The student must be the sole author of their Master’s Thesis (TFM). Therefore, cases of plagiarism, copying, or fraudulent use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools will not be tolerated. Sanctions for unethical practices will consist of failing the course and the opening of an academic disciplinary procedure, which may result in the non-awarding of the master’s degree.

Plagiarism is defined as the reproduction of sentences or paragraphs from texts by other authors without citing the original source, whether from a website, a book, a journal, or the work of other students We also consider plagiarism using someone's ideas without referencing the source.

With regard to the use of GenAI, it will be considered fraudulent to take a text generated by such tools and present it as one’s own in any section of the Master’s Thesis. This type of practice violates the principle of authorship stated above and may also entail the inclusion of plagiarized content or incorrect attribution of the ideas presented.

GenAI tools may have legitimate uses in the preparation of a Master’s Thesis. Examples include revising one’s own text to improve its quality or providing support in the creation of experimental materials. In all cases, however, students remain fully responsible for the content of the thesis and must be able to demonstrate during the defense that they understand everything it contains. The student should discuss with the thesis supervisor which uses, if any, of GenAI tools are appropriate for the thesis.
 

Declaration of GenAI use

It is mandatory to declare whether GenAI tools have been used in the preparation of the Master’s Thesis and, if so, to explain clearly and transparently how they were used. This information may be included in the methodology section of the thesis or in a specific separate section. The use of the Artificial Intelligence Disclosure Framework illustrated below, is recommended:

Methodology: I used [name of the tool] to generate the images that served as stimuli in Experiment 1.

Writing of the thesis: I used [name of the tool] to correct spelling errors and improve the coherence and fluency of the text.

You may consult the UPF’s general regulations regarding the use of GenAI at this link.