Conflict of Interest

Asian Journal Science and Engineering (AJSE) requires every person involved in the publication process – authors, reviewers, and editors – to disclose any conflict of interest that could influence, or appear to influence, the objectivity of their work. This policy follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1. What is a Conflict of Interest?

A conflict of interest exists when a person's judgment about a manuscript could be affected by a personal, professional, or financial relationship or interest. Examples include:

  • Financial: funding, employment, consultancy, shares, patents, or fees related to the research;
  • Professional or institutional: working at the same institution as an author, recent or ongoing collaboration or co-authorship (within the last 3 years), or a supervisor–student relationship;
  • Personal: family relationships, close friendship, or personal rivalry with an author;
  • Intellectual or competitive: working on closely competing research, or holding strong beliefs that could prevent an objective assessment.

2. Authors

  • Authors must disclose all sources of funding and any financial or non-financial interests related to the work in a "Conflict of Interest" (or "Declaration of Competing Interest") statement in the manuscript, placed before the References section.
  • If there is no conflict, authors must state: "The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article."
  • The role of funders in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or decision to publish must be described.
  • Authors may ask that specific persons not review their manuscript, giving a reason. The editors will consider such requests but are not bound by them.

3. Reviewers

  • Reviewers must decline the invitation, or inform the editor immediately, if they have a conflict of interest with the authors, their institution, or the content of the manuscript.
  • A reviewer may not review a manuscript on which they are an author or co-author.
  • Reviewers must not use unpublished information from a manuscript for their own research or advantage.

4. Editors

  • Editors must not take part in the editorial handling of, or decisions on, manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest, including manuscripts they authored or co-authored, or those from close colleagues, students, or family members.
  • Such manuscripts are assigned to another editor with no conflict, who manages the peer review and makes the final decision independently.
  • Manuscripts submitted by the Editor-in-Chief or members of the editorial team go through the same double-blind peer review as all other manuscripts, with no involvement of the submitting editor.

5. Handling Undisclosed Conflicts

If an undisclosed conflict of interest is found during the review process, the journal may reassign the manuscript to another reviewer or editor, or put the review on hold until the matter is clarified. If it is found after publication, AJSE will act in line with COPE guidelines, which may result in a correction, an expression of concern, or a retraction.