LITE Generative AI Protocols (Proposal Writing and Peer Review)

LITE Protocols Regarding the Use of Generative AI in Proposal Writing and Peer Review

The Learning Innovation and Teaching Enhancement (LITE) Seed Grants program is committed to ensuring that Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), when used, is used ethically and with integrity.

We are aligned with the Tri-Council’s position, which stipulates that “privacy, confidentiality, data security and the protection of intellectual property must be considered and prioritized in the development and review” of scholarly work (Government of Canada, 2024, April).

Purpose

The following protocols outline the principles and guidelines for the ethical use of GenAI for LITE Seed Grant applicants, reviewers, and CTE’s Research Team. They aim to ensure that when AI technologies are used, they are implemented in a responsible, transparent, accountable, and fair manner. GenAI was used to draft and review these protocols (see “ Artificial Intelligence Disclosure Statement” below).

These protocols are based on the Tri-Council’s “Guidance on the use of generative AI in the preparation of grant applications”:

"The agencies recognize that generative AI may be a valuable tool to applicants in the preparation of grant applications, including the potential to improve efficiency, assist non-native English and French speakers, and streamline the proposal writing process. In accordance with existing agency policies, applicants are responsible for ensuring that information included in their grant applications is true, accurate and complete and that all sources are appropriately acknowledged and referenced. Applicants should be aware that using generative AI may lead to the presentation of information without proper recognition of authorship or acknowledgement. Applicants must state if and how generative AI has been used in the development of their application and are required to follow specific instructions."

LITE Seed Grant – Authorship

Before starting to work on a proposal, we recommend that applicants verify the GenAI policy of journals where they would usually publish the results of their investigation, to ensure they abide by their specific requirements for each step of the research process. Some journals entirely prohibit the use of GenAI, while others restrict certain applications.

Applicants must always disclose the use of GenAI (akin to the use of other research tools like NVivo, SPSS, and R), detailing the: 1) use; 2) prompt; and 3) nature of the content it generated.

To do so, use the Artificial Intelligence Disclosure (AID) framework.

If no GenAI tools were used, use the following statement: “No GenAI tools were used in the preparation of this proposal.”

Writing and authorship: GenAI tools cannot be listed as an author of a proposal (Committee on Publication Ethics) and cannot write a proposal. Applicants “are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics” (Committee on Publication Ethics).

Data analysis: GenAI must not be used to conduct data analysis. As most LITE grant projects examine human subjects, applicants must adhere to principles of data privacy and confidentiality as detailed in the TCPS2 guidelines.

Consequently, the majority of GenAI systems cannot be used for data analysis. There are exceptions (e.g. NVivo) that incorporate GenAI but are locked down, making them permissible for data analysis.

If you have an AI agent that you believe adheres to these GenAI protocols, seek confirmation from the Research Team (lite@uwaterloo.ca).

Bibliography: While GenAI tools can be used to identify relevant sources, they are also prone to hallucinations, and can produce lists of sources that look credible but do not exist. Proposals containing non-existent sources will be rejected.

Allowed uses: GenAI tools can be used to:

generate ideas or identify a gap in literature
build a corpus of secondary sources in combination with research databases
proofread your work
assist you with the budget
create a timeline for your project.

Any breach of the Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research (2021) will be reported to the Associate Vice-President, Research Oversight and Analysis, and the proposal will be rejected before it is transferred to the adjudicators. A documented breach of research ethics can lead to a loss of current and/or future funding.

LITE Seed Grant – Adjudication

The use of GenAI tools for evaluating grant proposals is strictly prohibited.

From the Tri-Council’s “Guidance on the use of generative AI in the preparation of grant applications”:

"In the evaluation of grant applications, reviewers should be aware that inputting application information into generative AI tools could result in breaches of privacy and in the loss of custody of intellectual property. Examples include transmission of application text to online tools such as ChatGPT and DeepL, which may store and reuse the data for future enhancement of the tool. This would place a reviewer in breach of the Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Agreement for Review Committee Members, External Reviewers and Observers. Therefore, use of publicly available generative AI tools for evaluating grant proposals is strictly prohibited."

Reviewers cannot use GenAI to assess grant proposals. Reviewers must read proposals fully and write the content and argument of their reviews by themselves. Like applicants, reviewers must adhere to principles of data privacy and confidentiality as detailed in the TCPS2 guidelines.

When in doubt, email us!

References

Government of Canada. (2024, April 10). Draft guidance on the use of artificial intelligence in the development and review of research grant proposals. Canada.ca.

Government of Canada. (2024, November 18). Guidance on the use of generative AI in the preparation of grant applications. Canada.ca.

Artificial Intelligence Disclosure Statement

Artificial Intelligence Tool: ChatGPT v.4o and Microsoft Copilot (University of Waterloo institutional instance);
Conceptualization: ChatGPT was used to research “Common Elements of GenAI Use Policies for Scholarly Publications and Conferences”;
Information collection: ChatGPT was used to find relevant journal articles and other sources;
Writing – Review & Editing: Grammarly and ProWriting Aid were used to provide sentence level revisions.