Clarity Meets Compliance: Paperpal Adds Tools to Ensure Responsible AI Use in Academic Writing

AI can be a lifesaver when you’re starting a new project, polishing your writing, or racing to meet a deadline. But after working on a draft for days or weeks, it’s surprisingly easy to lose track of which sentences are truly yours and which were suggested by the AI. This uncertainty isn’t just unsettling; in academia, it can put your originality and credibility at risk.  

With academic integrity in the spotlight, universities, journals, and publishers are tightening their rules and require AI disclosure. In this scenario, knowing where and how you’ve used generative AI in research has never been more important. 

That’s where Paperpal’s comes in with two new features: AI Footprint and AI Disclosure Templates. These aren’t just fancy tools, they’re your safety net to help you use AI responsibly, write with confidence, and ensure integrity and research transparency. 

Ensuring Responsible AI Use in Academia: Two Sides of the Coin

We’re seeing an increasing use of generative AI in research and education this year. Two separate 2025 surveys on AI use showed that over 80% of students and researchers regularly use generative AI for their studying, writing, and research workflows.^1,2 Yet, a Paperpal survey of 1,440 academics revealed that 44% were still unclear about institutional policies, and more than 50% had never declared AI use in submissions. Many who did disclose AI use admitted feeling anxious about how supervisors, reviewers or thesis committees might react.   

At the same time, institutions are under pressure to preserve academic integrity. The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), a leading scientific publisher, analyzed tens of thousands of submissions and found that although many manuscripts likely contained AI-generated text, less than 25% of authors disclosed AI use, even when policies required it.³  

This highlighted a twofold problem in academia, with both individuals and institutions struggling to ensure responsible AI use. 

1. Awareness and author control: Authors are not always able to reliably track how and where AI has contributed to their academic writing. 

2. Disclosures and compliance: With the focus on research transparency, failure to disclose AI use can risk rejection and hurt your credibility. 

Paperpal’s Solution: Tools that Put You Back in Control

At Paperpal, we’re building features to encourage responsible AI use because we believe that it is not just about what AI can produce, but rather how you use it. With AI Footprint and AI Disclosure Templates, we’ve built tools that help you ensure clarity, protect your authorship, and strengthen your reputation. Let’s take a look at each of these features and how they work to keep you in control and compliant.  

AI Footprint: Track AI Changes in Your Writing in Real Time

AI Footprint is your way of seeing, in real time, exactly what parts of your document were added or modified by Paperpal’s AI. Activated via a simple toggle under the 3-dot menu on Paperpal’s online editor, AI Footprint helps you write with clarity, intention, and full control. Think of it like having a transparent marker showing where AI came in—and giving you the power to quickly adjust, edit, or claim ownership when needed, without having to wait till you’re done writing. 

How AI Footprint helps you 

• See AI changes as they happen: Track any AI text that you’ve inserted or modified in your document, over multiple sessions.  

• Stay in control of your writing: Gain visibility of AI contributions so you can act early and revise it to sound more like you. 

• Skip last-minute panic: Avoids the scramble to figure out what’s human vs. AI, eliminating the need for rushed rewrites before submission.  

• Collaborate with clarity: Share your document with co-authors, mentors, or supervisors to clearly show them where AI has been used. 

• Be disclosure-ready: If your university or journal asks for AI usage clarity, you have your own AI footprint readily available to share. 

And remember, AI Footprint isn’t about surveillance or gatekeeping, it’s about delivering precision you can trust. By tracking what Paperpal’s AI adds or modifies in your text, it eliminates guesswork and puts authorship firmly in your hands. See for yourself, Sign up to Paperpal for Free Now!  

AI Disclosure Templates: Ensure Compliance in Minutes

AI disclosures are now mandatory across most journals and universities, but guidelines remain confusing and inconsistent. Paperpal’s AI Disclosure feature helps authors save time and ensure compliance with ready-to-use templates sourced directly from leading universities and publishers like Springer, Wiley, and IEEE.  

If official wording exists, we provide it. If not, Paperpal has crafted compliant statements with links to source policies. Simply click Templates in the sidebar to add the insert disclosures to your document in one click—no formatting stress, no second-guessing! 

How AI Disclosure Templates help you 

• Save time and stress: No more hunting down disclosure policies or trying to find the right words; our ready-made templates removes unnecessary friction and excuses. 

• Ensure compliance: Submit with confidence by using AI disclosure statements that properly match or reference publisher/institutional policy. 

• Build credibility: By being upfront about disclosing AI use, you’re maintaining transparency with supervisors, reviewers, or thesis committees. 

• Gain peace of mind: By being proactive and submitting AI disclosures as needed, you know you are covered if your institution tightens policy. 

AI Footprint + AI Disclosure Templates: How They Work Together

Both AI Footprint and AI Disclosure Templates are part of Paperpal’s initiative to support research transparency and responsible AI use. Think of AI Footprint as being the “inside view” (showing how the writing is happening), and AI Disclosure Templates as the “outside view” (showing what you’re declaring about AI use). When used together, they eliminate speculation about “Did I use AI here?” or “Do I need to disclose?” and let you focus on what you want to say in your own authentic voice. 

Together, these two Paperpal features solve the challenges of responsible AI use: 

• Write with clarity and full control, knowing exactly when, where, and how AI has shaped your draft. 

• Submit with confidence, using ready-made AI disclosure statements that minimize red flags on submission. 

• Protect your originality by demonstrating your own ideas, analysis, and voice to ensure integrity and research transparency. 

As AI becomes part of almost every scholar’s toolkit, it’s critical to know what AI contributed and disclose its use when it matters. That’s why Paperpal is designing tools that enhance originality and protect credibility; while helping you meet evolving standards for research transparency. Get ready to write with full clarity and control, Sign up to Paperpal for Free Now!

References: 

1. Digital Education Council Global AI Student Survey 2024, Digital Education Council website – August 2024. Accessible on https://www.digitaleducationcouncil.com/post/digital-education-council-global-ai-student-survey-2024 

2. Zhehui Liao et al. “LLMs as Research Tools: A Large Scale Survey of Researchers’ Usage and Perceptions.” arXiv, October 2024. Accessible on https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2411.05025 

3. Miryam Naddaf, “AI tool detects LLM-generated text in research papers and peer reviews.” Nature News, September 2025. Accessible on https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02936-6 

Paperpal is a comprehensive AI writing toolkit that helps students and researchers achieve 2x the writing in half the time. It leverages 23+ years of STM experience and insights from millions of research articles to provide in-depth academic writing, language editing, and submission readiness support to help you write better, faster. 

Get accurate academic translations, rewriting support, grammar checks, vocabulary suggestions, and generative AI assistance that delivers human precision at machine speed. Try for free or upgrade to Paperpal Prime starting at US$25 a month to access premium features, including consistency, plagiarism, and 30+ submission readiness checks to help you succeed. 

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