar Assistance

Authors may use spelling, punctuation, basic grammar-checking, and mechanical formatting features within word-processing software or dedicated proofreading tools without disclosure or prior ACA authorization, provided these functions do not generate substantive content or materially alter the author's ideas, analysis, organization, interpretation, or voice. This exception applies only to routine proofreading and mechanical editing of manuscript text that does not contain confidential client information, protected research data, or other sensitive or restricted third-party material. Authors are responsible for reviewing suggested corrections and using software in accordance with applicable privacy and data-handling terms.

AI-assisted substantive rewriting, summarization, content generation, or other transformative uses remain subject to ACA's disclosure requirements. Providing unpublished manuscript content to a third-party generative AI service for these purposes is not covered by the routine proofreading exception and requires prior ACA authorization.

Generative or Transformative Use: Disclosure Required

AI use must be disclosed when a tool generates, rewrites, summarizes, synthesizes, reorganizes, analyzes, or otherwise materially transforms content.

Examples may include:

• Brainstorming ideas, topics, examples, or approaches
• Assisting with literature discovery or research organization
• Summarizing the author's own notes or previously written material
• Substantively rewriting or reorganizing author-created text
• Converting author-created notes, transcripts, or discussions into narrative prose
• Assisting with data analysis
• Developing explicitly fictional or composite teaching scenarios or case studies
• Assisting with other substantive editorial or developmental tasks

For example, using AI to transcribe a recorded conversation among authors is routine assistive use. Asking AI to transform that transcript into narrative prose for inclusion in a manuscript is generative or transformative use and must be disclosed. 

Disclosure does not automatically mean that a particular use of AI is acceptable for publication. ACA may request additional information and may require revision or removal of AI-assisted material.

Prohibited Uses

AI may not substitute for human authorship. Authors may not use AI to substantially generate proposals, chapters, sections, or other substantive manuscript content and present that material as their own work.

AI may not be used to fabricate or generate material represented as factual or authentic when it is not. This includes fabricated:

• Research data, findings, or evidence
• Sources, references, quotations, or citations
• Actual client or clinical experiences
• Other factual information

AI-generated translations are not accepted for publication.

AI-generated visual materials are also prohibited. See the Visual Materials Guidelines for additional requirements.

Authors must not enter confidential, personally identifiable, protected, unpublished, proprietary, or client information into a third-party AI system unless they have the legal right or appropriate authorization to do so. 

References, Citations, and Literature Discovery

AI tools may assist authors with literature discovery, but they are not a substitute for locating, reading, and evaluating original sources.

Authors must independently verify every source against the original publication before citing it. This includes confirming:

• Source exists and supports the content for which it is cited.
• Author names
• Publication information, including journal, article, chapter, or book titles
• Date(s) of publication
• Journal volume and issue numbers
• Page numbers
• DOIs and URLs
• Quotations

Never cite a source based solely on information supplied by an AI tool.

AI-generated references, bibliographies, and citations are particularly susceptible to errors or fabrication. Authors remain solely responsible for the accuracy and appropriate use of every source cited in an ACA publication.

Summarizing and Using Third-Party Sources 

Authors must not upload or otherwise provide copyrighted or proprietary third-party material to an AI system unless they have the legal right or permission to do so. This may include journal articles, book chapters, unpublished manuscripts, assessment instruments, copyrighted teaching materials, or other protected content.

Authors should read and evaluate the original source rather than relying on an AI-generated summary as a substitute for consulting the source.

When AI has been permissibly used to assist with summarization or paraphrasing, authors remain responsible for ensuring that the resulting text:

• Accurately represents the original source
• Is appropriately cited
• Does not reproduce protected expression without permission
• Does not constitute plagiarism or copyright infringement

Questions regarding the use of third-party copyrighted material should be directed to ACA Publications staff at publications@counseling.org. ACA's House Style Guide also requires review of third-party copyrighted content before manuscript submission.

Case Studies and Other Teaching Scenarios

ACA books frequently include case studies, role-playing exercises, and other teaching scenarios. The House Style Guide already requires authors to identify whether a case involves a pseudonym, fictional client, composite client, or real person. AI may not be used to fabricate a case and present it as an actual client, actual clinical experience, research participant, or factual occurrence.

AI-assisted development of an explicitly fictional or composite teaching case may be acceptable as generative or transformative use and must be disclosed to ACA.

Authors using AI to assist with fictional or composite cases are responsible for reviewing the material for:

• Clinical accuracy and professional appropriateness
• Stereotypes or biased assumptions
• Cultural responsiveness
• Fabricated or unsupported clinical claims
• Consistency with the purpose and learning objectives of the manuscript 

Actual client information, protected health information, personally identifiable information, or confidential clinical material must not be entered into an AI system.

AI-Assisted Indexing

Authors who elect to prepare their own book indexes may use AI-enabled tools to assist with index development, subject to ACA's AI Policy.

AI-assisted indexing is considered generative or transformative use and should be disclosed. Authors remain responsible for reviewing the completed index for accuracy, appropriate terminology, useful main entries and subentries, cross-references, and page references. 

Authors may not upload unpublished manuscript content subject to their ACA publishing agreement to a third-party AI system or service without prior authorization from ACA.

Authors considering an AI indexing tool that requires access to the complete manuscript should contact ACA Publications staff before doing so.

AI-Generated Visual Materials

ACA does not accept visual materials that are wholly or substantially generated by AI. This prohibition includes AI-generated:

• Photographs and illustrations
• Figures
• Graphs and charts
• Diagrams
• Maps
• Infographics 

Authors should consult ACA's Visual Materials Guidelines for complete requirements. The existing guidelines govern accepted visual-material formats and specifications. The use of AI-enabled software to analyze author-generated data is distinct from using generative AI to create visual content. Authors with questions about AI-assisted data analysis, tables, or data visualizations should consult their ACA editor before preparing final materials.

Protecting Manuscripts and Confidential Information

Authors should carefully consider what information must be provided to an AI system in order to perform a requested task.

Except for routine proofreading and grammar assistance as described under ‘Routine Assistive Use,’ authors must not upload or enter the following material into a third-party AI system without appropriate authorization:

• Unpublished manuscript content subject to an ACA publishing agreement
• Actual client information or clinical records
• Personally identifiable or protected information
• Confidential research data
• Unpublished third-party manuscripts or peer review materials
• Proprietary information
• Copyrighted third-party content that the author does not have the legal right to provide to the service 

Authors should also review the terms and privacy practices of AI tools they choose to use. The author remains responsible for ensuring that use of a tool does not compromise rights in the manuscript or the rights of others.

Disclosing AI Use to ACA

Authors must disclose generative or transformative AI use when submitting a proposal and again when submitting the completed manuscript. Authors should also notify their ACA editor if the nature or extent of AI use materially changes during manuscript development. 

A disclosure should identify:

• The AI tool used
• The general category or purpose of the use, and
• A brief description of the nature and scope of the assistance.

Example Disclosures 

• During preparation of this manuscript, the authors used [AI tool] to assist with [purpose, such as brainstorming, organization, or substantive language editing]. The authors reviewed and revised all resulting material and take responsibility for the final content.
• [AI tool] was used to assist with brainstorming and development of the fictional case study in Chapter X. The author reviewed and revised the resulting material and takes responsibility for the final content. 

ACA will determine whether an acknowledgment of AI use should appear in the published book. Authors should not add a published AI acknowledgment to the manuscript without consulting ACA Publications staff. 

When in Doubt, Ask

AI technologies and their applications continue to change. These guidelines cannot anticipate every tool or publishing workflow. When determining whether an AI use is appropriate, authors should consider: Is the tool assisting me in expressing and developing my own intellectual work, or is it creating the intellectual or creative work for me? Authors should also consider whether use of the tool requires them to provide material that they may not have the right or authorization to share.

If the answer is unclear, contact ACA Publications staff before using the AI-generated or AI-assisted material in your proposal or manuscript.