Niels Van Quaquebeke: Beyond efficiency: How AI will reshape scientific inquiry and the publication process

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how research is conceived, executed, published, and shared. This editorial examines the “elephant in the room”: the integration of AI across every stage of the research life cycle and publication pipeline. We trace AI’s expanding footprint on the author side, from sparking novel research ideas, mapping literature, and designing studies, to simulating data, analyzing results, and drafting manuscripts. We also consider AI’s growing role on the journal side, including automated manuscript triage, AI-assisted peer review, decision synthesis, and revision checks. And we discuss AI’s impact on research dissemination. Throughout, we highlight not only the unprecedented opportunities for creativity, efficiency, and accessibility, but also the ethical risks, such as epistemic homogenization, challenges to accountability, and the loss of scholarly craft. We urge researchers, editors, and institutions not to fall into the false binary of blind optimism or blanket skepticism. Instead, we call for deliberate engagement: a principled, transparent, and reflexive partnership between human scholars and machine collaborators. The question is no longer whether we want AI to shape the future of scholarship—it already is. The challenge now is to ensure that what it amplifies is not only our productivity, but our judgment, imagination, and collective responsibility in knowledge creation and dissemination.
 

Prof. Dr. Niels Van Quaquebeke is a leadership scholar who cares deeply about understanding why people follow, how they collaborate, and what it takes to create humane, effective organizations in a rapidly changing world. A trained psychologist with a PhD from the University of Hamburg, he has spent his career exploring the human side of leadership—from communication and influence to the subtle power of interpersonal respect.

Today, his work increasingly examines how artificial intelligence reshapes leadership and organizational life. As both Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior at Kühne Logistics University (KLU) and as a Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Exeter, he helps organizations and leaders navigate this new terrain with clarity and evidence. His expertise is widely sought after in the media, where he is frequently invited to comment on emerging trends, societal implications, and practical work realities.

Prof. Van Quaquebeke  has held research and teaching positions at Erasmus University Rotterdam and several international business schools. He serves on editorial boards such as The Leadership Quarterly and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and teaches courses ranging from leadership development to difficult conversations and negotiation psychology. Amongst others, he also offers his insights as part of the online course offering of the ZEIT Akademie.

A three-time recipient of KLU’s best overall teaching award, he is also an active speaker at events like TEDx, where he shares insights on digital leadership and human–AI collaboration (Your Bot Boss and When AI has all the Answers). Through his spin-off re|spic|ere, he works to translate research into practical tools that help leaders build better workplaces.