Grace Sheahan is Health Sciences Librarian and a member of the DePaul Library’s AI Working Group.
From Google’s AI Overviews to Nike’s Air sneakers, artificial intelligence has infiltrated countless industries, including scholarly publishing. Some academic publishers, such as Springer Nature, are actively incorporating AI in several aspects of their workflows including peer review, translation, and even content creation. The DePaul Library’s AI Working Group is closely following these trends so librarians can support students, faculty, and staff with using and creating information in this new landscape. Read on for our rundown of some of the latest developments in how generative AI is changing the scholarly publishing process and the implications for researchers.
Submission & Peer Review Process
In 2024, Springer Nature announced it was implementing two AI tools to assist in manuscript submissions, the first step in the publishing process. The first tool, Geppetto, uses AI to detect AI-generated content in manuscript submissions. SnappShot is an AI-assisted image integrity analysis tool that analyzes PDF files for duplicate image types. The announcement emphasized that neither tool decides whether a manuscript should advance in the submission process, but indicates if further assessment is needed by reviewers.
Once a manuscript submission is accepted, it must go through several rounds of editing and revision, known as peer review. In 2025, Springer Nature announced that it was incorporating a tool developed in-house to automate editorial quality checks in the peer review process. The unnamed tool addresses “manuscript quality issues, reducing the number of amendments needed” according to the announcement. Springer Nature reiterated that humans double-check the AI’s flags to make the final decision.
Auto-Translation & Machine-Generated Books
Springer Nature’s implementation of AI does not stop after peer review. As of a 2021 announcement, the publisher is offering auto-translation powered by DeepL AI as a free service to researchers for their books and manuscripts.
However, the most overhauling use of AI by Springer Nature is in its machine-generated books. Springer Nature published the first AI-generated book in 2023, the German-language title Einsatzmöglichkeiten von GPT in Finance, Compliance und Audit (Applications of GPT in Finance, Compliance and Audit). The book took five months to complete, a relatively minuscule timeframe in an industry that can take years to publish manuscripts. However, Springer Nature has not found success with all of its machine-generated content. The 2025 book Mastering Machine Learning: From Basics to Advanced was retracted, meaning that Springer Nature withdrew it for having serious errors. According to the nonprofit website Retraction Watch, 18 of the 46 citations in the book did not exist or were erroneous, a common issue with large language models such as ChatGPT.
Despite the retraction, Springer Nature still promotes its machine-generated publications to authors, as well as its Springer Nature Research Round-Up service which provides researchers with literature reviews powered by artificial intelligence and “Human-Machine Collaboration.”
Impacts and Implications
The increasing implementation of generative AI in the scholarly publishing process will have impacts on both readers and authors. Readers will need to be aware that the scholarly publications they come across may be partially or completely generated by AI, which can affect a text’s accuracy, readability, and authority. As AI tools allow publishers to produce more content faster, readers will need to find ways to handle rapid increases in the available content and thoroughly evaluate materials when conducting research.
Authors may face issues such as manuscripts being inaccurately flagged by AI for incorporating AI-generated content or other errors. The peer reviewers charged with double-checking the flagging done by AI tools will still need to be wary of confirmation bias and errors the tools may overlook. The advanced accuracy of DeepL’s auto-translation has the potential to make authors’ work available to a more global audience.
These are just a few examples of how generative AI is changing the scholarly publishing process. Creators and consumers alike will need to stay informed of how publishers like Springer Nature employ these tools as they spread throughout the industry. The DePaul Library is your partner in research, and librarians will continue to update our community on the implications of AI for researchers. Please use our Ask a Librarian service to get in touch if you have questions or would like to talk more about AI and scholarly publishing.