Jurnal Pendidikan Akuntansi Indonesia (JPAI) requires authors, reviewers, editors, editorial board members, and the publisher to disclose any interests that could influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, research or editorial decisions. A conflict of interest does not necessarily indicate misconduct. Transparent disclosure allows the journal to assess potential risks and maintain trust in the publication process.

This policy is informed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidance on competing interests and ethical publishing.

1. What Is a Conflict of Interest?

A conflict of interest arises when a secondary interest could influence professional judgement concerning research, peer review, or publication. Relevant interests may include:

• Financial interests: Research funding, salaries, consultancy fees, honoraria, shares, royalties, or payments from organisations that may benefit from the publication. Examples include accounting software providers, educational publishers, training providers, and accounting firms.
• Institutional interests: Employment or affiliation with an institution whose curriculum, educational practices, financial reporting, products, or services are evaluated in the manuscript.
• Personal and professional relationships: Family relationships, close friendships, professional rivalries, or supervisory, mentoring, and collaborative relationships that could affect impartiality.
• Academic or intellectual interests: Involvement in developing a learning model, textbook, instructional medium, accounting application, curriculum, or assessment instrument evaluated in the study. Holding an academic position or theoretical perspective does not, by itself, constitute a conflict.
• Political or ideological interests: Roles in organisations, campaigns, or advocacy groups whose interests are directly related to the research.
• Researcher–participant relationships: Research involving the authors’ own students, employees, colleagues, or institution, particularly where differences in authority may affect voluntary participation or interpretation of findings.

2. Authors

2.1. What Must Be Disclosed

Each author must disclose financial and non-financial interests relevant to the submitted work that occurred during the preceding three years, as well as ongoing interests and reasonably anticipated future interests. Older relationships must also be disclosed if they remain relevant.

Authors must:

• Identify all funding sources in a separate Funding section, including grant numbers where applicable.
• Explain the funder’s role in study design, data collection, analysis, manuscript preparation, and the decision to submit the article. If the funder had no involvement, this must be stated.
• Disclose ownership, commercial involvement, or intellectual property interests in products or educational resources evaluated in the research.
• Explain researcher–participant relationships in the Methods section, including measures taken to protect voluntary participation, confidentiality, and objective assessment.
• Declare any role as an editor or editorial board member of JPAI.

Disclosure does not automatically disqualify a manuscript from publication. The editorial team will assess whether the interests can be managed appropriately.

2.2. How to Disclose

1. Include a Disclosure Statement at the end of the manuscript, before the references.
2. Briefly describe each relevant interest and identify the author concerned.
3. If there are no relevant interests, state:

   “The authors declare no financial or non-financial conflicts of interest relevant to this work.”

4. If an anonymised manuscript is required, remove identifying details from that version and provide the complete declaration in the title page or a separate document accessible to the editor.
5. Report significant conflicts in the Comments for the Editor field during submission through OJS. Requests to exclude particular reviewers must include a clear reason.
6. The corresponding author must collect and submit declarations from all co-authors.
7. Authors must promptly notify the editor of any relevant interest that arises or becomes known during review or after publication.

2.3. Example Disclosure Statements

Statements about safeguards or independence must accurately reflect the procedures followed.

3. Reviewers

Reviewers must disclose potential conflicts before accepting an invitation. Relevant circumstances include:

• Employment at the same institution as an author.
• Collaboration or co-authorship with an author during the preceding three years.
• A supervisory, mentoring, family, or close personal relationship with an author.
• A significant professional dispute or rivalry.
• A financial or commercial interest in the findings.
• Direct competition with the reviewer’s own unpublished research.
• Any other circumstance that could prevent an impartial assessment.

Recognising or suspecting an author’s identity does not, by itself, establish a conflict. Reviewers must inform the editor if that recognition reveals a relationship or interest that could affect their judgement.

Reviewers must:

• Decline assignments when a conflict compromises their impartiality.
• Keep manuscript contents confidential and refrain from using unpublished information for personal or professional advantage.
• Recommend citations only for legitimate scholarly reasons.
• Stop reviewing and contact the editor if a conflict becomes apparent during the review.

The editor will determine whether reassignment or an additional independent review is necessary.

4. Editors and Editorial Board Members

4.1. Editorial Responsibilities

Editors must disclose relevant conflicts and must not manage or decide on manuscripts where their impartiality could reasonably be questioned.

A conflicted editor must be excluded from reviewer selection, confidential review records, editorial discussions, and publication decisions concerning that manuscript. The Editor-in-Chief will assign an independent editor.

Unpublished information obtained through editorial work must not be used for personal advantage or research without the authors’ written permission.

4.2. Declarations of Interests

Editors and editorial board members must declare relevant interests upon appointment, update their declarations annually, and report new conflicts as they arise.

Conflicts involving the Editor-in-Chief must be managed by an independent senior editorial board member or an appropriately appointed independent editor, with administrative support from the publisher where necessary.

4.3. Submissions by Editors and Editorial Board Members

Editors and editorial board members may submit manuscripts to JPAI. Their submissions must meet the same requirements and undergo the same peer-review standards as other manuscripts.

The following safeguards apply:

• An independent editor manages the submission.
• The author-editor has no access to confidential reviewer identities, internal editorial discussions, or decision-making records.
• The author-editor receives only the information normally provided to other submitting authors.
• The published article includes a statement disclosing the editorial role and independent handling of the manuscript.
• The journal monitors submissions and publications by editorial team members to protect editorial independence.

5. Publisher

JPAI is published by Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, through the Department of Accounting Education, Faculty of Economics and Business.

The publisher supports editorial independence. Institutional, commercial, financial, or political interests must not determine manuscript acceptance or rejection.

6. Handling Undisclosed Conflicts

Concerns about undisclosed conflicts should be sent to jpai@uny.ac.id, with sufficient information to identify the manuscript or article and explain the concern.

The journal will follow these steps:

1. Initial assessment. An editor without a relevant conflict reviews the concern. The journal aims to acknowledge reports within seven working days.
2. Request for clarification. The person concerned is invited to explain the relationship or interest and provide relevant information. The usual response period is 14 days for manuscripts under review and 30 days for published articles, with reasonable extensions where necessary.
3. Evaluation. The independent editor assesses the relevance of the interest, the adequacy of disclosure, and its potential effect on the research or editorial decision.
4. Proportionate action. Depending on the findings:
   • Manuscripts under review: The journal may request an updated declaration, appoint independent reviewers, reassign the handling editor, or reject the manuscript when the concerns cannot be adequately resolved.
   • Published articles: The journal may publish a correction to disclose the interest. An expression of concern may be issued while a substantial concern remains unresolved. Retraction will be considered when the findings are unreliable or the publication process was seriously compromised, in accordance with applicable COPE guidance. An omitted disclosure alone does not automatically justify retraction.
   • Reviewers or editors: An affected review or decision may be set aside and independently reassessed. Serious or repeated failures to disclose may lead to removal from reviewing or editorial duties.
5. Further investigation. Suspected deliberate concealment or associated research misconduct may be referred to the relevant institution or other appropriate body.

Sources

• Committee on Publication Ethics. Core practices.
• Committee on Publication Ethics. Ethical guidelines for peer reviewers.
• Committee on Publication Ethics. Flowcharts.
• Committee on Publication Ethics, Directory of Open Access Journals, Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association, and World Association of Medical Editors. Principles of transparency and best practice in scholarly publishing.