Generative AI Use Policy

For AUthors

Generative AI — including but not limited to tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini — is a powerful tool to assist in writing and research. It also poses significant, unique risks in the context of legal scholarship, including issues with factual accuracy, attribution, and style. In order to mitigate these risks and ensure that the UTFLR continues to publish high-quality, accurate, and novel legal scholarship, we require authors to disclose any substantive use of AI in the research, writing, and editing processes.

The submission process includes an AI disclosure form. Only submissions accompanied by a completed AI disclosure form will be considered for publication. Authors who submitted their papers prior to the introduction of this policy will be asked to complete an AI disclosure form before their paper advances in the review process. 

Authors are required to disclose use of AI for any of the following purposes:

  • Generating arguments that appear in a submitted paper 

  • Drafting or substantially rewriting any text that appears in a submitted paper 

  • Summarizing sources that are cited in a submitted paper without further review by the author

Where AI has been used to draft or substantially rewrite text that appears in a submitted paper, the AI disclosure should clearly indicate which section(s) were human-written and which were AI-written or substantially revised with AI.

Authors are not required to disclose use of AI for the following purposes: 

  • Locating sources (case law, secondary materials, etc.) that are subsequently reviewed by the author and properly cited

  • Minor copy-editing, e.g. spelling and grammar corrections as opposed to entirely rephrasing or rewriting a sentence 

  • Assistance in formatting McGill Guide-compliant citations 

Properly disclosed AI use is not, in itself, a basis for rejection of a submitted paper. However, substantial use of AI for drafting will be considered in assessing the originality and style of submitted work. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and originality of their submitted work, and may be required to disclose their use of AI in a footnote to their paper if accepted for publication. 

If AI use has not been disclosed and editors suspect a paper has been drafted with AI, we reserve the right to upload submitted papers to research-backed AI detection tools in order to identify AI-drafted text. Submitted papers will not be uploaded or shared with generative AI tools for any other reason. 

Submissions that used AI without proper disclosure may be rejected at the sole discretion of the Editors in Chief.

For Students

Generative AI should not be used for any purpose in preparing application materials for a position on the University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review. We may use research-backed AI detection tools to investigate whether applications were created by or with generative AI tools. Use of generative AI is grounds for immediate rejection of any application at the sole discretion of the Editors in Chief. 

Generative AI tools may be used by student editors to conduct research as part of their editorial role. However, students may not upload or copy the text of any submitted paper, in whole or in part, into any generative AI tool for any reason. We expect all members of the masthead to be candid with their Senior Editor with respect to any AI use in preparing carriage forms or other editorial materials.