Conflict of Interest & Competing Interests Policy | IJITEST

Definition of Competing Interests

Transparency regarding potential conflicts of interest is paramount to preserving scientific credibility. A competing interest exists when professional judgment concerning primary scholarly findings may be influenced (or perceived to be influenced) by secondary financial or personal affiliations.

Financial Interests

Commercial sponsorships, consultancies, employment, patent holdings, stock equity, or advisory fees within the preceding 36 months related to the study.

Non-Financial Interests

Close personal or family ties, academic rivalries, direct supervisory relationships, or active involvement in advocacy organizations tied to the research.

Duties of Authors

All submitted manuscripts must include a dedicated "Declaration of Competing Interests" section placed immediately before the bibliography.

Standard Negative Disclosure Statement:

"The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper."

Duties of Reviewers & Editorial Board

Reviewers and editors must recuse themselves from evaluating manuscripts whenever a conflict of interest exists:

• Current departmental affiliation or shared institutional employer with any co-author.
• Co-authorship with any author within the previous 36 months.
• Active advisory, thesis supervision, or mentor-mentee relationship with authors.
• Submissions by editorial board members are managed by independent external editors with blind peer reviewers, maintaining the DOAJ 25% annual endogeny ceiling.