Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest exists when financial, personal, professional, or institutional relationships could influence, or appear to influence, a person's judgment. IJAU requires all parties in the publication process to disclose any potential conflicts of interest.

Authors. Authors must declare all sources of funding and any financial or non-financial interests related to the submitted work. The declaration is placed in a "Conflict of Interest" statement before the references. If there is no conflict, authors should state: "The authors declare no conflict of interest."

Reviewers. Reviewers must decline an invitation if they have a conflict of interest with the manuscript or its authors. Examples include a recent collaboration, shared institutional affiliation, a personal relationship, or direct competition. Reviewers who become aware of a conflict during the review must inform the Editor immediately.

Editors. Editors must not handle manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest. Manuscripts submitted by the Editor-in-Chief, editorial board members, or their close colleagues are assigned to another independent editor and follow the standard double-blind peer review. The submitting editor is excluded from all decisions on that manuscript.

Undisclosed conflicts. Failure to disclose a relevant conflict of interest is treated as a breach of publication ethics. It is handled under the Allegations of Research Misconduct policy and may lead to correction or retraction of the article.