Conflict of Interest Policy
Conflict of Interest Policy
Altruistik: Jurnal Konseling dan Psikologi Pendidikan is committed to maintaining transparency, objectivity, fairness, and academic integrity throughout the research evaluation and publication process. Authors, reviewers, and editors are required to disclose any financial, professional, personal, academic, or institutional relationships that may influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, their professional judgment, research interpretation, or editorial decisions.
1. Definition of Conflict of Interest
A conflict of interest arises when personal, financial, professional, academic, or institutional interests may affect an individual's responsibilities in conducting, evaluating, reviewing, editing, or publishing scholarly research.
The existence of a conflict of interest does not necessarily indicate misconduct. However, failure to disclose relevant interests may compromise transparency, objectivity, and public confidence in the scholarly publication process.
Altruistik requires all relevant parties to disclose actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest so that they can be appropriately assessed and managed.
2. Types of Conflict of Interest
Conflicts of interest may include, but are not limited to, the following categories.
Financial Interests: Employment, consultancy arrangements, honoraria, share ownership, patents, royalties, research grants, sponsorships, or other financial benefits associated with the research or its publication.
Personal Relationships: Family relationships, close friendships, personal disagreements, or other relationships that may influence impartial professional judgment.
Professional or Academic Interests: Research collaborations, academic competition, supervisory relationships, professional affiliations, or other academic relationships involving authors, reviewers, or editors.
Institutional Interests: Relationships with universities, research institutions, organizations, professional associations, or other entities that may benefit from the research findings or publication.
Editorial Interests: Relationships between editors or reviewers and the authors, institutions, research topics, or other parties involved in the manuscript that may affect independent evaluation.
These categories are not exhaustive. Any relationship or circumstance that could reasonably be perceived as influencing professional judgment should be disclosed.
3. Responsibilities of Authors
All authors must disclose actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest relevant to their manuscripts at the time of submission.
Authors are responsible for:
- Disclosing relevant financial and non-financial interests associated with the research or manuscript.
- Identifying research funding sources and explaining the role of funders in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or publication decisions, where applicable.
- Ensuring that all co-authors are informed of and agree with the conflict of interest declaration.
- Providing accurate and complete information in the manuscript and journal submission system.
- Informing the editorial office promptly if a relevant conflict of interest becomes known or arises after manuscript submission.
The corresponding author is responsible for coordinating conflict of interest disclosures from all co-authors and ensuring that the submitted declaration accurately represents their relevant interests.
4. Responsibilities of Reviewers
Reviewers must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest before accepting an invitation to review a manuscript.
Reviewers should decline a review assignment when a relevant relationship or interest may compromise, or reasonably appear to compromise, their impartiality.
Potential circumstances include recent research collaboration with an author, close personal relationships, direct academic competition, financial interests, or relevant institutional connections.
Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of unpublished manuscripts and must not use information obtained during peer review for personal, professional, academic, or financial advantage.
Where uncertainty exists, reviewers should inform the editor and seek guidance before proceeding with the review.
5. Responsibilities of Editors
Editors must make independent and objective editorial decisions based on the academic quality, originality, methodological appropriateness, relevance, and scholarly contribution of submitted manuscripts.
Editors are required to disclose relevant conflicts of interest and refrain from handling manuscripts when their objectivity may be compromised.
When a conflict of interest arises, the manuscript should be assigned to another qualified editor or an independent editorial representative.
Editors must not use confidential manuscript information for personal benefit or permit commercial, personal, academic, or institutional interests to influence publication decisions inappropriately.
The editorial team is responsible for maintaining fairness, confidentiality, and independence throughout manuscript evaluation and peer review.
6. Conflict of Interest Declaration in Manuscripts
All submitted manuscripts must include a Conflict of Interest statement in accordance with the official Altruistik manuscript template.
When no relevant conflict of interest exists, authors may use the following statement.
No Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no known financial or non-financial conflicts of interest that could have influenced the research, interpretation, or publication of this manuscript.
When a relevant conflict of interest exists, authors must clearly describe the nature of the relationship or interest and identify the parties involved where appropriate.
Disclosure of Conflict of Interest
The authors declare the relevant financial or non-financial interests associated with this research and explain the involvement of any related organization, institution, or funding body in the conduct and publication of the study.
Authors must provide a declaration that accurately reflects their circumstances. A statement indicating the absence of conflicts of interest must not be used when relevant interests exist.
7. Management of Conflicts of Interest
Altruistik will assess disclosed conflicts of interest and determine whether additional measures are necessary to maintain the integrity and independence of the editorial process.
Depending on the circumstances, appropriate measures may include:
- Requesting additional information or clarification from the relevant parties.
- Reassigning a manuscript to an independent editor or reviewer.
- Requiring additional conflict of interest information in the published article.
- Implementing appropriate measures to preserve independent and objective peer review.
- Taking proportionate editorial action when a material conflict of interest has been deliberately concealed or inaccurately reported.
All decisions will be made fairly and proportionately in accordance with the journal's publication ethics policies.
8. Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest
If a previously undisclosed conflict of interest is identified after manuscript submission or article publication, the journal may request clarification and supporting information from the authors or other relevant parties.
Following an appropriate assessment, the journal may require a revised disclosure statement, issue a correction or relevant editorial notice, reconsider an editorial decision, or take other measures consistent with its publication ethics procedures.
Serious concerns involving deliberate nondisclosure, misleading declarations, or other ethical irregularities will be addressed through the journal's established procedures for handling publication ethics concerns.
Relevant parties will be given an appropriate opportunity to provide an explanation before a final editorial decision is made.
9. Compliance with the Policy
All authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to comply with this policy and disclose relevant conflicts of interest accurately, transparently, and in a timely manner.
Altruistik manages conflicts of interest in accordance with its publication ethics policies and relevant guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
This policy should be read together with the journal's policies concerning authorship, peer review, research ethics, editorial independence, and the handling of publication misconduct.
Through the implementation of this policy, Altruistik seeks to maintain public trust, responsible scholarly communication, and the integrity of published research in Guidance and Counseling and Educational Psychology.
