Competing Interests Policy

Conflicts of Interest and Competing Interests Policy

1. Policy Statement

The Andalasian International Journal of Agricultural and Natural Sciences (AIJANS) is committed to maintaining transparency, impartiality, independence, and integrity throughout the research evaluation and scholarly publication process.

AIJANS recognizes that financial and non-financial relationships may influence, or reasonably appear to influence, the conduct, interpretation, evaluation, or publication of scholarly research.

This policy establishes requirements for identifying, disclosing, evaluating, and managing conflicts of interest involving authors, editors, reviewers, editorial staff, the journal, and its publisher.

The policy is informed by the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, Version 5.0 (2026), developed by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, and WAME.

2. Definition of Conflicts of Interest

A conflict of interest, also referred to as a competing interest, exists when a financial, personal, professional, institutional, academic, political, religious, or other relationship could influence, or reasonably be perceived as influencing, the impartial conduct, reporting, evaluation, or publication of scholarly research.

A conflict of interest does not necessarily indicate misconduct or invalidate research. However, transparent disclosure and appropriate management are necessary to maintain confidence in the scholarly record.

Conflicts may be actual, potential, or perceived. They may arise before, during, or after publication.

3. Categories of Conflicts of Interest

3.1 Financial Conflicts

Financial conflicts may include:

Research funding from interested organizations.
Employment or paid consultancy arrangements.
Ownership of shares or other financial interests.
Patents, royalties, or intellectual property interests.
Honoraria or payments for professional services.
Commercial relationships involving products or technologies discussed in the research.
Financial relationships that may benefit from particular research outcomes.

3.2 Personal and Professional Conflicts

Non-financial conflicts may include:

Close personal or family relationships.
Current or recent research collaboration.
Supervisory or employment relationships.
Professional rivalry or academic competition.
Membership in organizations with a direct interest in the research.
Personal relationships that may compromise impartial judgment.

3.3 Institutional and Organizational Conflicts

Institutional conflicts may arise when universities, research institutions, funding organizations, professional associations, or other organizations have interests that could affect research evaluation or publication.

3.4 Other Non-Financial Conflicts

Political, religious, ideological, or other strongly held interests may constitute competing interests when they could reasonably interfere with the objective assessment or reporting of research.

4. Responsibilities of Authors

All authors must disclose relevant financial and non-financial competing interests at the time of manuscript submission.

The corresponding author is responsible for coordinating the collection and submission of competing-interest declarations from all co-authors.

Disclosures must include relationships that could influence, or reasonably appear to influence:

The design or conduct of the research.
Data collection and analysis.
Interpretation of findings.
Preparation of the manuscript.
Reporting of results.
Publication of the research.

Authors must update their declarations if relevant circumstances change during manuscript evaluation or before publication.

Authors are responsible for providing complete and accurate information.

5. Author Competing-Interest Statements

Every submitted manuscript must include a competing-interest declaration.

When relevant competing interests exist, authors must describe their nature and relationship to the submitted research.

When no relevant competing interests exist, authors should include the following statement:

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

When competing interests exist, the following format may be used:

The authors declare the following competing interests: [description of the relevant financial or non-financial relationships].

The declaration should be included in the manuscript and, where applicable, in the submission metadata.

6. Funding and Competing Interests

Funding declarations and competing-interest declarations serve different but complementary purposes.

Authors must disclose all sources of funding and material support relevant to the research, including grants, equipment, services, and institutional assistance.

Authors must also describe the role of funders, where applicable, in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or publication decisions.

When no funding was received, authors should state:

No funding was received for this study.

Disclosure of funding does not automatically establish that a conflict of interest exists. The relationship must be assessed according to its nature and potential influence.

7. Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers

Peer reviewers must disclose actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest before accepting a review invitation.

Reviewers should decline an invitation when a significant conflict could compromise their independence or objectivity.

Reviewers must inform the handling editor if a relevant conflict becomes apparent after accepting an invitation.

The handling editor will determine whether the reviewer may continue or should be replaced.

Reviewers must not use confidential manuscript information for personal, academic, or commercial advantage.

8. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors must disclose relevant competing interests concerning manuscripts assigned to them.

An editor must not participate in the assessment or decision-making of a manuscript when a significant conflict of interest exists.

Potential conflicts may arise from research collaboration, employment relationships, personal associations, financial interests, or direct academic competition.

Editors with significant conflicts must recuse themselves from the affected editorial process.

An appropriately qualified and independent editor should be assigned to manage the manuscript.

9. Manuscripts Submitted by Editorial Members

Members of the AIJANS editorial team and editorial board may submit scholarly manuscripts to the journal.

However, such manuscripts must be subject to independent editorial assessment and the journal's applicable peer-review procedures.

An editor must not handle or decide their own manuscript.

The manuscript must be assigned to an independent editor without a material conflict of interest.

Editorial position or institutional affiliation must not provide preferential treatment.

10. Journal and Publisher Conflicts of Interest

AIJANS is published by the Lembaga Penelitian dan Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat (LPPM), Universitas Andalas, Indonesia.

Institutional ownership, operational support, or financial arrangements must not compromise the journal's editorial independence.

The publisher may provide administrative, financial, technical, and organizational support.

The Editor-in-Chief and authorized academic editors remain responsible for decisions concerning the scholarly content of the journal.

The journal and publisher must disclose significant organizational or financial interests that could reasonably affect editorial decision-making.

11. Publication Charges and Editorial Independence

AIJANS maintains a separation between editorial decisions and the administration of Article Processing Charges.

The ability or willingness of authors to pay publication charges must not influence manuscript assessment, peer review, revision, acceptance, or rejection.

Editors responsible for article-level decisions must not collect publication payments or determine APC waivers.

Editors and editorial staff must not receive compensation based on the number of accepted articles.

Additional information is provided in the journal's Author Fees and Business Model Policy.

12. Disclosure and Management Procedures

Competing interests must be disclosed at the earliest relevant stage of the publication process.

The journal applies the following general procedures:

Identification: The relevant individual identifies an actual, potential, or perceived competing interest.
Disclosure: The individual informs the appropriate editorial authority. Authors disclose relevant interests through their manuscript and submission declarations. Reviewers and editors disclose interests directly to the handling editor or Editor-in-Chief.
Assessment: The responsible editor evaluates the nature and significance of the disclosed interest.
Management: Appropriate measures may include additional disclosure, independent assessment, recusal, reassignment, or other safeguards.
Documentation: Relevant declarations and management decisions are documented in the journal's editorial records.

Where the Editor-in-Chief has a significant conflict, the matter should be referred to an appropriately independent editorial authority.

13. Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest

Failure to disclose a relevant competing interest may result in editorial action.

When an undisclosed interest is identified before publication, AIJANS may:

Request clarification or supporting information.
Require an updated competing-interest declaration.
Reassign an editor or reviewer.
Seek additional independent assessment.
Suspend manuscript evaluation while the concern is examined.
Reject a manuscript when serious misrepresentation or misconduct is established.

Editorial action must be proportionate to the nature and seriousness of the concern.

14. Conflicts Discovered After Publication

Competing interests identified after publication will be assessed according to their nature, materiality, and potential effect on the published record.

When an omission can be corrected without undermining the reliability of the research, AIJANS may publish an appropriate correction.

Where an undisclosed conflict raises serious questions about research integrity or reliability, the journal may conduct further assessment or coordinate with relevant institutions.

Depending on the findings, the journal may issue:

A correction.
An expression of concern.
A retraction when justified by the evidence.

The existence of an undisclosed competing interest does not automatically require retraction.

Relevant editorial actions will follow the journal's Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern Policy.

15. Confidentiality and Fairness

Information concerning competing interests will be handled responsibly and with appropriate regard for confidentiality and privacy.

The journal will evaluate disclosures fairly, without assuming that the existence of a conflict necessarily constitutes misconduct.

Decisions concerning conflict management must be based on the relevance and significance of the competing interest.

16. Complaints and Reporting

Authors, reviewers, readers, and other concerned parties may report suspected undisclosed competing interests to the AIJANS editorial office.

Reports should include relevant information and supporting evidence where available.

Concerns may be submitted through the journal's official contact page.

AIJANS will examine credible reports impartially and take appropriate action according to the evidence.

17. Policy Implementation and Review

All authors, editors, reviewers, and editorial staff are expected to comply with this policy.

AIJANS will periodically review its conflict-of-interest procedures to maintain consistency with recognized standards of publication ethics.

The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for promoting effective implementation of this policy within the journal's editorial governance.