Conflict of Interest Policy

KIRANA: Social Science Journal (eISSN 3062-780X)

1. Purpose

KIRANA: Social Science Journal is committed to a fair, transparent, and unbiased editorial process. This policy requires all parties involved in the journal (authors, reviewers, and editors) to disclose any conflict of interest (COI), in line with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

2. What Is a Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest exists when a personal, financial, professional, or institutional relationship could influence, or reasonably appear to influence, a person’s judgment or actions in research, authorship, peer review, or editorial decisions. A conflict of interest does not necessarily prevent publication, but it must be disclosed.

Examples include:

  • Financial: research funding, consultancy fees, employment, honoraria, stock ownership, or patents related to the subject of the work;
  • Personal: close family, friendship, or personal relationships with authors or reviewers;
  • Professional or academic: recent collaboration or co-authorship, supervisor–student relationships, or direct competition on the same topic;
  • Institutional or political: affiliations, memberships, or advocacy roles that relate to the content of the work;
  • Funding bodies that have a stake in the outcome of the research.

3. Responsibilities of Authors

  • Authors must disclose all relevant conflicts of interest at submission, through a Conflict of Interest Statement included in the manuscript.
  • The statement should name the funding sources and describe the role of the funder (if any) in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and writing.
  • If there are no conflicts, the statement should read: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”
  • Authors must update the journal if new conflicts arise during review or before publication.
  • Disclosed conflicts will be published with the article.

4. Responsibilities of Reviewers

  • Reviewers must decline the invitation to review if they have a conflict of interest, for example if they have collaborated with the authors in the last [e.g., 3 years], work at the same institution, or have a personal or financial interest in the outcome.
  • Reviewers must disclose any potential conflict to the editor before accepting the invitation.
  • Reviewers must not use confidential information from a manuscript for personal advantage.

5. Responsibilities of Editors and Editorial Board Members

  • Editors must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest, including manuscripts from their own institution, close colleagues, family members, or competitors.
  • In such cases, the manuscript will be handled by another editor who has no conflict, and the editor concerned will have no access to the review process or the decision.
  • Manuscripts submitted by an editor, or by a member of the editorial board, will be handled independently and reviewed under the same standards as all other submissions.
  • Editors must declare their own conflicts of interest, and the journal will keep these on record.

6. Handling Disclosed Conflicts

When a conflict is disclosed, the Editor-in-Chief will assess whether it affects the integrity of the process. Possible actions include assigning a different editor or reviewer, requesting additional review, or publishing the disclosure with the article.

7. Undisclosed Conflicts

If an undisclosed conflict of interest is discovered after publication, the journal will investigate in accordance with its Allegation of Research Misconduct policy [URL]. Depending on the case, the journal may publish a correction, an expression of concern, or a retraction, and may inform the authors’ institution.