AI literacy and ethical use of generative AI in academic writing among LIS scholars in Nigeria

Purpose This study aims to examine the perspectives of Library and Information Science (LIS) scholars in Nigerian universities on artificial intelligence (AI) literacy and the ethical use of generative AI in academic writing. Four (4) specific objectives guided the study. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey design was used, and data were gathered from 217 returned questionnaires completed by LIS scholars, representing a 60.5% response rate from 359 academics on the NALISE WhatsApp platform. Descriptive statistics, an independent-samples t-test, and Pearson correlation analysis were used to evaluate differences in AI literacy and the relationship between AI literacy and ethical prompting. Findings Findings revealed a generally low level of AI literacy, with respondents reporting challenges in evaluating AI-generated content and detecting AI-assisted plagiarism. Ethical prompting practices were not consistently adopted, although many scholars expressed concern about issues such as plagiarism, ghostwriting, and misinformation. Institutional support, including policies, training and formal guidelines, was widely perceived as inadequate. Significant differences existed between those who had used AI tools and those who had not, and AI literacy showed a strong positive correlation with ethical prompting. Originality/value Based on the authors’ knowledge and literature search, this is the first empirical study to comprehensively explore AI literacy and ethical use of Generative AI among LIS scholars in the context of Nigeria. It addresses a critical gap in the literature, which has predominantly focused on technologically advanced regions. The study introduces a unified framework that simultaneously investigates AI literacy, ethical prompting, perceived ethical risks and institutional practices, offering a holistic view of the challenges. It also contributes original empirical evidence on the relationship between AI literacy and ethical behavior.