Conflict of Interest
Conflict of Interest
The Indonesian Journal of Counter Terrorism and National Security (IJCNTNS) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of transparency, integrity, impartiality, and ethical conduct in scholarly publishing. This policy establishes the principles and procedures for identifying, disclosing, and managing conflicts of interest involving authors, reviewers, editors, journal staff, and the publisher, whether identified before or after publication.
The journal's policy is informed by the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and other recognized standards of publication ethics. All parties involved in the research, peer-review, editorial, and publication processes are expected to disclose relevant competing interests and take appropriate measures to ensure that such interests do not compromise the integrity of scholarly work or editorial decisions.
1. Definition of Conflicts of Interest
A conflict of interest arises when financial, personal, professional, institutional, political, academic, or other relationships or interests could improperly influence, or reasonably be perceived to influence, an individual's objectivity, judgment, or decision-making in the research, peer-review, editorial, or publication process.
A conflict of interest does not necessarily indicate misconduct or invalidate research findings. However, failure to disclose or appropriately manage a relevant conflict may undermine the credibility of the research and the integrity of the publication process.
Given the journal's focus on counterterrorism and national security, particular attention should be paid to relationships or interests involving government agencies, law enforcement institutions, intelligence organizations, military institutions, security-sector organizations, research funders, advocacy groups, and other entities that may have a direct interest in the findings or policy implications of a manuscript.
2. Identification of Conflicts of Interest
Authors, reviewers, editors, journal staff, and other individuals involved in the publication process must disclose actual, potential, or reasonably perceived conflicts of interest relevant to the work they submit, assess, edit, or publish.
Conflicts of interest may include, but are not limited to, the following categories:
2.1. Financial Interests
Financial conflicts may include research funding, grants, employment, consultancy fees, honoraria, stock ownership, paid advisory roles, financial support, or other monetary relationships with organizations that may benefit from or be adversely affected by the research findings.
2.2. Personal Relationships
Personal conflicts may arise from family relationships, close friendships, personal disputes, or other relationships that could compromise or reasonably be perceived to compromise impartiality.
2.3. Academic and Professional Relationships
These conflicts may include recent or ongoing research collaborations, joint publications, supervisory relationships, mentor–student relationships, institutional affiliations, professional dependencies, or competitive academic relationships with individuals involved in the manuscript.
2.4. Institutional and Organizational Interests
Conflicts may arise from affiliations with universities, government agencies, law enforcement bodies, intelligence organizations, military institutions, security-sector organizations, nongovernmental organizations, political organizations, advocacy groups, or other institutions whose interests may be affected by the research.
2.5. Political and Policy-Related Interests
Research addressing terrorism, counterterrorism, radicalization, violent extremism, national security, security legislation, or government policy may involve competing political or policy interests. Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose relevant affiliations, advisory roles, or other relationships where these could reasonably affect, or be perceived to affect, their impartiality.
A researcher's political views or scholarly position alone do not automatically constitute a conflict of interest. Disclosure is required when a specific relationship, role, or competing interest is relevant to the work and could reasonably affect the research or editorial process.
2.6. Intellectual Property Interests
Conflicts may arise from patents, copyrights, proprietary research methods, licensing agreements, or other intellectual property rights that may be affected by the publication or dissemination of the research.
2.7. Access to Confidential or Restricted Information
Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose relevant relationships or obligations that could affect their ability to assess or publish research responsibly, including circumstances involving confidential government information, classified materials, restricted datasets, or security-sensitive research. Any disclosure or handling of such information must comply with applicable legal, ethical, and confidentiality requirements.
3. Handling Conflicts of Interest
IJCNTNS will assess and manage conflicts of interest fairly, consistently, and transparently. Appropriate measures will depend on the nature and seriousness of the conflict and may include disclosure, reassignment of editorial responsibilities, replacement of reviewers, independent assessment, or other measures necessary to protect the integrity of the publication process.
3.1. Authors
Authors must disclose all relevant financial and non-financial competing interests during manuscript submission. They must also disclose funding sources, the role of sponsors in the research, and any relevant institutional or organizational relationships that may influence the research design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or publication.
If a conflict of interest is identified after submission or publication, authors must promptly notify the Editor-in-Chief. The journal will assess the matter and determine whether a disclosure statement, correction, additional review, or other action is necessary.
The absence of a conflict of interest should also be explicitly declared when required by the journal's submission process.
3.2. Reviewers
Reviewers must assess manuscripts objectively and disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest before accepting a review invitation.
Reviewers should decline an invitation when a conflict could compromise their impartiality. Examples include close personal or professional relationships with the authors, direct competing interests in the research findings, significant recent collaboration, or other circumstances that may prevent an independent assessment.
If a conflict becomes apparent during the review process, the reviewer must promptly notify the responsible editor. The editor will determine whether the reviewer should continue or be replaced.
Reviewers must also maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and must not use unpublished information obtained through peer review for personal, professional, financial, or institutional advantage.
3.3. Editors and Journal Staff
Editors and journal staff must disclose relevant conflicts of interest and must not handle manuscripts where their impartiality could reasonably be questioned.
An editor must recuse themselves from editorial decision-making when a conflict exists, including when they are an author or co-author of the submitted manuscript, have a close personal or professional relationship with an author, or have a direct competing interest in the research.
Where the Editor-in-Chief has a conflict of interest, the manuscript must be assigned to an independent editor who can manage the evaluation and peer-review process without inappropriate influence from the conflicted individual.
Journal staff who have access to submissions or confidential editorial information must comply with the journal's confidentiality and conflict-of-interest requirements. Access to manuscripts and editorial systems should be restricted where necessary to prevent inappropriate involvement in a submission.
3.4. Publisher and Institutional Management
The publisher and the institutions supporting the journal must ensure that financial, administrative, institutional, political, or other competing interests do not improperly influence editorial decisions.
Editorial decisions must be based on scholarly merit, originality, methodological rigor, relevance to the journal's scope, ethical compliance, and the results of peer review rather than the financial or institutional interests of the publisher or other stakeholders.
The publisher and institutional management must respect editorial independence and must not improperly interfere with the acceptance, rejection, revision, or publication of individual manuscripts.
4. Transparency and Disclosure
IJCNTNS requires relevant conflicts of interest to be disclosed clearly and accurately. Authors' competing-interest declarations and funding information will be included in published articles where applicable and in accordance with the journal's policies.
Where appropriate, the journal may also provide disclosure information concerning editorials, reviews, or other published content. Information about reviewers' or editors' conflicts will be handled in a manner consistent with confidentiality, privacy, and the integrity of the peer-review process.
Authors must not omit or misrepresent relevant competing interests. Failure to disclose a material conflict may result in additional editorial review or other appropriate action, including correction of the published record where necessary.
If no relevant competing interests exist, authors should provide an explicit declaration, such as:
“The authors declare that they have no competing interests relevant to this article.”
The wording may be adapted to reflect the specific circumstances of the research and the journal's submission requirements.
5. Editorial Independence and Restricted Access
To protect editorial independence, individuals who have a conflict of interest must not participate in editorial decisions concerning the relevant manuscript.
Editors, reviewers, and other relevant stakeholders who are co-authors of a manuscript submitted to IJCNTNS must not participate in the editorial evaluation, reviewer selection, peer-review process, or publication decision for that manuscript.
The journal will ensure that conflicted individuals are appropriately excluded from relevant editorial responsibilities and, where necessary, restricted from accessing confidential information or editorial records relating to the submission.
Where a manuscript is authored by the Editor-in-Chief or another member of the Editorial Team, an independent editor will be responsible for managing the manuscript. The process must preserve confidentiality and ensure that the submitting editor has no undue influence over the outcome.
6. Conflicts of Interest Identified After Publication
If a conflict of interest is identified after an article has been published, the authors, readers, editors, or other relevant parties should notify the journal promptly and provide available supporting information.
The Editor-in-Chief will assess the significance of the conflict and determine whether additional disclosure, a correction, an expression of concern, retraction, or another appropriate action is warranted.
The journal will seek to correct the scholarly record transparently where a previously undisclosed conflict materially affects the interpretation, credibility, or ethical standing of the publication. Any action will be proportionate to the circumstances and consistent with applicable publication ethics guidance.
7. Review and Updating of the Policy
IJCNTNS will periodically review this policy to ensure that it remains effective, transparent, and consistent with developments in publication ethics, research integrity, and scholarly publishing practices.
Any revisions will be communicated to relevant stakeholders and made publicly available on the journal's website.
Through this policy, IJCNTNS seeks to promote responsible disclosure, fair evaluation, editorial independence, and public confidence in scholarship on counterterrorism and national security.
