MSI Press Blog

  As artificial intelligence becomes a more ubiquitously used -- and accepted -- tool, authors need to consider how to use the tool responsibly. Here are some guidelines that can help. 1. AI as a Tool, Not a Source AI can help brainstorm, summarize, or reframe—but it’s not an original authority. Treat AI outputs as draft material that must be verified against trusted sources before inclusion. 2. Disclosure & Transparency Many publishers now require authors to disclose AI assistance in research or drafting. Transparency protects credibility and avoids accusations of hidden reliance. 3. Fact-Checking AI Outputs AI can produce plausible but inaccurate information. Always cross-check facts with primary sources (documents, data, expert publications). Never cite AI as the source—cite the verified material it points you to. 4. Copyright & Originality AI-generated text is generally not copyrightable. If you need to use AI content verbatim, treat it as your own wr...

  It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic addresses contracts -- what is a good one, what is a bad one, and what do the specialized terms actually mean? I will answer these questions in a series of posts, using, to start, our contracts, and will go through them paragraph by paragraph. Then, I will look at some other publishers' contracts for differing content. Last week we looked at the introductory paragraphs, mostly general information, including who is the author, what is the title, what rights are being offered. Paragraph 1 states what rights you are offering -- specifically and in detail. The next three sections spell out related under...