Artificial intelligence tools: a potential for error-free scholarly communication in Nigerian universities

Recently, efforts have been intensified in Nigerian universities to address errors and ethical issues in scholarly communications. However, despite significant efforts by the government and university administrators to resolve these challenges, most researchers still lack the expertise to effectively utilize advanced artificial intelligence (AI) tools that are essential for producing ethically sound and error-free scholarly articles. AI has speedily emerged as one of the most significant and transformative innovations of our time, with wide-ranging applications in almost every field of knowledge. Among these applications, research has arguably witnessed the fastest growth and adoption of AI-driven tools in developed nations. This study provides an in-depth review of the present applications of AI-driven tools in higher education in Nigeria, with a focus on universities, and explores the factors affecting innovative research output in universities in Nigeria. The findings from the articles reveal that several factors contribute to this, such as poor research sponsorship, limited access to online scholarly articles, unethical practices, unintentional errors, and brain drain. Benefits, implications, and strategies for improvement, along with a roadmap outlining the way forward, are suggested.