Why We Support and Encourage the Use of Large Language Models in NEJM AI Submissions

Large language models (LLMs) promise to revolutionize many aspects of the creation and dissemination of scientific knowledge; however, their use in scientific writing remains controversial, because of concerns about authorship, originality, factual inaccuracies, and "hallucinations" or confabulations. As a result, several publication venues have explicitly prohibited their use. At NEJM AI, we have elected instead to allow the use of LLMs for submissions, as long as authors take complete responsibility for the content and properly acknowledge the use of LLMs. However, this policy does not allow an LLM to be listed as a coauthor. We believe that the use of LLM tools can help scientists enhance the quality of their scientific work and democratize both the creation and consumption of scientific knowledge, thereby helping us maximally enable the scientific workforce to produce robust, novel scientific findings and disseminate them broadly.