BALANCE: The Economic, Business, Management, and Accounting Journal requires all parties involved in the publication process, including authors, reviewers, and editors, to disclose any conflicts of interest they may have. Transparency regarding competing interests protects the objectivity of the peer-review process and allows readers to fairly evaluate a work. This journal adheres to the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1. Understanding Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest occurs when a financial, institutional, personal, or other interest influences, or could reasonably be perceived to influence, a person's judgment in preparing, reviewing, or making decisions regarding a manuscript. A conflict of interest in itself is not an ethical violation. However, failure to disclose a conflict of interest is.

Examples of relevant conflicts of interest in economics and management research include:

• Financial conflict of interest, where the author receives funding, honoraria, investments, or financial benefits from a company or organization related to the research results.

• Professional conflict of interest, where the author has an employment relationship, position, or professional interest with the organization that is the subject of the research.

• Personal conflicts of interest, namely family relationships, close friendships, or other personal relationships with parties involved in the research that could potentially influence the author's objectivity.

• Academic conflicts of interest, namely the interest in producing specific findings to support a theory, hypothesis, academic reputation, or previous publications.

• Consultancy conflicts of interest, namely the author acting as a consultant, business advisor, or expert for the company being studied.

• Conflicts of interest in data collection and analysis, namely pressure from sponsors or certain parties to select data, change analysis methods, or present research results that benefit their interests.

• Conflicts of interest in the publication process, namely relationships between authors, editors, or reviewers that could potentially influence the objectivity of the manuscript's assessment.

2. Author Obligations

Authors are required to disclose all potential conflicts of interest in the Conflict of Interest Statement section, which is placed at the end of the manuscript, before the References section.

Authors are required to declare all sources of research funding in the Funding Statement, including the role of the funder, if any, in the conduct of the research and writing.

If no conflict of interest exists, authors are still required to include a statement confirming this.

Authors who become aware of a conflict of interest after submission or publication of a manuscript are required to promptly notify the editor.

3. Reviewer Obligations

Reviewers are required to decline an invitation to review or promptly notify the editor if they:

Have a close professional, personal, or financial relationship with any of the authors.

Have collaborated with, supervised, or been supervised by any of the authors within the past three years.

Work in the same department or research unit as any of the authors.

Have a direct interest in the case, dispute, or regulation discussed in the manuscript.

Are unable to evaluate the manuscript objectively for any other reason.

Reviewers are prohibited from using information from manuscripts under review for their own benefit or the benefit of others.

4. Editor Obligations

Editors are not permitted to handle manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest. The manuscript should be assigned to another editor who has no conflict of interest.

Manuscripts submitted by members of the editorial team undergo the same peer review process as all other manuscripts. The submitting editor is exempt from all stages of the review process and does not have access to information about the reviewers or editorial decisions.

Manuscripts from authors from the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surabaya, as the journal's publisher, should be assigned to editors and reviewers from other departments or institutions whenever possible to ensure the review process remains independent.

Editorial decisions are based solely on the quality, originality, and relevance of the manuscript. These decisions are not influenced by the authors' affiliations, citizenship, gender, religion, political views, or commercial considerations.

5. Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest

If an undisclosed conflict of interest is discovered during the review process or after publication, the journal will handle it in accordance with its policy on (Allegations of Research Misconduct).

Depending on the severity of the case, a journal may request that the authors add a conflict of interest statement, publish a correction, or if the undisclosed conflict of interest undermines the validity of the work retract the published article.