Definition of Conflict of Interest
A conflict of interest refers to any situation where personal, financial, or professional interests, or any other competing loyalties, may influence the professional judgment of parties involved in the publication process. This policy applies equally to authors, reviewers, and editors.
I. Authors
Authors must disclose any relationships or financial, personal, or professional interests that could be perceived as influencing the objectivity of the research or the interpretation of its results. This includes, but is not limited to:
Types of Potential Conflicts for Authors:
- Financial Interests: Such as employment, consulting, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications, and grants or funding sources provided by parties with an interest in the research.
- Personal Relationships: Close relationships with individuals or entities that may benefit or be harmed by the publication of the research.
- Academic Competition: Direct scientific competition with individuals or institutions mentioned in the research work.
Authors' Obligations:
- Disclose all potential conflicts of interest within the manuscript, in a dedicated section or in a footnote.
- Clearly and explicitly state all sources of research funding.
- In the absence of any conflict of interest, include the following statement:
"The authors declare no conflict of interest."
II. Reviewers
Reviewers play an essential role in ensuring the integrity and objectivity of the peer review process. They must refrain from reviewing any manuscript if a conflict of interest may affect their scientific judgment.
Potential Conflict Situations for Reviewers:
- Direct Competition: Direct scientific competition or conflicting research interests with the authors.
- Collaboration or Supervision: Recent scientific collaboration or past or current academic supervision relationship with any of the authors.
- Financial Interests: Financial interest related to the research outcomes.
- Personal Relationships: Close personal relationships with any of the authors.
Reviewers' Obligations:
- Immediately notify the editorial board upon identifying any potential conflict of interest when receiving the manuscript.
- Decline to conduct the review if a substantial conflict exists, or seek the editor's guidance in case of doubt.
- Maintain strict confidentiality throughout all stages of the review process.
III. Editors
Editors, including the Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editors, are subject to the Conflict of Interest Policy adopted by the Comprehensive Sciences Journal. They must avoid any conflicts that may affect the integrity of editorial decisions by:
- Refraining from handling manuscripts in which they have a direct or indirect conflict of interest.
- Delegating the responsibility for manuscript management to another editor who has no conflict of interest relationship.
- Not exploiting any information accessed during the editorial process for personal or professional gain.
Conflict of Interest Management
The editorial board of the Comprehensive Sciences Journal carefully reviews all disclosed conflict of interest cases. The journal reserves the right to reject the publication of any research work if it deems that the conflict of interest may negatively affect the integrity of the research or the credibility of the publication process.
If an undisclosed conflict of interest is discovered after publication, the journal commits to following the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), which may include publishing a correction or retracting the article when necessary.