How to Read an iThenticate AI Writing Report Before Submission

The safest way to read an iThenticate AI Writing Report before journal submission is to identify the interface state first. A number is only useful after you know that a report exists, that you opened the AI report rather than the Similarity Report, and which report presentation you are looking at.

1. Read the AI Writing cell in My Files. Blurred, dashes, missing and visible are different states.
2. Open the actual AI Writing Report only when it is available. In the enhanced view it has its own top tab; in the classic view the side indicator opens it in a new tab. If no report is available, follow the indicator's state-specific instruction instead.
3. Record the report date, language and visible legend. For English submissions, iThenticate changed from two highlight colors to one blue set on August 4, 2026. The update is explicitly English-only.
4. Save the full report with the exact manuscript version. A copied percentage cannot preserve status messages, highlights or context.

If the interface is loading, showing an error, rejecting the file or saying detection was enabled recently, resolve that state before treating anything on screen as a finding about the manuscript.

iThenticate's My Files guide gives two unusually useful definitions: scores are blurred when the disclaimer has not been accepted, and dashes appear when there is no AI report. Those are interface facts, not detector scores.

Keep `--` and `0%` separate in your notes. The first means no report; the second is a displayed result from a report that processed.

In iThenticate's enhanced report view, select AI Writing in the top menu. In the classic view, select the AI indicator in the side panel; the AI Writing Report opens in a separate browser tab.

Both help pages draw the same boundary: AI writing highlights are not visible in the Similarity Report. A Similarity Report PDF can therefore be complete for text matching and still tell you nothing about AI highlights.

If a coauthor, editor or administrator sends you only a Similarity Report, ask whether a separate AI Writing Report exists. Do not infer an AI result from the similarity percentage, colored source matches or the absence of AI highlights in that PDF. The two reports answer different questions, as explained in AI Writing Report vs Similarity Report.

Follow the indicator before trying to open anything. Open a processed 0%, asterisk or 20-100% result; wait when processing is still loading; retry or ask an administrator about a processing error; fix an ineligible file before retrying; and resubmit when the interface says an updated report is available or AI detection was enabled recently. None of those unfinished or error states is a version of "low AI."

iThenticate's product updates say that English submissions in enabled iThenticate 2.0 accounts moved to a single set of blue highlights on August 4, 2026. That replaced the previous two-color presentation for English submissions. The company says the presentation changed, not the underlying detection logic, and explicitly limits this display change to English.

Two older help pages still show the previous blue-and-purple explanation. Their page dates predate the change. For an English submission, a saved old screenshot, an older training guide and a current report may therefore use different legends. For another supported language, do not import the English-only update; record the legend the report actually displays.

Color is not chain-of-custody evidence. The product update says the old split could lead readers to infer tool-specific details the report was not designed to establish. A purple passage in the older presentation does not prove that a named paraphraser, spinner or humanizer was used. For the historical label boundary, see what the old paraphrased and bypasser labels could actually establish.

Record the submission language, what the report itself displayed and when it was generated. Do not apply the English-only presentation change to another language, silently translate an old legend into the current one, or treat a presentation change as a model change.

Before submission, save enough context for another person to reconstruct what you saw. A model update does not alter an existing report. A new report generated after resubmission may differ, while a percentage copied into a note cannot show which manuscript, model run, interface state or presentation produced it.

1. Name the exact manuscript file and version that was checked.
2. Save the complete AI Writing Report, not only the first page or percentage.
3. Record the report generation date, interface view and visible legend.
4. Keep highlighted passages with the surrounding unhighlighted text.
5. Log any revision or resubmission separately instead of overwriting the first record.

This checklist does not turn a detector output into proof of authorship. It preserves the evidence needed to interpret the output. If you need the percentage denominator, read what qualifying text means; if a later submission produces a different result, read why an AI score can change after resubmission.

If you already have the source document and the full iThenticate AI Writing Report, HumanPen can use the report to locate the marked passages instead of treating the headline score as an edit list. Eligible results can be processed again for free.

Do dashes in iThenticate mean 0% AI? No. iThenticate's My Files documentation says dashes are shown when there is no AI report. A visible 0% is a different state.

Why is the iThenticate AI score blurred? The documented reason is that the AI disclaimer has not been accepted. It is not a hidden low score.

Why can I see a Similarity Report but no AI Writing Report? They are separate features with separate report surfaces. AI detection also depends on licensing, enablement, file eligibility and access, so a successful similarity check does not establish that an AI report exists.

What does purple mean in an iThenticate report? For English submissions, purple belongs to the older two-color presentation; the August 4 update moved English submissions to one blue set. The change is English-only, so for another language record the legend the report actually shows. The old purple category did not prove use of a named tool.

Should I save only the percentage before submission? No. Save the exact manuscript, full report, report date, visible legend and highlighted context. Those details are what make a later comparison interpretable.