The Advanced Journal of Science and Innovation (AJSI) is committed to transparency, editorial independence, and the responsible disclosure of all relationships and sources of support that may influence, or reasonably appear to influence, research, peer review, editorial decisions, or publication.
A conflict of interest does not necessarily prevent submission, peer review, publication, or participation in editorial activities. However, full and timely disclosure is essential to allow the journal, readers, reviewers, editors, and other relevant parties to assess and manage potential influence appropriately.
1. Definition of Conflict of Interest
A conflict of interest exists when an individual’s professional judgment concerning a primary interest, such as the integrity of research, the objectivity of peer review, or an editorial decision, may be influenced, or may reasonably be perceived as being influenced, by a secondary interest.
Conflicts of interest may be actual, potential, or perceived. They may be financial, institutional, professional, personal, intellectual, political, religious, or otherwise related to the submitted work.
Examples may include, but are not limited to:
• Employment, consultancy, advisory roles, board membership, or other professional relationships with an organization that may benefit from or be affected by the research.
• Research grants, contracts, fellowships, scholarships, salaries, travel support, equipment, materials, software, data access, or other financial support connected to the work.
• Stocks, shares, stock options, patents, patent applications, royalties, licenses, or other financial interests.
• Personal relationships, close collaboration, academic competition, supervisory relationships, institutional affiliation, or disputes that could affect objective judgment.
• Strong intellectual, ideological, political, religious, or advocacy positions directly related to the subject of the manuscript.
2. Responsibilities of Authors
All authors must disclose all actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that may be relevant to the submitted manuscript.
Authors must disclose:
• Financial relationships and activities that could influence, or reasonably be perceived as influencing, the research or its interpretation.
• Non-financial interests, including personal, professional, institutional, intellectual, political, or other relationships relevant to the manuscript.
• Any employment, consulting role, advisory role, board membership, ownership interest, patent, patent application, license, royalty, or other relationship connected to the work or its subject.
• Any relationship with an organization that funded, sponsored, supported, benefited from, or could be affected by the research.
• Any prior or ongoing relationship with editors, reviewers, or other parties that may create a potential conflict.
The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that a conflict-of-interest declaration is completed for every author.
Where no conflicts of interest exist, authors must include the following statement:
Conflict of Interest:
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
3. Funding Disclosure
Authors must disclose all sources of financial and non-financial support for the research and for the preparation of the manuscript.
Funding may include grants, contracts, institutional support, commercial sponsorship, government funding, charitable or foundation funding, fellowships, scholarships, salaries, equipment, software, data access, materials, travel support, or other resources.
The funding statement must identify:
• The full name of each funding organization.
• Grant, award, contract, or project numbers, where applicable.
• Which author or institution received the support, where applicable.
• The role of the funder in the study design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of results, preparation of the manuscript, decision to submit, or decision to publish.
• Any restrictions imposed by the funder regarding access to data, analysis, interpretation, or publication.
Where funders had no role in the research or publication process, authors should state this clearly.
Example:
Funding:
This research was supported by [Funder Name] under Grant No. [XXXX]. The funder had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation of results, manuscript preparation, or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Where no funding was received, authors should state:
Funding:
The authors received no specific funding for this work.
4. Responsibilities of Reviewers
Reviewers must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest before accepting an invitation to review.
Reviewers must decline a review invitation if they:
• Have a close personal, professional, financial, supervisory, collaborative, institutional, or competitive relationship with any author.
• Have participated in the development, design, analysis, writing, or prior review of the manuscript.
• Work at the same institution as an author, where the relationship may affect independent judgment.
• Have a financial interest, patent interest, consulting relationship, or other connection related to the manuscript’s subject.
• Hold strong competing intellectual, ideological, political, or advocacy interests that could prevent an objective review.
If a conflict becomes apparent after accepting the review, the reviewer must immediately notify the editor and stop reviewing the manuscript unless the editor provides alternative instructions.
5. Responsibilities of Editors and Editorial Board Members
Editors and editorial board members must disclose and appropriately manage actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest.
An editor must not handle a manuscript when the editor:
• Is an author or co-author of the manuscript.
• Has a close personal, professional, financial, supervisory, collaborative, institutional, or competitive relationship with an author.
• Has participated in the research, writing, prior review, or development of the submitted work.
• Has a financial, intellectual, institutional, political, religious, or other interest that may compromise, or appear to compromise, editorial independence.
When an editor has a conflict of interest, the manuscript must be assigned to another qualified editor who has no relevant conflict.
Editorial decisions must not be influenced by financial considerations, publication charges, advertising, sponsorship, institutional pressure, personal relationships, or commercial interests.
6. Publisher Responsibilities
The publisher supports the editorial independence of AJSI and must not influence editorial decisions because of commercial, financial, advertising, sponsorship, or other non-scholarly interests.
The publisher will maintain procedures to support the disclosure, assessment, and appropriate management of conflicts of interest involving authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, and other individuals involved in the publication process.
7. Disclosure and Publication of Statements
Conflict-of-interest and funding statements must be submitted during the manuscript submission process and may be published with the article.
Where a conflict of interest is disclosed, the editorial team will assess whether additional information, independent review, editorial oversight, or other measures are required.
Failure to disclose a relevant conflict of interest or source of funding may result in rejection of the manuscript, suspension of editorial processing, publication of a correction or expression of concern, retraction, referral to an institution or funder, or other action in accordance with the journal’s Publishing Ethics policy.
8. Contact
Questions concerning conflicts of interest, funding disclosures, or the management of potential conflicts should be directed to:
Advanced Journal of Science and Innovation (AJSI)
Email: info.journal@ajsi.org
Website: www.ajsi.org