Conflict of Interest Policy

Core Principle and Scope

IJTIMAIYA is committed to ensuring that the research published in the journal is objective, transparent, and untainted by undisclosed bias. A conflict of interest (also known as a competing interest) exists when financial, personal, academic, or institutional relationships could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, the author's judgment, research findings, or editorial decision-making process.

This policy applies to all authors, peer reviewers, editors, and editorial board members. Full disclosure of all potential, actual, or perceived conflicts of interest is required upon manuscript submission and throughout the editorial process.

Categories of Conflicts of Interest

1. Financial Interests:

  • Employment or pending employment with an organization that has a financial interest in the research outcomes.
  • Research grants, honoraria, consulting fees, or board fees received from commercial sponsors.
  • Ownership of stocks, shares, options, or equity in relevant entities.
  • Patent filings, royalties, licensing agreements, or intellectual property rights related to the subject matter

2. Personal & Relational Conflicts:

  • Family ties, personal friendships, or romantic relationships between authors, reviewers, or editors.
  • Current or former supervisor-trainee or mentor-mentee relationships. 

3. Academic & Professional Conflicts:

  • Direct academic competition or ongoing collaborative projects outside the submitted work.
  • Strong personal, political, or religious beliefs that could impede objective judgment or analysis.
  • Institutional affiliations with entities that hold a vested interest in the publication outcome.

Author Responsibilities and Disclosure Requirements

Manuscript Declaration

All submitted manuscripts must include a dedicated "Conflict of Interest Statement" placed before the reference section.

If no conflict exists: Authors must explicitly state “The author declare that there are no financial, personal, or professional conflicts of interest that could be perceived as influencing the research or outcomes presented in this paper”

If conflicts exist: Authors must fully disclose all relevant financial and non-financial competing interests, specifying the nature of the relationship and the entity involved.

Funding Source Disclosure

Authors must disclose all funding sources and grant numbers, explicitly detailing the sponsor's role in the study design, analysis, writing, and publication decision. If the sponsor had no involvement in these processes, authors must state this explicitly.

Peer Reviewer Responsibilities

Peer reviewers play a crucial role in safeguarding scientific integrity. Reviewers must act with absolute impartiality and are required to:

  1. Declare Potential Conflicts: Immediately notify the handling editor if they recognize a potential conflict of interest upon receiving a review invitation.
  2. Mandatory Recusal: Recuse themselves from the evaluation process if a conflict exists that prevents an unbiased and objective assessment of the manuscript.
  3. Confidentiality: Refrain from using any unpublished insights, data, or arguments from the manuscript for personal advantage or to advance their own research agendas.

Editor and Editorial Board Responsibilities

To preserve editorial independence and integrity:

  1. Recusal Protocol: Editors and board members must recuse themselves from managing, reviewing, or making editorial decisions on manuscripts where they have a conflict of interest (such as articles authored by colleagues from their own department, close collaborators, or family members).
  2. Editor-Authored Submissions: When an editor or board member submits a manuscript to IJTIMAIYA, the review process is delegated entirely to an independent guest editor or another member of the board. The submitting editor will have no access to the review system or internal deliberations regarding their paper.