About AGI

The American-German Institute (AGI) in Washington, DC, is the only think tank focused exclusively on the most pressing issues at stake for Germany and the United States. AGI collaborates with policymakers, corporate leaders, and scholars to deliver in-depth, actionable analysis and addresses the top economic, foreign, security, domestic, and social policy issues affecting the United States, Germany, and the broader transatlantic relationship. 

The American-German Institute is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization with 501(c)(3) charitable status. Articles express the views of the author(s) alone, the American-German Institute does not take institutional stances. AGI accepts articles articulating and supporting a diversity of viewpoints, as long as they adhere to academic standards. 

All work submitted to AGI is reviewed by the Communications Officer and the relevant Program Director to ensure quality, accuracy, and adherence to the AGI style guide.

Academic Integrity

The American-German Institute holds its staff, fellows, and authors to a high standard of academic integrity. AGI does not tolerate research misconduct, which means fabricating, falsifying, and/or plagiarizing in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results.

Use of AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) can be a useful tool for American-German Institute staff, researchers, and contributors. AI can assist with brainstorming, finding sources, refining arguments or ideas, translation, transcription, and proofreading. However, anything produced by AI should always be verified by the user, and users should be aware of potential risks, including incorrect information, hallucinated sources, biases, and copyright infringement. AI should be used responsibly and ethically. 

The American-German Institute’s Guidelines for AI

  1. Arguments must be the author’s alone. We expect that authors produce their own arguments and develop their own ideas. AGI does not accept articles written by AI, and the text submitted must be originally written by the author. Copying and pasting an essay from an LLM and presenting it as the author’s own work would be considered a violation of scholarly integrity or plagiarism. 
  2. Output should be reviewed and vetted. If an author finds a source using AI and cites it in their work, they must ensure that the source is accurate and reflects what they write in their work. Authors must ensure that none of their sources are “hallucinated.” If an author generates text using AI, it must not only be cited, but it must also be verified by the author to ensure its accuracy. 
  3. AI-generated content must be cited. If an author quotes AI-generated text in their work, it must be cited in the same way as if they are quoting from traditional sources. If an illustration is created by or with the help of AI, it should be noted in the credit. AI should not be used to manipulate an image of a real-world event or person.

The Chicago Manual of Style has updated its guidance to include how to cite LLMs in an endnote:

A numbered footnote or endnote might look like this:

  1. Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, March 7, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/chat.

ChatGPT stands in as “author” of the content, and OpenAI (the company that developed ChatGPT) is the publisher or sponsor, followed by the date the text was generated. After that, the URL tells us where the ChatGPT tool may be found, but because readers can’t necessarily get to the cited content (see below), that URL isn’t an essential element of the citation.

If the prompt hasn’t been included in the text, it can be included in the note:

  1. ChatGPT, response to “Explain how to make pizza dough from common household ingredients,” OpenAI, March 7, 2023.

Authors are responsible for the content they submit to AGI, and they must ensure that their work adheres to AGI’s standards of academic integrity. The American-German Institute will review suspicions of research misconduct and determine appropriate action, which could include withholding of honoraria or terminating an association with the institution (e.g., Non-Resident Fellowship). 

Citations

AGI follows the Chicago Manual of Style. 

In online articles and transatlantic perspectives essays, online sources should be hyperlinked within the text. Sources that cannot be hyperlinked (books, journal articles, interviews, etc.) should be cited in footnotes/endnotes in the Chicago Style format. 

All citations for policy reports should be cited in footnotes/endnotes in the Chicago Style format. AGI does not require an additional bibliography.

The Chicago Manual of Style has a quick guide to footnotes for common references: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html 

Sources

Articles should draw on diverse and reputable sources such as news organizations, government reports and statements, think tanks, and peer-reviewed scholarly articles. AGI will review the citations in submitted essays and notify the authors if another source should be used.