Professor Mark Hughes

Research into the lives of sexually and gender diverse (SGD) people is expanding globally. As visibility increases and social contexts shift, new opportunities are emerging in SGD research, policy, and practice. Yet the lives of SGD people remain largely invisible and insufficiently represented despite progress in civil rights protections across many countries. Health, social and economic disparities as well as community strengths remain significant worldwide, and inequities by sexuality, gender and age are well documented (Fredriksen, 2026; Fredriksen-Goldsen & de Vries, 2019). At the same time, in many regions, SGD communities face renewed backlash, censoring, and erasure. The lack of attention to sexuality, gender and age diversity, combined with escalating threats, constitutes a call to action for culturally grounded research, services and policies.

So much is being written about artificial intelligence (AI) at the moment that it is hard to know what another editorial on the topic might be able to contribute. But I do know that people are asking whether the Australasian Journal on Ageing (AJA) has an AI policy. So, I am taking this opprotunity to explain some of the ways AI is being embedded in academic publishing and the work of the AJA, as well as highlight the guardrails we have in place to ensure academic integrity.