Conflict of Interests Policy
The journal is committed to transparency and impartiality in scholarly publishing. Authors, reviewers, editors, and other participants in the publication process must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, the research, peer review, editorial decision, or publication process.
1. Authors
Authors must disclose relevant financial and non-financial interests that could influence the research or its interpretation.
Potential conflicts may include, but are not limited to:
- research funding or financial support;
- employment or consultancy relationships;
- ownership of shares or financial interests;
- patents or commercial interests;
- personal or professional relationships;
- institutional affiliations;
- competing professional interests; and
- other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the work.
A conflict of interest does not necessarily prevent publication. However, it must be disclosed and appropriately managed.
Authors should provide a Declaration of Conflicting Interests in the manuscript.
Where no relevant conflict exists, authors should state:
“The author(s) declare that there is no conflict of interest.”
2. Funding Disclosure
Authors must disclose sources of financial or institutional support for the research and publication.
Where applicable, authors should indicate whether a funding organization had any role in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
3. Reviewers
Reviewers must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest before accepting a review assignment.
Reviewers should decline to review a manuscript where their relationship with the authors, institutions, research, or subject matter could compromise, or reasonably appear to compromise, their impartiality.
Potential conflicts may include recent collaboration, close personal or professional relationships, institutional affiliation, financial interests, professional competition, or other circumstances that could affect the review.
4. Editors and Editor-in-Chief
Editors and the Editor-in-Chief must disclose and appropriately manage conflicts of interest.
An editor must not participate in the editorial evaluation or final decision concerning a manuscript where the editor has a conflict of interest.
Where necessary, the manuscript should be assigned to another qualified editor who is independent of the conflict.
Editors who submit manuscripts to the journal must be subject to the same peer-review and editorial standards as other authors and must not influence the review or publication decision.
5. Disclosure During the Publication Process
Conflicts of interest should be disclosed at the time of submission. Authors must update their declaration if a relevant conflict arises or becomes known during revision or before publication.
The journal may request additional information where necessary to assess and manage a declared or suspected conflict.
Where appropriate, the journal will publish a conflict-of-interest declaration with the article to ensure transparency for readers.
6. Undisclosed Conflicts
If a significant undisclosed conflict of interest is identified before publication, the journal may request clarification or disclosure and may take appropriate editorial action.
If a significant undisclosed conflict is identified after publication, the journal may publish a correction, clarification, Expression of Concern, or other appropriate post-publication notice depending on the circumstances and potential effect on the published record.
7. Editorial Independence
Editorial decisions must be based on scholarly quality, originality, methodological soundness, relevance, ethical compliance, and other legitimate editorial considerations.
Editorial decisions must not be influenced by financial interests, advertising, sponsorship, personal relationships, institutional pressure, or other inappropriate considerations.
The publisher supports the editorial independence of the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board.
8. Responsibility
Authors, reviewers, editors, and the Editor-in-Chief are responsible for identifying and appropriately disclosing conflicts of interest relevant to their role in the publication process.
The journal may take reasonable measures to investigate and manage conflicts of interest in order to maintain fairness, transparency, and confidence in the scholarly record.
This policy should be read together with the journal's Publication Ethics and Research Ethics Policy, Peer Review Policy and Guidelines, and Author Guidelines.
Policy status: This policy applies to all manuscripts submitted to and articles published in the journal and may be updated in accordance with developments in scholarly publishing and research-integrity standards.
