Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest exists when a financial, professional, institutional, or personal relationship could influence, or appear to influence, the judgement of an author, reviewer, or editor. EBGC follows the guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and asks all parties to disclose such relationships so that the work can be evaluated fairly.

Authors

  • Authors must disclose any interest that could affect their research or its interpretation, including funding, employment, consultancy, share ownership, honoraria, and personal or professional relationships with organizations discussed in the article.
  • Disclosures are written in a Conflict of Interest statement in the manuscript. If there is nothing to disclose, authors write: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”
  • The role of any funder in the study design, data analysis, or decision to publish must also be stated.

Reviewers

  • Reviewers must decline an invitation, or inform the editor immediately, if they have a competitive, collaborative, institutional, or personal relationship with the authors, including recent co-authorship or working at the same institution.
  • Reviewers must not use information from an unpublished manuscript for their own benefit.

Editors

  • Editors do not handle manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest. Such manuscripts are assigned to another editor or board member who has no conflict.

Submissions from Editors and the Publisher’s Staff

  • Manuscripts written by the Editor-in-Chief, editorial board members, or staff of Universitas Pembangunan Nasional “Veteran” Jawa Timur go through the same double-blind peer review as all other submissions.
  • The author is excluded from every stage of handling and decision-making on that manuscript, which is managed by an independent editor.

Undisclosed Conflicts

If an undisclosed conflict of interest is found after submission or publication, EBGC will investigate it in line with COPE guidance. Possible outcomes include a correction to the disclosure statement, an expression of concern, or a retraction.