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Journal of Online Mentoring

ORCID

0000-0003-2393-5477

Digital Object Identifier

10.5590/JOM.2026.1.1000

Abstract

This study critically examines the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), specifically ChatGPT, in the development of doctoral dissertation proposals, highlighting both its potential and its ethical implications. Through a content analysis of a dissertation proposal created using ChatGPT, the study investigates how GenAI supports structural organization, academic writing, and citation formatting while exposing significant concerns related to fabricated references, methodological misalignment, and diminished scholarly rigor. Although GenAI accelerates the proposal-writing process, its outputs often lack the depth, coherence, and originality expected at the doctoral level, thereby threatening the integrity of academic research. Findings reveal that GenAI-generated content may deceive faculty reviewers with convincingly formatted but nonexistent citations and underdeveloped arguments. The study further explores the pressures that motivate doctoral candidates to misuse GenAI, including time constraints, high-stakes academic expectations, and limited access to sustained mentoring. Particular attention is given to the role of online doctoral mentoring, where faculty advisors must now counterbalance the efficiencies of AI with the responsibilities of academic guidance, critical evaluation of AI-generated work, and coaching students in the ethical use of these tools. These findings underscore the urgent need for higher education institutions to implement clear GenAI usage policies, enforce transparency and disclosure standards, and provide targeted faculty development to strengthen online doctoral mentoring practices. This research contributes to the evolving discourse on AI ethics in academia and calls for institutional safeguards to ensure that GenAI enhances, rather than undermines, the standards of doctoral scholarship and the credibility of the scholarly record.

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