Ethical Usage of Artificial Intelligence Tools in Information Science Research

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are rapidly transforming research practices in information science, enabling new approaches to literature review, hypothesis development, academic writing, referencing, and data analysis. This study provides a critical examination of the ethical issues surrounding the use of AI applications such as ChatGPT, Elicit, Scite, Grammarly, and Semantic Scholar in scholarly work. Using a conceptual research design, the paper synthesizes evidence from recent literature, policy documents, and grey sources to explore the opportunities and risks of AI adoption. The analysis identifies five major ethical concerns: transparency and disclosure, authorship and intellectual ownership, data privacy and confidentiality, bias and inclusivity, and institutional responsibility. To address these challenges, the study proposes ethical guidelines that include mandatory AI usage statements, human-in-command authorship principles, responsible data practices, equity-driven AI literacy, and institutional oversight mechanisms.