Conflicts of Interest

CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY  ·  SOCIA: JURNAL ILMU-ILMU SOSIAL

Declaring, managing, and resolving conflicts of interest.

Ensuring transparency, objectivity, and editorial independence across all submissions.

01

What is a conflict of interest

A conflict of interest (also known as a competing interest) exists when financial, personal, academic, or institutional relationships inappropriately influence or bias the design, execution, interpretation, peer review, or editorial management of research. SOCIA: Jurnal Ilmu-Ilmu Sosial requires full transparency from authors, reviewers, and editors regarding any potential conflicts.

FINANCIAL INTERESTS Research grants, honoraria, employment, consulting fees, stock ownership, patent applications, or commercial sponsorships.
PERSONAL & RELATIONAL Family relationships, close personal friendships, mentorship ties, or personal rivalries.
ACADEMIC & COLLABORATIVE Direct research collaboration within the past 3 years, co-authorship on recent publications, or competing academic theories/projects.
INSTITUTIONAL & POLITICAL Direct affiliation with an institution, political entity, or NGO with a direct financial or policy stake in the research outcome.
02

Author obligations

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    Mandatory Declaration: All authors must declare any potential conflicts of interest during the submission process in the online system.
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    Funding Disclosure: Authors must explicitly list all sources of financial support, including grant numbers and funder names, in the Funding Statement section.
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    Role of the Funder: Authors must state whether the funding organization played any role in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or decision to publish.
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    Statement in Published Article: Every published article carries a dedicated "Conflicts of Interest" section. If no conflicts exist, authors must state: "The author(s) declare no conflict of interest."
03

Reviewer obligations

Peer reviewers must evaluate manuscripts with complete objectivity. Reviewers are required to:

  • — Disclose any potential conflict of interest to the handling editor upon receiving a review invitation.
  • — Recuse themselves from reviewing if they share an institutional affiliation, recent co-authorship (within 3 years), or family/personal ties with any author.
  • — Refrain from using unpublished data or arguments from the manuscript for personal or commercial gain.
04

Editorial independence and recusal

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    Editor Recusal: Editors recuse themselves from managing manuscripts submitted by colleagues from their immediate department, close collaborators, or family members.
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    Submissions from Editors: Manuscripts authored by Editor-in-Chief, Section Editors, or Editorial Board members are managed independently by external guest editors and subjected to independent double-blind review. Internal authors have no access to the submission's editorial records.
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    Commercial Independence: Editorial choices are never influenced by sponsorship, article processing charge (APC) payments, or commercial interests.
05

Handling undisclosed conflicts of interest

When an undisclosed competing interest is discovered during review or post-publication, SOCIA follows Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) flowcharts to resolve the case:

PRE-PUBLICATION Processing is suspended. Authors are asked to provide a written explanation. Failure to disclose or resolve the conflict satisfactorily leads to immediate manuscript rejection.
POST-PUBLICATION The journal will publish a formal Corrigendum / Correction detailing the conflict. If the undisclosed conflict fundamentally compromised the research validity or editorial judgment, the article may be Retracted.
06

Quick reference summary

Role Obligation Required Action
Authors Disclose all financial, personal, or institutional ties Complete declaration form during submission and include funding statement
Reviewers Declare competing ties or bias toward authors/topic Notify editor immediately and recuse from review if conflict exists
Editors Maintain objective decision-making and independence Recuse from conflicting submissions; delegate to independent guest editor
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