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Harvard Biblographic Style Guide

Guide of the University Library of the University of Alicante on the Harvard citation style (4th edition 2025) developed by Harvard University and used in the fields of Physics, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and Economics.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the field of study and research is becoming more and more common. Whatever use you make of it, if you are allowed to use it in your subject, you have to cite this source or tool like any other.

If you use it, you should bear the following in mind:

  • The methodology section of the paper should include a brief description of how AI has been used, as it can be considered as one of the techniques used, but never as an academic source.
  • It is advisable to include as annexes to the paper the texts or contents generated with AI since, even if the same prompt is used, the result will be different from the one you have obtained in your original query.
  • If you are going to include bibliographic references provided by AI, verify their authenticity.
  • Cite throughout the text the AI tool used and the documents or content (text, images, videos, etc.) created with it.
  • Most citation styles usually include in the list of references those that correspond to Artificial Intelligence.

 

 

The Harvard style considers that both the text and another product (e.g. an image) generated from the AI should be cited, both within the text (citation) and at the end of the paper (bibliographic reference).

Some Harvard models consider AI as a tool and therefore it is cited and referenced as the output of a computer program.

Reference model:

 


Author (year) IA tool (version if known). [Format]. URL [Accessed: day-month-year]. Prompt: Prompt title.  

 

EXAMPLE of in-text referencing and citation
OpenAI (2024) ChatGPT 4 (version 3.5). [Large language model]. https://chatgpt.com/ [Accessed: 20-01-2024]. Prompt: Business models in circular economy.

Direct quote 
ChatGPT (2024) generated a document in which…

Indirect quote 
The document thus generated (ChatGPT, 2024), showed that…

 

If the prompt is included in an annex or appendix, the reference would look like this:

Author (year) IA tool (version if known). [Format]. URL [Accessed: day-month-year]. See annex for the prompt used and the text generated. 

 

EXAMPLE 
OpenAI (2024) ChatGPT 4 (version 3.5). [Large language model]. https://chatgpt.com [Accessed: 20-01-2024]. See annex for the prompt used and text generated.

 

[Large language model] or [Large language model] can be used in the format but the same one must always be used.