Conflict of Interest Policy

1. General Policy

A conflict of interest may arise when financial, professional, personal, institutional, or other interests could influence, or appear to influence, research activities, manuscript evaluation, or editorial decisions.

The existence of a potential conflict does not automatically indicate misconduct. However, relevant interests must be disclosed to support transparency and informed editorial decisions.

2. Types of Conflicts of Interest

Potential conflicts of interest may include, but are not limited to, the following categories:

3. Author Responsibilities

All authors must disclose relevant financial and non-financial interests when submitting their manuscripts. The disclosure must identify relationships or activities that may influence, or be perceived to influence, the research design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or reporting.

Authors must also disclose funding sources and the role of sponsors, where applicable. Changes in relevant interests during editorial processing must be communicated promptly to the Editorial Board.

4. Reviewer Responsibilities

Reviewers must disclose potential conflicts of interest before accepting a review assignment. Reviewers with relationships or interests that could compromise impartial evaluation must decline the assignment or withdraw from the review process.

Reviewers must not use confidential manuscript information for personal, professional, or financial advantage.

5. Editor and Editorial Board Responsibilities

Editors and Editorial Board members must disclose potential conflicts and recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where their impartiality could reasonably be questioned.

When an editor has a conflict, the manuscript should be assigned to another qualified editor without the relevant conflict. Editorial decisions must remain independent of financial, institutional, commercial, or personal influence.

6. Disclosure and Management Procedures

BMB applies the following procedures to manage declared or identified conflicts of interest:

1. Disclosure

   Authors, reviewers, and editors declare relevant interests at the appropriate stage of the publication process.

2. Editorial Assessment

   The Editorial Board assesses whether the disclosed interests could affect research integrity, peer-review impartiality, or editorial independence.

3. Conflict Management

   Appropriate measures may include additional disclosure, independent assessment, reassignment of reviewers or editors, or recusal from editorial decisions.

4. Documentation

   Relevant declarations and editorial actions are documented, with appropriate protection of confidential information.

7. Conflict of Interest Declaration

All submitted manuscripts must include a Conflict of Interest declaration. Authors must explicitly state whether relevant conflicts exist.

Funding disclosures should be provided separately where required, including information on the funder's role in the study.

8. Non-Disclosure and Editorial Actions

Failure to disclose relevant conflicts of interest may result in requests for clarification, correction of disclosure statements, reassignment of editorial responsibilities, or further investigation where appropriate.

If significant undisclosed conflicts are identified after publication, BMB may issue a correction or take other actions consistent with its publication ethics and post-publication policies. Editorial action will depend on the evidence and circumstances of each case.

9. Related Policies and Ethical Guidelines

This policy complements BMB's Publication Ethics, Authorship Criteria, Peer Review Process, and Allegations of Research Misconduct Policy.

• BMB - Publication Ethics
• BMB - Authorship Criteria
• BMB - Peer Review Process
• BMB - Allegations of Research Misconduct
• ICMJE - Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
• ICMJE - Disclosure Form
• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)

Editorial Board
Bulletin of Management and Business (BMB)
Universitas Widyagama Malang, Indonesia