Jurnal Ilmiah Kesehatan (JIKA) upholds the principles of editorial independence, impartiality, transparency, and responsible scholarly publishing. A conflict of interest, also referred to as a competing interest, may arise when personal, financial, professional, institutional, or other relationships could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, research, manuscript evaluation, or editorial decisions.
All relevant conflicts of interest must be disclosed transparently and managed appropriately to protect the credibility of the journal and the integrity of the scientific record.
1. Disclosure by Authors
Authors must disclose all actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest relevant to their research and manuscript. These may include financial relationships, employment, consultancy arrangements, research funding, honoraria, institutional affiliations, personal relationships, professional collaborations, intellectual property interests, or other competing interests.
All sources of funding and other relevant support associated with the research must be accurately reported. For studies involving clinical interventions, pharmaceutical products, medical devices, nutritional products, healthcare services, or other commercial interests relevant to health sciences, authors should disclose relationships that could influence the study design, interpretation of results, or reporting of findings.
When no competing interests exist, authors should include the following statement in their manuscript:
“The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest related to the publication of this article.”
If a conflict of interest exists, authors must clearly describe its nature and disclose relevant information necessary for readers and editors to assess its potential influence. A conflict of interest does not automatically prevent publication, provided that it is appropriately disclosed and managed.
2. Responsibilities of Editors
Editors must disclose relevant conflicts of interest and refrain from handling manuscripts when their impartiality may be compromised.
Potential conflicts may arise from personal relationships, financial interests, institutional affiliations, professional collaborations, academic competition, or other circumstances that could affect editorial judgment.
When a conflict is identified, the manuscript must be reassigned to another qualified and independent editor. Editorial decisions must remain based on the manuscript's scientific quality, originality, relevance to the journal's scope, ethical compliance, and the available peer-review evidence.
Editors must maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and must not use unpublished information obtained through the editorial process for personal or professional advantage.
For further information, please refer to JIKA's Editorial Policy.
3. Responsibilities of Reviewers
Reviewers must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest that could affect their ability to provide an impartial and objective assessment.
Potential conflicts include financial relationships, close personal relationships, current or recent research collaborations, shared institutional affiliations, academic rivalry, or competing professional interests involving the authors or research.
Reviewers who cannot provide an impartial assessment must decline the review invitation and inform the editor. If a conflict becomes apparent after the review has begun, the reviewer must promptly notify the editorial office.
Reviewers must maintain manuscript confidentiality and must not use unpublished data, findings, methods, or ideas obtained through peer review for personal or professional advantage.
4. Editorial Independence and Management of Conflicts
JIKA is committed to protecting editorial independence. Decisions concerning manuscript acceptance, revision, or rejection must not be improperly influenced by commercial considerations, sponsorship, publication fees, institutional relationships, or personal interests.
When a conflict of interest is identified, JIKA may take appropriate measures, including reassignment of editorial responsibilities, independent assessment, requests for additional disclosures, or other actions necessary to preserve the integrity of the editorial process.
Failure to disclose a relevant conflict of interest or evidence that a conflict has compromised research integrity or editorial decision-making may result in further assessment and appropriate action under JIKA's publication ethics policies.
For more information about how JIKA handles suspected publication misconduct, please consult the Publication Malpractice Statement.
5. Related JIKA Policies
This Conflict of Interest Policy should be read in conjunction with the following JIKA policies:
- Allegations of Research Misconduct Policy — describes procedures for reporting, assessing, and investigating suspected research misconduct.
- Author Guidelines — provides instructions and requirements for preparing and submitting manuscripts to JIKA.
These policies collectively support transparency, impartial editorial decisions, responsible disclosure of competing interests, and integrity throughout the research and publication process.
For further information, authors, reviewers, and other interested parties may contact the JIKA editorial office at jika@salnesia.id.