Conflict of Interest
Sustainable: Accounting Journal requires all parties involved in the publication process, including authors, reviewers, and editors, to disclose any conflicts of interest. Transparency regarding competing interests safeguards the objectivity of the peer review process and enables readers to evaluate scholarly work fairly. The journal follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
- Definition of Conflict of Interest
A conflict of interest occurs when financial, institutional, personal, or other interests may influence, or may reasonably be perceived to influence, an individual's judgment when preparing, reviewing, or making decisions about a manuscript. A conflict of interest does not in itself constitute an ethical violation. However, failure to disclose a conflict of interest constitutes a violation of publication ethics.
Examples of conflicts of interest relevant to accounting research include:
- Financial conflicts of interest: Authors receive funding, honoraria, investment returns, or other financial benefits from a company or organization related to the research findings.
- Professional conflicts of interest: Authors have an employment relationship, hold a position, or have professional interests in an organization that is the subject of the research.
- Personal conflicts of interest: Authors have family relationships, close friendships, or other personal relationships with parties involved in the research that may affect their objectivity.
- Academic conflicts of interest: Authors have an interest in producing particular findings to support a theory, hypothesis, academic reputation, or previous publications.
- Consultancy conflicts of interest: Authors act as consultants, business advisers, or experts for the company being studied.
- Conflicts of interest in data collection and analysis: Sponsors or other parties exert pressure to select data, change analytical methods, or present research findings in ways that serve their interests.
- Conflicts of interest in the publication process: Relationships between authors, editors, or reviewers may compromise the objectivity of manuscript evaluation.
- Responsibilities of Authors
Authors must disclose all potential conflicts of interest in a Conflict of Interest Statement placed at the end of the manuscript, before the References section.
Authors must disclose all sources of research funding in a Funding Statement, including the role of the funder, if any, in conducting the research and preparing the manuscript.
If no conflicts of interest exist, authors must still include a statement explicitly declaring that no conflicts of interest exist.
Authors who become aware of a conflict of interest after manuscript submission or publication must promptly inform the editor.
- Responsibilities of Reviewers
Reviewers must 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 co-authored work with, supervised, or been supervised by any of the authors within the previous three years.
- Work in the same department or research unit as any of the authors.
- Have a direct interest in the matter, dispute, or regulation discussed in the manuscript.
- Are otherwise unable to evaluate the manuscript objectively.
Reviewers must not use information obtained from a manuscript under review for their own benefit or for the benefit of others.
- Responsibilities of Editors
Editors must not handle manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest. Such manuscripts must be assigned to another editor who has no relevant conflict of interest.
Manuscripts submitted by members of the editorial team are subject to the same peer review process as all other submissions. The editor who submitted the manuscript must be excluded from all stages of its handling and must not have access to information about the reviewers or editorial decisions.
Whenever possible, manuscripts submitted by authors affiliated with the UMSurabaya Publishing, which publishes the journal, should be assigned to editors and reviewers from other departments or institutions to maintain the independence of the review process.
Editorial decisions are based solely on the quality, originality, and relevance of the manuscript. Such decisions must not be influenced by the authors' institutional affiliations, nationality, gender, religion, or political views, or by commercial considerations.
- Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest
If an undisclosed conflict of interest is identified during peer review or after publication, the journal will address the matter in accordance with its Allegations of Research and Publication Misconduct policy.
Depending on the severity of the case, the journal may require the authors to add a conflict of interest statement, publish a correction, or retract the published article if the undisclosed conflict of interest undermines the validity of the work.
