INTELLECT JOURNAL • EDITORIAL & PUBLICATION ETHICS

Conflict of Interest Policy

Disclosure, impartial review, and independent editorial decisions

Intellect: Indonesian Journal of Learning and Technological Innovation is committed to objective editorial assessment, independent peer review, and transparent scholarly communication. The journal requires authors, reviewers, editors, Editorial Board members, and relevant editorial personnel to disclose interests or relationships that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, their scholarly or editorial judgment.

This policy complements the journal's Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement, Peer Review Process, Reviewers Guideline, Authorship Criteria, Research Misconduct Policy, and Author Fees Policy. It draws on the ethical recommendations of COPE and ICMJE and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

1. Definition and Types of Conflicts of Interest

A conflict of interest (also referred to as a competing interest) exists when a secondary interest, relationship, or commitment could influence, or reasonably appear to influence, the conduct, interpretation, review, or publication of scholarly work.

Interests requiring consideration may include:

• Financial interests: Research funding, grants, paid consultancy, employment, honoraria, sponsored activities, stock ownership, patents, licensing income, or other financial relationships relevant to the manuscript.
• Personal or professional relationships: Family relationships, close friendships, personal disputes, direct supervisory relationships, recent research collaboration, or academic competition.
• Institutional or organizational interests: Affiliations, decision-making responsibilities, organizational partnerships, or institutional commitments that could affect impartial judgment.
• Academic or intellectual interests: Strong personal involvement in competing research, prior commitments to a particular outcome, or a direct interest in the evaluation or interpretation of the findings.

An affiliation, professional collaboration, or source of funding does not necessarily establish improper influence. Its relevance must be considered in context. However, uncertainty about whether an interest is significant should be resolved by disclosing it to the journal.

2. Responsibilities of Authors

All authors must disclose financial and non-financial relationships that may be relevant to the submitted work, including interests held during the design, conduct, analysis, interpretation, or reporting of the research. Authors should also disclose relationships that a reasonable reader could view as relevant, even when the authors believe their conclusions remain unbiased.

• Provide a Conflict of Interest / Competing Interests declaration at submission and update it whenever relevant circumstances change during review or before publication.
• Identify the nature of the interest, the individuals concerned, and the organizations involved, with sufficient detail for an informed editorial assessment.
• Report direct research funding and the role of funders or sponsors in a separate Funding Statement, including their involvement, if any, in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or publication decisions.
• Ensure that the corresponding author has obtained accurate disclosure information from every co-author and that the final statement is approved by all authors.
• During double-anonymous review, submit disclosures through the confidential author information or editorial communication channel, rather than identifying authors in the anonymized reviewer file.

The editorial office may request clarification or relevant supporting information when necessary. A disclosed interest will be assessed on its merits and does not by itself lead to rejection.

3. Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers

Reviewers must assess potential competing interests before accepting an invitation and inform the handling editor promptly of any relationship that might compromise independent assessment.

• Decline or request to be released from an assignment when a material conflict exists, including close personal connections, current institutional affiliation with an author, recent substantial collaboration or supervisory relationships, or a direct competing interest in the manuscript.
• Notify the editor if a relevant conflict becomes apparent after the review has begun, including when an author's identity becomes known despite the double-anonymous process.
• Keep all unpublished manuscript information confidential and never use privileged material, data, ideas, or knowledge obtained through peer review for personal or professional advantage.
• Avoid recommending citations for the purpose of benefiting the reviewer, colleagues, an institution, or a journal. Any suggested citation must be justified by its scholarly relevance.

The handling editor decides whether a disclosed interest can be managed or whether the reviewer must be replaced. Where impartiality is reasonably in doubt, the reviewer will not continue the assessment.

4. Responsibilities of Editors and Editorial Board Members

The Editor-in-Chief, handling editors, Editorial Board members, and editorial staff must disclose relevant relationships or interests before participating in manuscript evaluation or editorial decisions.

• An editor who is an author, co-author, supervisor, close collaborator, family member, or otherwise materially connected to a submission must recuse themselves from the manuscript's editorial handling and decision-making.
• Manuscripts submitted by the Editor-in-Chief or other members of the editorial team must be assigned to a suitably qualified, non-conflicted handling editor with authority to manage independent peer review and reach or recommend a decision under the journal's editorial arrangements.
• A conflicted editor must not select reviewers, access confidential review reports for the purpose of influencing a decision, or participate in the final decision for the affected manuscript.
• When an editor's institutional affiliation, financial relationship, or other interest raises reasonable doubts about impartiality, responsibility should be transferred to another editor without the relevant conflict.

Editorial Board membership does not confer preferential treatment. Editorially affiliated authors must satisfy the same requirements for scope, originality, research quality, double-anonymous peer review, and publication ethics as other authors.

5. Publisher, APC, and Financial Independence

Yayasan Lembaga Studi Makwa (Makwa Foundation), as the journal's publisher, supports journal operations while respecting the independence of scholarly evaluation and editorial decisions.

The journal applies an Article Processing Charge of IDR 400,000 per accepted article in accordance with its published Author Fees Policy. It does not offer paid fast-track review or a separate additional publication fee.

An author's ability to pay, payment status, request for a fee waiver where applicable, institutional affiliation, or relationship with the publisher must not influence peer-review assessments or acceptance decisions. Any honoraria provided for editorial or reviewing services are independent of reviewer recommendations and editorial outcomes.

Sponsors, funders, advertisers, or other third parties must not influence reviewer selection, interpretation of reports, or final editorial decisions.

6. Disclosure Assessment and Management

Disclosures are assessed in a fair and proportionate manner. Depending on the circumstances, the editorial office may follow these steps:

The journal does not guarantee that every disclosed interest can be fully managed. When a conflict is severe or cannot be adequately mitigated, the relevant individual may be excluded from the process.

7. Conflicts Identified After Publication

If a material interest is disclosed or discovered after publication, the journal will examine whether the omission affected the interpretation, evaluation, or reliability of the published work. The authors and other relevant parties will be given an opportunity to respond where appropriate.

Depending on the findings, the journal may publish a corrected or updated competing-interests statement, issue a correction, seek an independent assessment, or take further action under its Research Misconduct and Correction and Retraction policies if the integrity of the scholarly record is at risk.

A missing disclosure does not automatically warrant retraction. Editorial action depends on the seriousness of the omission, available evidence, and its effect on the reliability of the publication.

8. Suggested Author Declaration Statements

Authors should provide a clear disclosure appropriate to their circumstances. The following examples may be adapted:

These statements are examples, not substitutes for a complete and truthful disclosure. The corresponding author is responsible for confirming that the declaration accurately represents the interests of all co-authors.

9. Reporting Concerns and Related Policies

Authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and other stakeholders may report concerns about undisclosed or improperly managed conflicts of interest through the journal's official contact channels. A report should identify the manuscript or article and describe the relevant relationship or concern, supported by evidence where available.

Reports will be considered with appropriate confidentiality, impartiality, and an opportunity for the affected party to respond. If the concern involves the Editor-in-Chief, it should be referred for assessment by a non-conflicted editor or appropriate publisher representative who is not involved in the disputed editorial decision.

The journal will address substantiated concerns under its existing publication ethics, research misconduct, and editorial procedures as appropriate.

International reference frameworks: COPE / DOAJ Transparency Principles; ICMJE: Disclosure of Relationships and Conflicts of Interest; COPE: Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers; Scopus: Content Policy and Selection.

Publisher: Yayasan Lembaga Studi Makwa (Makwa Foundation)
Journal: Intellect: Indonesian Journal of Learning and Technological Innovation