Conflict of Interest Policy

A conflict of interest exists when professional judgement about the validity of research may be influenced by a secondary interest, such as financial, personal, academic, or institutional relationships. JIPAI requires transparency from everyone involved in publication.

Authors must disclose in the manuscript, under Conflict of Interest, any financial or non-financial relationship that could be seen as influencing the work, and must state all sources of funding. If there is none, the manuscript should state: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”

Reviewers must decline a review if they have a conflict of interest with the authors or their institutions (for example, a recent collaboration, a close personal relationship, or competition), and must not use confidential material from manuscripts for personal advantage.

Editors and Editorial Board members must not handle manuscripts when they have a conflict of interest (for example, submissions from colleagues of the same institution, relatives, or recent co-authors). Such manuscripts are assigned to another editor who is independent of the author. Submissions by the Editor-in-Chief or other editors follow the same rule and are handled by an editor with no involvement, with the editor concerned excluded from all decisions.

Publisher and funding. The publisher's funding, advertising, or any commercial interest has no influence on editorial decisions.

If a conflict is discovered later, the editors will assess it and, if needed, publish a correction under the Correction and Retraction policy.