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CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
This policy explains how Jurnal Sains dan Teknologi, abbreviated as INSOLOGI and published by Yayasan Literasi Sains Indonesia, handles competing interests that may affect the reporting, the evaluation, or the publication of research. Its aim is to keep the editorial process transparent and to protect the scholarly record.
In this policy, the terms conflict of interest and competing interest have the same meaning.
Conflicts of Interest
1. What Is a Competing Interest
A competing interest is any relationship, circumstance, or activity that could influence, or could appear to influence, the way in which research is conducted, reported, reviewed, or edited. The interest may be financial, professional, personal, or institutional.
Please note: Disclosure is a protective step and not an accusation. To declare an interest does not mean that bias or misconduct has occurred. It allows the editors and the readers to judge the work with full information.
2. Interests That Should Be Disclosed
The table below lists the main types of interests that should be disclosed. The examples are not exhaustive. When in doubt, disclose.
| Type of interest | Description and examples |
|---|---|
| Financial relationships | Employment, consultancy, honoraria, shares, patents, royalties, license fees, or other commercial benefits. Examples include a relationship with a technology company, a software vendor, an equipment or instrument manufacturer, or an engineering firm whose products or services appear in the study. |
| Funding and sponsorship | Research funding, paid expert work, or the involvement of a sponsor in the study. Examples include government agencies, foundations, companies, industry partners, and universities. |
| Personal and professional relationships | Close personal, supervisory, collaborative, or professional ties with an author, a reviewer, or an editor. Examples include supervisors and students, close colleagues, members of the same laboratory or research group, and recent coauthors. |
| Interest in the subject of the study | Having designed, developed, patented, or sold the system, device, algorithm, software, material, or method that is evaluated, or evaluating one’s own product, prototype, or open source project in a way that could affect objectivity. |
| Editorial and journal ties | Editorial appointments or other ties with the journal that may require the independent handling of a manuscript. |
An ordinary scholarly disagreement is not, by itself, treated as a disqualifying conflict of interest.
3. Author Responsibilities
3.1 Competing Interests Statement
Every author must disclose all relevant interests. The corresponding author compiles one competing interests statement for the whole manuscript. If no author has a competing interest, the statement must say so.
3.2 Funding Statement
Authors must also state all the sources of funding for the work. The statement names the funding organizations and the grant numbers, and it says whether the funder had any role in the design of the study, in the collection and analysis of data, or in the preparation of the manuscript. The funding statement does not replace the competing interests statement. Both statements are required.
3.3 Where to Place the Statements
The manuscript template does not contain separate sections for these statements. Authors place both statements in the Acknowledgments section, as its final paragraphs. The Acknowledgments section must be included even when there is nothing else to acknowledge. For the structure of a manuscript, see Manuscript Preparation.
3.4 Example Statements
| Situation | Example statement |
|---|---|
| No competing interests | The authors declare no competing interests. |
| Competing interest declared | The first author is employed by a company that developed the software platform evaluated in this study. The other authors declare no competing interests. |
| Funding | This research was funded by [name of the funder] under grant number [grant number]. The funder had no role in the design of the study, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, or in the preparation of the manuscript. |
4. Editors and Reviewers
4.1 Editors
Editors must disclose any relevant interest before they accept an assignment, and they must report an interest that arises later without delay. An editor whose impartiality may be compromised must not make decisions on the manuscript concerned.
This also applies to a manuscript that is submitted by an editor or by a member of the editorial board. Such a manuscript is handled by an editor who is not involved in the work, and the editor who is also an author takes no part in its evaluation or in the decision.
4.2 Reviewers
Reviewers must disclose any relevant interest before they accept an invitation to review, and they must report an interest that arises later without delay. A reviewer who has a disqualifying conflict must decline the invitation or withdraw from the review. Examples are a close personal or supervisory relationship with an author, a recent collaboration with an author, and a competing interest in the subject of the manuscript. For the review itself, see the Peer Review Process.
4.3 Handling of Declared Conflicts
When an editor or a reviewer declares a conflict, an editor who is not affected by it decides whether the safeguards are sufficient or whether the assignment should be given to someone else.
| Role | What must be done | If the conflict is significant |
|---|---|---|
| Authors | Declare all relevant interests and funding in the Acknowledgments. | The editors may request an independent assessment before they decide on the manuscript. |
| Editors | Disclose before accepting an assignment, and report new interests without delay. | The editor does not decide on the manuscript, and an uninvolved editor takes over. |
| Reviewers | Disclose before accepting an invitation, and report new interests without delay. | The reviewer declines the invitation or withdraws from the review. |
5. Assessment and Late Disclosure
The editors assess each declared interest for its relevance and its possible effect on the work or on the editorial process. Depending on the result, they may take one of the following steps.
| No. | Possible step |
|---|---|
| 1 | Publish the disclosure together with the article. |
| 2 | Request an independent assessment of the manuscript. |
| 3 | Replace the editor or the reviewer who is involved. |
A declaration that is missing, incomplete, or inaccurate, and an interest that is disclosed after submission or after publication, is considered in its context. A material concern is handled under the policies on Publication Ethics, Allegations of Misconduct, and Correction and Retraction.
6. Scope of This Policy
This policy covers interests that are connected with research and with its assessment. Author fees are described on the Author Fees page, and the ownership and management of the journal on the Ownership and Management page. Commercial considerations do not influence editorial decisions, as stated in the policy on Publication Ethics.
Related Pages and Enquiries
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Manuscript structure | Manuscript Preparation and the Author Guidelines. |
| Declaration of contributions | Authorship and Contributorship |
| Questions about this policy or about a specific disclosure | Editorial office of INSOLOGI: jurnal.insologi@gmail.com |
