The Japan Society for Public Relations (JSPR) (Chair: Takaaki Nishii) released its "Guidelines for AI Tool Use in Research Activities" on Tuesday, June 30, 2026. These guidelines cover major aspects of research activities such as research planning, investigation, analysis, manuscript writing, and peer review. [Key Points] ● Organizes the thinking behind AI tool use in key research activities, from planning and investigation to analysis, manuscript writing, and peer review. ● Explicitly states that AI tools will not be recognized as authors or co-authors, and that authors bear responsibility for the research content. ● Emphasizes the confidentiality of unpublished information, such as peer-review manuscripts, and states that inputting the full text or highly confidential content of manuscripts into cloud-based AI tools is generally not permitted. ● Clarifies responsibilities for declaration, disclosure, and record-keeping regarding the use of AI, including whether it was used, the purpose, scope, and verification methods. ● Applicable from Volume 31 of the society's journal, "Kōhō Kenkyū" (scheduled for publication in March 2027). (Note) AI Tools: Refers to all information services that use AI to support research activities, manuscript writing, peer review, etc. AI tools, including generative AI, are increasingly being utilized in various research activities such as exploring research themes, designing surveys, transcribing, summarizing, organizing data, assisting with analysis, and supporting manuscript writing. On the other hand, research ethics issues have also become apparent, including author responsibility, third-party rights, protection of personal and confidential information, handling of peer-review manuscripts, and appropriate disclosure of AI use. These guidelines do not uniformly restrict the use of AI tools but rather present a basic framework for researchers to use AI appropriately while ensuring the reliability and transparency of their research. Speci