u/Intrepid-Star7944

Hi every one

I am a final-year medical student in a non-English-speaking country. Although English is not my native language, I have a solid level of proficiency in both writing and speaking.

Over the past 10 months, I independently conducted a research project, including data collection, statistical analysis, and manuscript writing. Due to limited mentorship opportunities at my institution, I sought informal guidance from a professor at another university. While he agreed to be listed as a senior author, our collaboration has been minimal. (For context, I rarely received meaningful feedback or research opportunities, despite expressing interest multiple times. I accepted this situation, understanding that I am not affiliated with his institution).

The manuscript was eventually submitted and accepted by a medical journal. However, during the review process, the paper received language quality ratings of B and C, with a recommendation for professional language editing, which would cost approximately $850. To avoid this expense, I revised the manuscript myself using tools such as a thesaurus and Grammarly.

A few days after acceptance, the editor contacted me stating that 79% of the manuscript was flagged as AI-generated by Turnitin’s AI detection system. I immediately contacted the senior author, explaining the situation transparently and asking for guidance, but I received no response.

Subsequently, the editor added an AI contribution statement to my manuscript. It appears that my article may be the only one in the issue with such a statement. This has left me feeling devastated and concerned about how I am perceived, particularly that the professor might think I used AI irresponsibly or dishonestly.

I would be more than grateful to read your thoughts on this, or any advice you could provide for the future!

Honestly talking, how do you expect things to happen in the Final?

Edit: meant May obviously!!! Apologies