Conflict of Interest
A conflict of interest exists when professional judgment concerning a primary interest, such as the validity of research or editorial decisions, may be influenced by a secondary interest. Conflicts may be financial, personal, professional, academic, institutional, political, or ideological in nature.
Authors
All authors and co-authors must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest at the time of manuscript submission. Examples include, but are not limited to, employment, consultancies, honoraria, research funding, stock ownership, patent applications or licenses, advisory positions, personal relationships, academic competition, or institutional affiliations that could influence the research or its interpretation.
Authors must provide a Conflict-of-Interest Statement. If no conflicts exist, authors should state:
“The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”
All disclosed conflicts of interest will be published with the article upon acceptance.
Reviewers
Reviewers must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest before accepting a review assignment. Reviewers who have conflicts that could affect their impartiality must decline the invitation to review.
Reviewers must treat all manuscripts as confidential documents and must not use information obtained through peer review for personal, professional, or financial advantage.
Editors
Editors, Editorial Board Members, and Guest Editors must avoid handling manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest. Such conflicts may arise from personal relationships, institutional affiliations, collaborative relationships, financial interests, or academic competition with the authors.
Editors with a conflict of interest must recuse themselves from all editorial decisions and processing of the manuscript. Editorial responsibility shall be assigned to an independent editor.
When editors submit their own work to the journal, the manuscript shall be handled independently by another qualified editor. The author-editor shall have no involvement in the peer review process or editorial decision-making regarding their submission.
Management of Conflicts of Interest
The Editor-in-Chief or a designated independent editor will assess disclosed conflicts of interest and determine appropriate actions to ensure a fair, objective, and transparent review process.
Failure to disclose relevant conflicts of interest may result in rejection of the manuscript, publication of a correction, or retraction of the article, where appropriate.
The journal is committed to maintaining transparency, integrity, and trust in scholarly publishing through the appropriate identification, disclosure, and management of conflicts of interest.