Conflict of Interest Policy
1. General Policy
Jurnal Pijar MIPA is committed to maintaining transparency, objectivity, academic integrity, and independence throughout the scholarly publication process. The journal recognizes that conflicts of interest, also referred to as competing interests, may arise when financial, personal, professional, institutional, or academic relationships influence or could reasonably be perceived to influence research activities, manuscript evaluation, or editorial decisions.
This policy establishes guidelines for identifying, disclosing, and managing potential conflicts of interest involving authors, editors, peer reviewers, and other individuals participating in the publication process.
All participants are required to disclose relevant interests to ensure that scientific publications remain credible, unbiased, and trustworthy.
2. Types of Conflicts of Interest
Conflicts of interest may include, but are not limited to, the following categories:
a. Financial Conflicts of Interest
Financial interests that may influence research findings or publication decisions, including research funding, consultancy fees, employment relationships, honoraria, stock ownership, patents, royalties, or financial support from organizations with an interest in the research outcomes.
b. Personal Conflicts of Interest
Personal relationships, family connections, close friendships, or personal disputes that may compromise or appear to compromise impartial scientific judgment.
c. Professional and Institutional Conflicts of Interest
Professional affiliations, institutional relationships, supervisory roles, academic collaborations, or employment arrangements that may influence manuscript evaluation or editorial decisions.
d. Academic and Intellectual Conflicts of Interest
Academic competition, intellectual disagreements, research rivalries, or other scholarly interests that could affect the objective assessment of research findings.
The existence of a conflict of interest does not necessarily indicate unethical conduct. However, all relevant interests must be disclosed and appropriately managed.
3. Responsibilities of Authors
All authors submitting manuscripts to Jurnal Pijar MIPA are required to disclose any financial or non-financial relationships that could influence or reasonably be perceived to influence their research.
Authors must:
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Disclose all relevant financial, personal, professional, institutional, or academic competing interests.
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Identify research funding sources and disclose the role of sponsors in research design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, and publication decisions.
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Ensure that research findings and conclusions are reported independently and objectively.
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Include a Conflict of Interest Declaration in the manuscript, even when no competing interests exist.
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Promptly inform the editorial office if a previously undisclosed conflict of interest is identified during the review or publication process.
Failure to disclose relevant competing interests may result in editorial investigation and appropriate corrective action.
4. Responsibilities of Editors
Editors of Jurnal Pijar MIPA must maintain impartiality and independence in evaluating submitted manuscripts.
Editors are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest involving manuscript authors, research institutions, funding organizations, or other relevant parties.
Editors must withdraw from handling manuscripts when their personal, financial, professional, or institutional relationships could compromise their objectivity.
Manuscripts submitted by members of the editorial board must undergo an independent editorial and peer-review process. The submitting editor must not participate in reviewer selection, manuscript evaluation, or final editorial decisions concerning their own submission.
Editorial decisions must be based exclusively on scientific merit, originality, methodological rigor, relevance, and compliance with publication ethics.
5. Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers
Peer reviewers must conduct manuscript evaluations objectively, confidentially, and independently.
Before accepting a review assignment, reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest, including:
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Close personal or professional relationships with manuscript authors.
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Recent research collaborations or shared research projects.
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Employment or institutional affiliations that may compromise impartiality.
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Financial interests related to the research findings.
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Academic competition or intellectual disagreements that could influence their evaluations.
Reviewers must decline or withdraw from assignments when a relevant conflict of interest could compromise their objectivity.
Reviewers must not use unpublished manuscript information for personal, academic, professional, or financial advantage.
All recommendations must be based on scientific evidence, methodological quality, research originality, and scholarly contribution.
6. Conflict of Interest Declaration
Jurnal Pijar MIPA requires authors to include a Conflict of Interest statement in their manuscripts before the References section.
If no conflict of interest exists:
"The authors declare that they have no known financial or non-financial conflicts of interest that could have influenced the research presented in this manuscript."
All declarations must accurately reflect the circumstances of every author involved in the research.
7. Management of Conflicts of Interest
When a potential conflict of interest is identified, the editorial board will assess its relevance and potential impact on research integrity or editorial independence.
Appropriate management measures may include:
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Requesting additional disclosures or clarification from the relevant parties.
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Assigning alternative editors or independent peer reviewers.
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Excluding individuals with significant competing interests from manuscript evaluation or editorial decision-making.
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Requiring transparent disclosure of relevant conflicts in the published article.
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Conducting additional editorial assessments when necessary.
The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for overseeing the management of conflicts of interest. When the Editor-in-Chief has a conflict, an independent editor without the relevant conflict will be appointed to manage the manuscript.
8. Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest
Jurnal Pijar MIPA reserves the right to investigate suspected undisclosed conflicts of interest identified during manuscript evaluation or after publication.
The editorial board may request relevant documentation, written explanations, or additional information from the individuals concerned.
Depending on the nature and severity of the undisclosed conflict, editorial actions may include:
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Requiring clarification or revision of the manuscript.
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Publishing an updated Conflict of Interest Declaration.
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Issuing a formal correction or editorial notice.
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Rejecting a manuscript when serious ethical violations are established.
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Considering retraction when a serious undisclosed conflict is associated with unreliable findings or substantial publication misconduct.
All investigations will follow established publication ethics principles, including fairness, transparency, proportionality, confidentiality, and the right of relevant parties to respond.
9. Editorial Independence and Transparency
Jurnal Pijar MIPA ensures that editorial decisions remain independent of financial, institutional, political, personal, or commercial influence.
The journal's publisher, institutional management, sponsors, and other external parties must not improperly interfere with manuscript evaluation, peer-review recommendations, or publication decisions.
All manuscripts will be evaluated based on scientific quality, originality, relevance to the journal's scope, and compliance with established publication ethics.
10. Policy Review and Updates
Jurnal Pijar MIPA will periodically review and update this Conflict of Interest Policy to ensure consistency with internationally recognized principles of scholarly publishing and research integrity.
This policy is guided by the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
References
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Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.1.9
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International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Disclosure of Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities, and Conflicts of Interest. https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/
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International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Disclosure of Interest. https://www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/
