Conflict of Interest

Jurnal Teknik Kimia USU is committed to maintaining transparency, objectivity, and editorial independence throughout the publication process. All authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any financial, personal, professional, academic, or institutional relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing, or potentially influencing, the research, its interpretation, peer review, or editorial decision-making.

Authors

All authors must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest. Such conflicts may include, but are not limited to:

  • Employment or consultancy relationships;

  • Research grants, funding, or other financial support;

  • Stock ownership or other financial interests;

  • Honoraria or paid expert testimony;

  • Personal or professional relationships;

  • Patents, patent applications, copyrights, or other intellectual property;

  • Financial interests in products, companies, or organizations related to the research; and

  • Institutional affiliations or interests that could influence the research or its publication.

Authors should disclose relevant conflicts even when they believe that the conflict has not influenced their work. Transparency in disclosure supports an objective and unbiased evaluation of the manuscript.

A Competing Interests Statement must be included in the manuscript using the journal's prescribed manuscript template. If the authors have no competing interests to declare, they should use the statement provided in the journal's manuscript template:

“The authors declare that they have no competing interests.”

Authors are responsible for ensuring that the statement accurately reflects all relevant competing interests at the time of submission.

Authors who hold an editorial or other official role within the journal, may submit manuscripts to the journal. However, they must disclose their journal role at the time of submission, either in the cover letter or in the comments to the Editor.

Upon receiving such a disclosure, the Editor-in-Chief will assign the manuscript to another qualified editor to manage the peer-review and editorial decision-making process. The submitting editor or editorial board member must not be involved in selecting reviewers, evaluating the manuscript, or making the editorial decision for their own submission.

Reviewers

Reviewers must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest before accepting an invitation to review a manuscript.

Reviewers should decline an assignment when they have a personal, professional, financial, or academic relationship with the authors that could compromise, or reasonably be perceived to compromise, the objectivity of their evaluation. Examples include recent collaboration, close personal relationships, direct competition, or an institutional affiliation that may affect impartiality.

If a potential conflict arises during the review process, the reviewer must promptly inform the Editor-in-Chief or handling editor and, where appropriate, withdraw from the review.

Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of the manuscript and must not use information obtained during the peer-review process for personal, professional, or financial advantage.

Editors

Editors must disclose and appropriately manage any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest relating to manuscripts they handle.

An editor must not participate in the editorial evaluation or decision-making process when they have a personal, professional, financial, academic, or institutional relationship with the authors that could compromise editorial independence. Editors must also recuse themselves when handling manuscripts authored by themselves, their close collaborators, family members, or other individuals with whom they have a relationship that may affect impartiality.

In such cases, the manuscript will be assigned to another qualified editor who will manage the editorial process independently. The journal will ensure that editorial decisions are based on the scientific quality, originality, relevance, and integrity of the manuscript, rather than on any conflict of interest.

Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest

Any actual or potential conflict of interest that was not disclosed before or during the publication process will be evaluated by the editorial team. Where necessary, the journal will take appropriate corrective action in accordance with applicable COPE guidelines and relevant publication ethics standards.

Depending on the circumstances, corrective actions may include requesting a declaration or correction, reassessing the peer-review or editorial process, issuing a correction or editorial notice, or taking other appropriate measures.

All authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to disclose relevant conflicts honestly, completely, and promptly. The journal considers transparent disclosure an essential component of research integrity and responsible scholarly publishing.